Dziennik Dla Wyszystkich — Everybody’s Daily

Buffalo Polish Newspaper 🗞 — Dziennik dla Wszystkich (Everybody’s Daily).

A bunch of co-workers of the newspaper.

Historical Polish Language Newspapers: Part 3 of 3 — In Poland

Stanczyk, is a long time fan of using historical newspapers to do research and to tell the family history story.

So where can you find Historical Polish Language newspapers (in Poland)?

Today I will chronicle the possibilities of historical Polish Language Newspapers. For my ancestors (near Pacanow, Biechow, Stopnica, really anywhere in Kielce Gubernia), I search the newspapers (czasopismo) in Świętokrzyska Digital Library. This jester has had good luck with Gazeta Kieleckie (1870-1945) & Gazeta Kielecka. 

 

To give an example, I once found my 2x-great-grandfather, Marcin Elijasz in a news article about a horse thief who was stealing from his father’s horse barn! It was found at Gazeta Kielecka, 1879 #35 [Source: SBC Digital Library, 1879, #35, pages 1-2]. The second page is shown at left.

 

NOTES:

So what should you search on? I have had success with surnames (ex. Elijasz), placenames (ex. Pacanow, diacriticals not usually needed), keywords (poborowi [conscripts], wojna [war], śmierć [deaths], etc.). Of course you need to use the Polish word(s). When you are searching the archive, you want to find newspapers, so use the keyword: czasopismo. If your ancestor’s village is small/insignificant, try using the parish or the gmina to find the next larger town/city. 

I found that unless you are fluent in Polish, then having a translator window (ex. translator.google.com) open in another tab very handy to understand which articles may be useful to your research.  Look through newspapers that match your family events or are a small offset  after a family event occurred (use timelines to assist). Sometimes historical dates can be interesting (ex. 1st-September-1939). Holidays like, Christmas or Easter are often fascinating. You should notice business registrations (rejestru handlowego). This lists businesses owned by all, but it is extremely helpful for Jewish researchers who have few places to search. So,  you can find your ancestor (the business owner) by look at these business registers before 1939! It does not list the business owner’s religion, but in my experience the Jewish names and the Christian names are usually easy to tell apart.

     Business Register

 

 

Newspapers Online:

1. Świętokrzyska Digital Library
2. Polona.pl 
3. FBC Online Digital Libs LIST

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Historical Polish Language Newspapers: Part 2 of 3 — What’s Available

Stanczyk, is a big fan of using historical newspapers to do research and to tell the family history story.

So where can you find Historical Polish Language newspapers (in the USA)?

Today I will chronicle the possibilities of Polish Language Newspapers. Of course, there is the jester’s Dziennik Polski (Detroit) Rootsweb (freepage):

 

Tom Tryniski‘s great Fulton History

Dziennik Polski (Detroit) newspaper that I have written about in the blog numerous times and even have ( a partially restored) Rootsweb Free User Page on here. It catalogs the places across the USA where you can find hard copy or microfilm copies of that newspaper. Online, you can find some scans at:

PolishMission — They have Dziennik Polski (Detroit) online: 1904, 1919, 1965-1985. Sometimes their online images are only a portion of the extant year’s images.

Newspapers Online:

1. Library of Congress (LOC Advanced Search)
2. Dziennik Dla Wszystkich Buffalo newspaper
3. Polish Weekly Review
4. Polish Language  LOC Newspapers (247 Polish) I have a spreadsheet I am developing from this list.
5. Utica NY Slowo Polskie (The Polish Word)
6. Dziennik Chicagoski Death Notices (PGSA Index)
7. [PAID $] Newspapers.com
8. [PAID $] GenealogyBank.com
9. [Free] Google News Archive 
10. The Europeana Collections — Twitter: @eurnews; 15,130 newspaper issues (Poland)
11. Ancestor Hunt – Newspapers (Ken Marks)
12. Ameryka Echo 1902-1906 (Toledo, OH, at LOC) 
13. Dziennik Zwiazkowy 1908-1917, 1925, 1936 (Chicago newspaper,  online)

 

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Historical Polish Language Newspapers: For Research & Telling Your Family History

Stanczyk, is a big fan of using historical newspapers to do research and to tell the family history story.

This was a random image (pdf) this jester selected from Tom Tryniski‘s great Fulton History et. al. website. By happenstance it included a column from the Polish Consulate and its office in Buffalo, NY. This is from The Polish Weekly newspaper of 1930-January-19th, a Niagara Falls / Tonawanda Polish Language Historical newspaper that he had scanned.

One of my projects is to see if I can replicate his efforts on the Dziennik Polski (Detroit) newspaper that I have written about in the blog numerous times and even have ( a partially restored) Rootsweb Free User Page on here. 

So my goal is a three part blog (counting today’s article) on Polish Language historical newspapers. I want to build interest in these resource for genealogy and your family history stories, which may be inside your ancestor’s local newspapers.

Today I will deconstruct what you might find in a Polish Consulate column. To follow along, you can click on the image, and then click on the zoom (magnify glass with +) and see a larger image. Let me start off by listing the names found in the article (in case someone is googling their ancestor):

Jozef Jankowski, Jedrzej Porada, Jozef Spiewak, Pietkiewicz (alias Piekiewicz), Albin (aka Alfons), Jozef Zemanek, Aleksander Jarczynski, Wojciech Jablonski, Wojciech Macior, Piotr, Dmytrow, Sebestjan Rychlik, Antoni Wesolowski, Wojciecj Socha, Piotr Rutkowski, Stanislaw Skrzypek, Antoni Sowa, Stanislaw Kuziora, Stefan Kierzak, Jan Magsiuk, Marianna Chlebowicz.

Let me start with the preface in the column, that describes the Polish Consulate’s purpose.

Konsulat uprasza osby nizej wyszczegolnione, lub osoby mogace udzielic o nich informacji …

Which translates (roughly): 

The consulate is asking for the people below, or people who can provide information about them …

Ok, so the Polish Consulate is seeking these people or information about these people so that they can contact them for some purpose (usually about something/somebody back in the old country).

Today we will deconstruct the last person and see what kind of info we might find about your ancestor; her name is Marianna Chlebowicz.

zona Stefana, (she is wife of Stefan Chlebowicz).

z domu Maciejewska, corka Franciszka i Jozefa z Dymkowskich. (her maiden name is Maciejewska, daughter of Franciszek Maciejewski & Jozefa Dymkowska).

poszukiwana przez siostre Helena w sprawie bardzo waznej ([She is] wanted by [her] sister Helena in a very important matter).

Wow that is a goldmine of genealogical information about Marianna Chlebowicz. Women are hard to find sometimes after they marry if their husband’s name is not known. We know her maiden name, her husband’s name, her parent’s names, and that she has a sister, Helen.

Please note that you would want to search for ‘Konsulat‘ in any newspaper database to find these Polish Consulate columns. Also, they are written in POLISH! Do not let that deter you, as you can use GOOGLE TRANSLATE (translate.google.com) to translate the text.

I hope this whets your appetite for Polish Language Historical newspapers or even just using local newspapers (written in English). To this point, I have only spoken in context about American newspapers! You can also find Historical Newspapers of Poland too in various Polish Archives or Online Digital Libraries.

 

 

A Little Blog Bigos — #Genealogy

Stanczyk has been busy. Full stop. Health, translating materials from Poland, updating blog-layout, some health issues and a new Facebook Group, plus emails. Name Distributed Over Map of Poland Waldemar Chorążewicz posted this not too long ago: http://nlp.actaforte.pl:8080/Nomina/Ndistr?nazwisko=Zasucha

You need to use diacritics to search for names. For Example, search for Leszczyński not Leszczynski!

 

Diacriticals PL: ą Ćć ę Łł ń ó Śś Źź Żż (copy & paste as needed)

Facebook Group

There is a new Facebook Group on the topic of Pacanow and much of it is genealogy based. So please if you are a reader of this blog’s genealogy posts, then you might want to join this group: Goofy goats and grandmas of Pacanow 

 

Blog Notes

I fixed some links due to Rootsweb not being recovered (fully). But, I did upgrade my blogroll to include Julie Roberts-Szczepankiewicz ‘s excellent genealogy blog & another Polish genealogy  blogger who this jester was able to help with a translation of Witon marriage in Koprzywnica. So please note this blog promotes Polish genealogy blogs and I encourage to check out:

1. From Shephards & Shoemakers
2. My Family Genealogy Research 

Finally, my Rootsweb is slowly being restored. Thanks for noticing.

