The Other Things Found — #Historical #Polish #Newspapers

While Stanczyk was searching newspapers for military conscripts, he found many items useful to genealogy…

Today was a landholders chart for Niegosławice village, in Pacanów gmina, Stopnica powiat of 22-June-1933.

Found in Newspaper: Kielecki Dziennik Wojewódzki

Stanczyk would like to call your attention to one of his ancestors, on line 12 (Leon Wleciał).

This chart had four columns:

Line Number, Landholder(s), Plot Number, Plot area in ha (hectares).

So on Line #12 (col. 1), we see Leon Wleciał (col. 2), Plot #18 (col. 3), 6.1019ha (col. 4).

This Leon was not the Leon who came to America, but the Leon who was a witness/god-father in church records for the Wleciałowscy who came to America (and some who stayed in Poland too).

You want to search for:

Okręgowego Urzęd Ziemskiego

(Official District Land in <gubernia-name>).

Meme: Things I Found Whilst Searching For Other Things — #Meme #Newspaper #Crime #Polish

Dateline     Pacanow                                         4-May-1879   

Horse Thief

Stanczyk was searching for conscription lists (listy poborowi). In doing that I asked if any native Pole in the Polish Genealogy Facebook group could help me understand the conscription document I had. Well, a fellow by the name of Sebastian Jedrych  responded and answered my question. He suggested a Polish website: www.polona.pl

I was curious about what he was trying to show me so I went there to polona.pl . I searched for “poborowi” and did not find anything interesting. So on a lark, I searched for “Pacanow” and I found many results, but one had “Pacanow, Marcin Elijasz” in its matches. Well it was for a 1879 newspaper and I figured there were not that many Marcin Eliasz in Pacanów in 1879 (only two I knew of). So I followed the link. Also found here in SBC Digital Library. [Gazeta Kielecka, 1879 #35]

Imagine when I saw a crime tale about a horse thief! My 60 year old great-great-grandfather Marcin Elijasz and <?> Grudzien (a family friend) were two Pacanów townsmen.

The crime tale continued onto the newspaper’s second page. It was there that Google Translator and other online computer translations failed me. So I turned to the Facebook Group, Genealogy Translations . I was frustrated by the lapse in translation around the items of violence.

Fortunately, for me, William F. Hoffman (aka “Fred”), the author of many genealogy translation books and names book fame pitched in to complete the translation.

Here is what the second page of the article looked like, along with Fred’s translation of the horse thievery story.

The story started on the first page:

Two Pacanów townsmen, Marcin Elijasz & Grudzien  were …

40 The Number Of Preparation — #Books , #Writing , #Miłosz

Two days ago it was Fat Tuesday the end of Mardi Gras and I decided that I’d feast upon and finish the book, Song of Achilles.

Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, the forty days of preparation for Easter started & I wrote my book review for Song of Achilles and published it to my blog.

So today I needed a new book to read and none were readily available. So on a whim I picked, Roadside Dog by Czesław Miłosz from our bookshelf. As is my custom, I studied the book including its Table Of Contents. My eyes went to my favorite pastiches. I re-read a few. Then I saw his grouping: “Subjects to Let”. I counted these topics and there were forty! Aha inspiration from God himself. I should prepare myself to be a writer by writing my response to each Let Subject. I further thought I will do one per week and finish it this year.

So today dear reader, I pledge to respond to Miłosz’s Subjects, starting the week of March 25 and that week and the next 39 following, I will write a response & publish it on my blog. 40 weeks of preparation to be a writer. Why not write like Miłosz? We’re kindred spirits so embedded in our Polonian culture.

I know Miłosz by today’s borders he would be Lithuanian, but he considered himself Polish. I am hoping to discover that Polishness in myself by reading his 40 subjects & writing my response to them one per week.

Preparing to be a writer.

Song Of Achilles — #Book #Review 📚

Stanczyk has long been a classicist. Greek classics are an especial treat for me. I loved Greek Mythology as I learned it from my teacher, Claudia Nash. So I read the Iliad and devoured the Odyssey. Those books on my bookshelf impressed my Teréza who was smitten by my erudition.

So when I saw a book entitled CIRCE coming out this April 10th 2018. I knew I had to read it! But lo, she had previously penned Song Of Achilles. So I knew I had to “book up” and read that book before CIRCE came out. After all, the Trojan War before the Odyssey home. After all my dog Princess Java, an AKC pedigreed Lab whose 3rd name is Argus after Odysseus’s dog!

So I read Song of Achilles hoping to get a feel for the author (Madeline Miller / @MillerMadeline) and her writing style. I wanted Circe, but I admit I fell in love with the characters in Song Of Achilles. I was lured in by prose while Patroclus was just a boy. But I knew the author had an epic skill when I read her telling of Patroclus & Achilles meeting Chiron. Those chapters slew me and drew me in like no other author.

It was pure joy to read of Achilles and this telling of the Trojan War. It was easy to read a few chapters at a sitting. Hard to put down.

All along I knew how it was going to end. But that did not detract. I loved Odysseus’s cleverness at finding Achilles (after his god-mother, Thetis, not a god mother, a god for a mother hid her son). I too, like Patroclus and the other Greek kings/princes had a sense of dread whenever she appeared.

Patroclus was an artful narrator that set the tone and drew me in. His narration of Achilles’s rise from teen to hero and coverage of the Trojan War and its major combatants was thrilling. Patroclus was good, I forgot his narrative was Madeline’s narrative; That is the level of immersion she was able to acheive.

Alas I loved the book. I did not want it to end (especially two months before CIRCE arrives). I set it aside as Patroclus & Achilles set aside their child-selves. For 3-4 days I could not bear to pick it up and read. Finally, on Fat Tuesday I devoured the remainder of the book in a final three hour reading spree.

As I was reading I realized the narrator was going to die so my meta-reader-self was wondering who would narrate the ending when the narrator was dead. I will not tell you the spectacular brilliant choice she made for the final narrator of the final chapters. It is worth reading the book 📖 just to savor that transition alone.

So much pathos. So much love & hate and other emotions. Truly she captured the spirit of greek tragedy. Is this mythology or historical fiction? You decide the genre. Madeline you were so great I forgive you the detail of Achilles’s death. I accept your smart choices in retelling the Illiad. Somehow you enlarged the story. In fact it appears to cover at least 15 years of Achilles in a mere 369 pages.

I think Madeline was Odysseus. After all his/her words about the changing feelings mankind will have for the characters will change over the centuries. In truth, my feelings for the main characters swirled like Charybdis’s eddies.

Read this book. I think we are witnessing the development of an unparalleled author / story-teller. Please CIRCE come quickly!

Rage of Achilles