Donald Trump is a Coward – Millenial Cheatsheet for Vietnam Era

Stanczyk is a creator. This genealogy blog (and Internet musings) is a big part of my work. So it brings this jester no great joy to have to write a blog on politics, when there are so many better ways to create.  For those who did not live through the Vietnam Era (millenials, et. al.), here is a cheatsheet/study guide of pols who came of age during the Vietnam War.

The Atlantic had a 2×2 matrix with two questions. The two questions were, “Did you go to Vietnam?” (yes is top row, no is bottom row). The second question was, “Should We Send Men?” (no, left column, yes, right column).

 

In the Atlantic article is were just four people. Al Gore represented people who believed we should NOT be in Vietnam, but went anyway.

 

John McCain represented, yes we need to confront communism and he bravely went to back up his point.

 

Bill Clinton represented we should not be in Vietnam (senseless) and he did not go.

 

Donald Trump represented we need to be there, just not people like him (cowards). The Atlantic was kinder and called them Chickenhawks.

 

In this matrix we were missing some nuance or other examples from today’s politics.

I added George W. Bush (former president) and Richard Blumenthal (senator) who served, but their service was stateside. Blumenthal was a marine reservist and Bush was an airforce reservist. Did they serve stateside because of privilege? Maybe, but they served. Al Gore who I added in uniform still served, though he did not believe in the war. He did so as an obligation because his father (Al Gore Sr.) was a politician and it would look bad for him to not serve. But he served and went to Vietnam. John Kerry was against the war but served and served heroically and then came home to protest the ongoing conflict and won office. Robert Mueller served and served heroically winning many medals. He probably did not want to go, but if you know Robert Mueller, he felt the necessity of service in support of his country. John McCain was from a line heroes and wanted to be there to earn his honor. He was shot down and tortured and had the opportunity to return home (as his family was of course well connected politically because of his father/grandfather and their military service). John McCain chose to stay and suffer his injuries rather then abandon his other crew members who were also prisoners (very heroic/honorable).

 

Muhammad Ali was a conscientious objector. He was against the war and would not serve. He applied for exemption and he was convicted, stripped of his titles and his licenses to box, for not serving. Four years later the Supreme Court found in Muhammad Ali’s favor and exonerated him (hence why he did not need a posthumous pardon from Trump). But Muhammad’s courage to face this on moral grounds and final exoneration cost him a lot of years of earnings in the prime of life while he faced the appeals process and confronted the war’s validity at home by appearing at college campuses across our country.

Bill Clinton was similar to Al Gore, he did not believe in the war and Bill was also a Rhodes Scholar. He was torn at how to preserve his conscientious objector status while not appearing as a draft dodger (he had political leanings). Rather than conscientiously objecting, he applied to ROTC to gain a deferment. When he came home from studying at Oxford, he canceled his deferment and had himself added back to the draft. His draft # was never selected, so never did serve in the final result.

Donald Trump was a coward. He did not want to go to Vietnam, but as with “Chickenhawks” he thought other men should serve in the war (just not him). He used 5 “bonespur” deferments to dodge the draft and avoid service in Vietnam.

Trump’s feeble attempt to pardon Muhammad Ali was a way for him to align himself with Ali and his conscientious objector status (not to mention his worldwide hero status). But Trump’s ignorance showed and it had to be explained that Muhammad Ali was exonerated and had no crimes to be pardoned. So in 2019, when on D-DAY 75, Donald felt the need to say he was not a fan of the Vietnam War (nobody was) and then tried to portray himself as a conscientious objector, people like this jester who lived through the era remembered his cowardly 5 “bonespur deferments” as his draft dodging cowardice. Muhammad applied for conscientious objector status and was exonerated because the military never  applied any rule (there were three) for denying Muhammad (then known as Cassius Clay) Ali’s status. Nobody believed bonespurs prevented anyone from serving. They believed they were an imaginary malady used to dodge the draft. This is just one of a few reasons that Donald Trump hid his health records and raided his doctor’s office to illegally appropriate his health records forcibly. Just another cowardly  coverup to dodge reality.

So when Donald Trump attacks John McCain or Robert Mueller or any other service person it really sticks in older American’s craw that a coward would denigrate a veteran. For this jester, it was a HUGE anathema to have him a part of D-DAY 75 when he refused to serve when he had his chance. Then he made a major faux pas and criticized Robert Mueller (war hero) and the Speaker of the House from the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. There has been a long standing tradition to not criticize other Americans while a politician is overseas. It smacks of treason. Just like covering up the USS John McCain smacks of treason. Just like criticizing the former VP (Joe Biden) while in Japan smacks of treason. But he extolled Kim Jong-Un in the same breath as criticizing Joe Biden. That actually is treason. Millenials may not be aware, but we are still at war with North Korea. There was never a peace agreement between combatants. So by providing succor to Kim Jong-Un (enemy dictator of NK), Donald was actually committing treason … on Memorial Day???

 

A Coward and a treasonous traitor. So no Donald Trump has nothing in common with these other men because he is a coward and a traitor.  So, Trump is alone in box 4.

 

Box 3 (Clinton & Ali) were objectors. Muhammad was consistent, while Clinton wavered.

 

Box 1 & 2 were heroes! Albeit some got favorable treatment/stations by the military while others were serving honorably and earning medals in Vietnam. Some didn’t even believe in the war, but they served.

 

A coward should not even speak of, much less slander the men of boxes 1 & 2. A man in box 4 should not even speak of the men in box 3. A coward should also not populate the VA with a crony from Mar-A-Lago. A cowardly chickenhawk should not claim conscientious objector status when all he did was dodge the draft through morally repugnant means. A coward should not claim to spend more money on the military to “make up for his morally repugnant and cowardly behavior”. In fact it the House that allocates the funds for the military and oversees the expenditures. Trump merely diverts the money for SHAM emergencies (that never take away from his weekly golfing), from the military where it was needed to fight real war & cyber war. Why divert money from cyber war? Is that aiding & abetting the enemy too? You know between Memorial Day and D-Day are only a week or a week & a half. How could such a feeble-coward chickenhawk make so many mistakes in just that small amount of  time?

 

What’s your guess is he is unfit (mentally) and ready for Amendment25 or are his actions beyond repugnant and into criminally treasonous and worthy of Impeachment and/or jail? So Gen-X, Millenials, Gen-Z (some) now that you have the low-down, how will you vote in 2020?  I am hopeful it will NOT be for the coward!

The Death of Jan Paluch & The Case of House #104 — #Genealogy #Law

 

First off, let me state that Jan Paluch (1828-1882) is dead. I went to Metryki.genbaza.pl and retrieved his death record (Akt 17 in 1882 Pacanow Deaths) and determined he died (23-February-1882) at age 54. Yet his death seems to be what triggered this court case.

I have 30 images to wade through in old Russian written using cursive Cyrillic characters and filled with legalese. A daunting task to be sure. Putting these loose images together into a coherent narrative is difficult … there’s some blurriness, some pages fold into crease, some Russian/Cyrillic words are hard to translate, the span of time, and some people whose role in the case is not defined or explained.

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Participants

Jan Paluch (deceased)

Wojciech Elijasz (unexplained person)

Marcin Elijasz (plaintive, not explained)

Antoni & Agnieszka Janicki Wojtys (defendants)

Kasper & Aniela Paluch Pawlowski (plaintives)

Jozef Eliasz & Maryanna Paluch Elijasz (plaintives)

Walenty Paluch & Magdalena Major Paluch (plaintives)

Jozef Paluch, Andrzej Paluch (plaintives)

Walenty Grudzien (witness)

Franciszek Pytka (witness)

Jan Zwolski (witness)

 

Proceeding Forward…

Next: A Look at Dates & Signatures

 

Artur Pieszczochowicz’s Letter — #Polish #Genealogy

Artur’s ancestor (great grandfather / pradziadek) was Bolesław Pieszczachowicz.

It is a welcome surprise when Stanczyk gains a reader/writer who is related to someone in my blog / family tree!

My 4th Cousin (once removed) Martha

If Stanczyk may, let me gush over a 4th cousin who went to Poland & remembered this jester! Her name is Martha.

I did not know Martha’s family name from Pacanow. After we worked together I was surprised to see a connection between my 2x great-grandfather Jozef Elijasz and her ancestors! I even found one female, Salomea ELIJASZ that I previously did not know who had married into her family.

She traveled all around Poland meeting her family and doing tourist things. Then she visited the ancestral villages: Biechow & Pacanow (a shared ancestral village). The church pictures & cemetery pictures were sublime. We worked remotely on a church record & I was able to let her know about her friend’s ancestor (Dubiński) being born in Nowy Korczyn & they were able to make a quick jaunt down there for research. Genealogy is truly collaborative. I was envying my 4th cousin’s genealogical adventure.

Then she made her way to the AP Archive in Kielce. She took a ton of pictures and I was able to learn from her sharing her experience & expertise at AP Kielce. She took this jester’s wish list and made a HUGE dent with her finds! More on this tomorrow.

HIAS Example Image

 

Yesterday, this jester wrote about HIAS or Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

So today I wanted to show an example document that you could find and help you in your research.

He did arrive on the SS Andalusia as specified in May 1907, from Marmoros to borther Simon in Wilkesbarre , PA (not Philadelphia). He was traveling as Wulf (not Shloima) Wolwowitz (close enough).

So beware the info may be a bit off.

 

Jewish Genealogy … Especially in Philadelphia

Stanczyk, is an expert in Polish Genealogy, for the Gubernia / Wojewodztwo Kielce (Kieleckie). However, good this jester’s  genealogical skills are in Polish genealogy, only a limited subset transfer to research in Jewish genealogy. Acquiring the Jewish genealogical skills to research, my wife’s (Tereza Eliasz-Solomon) family is another tool in my larger  slavic genealogical skills.

But I am always learning. So here for my own edification & to aid others here are the FamilySearch catalog results for immigration on:

HIAS, Hebrew Imm. Aid Society

Title	Description
Card file of detainee immigrants,1914-1921	Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society card file I-96, 1882-1929	American Jewish Historical Society
Immigrant records, 1884-1952	Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Jewish immigrant aid societies’ records of Jewish arrivals, 1913-1947	Port of Philadelphia. Association for the Protection of Jewish Immigrants; Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America; Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Massachusetts (Boston, Massachusetts); Hebrew Immigrants Protective Association (Baltimore, Maryland)
Landing verification cards, 1907-1914	Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania, various records : Greens and Browns collection	Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Prepaid steamship ticket record, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 1906-1948	People’s Bank (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Lipschutz Steamship Company (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Ticket purchase books and index, 1899-1930	Blitzstein Steamship Company (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Ticket purchase books, 1890-1934	Rosenbaum Steamship Company (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Records, 1884-1934	HIAS (Philadelphia) Records, 1884-1934

 

NOTE:

 Some are available online, some are only available digitally at FHC  or FHL, some are only available on microfilm at FHC or FHL.

 

 

 

 

 

Finding The Dead

Stanczyk ‘s wife, (moja żona, Tereza Eliasz-Solomon) is Jewish. Jewish genealogy is even harder then Polish genealogy … due to so much documentation being destroyed or too little remaining.

 

So I knew her paternal grandmother (Bessie Wolf). I knew of her brother Harry Wolf. I was pretty sure their father was Israel Wolf whose wife had many variations on her first name. I knew Harry’s wife’s name (Rose Itskowicz another family probably from Maramures region (modern day Romania and part now in Ukraine (Drahovo/Kovesliget). So with these tiny bits and records being added to the Internet (Ancestry, FamilySearch, JewishGen, etc.), I have been able to knit together a smallish narrative and more importantly enlarge it.

 

So I found a death certificate for Harry Wolf. I knew his wife, his birth (roughly), his death, his parents names. But I did learn his FINAL residence/address. I wrote it down (good genealogist) in the tree. I decide to look for his siblings on the basis of Wolf, died in Philly, with a father named ISRAEL. Just those bits and then proceed through each one and look at the mother’s name (for Nancy, Nessie, Gussie, etc.). 

 So I found a Samuel Wolf. I had Simon, Samuel, Max, Louis and my wife’s grandmother, Bessie. I never knew Samuel’s wife’s name. In Samuel’s death certificate, his wife precede him in death (pity, her name was needed). But he had the right parent names so I was getting comfortable. His birth location and birth date were in the tolerance for correct. So I was more comfortable. I looked at the Informant. His name was Harry Wolf. Unfortunately, Wolf is a common name in Philadelphia (Christian and Jewish families) and Harry & Samuel were common Wolf first names. Oh, the Informant’s address was there? Well what do you know it was the newly learned address for Harry Wolf (who died after his brother Samuel). So, I had reached 100% certainty now. Two death certificates juxtaposed against each other with slim tidbits of info and I had furthered my wife’s family history!

#Meme — Things I Find Whilst Searching For Other Things

Stanczyk does intensive research. So what do you do when you find a treasure and its not related to your search? I guess I record it (for another time) and blog about it!

So here is another in my ongoing meme, “Things I Find…”. Perhaps you already know that this jester is a bibliophile. As a genealogist, I collect stories and their authors and retell the stories in my way.

So yesterday I was combing through historical newspapers, regarding the blacksheep, Stanley Gawlikowski (aka Gawlick, alias Gawley), who met his demise most unfortunately. That is why, I was reading the Toledo Blade newspapers from August 1924. So its funny or serendipitous when others share genealogical events contemporaneously with the denizens of my family tree.

As you may have surmised, I found an article on the death of Joseph Conrad (reported as from Asthma) on 3-August-1924. And, you would be correct. I found the obituary story, plus another story about the Polish boy AND a third story about Henryk Sienkiewicz whose remains were being exhumed from Vevey, Switzerland to be re-buried in Poland. I guess technically you should record two burial events for Henryk. He now lies entombed in Warsaw’s St. John’s Cathedral (Katedra sw. Jana).

So Stanczyk did not find anything about Stanley, but found August 1924 Polish genealogical events about famous Polish authors: Joseph Conrad & Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Stanley Gawlick / Gawlik

Stanczyk almost always feels elated when you can find an image for one of your ancestors. It enhances the tree to see the person’s face. Lacking that I like to put a valuable document as the image for the person.

However, finding the only picture of someone in your tree from a newspaper article, above the fold, seems to be a bittersweet blessing to this jester. You see Stanley Gawlick is shown in the Detroit Free Press from 1927 with a few of his business associates. The bitterness is that and his associates are connected with a story on thugs/criminality (ok, bank robbery / rabuś bankowy).

So dear readers, do you have any blacksheep in your tree?

Castroregio — 1827 Marriage #Genealogy #Albanian #Italian

Dateline: June 12th, 1827 Castroregio

Basile di Lazaro & Giovanna Donnangelo — their marriage record.

#Albano_Italians

#Skanderbeg

Stanczyk’s wife, Tereza Eliasz-Solomon, has Italo-Albano blood of Skanderbeg flowing through her veins! So it was a thrill when another Facebook genealogist passed along this marriage record for my wife’s 3x great-grandparents.

Duke & Duchess of Sussex Have A Boy❣️

Baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born 6th-May-2019 at 5:26 (BST). He is now 7th in line to the throne.

HRH Queen Elizabeth has now been blessed with eight great-grandchildren!

🇬🇧

P.S. Uniting USA & UK ??? Where’s the USA?

Ancestry App v10.32 — #Genealogy #Software

Ancestry updated their mobile app. The main feature is now you can view parts of your family tree on a map. So they added a 3rd “tab” at the top. It is after the  “Vertical”, “Horizontal” tree orientation, you now have a “Map” orientation of viewing your tree.

If you have NOT been thorough in your place name hierarchy, you may find a few interesting placements of events. It was easy to click on the event and correct the place name hierarchy. So it is a good thing to catch where your genealogy has been a bit sloppy. If your place name is missing or very non-standard (using an old country, ex. Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia), then your ancestor will not appear on the map.

May 3rd 2019 — Constitution Day — #History

May 3rd Constitution (see middle of Warsaw Gazette) / Konstytucja 3 Maja

The Constitution of May 3, 1791 (Konstytucja Trzeciego Maja) was drafted between October 6, 1788, and May 3, 1791, when it was adopted by the Great Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The constitution’s adoption was preceded by a period of agitation with the Convocation Sejm of 1764 and the election of Stanisław August Poniatowski as the Commonwealth’s last elective monarch.

The constitution had sought to prevail over and eliminate the anarchy, caused by the Liberum Veto, which had put the Country/King at the mercy of any single Sejm deputy who chose, or was bribed by an internal interest or external foreign power, to undo all the legislation that had been passed by the Sejm. The constitution’s adoption met with immediate hostilities, both political and military by the Commonwealth’s neighbors. In the War in Defense of the Constitution, the Commonwealth’s ally Prussia, broke its alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was effectively defeated by the three Empires: Russia, Prussia, & Austria-Hungary (aka Hapsburg).

[NOTE: the parallels between this Sejm’s use of liberum veto and the U.S. Congresses of 2008-present who have abused/utilized omnipresent obstructionist tools: filibuster and cloture to keep the Obama administration for achieving its goals.]
British historian, Norman Davies describes the legal document as “the first constitution of its type in Europe”; Other historians documented it as the world’s second oldest codified national constitution after the U.S. Constitution, which was effective on March 4, 1789 — just two years earlier.
The Commonwealth’s 1791 Constitution remained in effect for all of 14 months and 3 weeks. It would be a long time until the Second Republic would re-emerge after World War I and Poland would re-appear and be a free republic again.
[Source Material from Wikipedia]

Tomorrow is May 3rd and in Poland and Lithuania it is celebrated as Constitution Day (first celebrated jointly on May 3rd 2007). But Stanczyk is getting ahead of himself in this story.
This jester trusts by now that you know that Poland was country with the second constitution. I am also hopeful that you had read a prior blog article of mine: “Poland 1794, The Tempest, and Catherine The Great” . For the discussion on Poland’s Constitution, I’d like to try my hand at an even broader context.

1732
Stanczyk maintains that 1732 was a very bad year for Poland. On 17 January 1732 Stanislaw Poniatowski was born in Wolczyn (which is in modern day Belarus). If the year had begun badly, then it would get much worse. On 13 September 1732, the secret treaty was signed at the Alliance of the Three Black Eagles. This was a secret treaty between Prussia, Russia and Hapsburg-Austria Empires (all three had Black Eagles as emblems — in stark contrast to Poland’s White Eagle). They agreed to maintain Poland in their “status quo” suffering from a non-functional szlachta with a Liberum Veto — meaning a single veto could derail any new law, further meaning that laws almost never got passed [sounds like 2009-2012 Washington D.C. does it not?]
Now let me narrate the rest of the story, before I give Constitution Day’s Timeline.

In 1750 Poniatowski met his mentor, the Briton, Charles Hanbury Williams . Williams was the British ambassador to Russia. They met again in 1753. Now while the Poniatowskich were a noble family, their family fortunes were not so great as the great magnate families. So they had to align themselves and hope for a strategic marriage for Stanislaw to a wealthier family. None the less, Stanislaw’s father was able to procure him some nominal titles. In 1755, the elder Poniatowski got his son Stanislaw, the title of Stolnik of Lithuania. Stolnik was a court office in Poland and Russia, responsible for serving the royal table. Keep that image in mind.

So armed with his new title of Stolnik of Lithuania, Stanislaw accompanied the British Ambassador to Russia, where the young Poniatowski met the also young (but very formidable) Catherine who had not yet become Empress of Russia (nor yet earned, her appellation, “The Great”). Stanislaw Poniatowski was only at the Russian court for one year. By 1756 Poniatowski was ordered to leave the Russian Court amidst some “intrigue”. It is thought that this intrigue resulted in the birth of Anna Petrovna (by Catherine the Great) on the 9th December 1757. It is also said that Stanislaw always hoped his bedding of Catherine would result in a future marriage for him. This jester thinks that Stanislaw deluded himself to think he had successfully wooed Catherine and that marriage was possible for the two of them. This jester also further thinks that Catherine, used this virtual “apron string” to manage Poniatowski to do her Russian bidding in Poland.

In 1762 Catherine used her new position as the Russian Empress and she was able to get Stanislaw to be elected King of Poland on 6 September 1764. It has now been 32 years of managing Poland’s status quo by the Three Black Eagles. So by 17 February 1772 the Three Black Eagles agreed to partition Poland. On August 5th, 1772 the occupation manifesto was issued and foreign troops entered Poland’s sovereign territory and forced a cession Sejm to convene with King Poniatowski and agree to the partition manifesto (probably Stanislaw thought it was best to go along with Russia in this matter and that this obedience would be rewarded) on 9/18/1773. Not much leadership in this jester’s mind was exhibited, but opposition to three Empires was probably futile anyway.

Life goes on for another decade. Stanislaw uses what little wealth of the Kingdom to foster arts & science, but with Prussia’s control of the Baltic Ports, and using its control to extort high custom duties from Poland on 80% of Poland’s economic trades to further collapse Poland’s economy and that limits Poniatowski’s wealth/power. Poniatowski also continues his hope for a noble marriage, but he does engage in a morganatic marriage to Elzbieta Szydlowska in 1783 and thereby maintains his options for a royal marriage.

In 1788 the Four Year Sejm convenes and Stanislaw thinks he can help Catherine The Great in her war with the Ottoman Empire by raising an army in Poland — which Catherine quickly squashes, but leaves the Polish Sejm alone while she wars with the Ottomans. Left to their own devices, this “Enlightened” body of lawmakers passes a constitution on 3rd May 1791. Even King Poniatowski celebrates this event. If you have read my prior blog article listed above, then you know this will NOT end well for Poland (or Poniatowski who is forced to abdicate the Polish throne 11/25/1795).

I think you can see that Poniatowski, Stolnik of Lithuania, served up Poland as a feast for Catherine The Great to enjoy repeatedly until even she was forced to make him abdicate and spend the remainder of his three years of life as a nominal prisoner in St Petersburg, Russia (so he could not meddle further in Russian affairs). Poniatowski died 2/12/1798 in St Petersburg, Russia. Poniatowski’s remains were removed and re-buried in Wolczyn, Belarus — until that church fell into disrepair. Poland reclaimed Poniatowki’s remains and he was buried a third time (14 February 1995) in St. John’s Cathedral in Warsaw, Poland — the very site where he had celebrated the Polish Constitution on May 3rd 1791.

Timeline of the Constitution:
May 3rd, 1791 – Constitution is Passed (2nd in the world).
May 1792 Constitution Day is celebrated.
July 1792 King Poniatowski joins the Targowice Confederation against Poland and his own nephew (and Kosciuszko too) who were fighting the War To Defend The Constitution with Russia and Catherine the Great who was now freed up from warring with the Ottomans and now able to show her displeasure.
1793-1806 – Constitution Day is banned during the the 2nd/3rd Partition years.
1807-1815 – Constitution Day is celebrated in the Duchy of Warsaw thanks to Napoleon.
1815-1918 – Constitution Day is unofficially celebrated / discouraged in Congress Poland
April 1919 – The re-emerged Polish Republic celebrates Constitution Day again until 1940.
World War II – Constitution Day is banned again.
1945 – Constitution Day is celebrated.
1946 – The Communists cancel Constitution Day. They substitute May Day (May 1st) as an attempt to replace the Constitution Day celebration.
April 1990 – Poland out from under the Communist yoke celebrates Constitution Day again.
May 3rd 2007 – Poland & Lithuania celebrate Constitution Day jointly echoing their former Commonwealth days. This is the first jointly celebrated Constitution Day.
Perhaps one day, the USA will celebrate with Poland on May 3rd as the two countries with the oldest constitutions. [Now, please I know Polonia all over the USA, but most notably in Chicago mark May 3rd annually.] Indeed you are reading this blog about May 3rd. So Polonia still mark the day, the old country adopted the second oldest constitution.

Happy Constitution Day!

 

May 3rd is also Feast Day of Mary Queen of Poland!

But that is another story.

8th Annual Czesław Miłosz Festival — THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019 – SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

Ooooh Stanczyk adores Miłosz! Has it been 15 years since Czeslaw Milosz passed?

Born: 30 June1911; Szetejnie, Kovno

Died: 14 August 2004 (age 93);  Kraków, Poland

So mark your calendars:

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019 – SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019

Krakow again becomes the center of new & exciting contemporary poetry.

Where:

Stary National Theatre, ul. Jagiellońska 1, Krakow, Poland 🇵🇱

Read More:

http://karnet.krakow.pl/en/31842-krakow-milosz-festival-2019

The Historical Description of Churches … in Stopnica — #IndexOfParishes

Yesterday, Stanczyk wrote about the historical book:

A Historical Description of Churches, … in Stopnica

Web Link (URL): http://sbc.wbp.kielce.pl/dlibra/publication/7191/edition/7053/content?ref=desc

Today, I wanted to mention that Biechow & Pacanow have now been done. The following image (Index page) however, shows the other parishes covered. Perhaps one of these are yours? Then click on the link above and read the book about your parish. It will give you some background on your ancestral parish.

Note, the page numbers at the right of the image are about 15 pages less than the image numbers, so add at least 15 to get closer to your parish without a lot of NEXT-NEXT-NEXT sequential scanning.

You will notice, that a lot of these parishes have been a part of this blog’s articles. Post your parish’s pastors or send me an email!

Pacanow Pastors (Plebani) — #Genealogy #Church #Polish

Stanczyk wrote about Biechów’s Historical Pastors. That was from a book:

A Historical Description of Churches, … in Stopnica

Web Link (URL): http://sbc.wbp.kielce.pl/dlibra/publication/7191/edition/7053/content?ref=desc

 

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	It occurred to this jester that I needed to do the same for Pacanów (adjoining parish) which was my grandfather’s birth parish. It is especially true since vital records (Birth / Marriage / Death) recorded in the parish only go back to 1875 and that is also true in the Polish Archive (AP Kielce) and sadly also true in Diocessan (Church) Archive (AD Kielce). So sad that backup copies of the church records were not sent to the Diocese (like Biechów).    In some cases they overlapped. In other cases we see gaps. So information may be incomplete.   Pastors / Plebani, Deacons, etc. 1326 Rudolf ? 1440 Jakob Wislicki 1550 Stanislaw Bzowski 1552 Bartolomej Gantkowski 1599 Wojciech Krakowiec 1610 Tomasz Bucki 1630 Wojciech Kruzel 1632 Walerjan Wilczogorski 1650 ? Rucki (vel Rudzki), Jacek Mokrski 1675 Jozef Zebrzydowski 1712 Kazimierz Siecinski, Piotr Tarlo 1728 Albert Pruszak Bieniewski (died/zm. 1731) 1729 Tomasz ? 1731 Antoni de Klezczany Kleczynski, Andrzej Zaluski 1743 Seweryn Michal Biedrzycki 1759 Walenty Olseinski 1762 Franciszek Pacowski, Marcin Rozwadowski, Jakob Wadas, Jozef Raczowski 1765 Tomasz Nowakowski 1769 Albert Wojna 1772 FIRST PARTITION of POLAND 1778 Stefan Komorowski 1779 Karol Stobiecki 1780 Jan Kanty Soltyk 1783 Stanislaw Nawrocki 1787-1817 Michal Soltyk 1788 Jozef Kedzierski 1793 SECOND PARTITION of POLAND 1795 THIRD PARTITION of POLAND 1795 Prussian Soldiers who died in Pacanow: 17-April Jozef Habro ze Malkowic in Slaskie age 40, 26-April Andrzej Was ze Golsmide in Slaskie, age 34,  02-May Marquentis Franz Eufricht, ze Slaskie, age 27  02-May Jakob Welsch ze Lotaryngii, age 21, 02-May Daniel Warkus ze Slaskie, age 32, 16-May Krystjan Seiffert ze Slaskie,  All (above) were Catholics buried in cemetery. 16-May Gotlieb Kabs lutheran, ze Ramesin in Wroclaw. age 23 28-May Krzycz ze Giedsorfu in Slaskie, age 36,             Gotlieb Kamter., age 26, evangelical, 01-June Gottfried Klinnert, ze Derenfort in Slaskie, 29 evangelical              Fridrych  Urlvich, ze Steintrendorf, age 21 evangelical 21-May Frido Hejbel de Mattien, evangelical   1807-1815 NAPOLEON DUCHY of WARSAW 1815-1915 CONGRESS POLAND, Polish Kingdom, Russian-Poland Partition 1817-1837 Jakob Eljasz Gogulski 1837-1864 Benedykt Nowakowski 1874-1908 Wawrzeniec Nowakowski 1908 Adam Jozef Badowski, Franciszek Rajski 1918 2nd Republic of Poland (aka Interwar Poland) 1923 Pawel Rotter – a very much accomplished Pacanow  (and surrounding areas) administrator. I think we have a hint (by red arrow in picture). In Pacanow, he built 5 altars; 4 of those altars burned. So this hint, may explain why no church records exist prior to 1875. Why 1875-1918 church records (and presumably so on) were saved is not known.

 

Pacanów Deaconate … A History

Pacanow Deanery — Church Censuses

 

By 1326 the Pacanów deaconate (aka deanery), consisted of 13 parishes:

Beszów, Biechów, Kargów, Koniemłoty, Kotuszów, Książnice, Oleśnica, Pacanów, Staszów, Stopnica, Szydłów, Tuczępa, and Zborówek.

During 1326-1470 two more parishes were established: Kurozwęki and Strzelce.

In the later days, up to the 20th century, no new parishes were created and in fact, the Strzelce parish disappeared in the second half of the 16th century.

In the 20th century, two new parishes were created: Szczebrzusz (1925),  Rytwiany (1936). Please note these two as they happened in the last 100 years and they will be listed in the archives.

In the second half of the 15th century, out of 15 parish churches, 5 were wooden: in Biechów, Książnice, Strzelce, Tuczępy, and Zborówko;     8 brick: in Beszowa, Kargów, Kurozwęki, Oleśnica, Pacanów, Staszów, Stopnica, and Szydłów; in relation to two building materials we know only from the second half of the sixteenth century; in one case it is a wooden church – in Kotuszów, in the second one – in Koniemłoty.

 

In the 18th century, out of 14 parish churches, the number of wooden churches amounted to 3, bricked churches 11. The change from a wooden church to a brick one took place in Kotuszów (in 1635-1661) and in Tuczępy (in 1674).

 

The sixteenth century sources recorded only 4 hospitals; in the seventeenth century 10 hospitals and in the eighteenth century 14 hospitals. In the parish of Kotuszów in 1748 there was no hospital, however, the table from the same year recorded the existence of 2 poor {houses?]. Hospital chapels are in Pacanów, Staszów and Szydłów from the end of the 16th century.

In the sixteenth to eighteenth century, in the Pacanów deanery, there were 26 chapels or private oratorios (excluding hospital chapels) in 10 parishes. In the sixteenth century there are 6 chapels, in the seventeenth century 12 chapels, and  in the eighteenth century 18 chapels. Of these chapels, 6 are from the 16th to the 18th century: in Kurozwęki, Pacanów, Rytwiany (Staszów parish), Szklanowie (Stopnica parish) and 2 in Szydłów; two are available from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries: in Łubnica (Beszów parish) and in Szczebrzusz (parish Zborówek); ten occur only in the 18th century: in Wolica (Beszów parish), Grzybów (parish Koniemłoty), Kurozwęki, Borzymów (Oleśnica parish), in Bydłowa (Oleśnica parish), in Staszów and Czyżów {parish. Tuczępy), Strzelce (Oleśnica parish).

The Polish word ‘cech’ means guild (a kind of professional union). The other word of interest is ‘Bractwo’ meaning brotherhood (but church society might be a better understanding).

As it can be seen from the image on the left, in the sixteenth century, we find the existence of 5 brotherhoods and 5 guilds, in the seventeenth century – 9 brotherhoods and three guilds, in the eighteenth century – 15 brotherhoods and one guild.

 

Keep these in mind as you search through fonds in the National Archives in Kielce or Sandomierz. For example, this jester’s  great grandfather, Tomasz Leszczynski was a shoemaker, so the ‘cech szewcow‘ might be a focus for me.

At some point the deanery shifts to Stopnica. I assume that happened as Pacanow’s fortunes declined and its importance lessened after many Tatar raids and wars (before the partitions).

I wonder why almost all of the guilds are “associated” with the Szydlow parish? Anybody know? Write this jester or post a comment.

 

Next: The Plebani (Pastors) of Pacanów parish

Pacanow

Pacanow – St. Martin 1918

Pacanow – St. Martin 2018

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Stanczyk ‘s paternal / ELIASZ grandfather (and great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather) were born in Pacanow.

There are online records in metryki.genbaza.pl for Pacanow:

1875-1917 (inclusive). The 1909-1917 are very recent additions! [editor’s note: this is why this blog article was delayed.]

Also recently, a third genealogist contacted this blog about our shared ZASUCHA (from Pacanow) research. This genealogist confirmed to this jester that Pacanow-Niagara Falls-Cleveland-Michigan were Pacanow/Zasucha enclaves for her family.

Besides the normal genbaza church records (Pacanow), the Ancestry/Family Search/Ellis Island (USA records), https://fultonsearch.org proved very useful for the NY Zasucha.

This jester is now in a massive Social Network Analysis research in an effort to sort the Zasucha trees in order to merge the complete Zasucha into the Eliasz/Leszczynski et. al. Family Tree.

Let me leave you readers with a 1930 Poland Business Directory page for Pacanow.

 

 

From Genealodzy.pl we can find parish holdings at https://parafie.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=pr&pid=6067

Miejscowosc		Parafia pod wezwaniem
Pacanów		św.Marcina
Wyznanie	Wcześniejsza parafia	Diecezja		Dekanat
rzymskokatolickie
Erygowana	Województwo (stare)	Województwo (nowe)		Powiat
XIII w.	kieleckie	świętokrzyskie		buski
Kod pocztowy	Poczta	Adres		Telefon 1	Telefon 2
28-133	Pacanów	ul.Kościelna 24		041-3765442
Indeksy w zasobach internetowych
Portal	Narodzin		Slubów		Zgonów
Geneteka	1875-1903,1905-08		1875-1903,1905-08		1875-1903,1905-08
Ksiegi w parafii
Narodzin		Slubów		Zgonów
1910		1945		1945

Chust, Xyct, Khust, Hust, Huszt … Synagogue for Kovesliget, Drahiv, Drahovo, Drahova — #Genealogy #Jewish #HapsburgEmpire #Maramaros

The earliest mention of a Jewish presence in Kovesliget (Drahiv) is from 1735 when there were two Jewish families. By 1746 they had been counted as 17 (5 men, 5 women, and six children). In both instances the names were not recorded.

By 1768, there were a total of 16 individuals, including: Wolva (that is, Wolf), the head of a family of four, paying the sum of 12 florins per year rent; So this is the earliest mention of Stanczyk’s wife’s family. These scant details are from:  Sefer Marmarosh; as translated by Moshe A. Davis (accessed at https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/maramures/mar270.html on 02/26/2019). Drahiv/Kovesliget was the village where they lived and the synagogue was in Chust. 

From FamilySearch – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK8-NS94-9?i=31&cat=231564, I found a census of the Maramaros region for Koveslegit on image 43 of 693 for Kovesligeth (starting at image 32), I found at line 104: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK8-NSM1-H?i=42&cat=231564

I found Stryj Volvovits (Jud). It was in 1828 Census. 

When going back to Moshe A. Davis ‘s work (from above), He mentions:

62 years later, in 1830, Drahiv was already well-populated by Jews, in comparison to other neighboring villages. There can be no question that in the first third of the 19th century that there was already established in Drahiv a proper Jewish community with all of the institutions necessary for it’s proper functioning and development; that is, the triple foundation of a synagogue in which to pray and learn, a mikvah, and (to distinguish between the living and those who already have passed on) a Jewish cemetery.

This growth of the Jewish communtity of Drahiv is found recorded in a manuscript in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest which lists the names of 18 heads of Jewish households from Drahiv, totalling 99 individual family members. A photocopy of this manuscript exists in the University of Tel Aviv (Muller Collection). The names listed are as follows (the numbers in parentheses is the number of individuals in each family):

Isaac Hofman (8, including a Jewish servant);
Barko Shimonovits (7);
Yanko Leibovits (10);
Mendel Zelikovits (3);
Moshko Hershkovits (6);
Sruli (=Yisroel) Wolfowitz (4);
Marko Shimonovits (10);
Folk Leibovits (4);
Yecheskel Davidovits (3);
Tzala (=Betzalel?) Davidovits (7);
Marko Sheyovits (9);
Chayim Sheyovits (3);
Pinchas Chaimovits (4);
Moshko Leibovits (4);
Hillel Leibovits (6);
Shlomo Gedaliyovits (6);
Itzko Hershkovits (3);
Shimon Itzkovits (2).

I see Sruli Wolfowitz in this 1830 census. Sruli is I am confident the same Stryj Volvovits from 1828. So perhaps Sruli/Stryj/Israel is the earliest forbear from which we have a full name.

 

Now these Wolva/Volvovits/Wolfowitz are all the same family and I am afraid you will have to take my word for it right now. I will be offering a further genealogical proof from US records (ship manifests, tickets records, HIAS records, etc.) that will make the case for these names being the same family who came to  Eastern PA (and some on towards Cleveland). My interest is in my wife’s family who settled in Philadelphia as the WOLF family (a common name to be sure).

 

 

Serendipity Continued … — #Polish #Genealogy

Alegata page 1

Alegata page 2

Stanczyk, wanted to discuss further the serendipitous alegata found last time.  So the two page alegata needed translating. So I translated the pertinent parts from Polish & Russian as shown below …

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Akt 11 1887 (Alegata)

Gubernia Kielecka

Uezd Stopnica

Parish Biechów

It happened in Biechów the 31st day of January 1864 at 5 o’clock in the evening. He appeared Józef Leszczyński, the townsman, wheelwright who lived at the Inn, age 20 (=>b. 1844) , with witnesses, Maciej Kopra, age 46 & Wojciech Fortuna, age 50 of Piestrzec who presented a female baby born in Piestrzec on the 30th of January, this year at 5pm to his wife, Agnieszka zd Godowska age 19, given two names, Marianna Apolonia , the godparents were, Marcin Major Of Piestrzec & Julianna Leszczynska of Biechow

Biechów 26th January 1887

Father Michał Królikowski

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Well that was some excellent serendipity. I not only got my 2nd-great-grandfather (Marcin Major), but the godmother is my great-grandfather Tomasz’s first wife (Julianna Leszczynska nee Kordos). I also decided that the father, Jozef Leszczynski was the wheelwright (carter) living at the Inn in Piestrzec (aka Piersciec). The Inn owned by his brother (?) Tomasz Leszczynski.

So I went and added Jozef Leszczynski & his wife Agnieszka Godowska and their 10 kids to the family tree. As a result of that work, I also found that Jozef later on (1879) owned his own Inn in Szydlow. This is very interesting as it appears that my Leszczynskich were, if not a szlachta/magnate family, at least fairly well off. This confirms other family lore about owning a mill.

Making Some Serendipity — #Polish #Genealogy

Last year, Stanczyk noticed that the site metryki.genealodzy.pl had added Stopnica to their collection and in particular, a long list of Alegata for the years 1887-1913. This jester adores alegata for finding echoes of lost genealogical records.

 

So in a case of making your own serendipity, this jester was sequentially scanning all of the above alegata looking for potential relatives, when I noticed a Leszczynski being born in Biechow. That caught my eye. My grandmother, Waleria Leszczynska,  was born in Biechow. So I downloaded the two pages of the alegata and the marriage record they went with. It was a goldmine! The years 1849-1874 are lost/missing from Biechow. So when I found an alegata, detailing a birth from 1864, in that lost range, I was ecstatic!

Let me provide some context. Dateline 1887, Stopnica, a marriage was recorded for Marianna Apolonia Leszczynska, the daughter of Jozef Leszczynska & Agnieszka Godowska. This is a family I have had my eye on, but could not gather enough genealogical proof to say they belong in my family tree, due to the lost records in this region of Russian-Poland. So, since Marianna Apolonia was born in Piestrzec (Biechow parish), she needed an alegata to proof she was able to be married in Stopnica (a nearby parish). So this jester was scanning alegata in Stopnica when her birth popped up. She was born in my grandmother’s parish, Biechow in 1864.  Her father, Jozef,  was a wheelwright for the Innkeeper in Piestrzec (my great-grandfather Tomasz?). Now I was really interested in that occupation because of the possible tie to my great-grandfather, Tomasz (the Inkeeper).  So I examined the birth record from the alegata. On the second page of the alegata, I noticed the godparents and I saw my great-great-grandfather, Marcin Major was the godfather! Ok I now know these Leszczynskich are my family! In fact, Jozef Leszczynski is probably my great-grandfather Tomasz’s brother (less likely a 1st cousin). Did I mention that the Godowskich are an affiliated family? There is enough circumstantial evidence to convince me to add some new relatives from whom I might one day find my 2nd-great-grandparents Leszczynskich.

The search goes on, but now I have new clues.

 

Polish Genealogy Tools in Columbus Book

The 17th Chapter provides (unsourced) genealogical tree and a timeline:

Columbus Was Polish — A Genealogical #Book Review

Stanczyk’s readings have converged. I was reading the book in picture, by author (historian, researcher), Manuel Rosa. This topic has re-occurred, quite a few times. My blog articles on whether Columbus was Polish are here:

Christopher Columbus Discovers … He Is Polish  [12/02/2010]

Wladislaw III, Father of Columbus?  [12/27/2010]

Cristobal Colon Discoverer Formerly Known As Columbus is Noble Born Polish [3/26/2013] 

Columbus’s Author Rediscovers America  [12/18/2014]

Columbus is Polish, Who Knew? [4/7/2016] 

There were a few other references in my blog beyond those. I even traded a few emails with the author too! So I guess I am obsessed with this topic.

Today’s blog originates because I was reading Manuel Rosa’s book and I was also looking a wikipedia article about early Poles in America.  In the wikipedia was one Franciszek Warnadowicz who arrived 1492??? Warna as in Battle of Varna/Warna and owicz as in: of, from, or connected with. So we have Franciszek who is of/from/connected to Warna. Franciszek moved/lived in Cadiz, Spain. According to materials Franciszek or his son Franciszek/Francisco was enrolled as a member of Columbus/Colon’s crew in 1492. Franciszek Warnadowicz has the dubious distinction of being the first European to die in the Americas (at Hispanola).

 

 

So my book review ensues…

I was reading “Columbus: The Untold Story“, by Manuel Rosa.  The book has 17 chapters & an Epilogue spanning 325 pages. It also has an appendix and a Notes Section that is 12 pages of very interesting citations/notes. So this is no fluff book. It has stretches that are a bit pedantic but over all the author conveys how he reached his conclusion that Christobal Colon was Polish and was in known as Wladyslaw IV a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth noble (Jagiellonian Line).

 

Mr. Rosa is trying to overturn five centuries of misconceptions, with his thesis that Wladyslaw III, survived the Battle of Varna 1444. History built a tomb for Wladyslaw III and named him Wladyslaw Warnensi (or Warneńczyk). So when I saw that Christobal Colon had a Polish crewman named Franciszek WARNAdowicz with him in 1492. I had an Eureka  moment. Suprisingly this historical footnote was missing from Manuel Rosa’s anecdotal arguments in the book, as I think this is another circumstantial argument that supports the author’s claim!

The book has lavish illustrations and pictures to accompany the author’s text. The narrative while not always exciting, is at least compelling. But as a genealogist, Chapter 17 (Son of The Hermit King) was all I really needed to see. Genealogy is History for this jester. I agree he needed to make the detailed and well researched arguments of the the first 16 Chapters and I understand as a Portuguese native these are the compelling part. I mean honestly how could the Polish family, under its pseudonym (double pseudonyms) have such privilege if Columbus were a commoner? He makes the excellent argument of the names (pseudonyms) and the secrecy required by both Wladyslaw III and his son(s) to remain safe. These were marriages of nobles, educated nobles. Poles, Portuguese, Spaniards. They were all royals!

Many Chapters are focused on Spain & Portugal and they too include genealogies and histories. So if you you are Spanish or Portuguese then these first 6 Chapters will be of interest (really the whole book). It is after all Portuguese-centric. The early books were in Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish. So this jester was glad they got around to an English translation. The book is filled with symbols and their decoding. It’s kind of like a real live, Dan Brown tale. There was also an argument about distances and the mathematics and I being an engineer loved that discussion. The double-swapped identity to protect Wladyslaw (III & IV) from the Ottomans or Muslim assassins was a bit beyond Occam’s Razor. I would have loved to see some work on Wladyslaw IV’s brothers and their genealogy. Also, with all of the Genetic Genealogy, why has no Jagiellonian DNA been tested against Christobal Colon? The book seems to rule out Italian ancestry via DNA, but what holds back the Polish confirmation.

 

Still I believe Christobal Colon was Polish and a noble. But belief is not proof. Manuel Rosa, get some Polish DNA to prove Christobal Colon was Polish. The Slavics have distinctive haplotypes. It should be easy to determine if he’s Polish/Lithuanian (as any Jagiellonian would be) and he has done enough to prove nobility from circumstantial evidence. I do so love the era of #Genetic #Genealogy!

 

P.S. 

I am now reading a book on Colon’s last voyage (the Vizcaina), so I hope to get more info about Warnadowicz.

Ten Years A Blogger! Who knew? — #Musing

As of, January16th, 2019 , Stanczyk ‘s blog turned ten and I am  celebrating its 10th anniversary!

So my birthday wish is for more readers such as you … you know who you are. Most of you are fans of genealogy, family history, Polish culture & history. Perhaps, you may be a bibliophile or a fan in general. Thank you all of you!

I also hope to solve a riddle about my second great-grandfather, Marcin Eliasz and his (or his father’s) barn in Pacanów.

Who knows what fancies 2019 will bring and inspire for a blog or two.

God willing, more good stories, news, info, & discoveries will find their way here. Finally, may God bless me with another decade of blogs and blog readers!

2019 #Genealogy #Goals — AP Kielce (Polish Archive)

AP in Kielce

Stanczyk is always looking for information about his paternal 2nd-great-grandfather (prapradziadek), Marcin Eliasz or his great-grandfather Tomasz Leszczynski.  So it is not a surprise that these two ancestors would top my list of 2019 genealogy goals. I would also like to find my aunt Alice Eliasz Stickney’s (Aleksandra Elijasz) birth record from Pacanow parish in 1909 or 1910. So those would be my heartfelt desires for my genealogical research.

So my best bet may be utilizing the AP in Kielce.

Now most people probably think of finding parish church metrical records or USC record in the archive and these are undoubtedly the most popular use of the online version of the archive (szukajwarchiwach.pl). Of course, at present,  very little of the archive is actually online, beyond its metadata.

I clicked on the one in the red box. Oddly, the text appears to be Czech. It’s not Polish and Russian has no diacriticals. When I clicked, I got the details (shown below). I also highlighted some pertinent areas in red.

At the top, we see “21/145/0/-/1189” that is the full reference #, if you needed to request this from an archivist. I also highlighted the “1189” the last part as it is a kind of file #. I know the year is important for my research, hence the “1886”. I also knew that the # of pages (strony) of “26” would be important too. Finally, at the bottom, I pointed an arrow to the Polish text for the description (that I thought was Czech—).

You could translate the Czech or the Polish, but my understanding of Polish/Polish genealogy, led me to use that instead. So, I went to Google Translate and pasted the Polish (that I selected and copied – not shown).

Now it became really interesting to me. It appears to be about my great-great-grandfather(prapradziadek), Martin Eliasz who died in 1879 and who lived/died in Pacanow. Readers of this blog may remember, a blog article back a bit, where I found an historical newspaper account in “Gazeta Kielecka” from 1879 where my 2x great-grandfather was attacked by horse thieves and there was a mention of his father’s barn in the crime story.

So perhaps by emailing the archive, I will try to acquire the file, with its 26 pages to see if there is a bit of probate history  on Marcin Eliasz (show above) and at least inquire about Aleksandra Elijasz (my aunt / ciotka), daughter of Jozef Elijasz & Waleria Leszczynska born in either 1909 or 1910.

Does anyone have any tips for bank wires or money transfers to the Polish Archives? If so please email or post a comment to this blog post. Dziękuję!

Good searches a Happy New Year 2019 / Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku 2019 r.

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P.S.

Here are some other metadata that look interesting…

Fond #	Year	Pages	Description (in English)
21/40/0/6.2/3396	1904-1910	n/a	Biechów easement, village Wójcza – Joseph Eliasz  and the others  complaint against the Commissioner resolution of 9 August 1905 for No. 107
21/145/0/-/1139	1885	27	Investigation of Aniela and Kacper Pawłowski, Marianna Eliasz and Walenty Palucha with Antoni Wojtys for ownership of real estate in the village of Pacanów
21/2461/0/-/70	1910 (or possibly 1909).	n/a	1875-1912 for birth, marriage, death, & alegata  In particular, 1909 – 1912 [inclusive] since those are not available online.
21/1/0/-/6224	1822-1863	n/a	1822-1863  Files regarding the cemetery in Pacanów
21/7/0/-/54	1854-1860	116	1854-1860 Pacanów Cemetery burials,contributions – name list]
21/2519/0/-/15	1932-1948	n/a	Register of inhabitants of the Pacanów settlement:  (various streets ref #14-#19.
21/1/0/-/2551	1817-1823	n/a	[Detailed files regarding] Privileges of the city of Pacanów

Auld Lang Syne #2018 #Tereza ❤️

Stanczyk is republishing his annual blog post:  Auld Lang Syne

Count your blessings my dear readers and take heart in that inventory.

So as we draw to a close this elder year 2018 AD, I take but a moments pause to wish my friends and good readers well and much happiness and wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Verily, this jester says, “All Is Well, That Ends Well“. And 2018 has indeed ended well.

Let me endebt myself further and borrow again from the great bard to close out this year. In Shakespeare’s play, “All’s Well That Ends Well”, in the first Act, the first Scene is a quote that suits me well to use though I steal it from a woman’s lips:

That I should love a bright particular star
And think to wed it, she who is so above me:
In her bright radiance and collateral light.

My bright star is my much beloved wife, Teréza !

I love her so and our growing family and our friends too. Those who love her cannot be faulted for she is such a force of a nature and a wonder to behold. And those who fault her, do not know love. Theirs is a terrible loss indeed. Pity those fools for their jealousy and praise this jester for his steadfastness in the face of such folly. Bless my wife for her devotion made stronger and more holy for her mettle that was tempered by the trifles of miscreants.

I would like to thank my readers for another fine year. You, my good readers, are a part of that inventory of blessings that I have counted. Interact with me on Facebook,  and/or LinkedIn too.

Those are my closing thoughts for 2018. Better #Genealogy in the coming year to all genealogists!

Happy New Year 2019 !

–Stanczyk

Alegata Surprise

Bendin Uezd, Piotrkowski Gubernia

In the marriage of Wladysław Fras & Agnieszka née Leszczyńska Michniewska, Stanczyk found an unusual section of text not present in most marriage records.

Wladysław was born in Bendin uezd, Piotrkowski gubernia (south-west corner of map). So his ability to marry in the church needed to be verified with a birth/baptism (one alegata purpose).

From the marriage, I found an odd and difficult section of text to decipher (as if all old Russian/Cyrillic cursive handwriting were not enigmatic enough).

From this odd section, if I understand correctly, three things are made known:

1. They could not locate Wlad’s birth metrical record in Uiejsce, Wojkowice Koscielne parish, Piotrkowski Gubernia.
2. Wlad had an urgent requirement to serve in the army.
3. Wlad’s mom & four witnesses had to attest to his birth on February 10th (after marriage performed January 26th, and before it was recorded February 12th).

So it appears the attestation was good and the marriage was good. Sadly, I never found Wlad’s birth record and my hope was to get it as an alegata at this marriage (I had his siblings’ birth, just not Wlad’s). Dad was dead. Mom attested. Now I wonder who the four witnesses were? Let’s see: Witness1, Witness2, the performing clergy, and ??? Perhaps the godfather was the fourth or the church organist [so many organists in my church records]. Alas, no record of the four witnesses or attestation. I have Wlad’s birth year (derived from age at marriage and fits between two siblings’s births) and that will have to do.

An interesting marriage record! So I ask you, “Do you have any military grooms that needed a quick marriage before shipping out to the Russian (|Prussian|Austrian) army?”   If so, please post a comment or email this jester.

Akt 5 – The Full Marriage Record (left side)

Alegata Question – 26-Jan-1890 Marriage Of Wladyslaw Fras & Agnieszka Leszczynska

The last time we saw the record, Akt#5 in Solec 1890 Marriages bewteen Wladyslaw Fras & Agnieszka Leszczynska.

This is minus one unusual section that is hard to translate/understand.

Here’s an abridged translation:

It happened in Solec on 31-Jan/12-Feb 1890

Witnesses:  Jan Majczak 39 of Piestrzec & Jan Biernik of Kikow age 40

Groom:  Wladyslaw Fras bachelor, 32 in army born in Uiejsce, parish Wojkowice Koscielne, Bendzin uezd Piotrkowska gubernia residing in Kikow, parish Dobrowoda living with mother , Jan (father deceased) & mother Marianna née Bielasinska;

<additional text goes here>

to

Bride:  Agnieszka Leszczynska Michniewska widow of deceased Jozef died 1 year ago; age 23 born in village/parish Biechow & residing in Zwierzyniec, parish Solec daughter of Tomasz & the deceased Julianna Kordos legally Leszczynskich

3 banns:

read in Dobrowoda & Solec parishes on 31-Dec/12-Jan, 7th/19th Jan, 14th/26th Jan this year

The image is in my last blog post below 👇🏻.

 

Now given the above: Groom born elsewhere, Bride born elsewhere, Bride widowed, I would expect … about 4 pages of alegata to include Wladyslaw’s birth record, Agnieszka’s birth record, Agnieszka’s 1st husband’s death record and the image at the top of this blog post. But the reality is that I only received the image at the top.

 

Does anyone know why? Email or comment on the blog please.

 

My Guess

Agnieszka’s husband died in this parish and the death was last year (1889). I did confirm that the death record did exist in the parish (Solec) books for 1889 Deaths. Ok, the priest did not feel the need to include an alegata for the death. Agnieszka born in Biechow and now living in Zwierzyniec made her a known entity in the parish, even though she was born in Biechow and she married 1st husband (Jozef Michniewski) in Biechow. So the priest did not feel the need for her birth alegata either; Especially since she and her 1st husband had two kids and they were baptised and living in Solec. But what about Wladyslaw?

 

He was not just born in another parish. His parish was in another gubernia too! Why no birth alegata for him? Tomorrow, my guess about the puzzling text that was unusual in most marriage records. Also another question too!

New In Genbaza & Genealodzy (Metryki) — #Polish #Genealogy #Online #Databases

Akt 5 – Wladyslaw Fras & Agnieszka zd. Leszczynska Michniewski

Christmas came early for Stanczyk this year. The metryki at Genbaza & Genealodzy were updated.  This jester was able to find the second marriage of my great-grandfather’s daughter (not my grandmother, her half-sister, Agnieszka Leszczynska Michniewska Fras)!

 

At Genbaza they added Solec Zdroj (1875-1913). At Genealodzy they added Stopnica (1875-1917) to the Busko powiat. Now Stopnica was already at Genbaza, but Genealodzy added the years 1910-1917 on top of what Genbaza already had.

So I’ll be busy searching through the end of 2018! Next time, a question about the Alegata for the above marriage record.

Things I Find Whilst Searching For Other Things — #Meme #Epidemic

Stanczyk loves reading genealogy magazines / e-zines. In particular, William Hoffman’s monthly, Gen Dobry. This month(November 30th, 2018), had an email written about the Russo-Japan War 1904-1905 and this genealogist/tour-guide published his findings from “Kielce Gazeta” on his website which was informed to readers of Gen Dobry.

So this jester, thinks I go looking through 1904,1905,1906 years of Kielce Gazeta looking for the pictures of these war time announcements. It is while doing this that I found today’s article whilst I was searching for those war announcements.

Scarlet Fever

It seems war & epidemics are the biggest contributors to genealogy events, in particular deaths!

So look back at the image, inside the red box. The word that caught my eye was: “Szkarlatyna“. It means scarlet fever. It also noted in the village if Beszowa. So both of these drew my eye since an epidemic in a nearby ancestral village can have repercussions. I noted how the 1831 Cholera epidemic in my grandmother’s village, Biechów was responsible for one in two deaths that year.

Here’s the translation:

In the village of Beszowa, in the last 6 weeks, 29 children were registered for scarlet fever. Of this number, 5 “oro”(??) children died. The district doctor has taken vigorous measures to stop this epidemic.

Perhaps oro was a typo. But 5 (or about 5) children died. This is from the, Kielce Gazeta, March 4th 1906 issue.

By the way, Stanczyk has seen these epidemic outbreaks in Kielce Gazeta before and in EVERY case, “The district doctor has taken vigorous measures to stop this epidemic.” That seems to be routine phrasing to keep the populace from panicking.

The point is if you research deaths in 1906 Beszowa, then keep an eye out for those five children. If they are yours then today’s image is for your family history!

Art Buchwald — Thanksgiving Explained #Humor

In 1953 a young, twenty-eight year old, Art Buchwald was writing a humor column for the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune. He decided to write a column explaining American Thanksgiving tradition to the French, using a kind of mock-French patois, that today we would call “Franglais“.

This article which I read annually in my parent’s daily newspaper, The Detroit Freepress (@freep). So here my annual homage to Art Buchwald.

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Le Grande Thanksgiving

By Art Buchwald

One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant.

Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims (Pèlerins) who fled from l’Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World (le Nouveau Monde) where they could shoot Indians (les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey (dinde) to their hearts’ content.

They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Américaine) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai) in 1620. But while the Pèlerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pèlerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pelerins was when they taught them to grow corn (mais). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pèlerins.

In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pèlerins’ crops were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more mais was raised by the Pèlerins than Pèlerins were killed by Peaux-Rouges.

Every year on the Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.

It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilometres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant:

“Go to the damsel Priscilla (allez très vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth (la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action (un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe), offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning.

“I am a maker of war (je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases. You, bred as a scholar (vous, qui t’es pain comme un étudiant), can say it in elegant language, such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, such as you think best adapted to win the heart of the maiden.”

Although Jean was fit to be tied (convenable très emballé), friendship prevailed over love and he went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow (rendue muette par l’étonnement et la tristesse).

At length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: “If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?” (Où est-il, le vieux Kilometres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas auprès de moi pour tenter sa chance?)

Jean said that Kilometres Deboutish was very busy and didn’t have time for those things. He staggered on, telling what a wonderful husband Kilometres would make. Finally Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, Jean?” (Chacun a son gout.)

And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes and, for the only time during the year, eat better than the French do.

No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grande fête and no matter how well fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilometres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.

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