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travelwithme

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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 12:59 pm Post subject: Finding my ancestor from a connection of a US family

I am trying to locate information about the family line of my great grandmother, Lucia Lewandowski, from a family who she lived with in Milwaukee, WI from a City Directory in 1917. I researched the male head of the household, Andrew Lewandowski, and because of the age differences, according to US census records, he could be her nephew (about a 26-28 year difference). Therefore, I researched his father, Szczepan (Stefan) Lewandowski who might have immigrated from Poland to Milwaukee since he attended Andrew's wedding, according to the marriage records. But to prove that he is the brother of my great grandmother, I need to know their parents in Poland and the town which they are from. My great grandmother's wedding record which is the only record that I have for her from Poland, I believe indicates she was either born in or married in the town of Gnojno. They married on August 30, 1868 in Inowroclaw, Poland. Can anyone suggest how I go about trying to find the parents of Lucia? I would greatly appreciate it since she remains a mystery both in Poland and in Milwaukee. (No death records for her in Wisconsin, according to Milwaukee Co. Register of Deeds and Wisconsin Vital Records.) A mystery.

BarbOslo
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 3:54 pm Post subject: Re: Finding my ancestor from a connection of a US family

travelwithme wrote:

Hello,
Is Lewandowski her (Lucja) maiden name? You mention that you have the wedding record from 1863, aren't your great grandmother's parents mentioned in this document? Can you attach this?

-Barb

travelwithme

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Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 4:29 pm Post subject: Lucia Lewandowski

Hi Barb, Yes, Lucia's maiden name is Lewandowski and married name is Lewandowski. She married Andreas Lewandowski in 1868. The attached marriage document doesn't mention her parents, but the witnesses. Mathias Lewandowski could be her brother? Could it be her father? I hope this helps.

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Trish
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 12:48 pm Post subject: Re: Finding my ancestor from a connection of a US family

travelwithme wrote:

Hi!
Do you have a tree on ancestry.com or familysearch.org? There is a tree on both websites that have information about Andrzej Lewandowski and Lucja Lewandowska. I wasn't sure if this is your tree.

Thanks
Trish

travelwithme

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Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 1:18 pm Post subject: My Heritage Family Tree

Hi Trish, I am working on our family tree through My Heritage. It is actually under my son's name, but I am resuming the work. Another relative, Julie Richards, is also searching for Lucia Lewandowski and her family and may have her tree in Ancestry. She knows of my search for Szczepan Lewandowski too since I explained to her that it could be Lucia's brother, but we will not know that under we learn of Lucia's parents and other siblings. I can only hope Szczepan and Lucia Lewandowski share the same parents. Thank you.

Trish
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 1:35 pm Post subject: Re: My Heritage Family Tree

travelwithme wrote:

Hi!
I saw Julie Richard's tree on ancestry.com.

Did you go through the films on familysearch.org? I saw several of the children for Andrzej and Lucja in the films.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1046085?availability=Family%20History%20Library

I also thought this record could be a possible birth record for Lucja. Her father is Mathias. Could Mathias be the witness on Lucja's marriage record? In my own family, I have seen parents being the witness for a record. I would keep this record as a possiblity.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSXD-KHDV?cc=4116415&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6FCZ-PQH1

Have a wonderful day!
Trish

BarbOslo
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: My Heritage Family Tree

Although the wedding of Andreas and Lucia took place in the church of Saint Nicholas in Inowroclaw, I could find nothing more there.
The age given in this record said that Andreas was born in about 1843 and Lucia in about 1847. I found Andreas' birth record quite quickly. He was born in Gnojno. But it took some time to find something about Lucia. I saw that 2 children of Andreas and Lucia were born in parish Płonkowo. It was the right track.
Trish helped you with Ancestry, so I hope this provides the answer you need.
-Barb

travelwithme

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Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 5:35 pm Post subject:

Hi Barb, So Lucia's parents are Mathias Lewandowski and Marianne (or Martianna) Bachora from the town of Lubieszewo or Lukaszewo? I am trying to look them up to find their other children besides Lucia. There is a family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin related to Szczepan (Stefan) Lewandowski and I was hoping that was Lucia's brother since she lived with his son, Andrew, in the early 1900's.

BarbOslo
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 1:44 am Post subject:

travelwithme wrote:

Hi,
Yes, I would say that Mathias Lewandowski and Marciana Bachora* are Lucia's parents. Lucia was born on December 6, 1847 in Łukaszewo parish Płonkowo.
Mathias (Polish Maciej) and Marciana also had a son named Stefan. He was born December 22, 1852 in Skalmierowice parish Szadłowice. They confirm your theory that Stefan was the brother of your great-grandmother Lucia.
Stefan was also the godfather of a child of Andreas and Lucia (Franciszek born 1886).

-Barb

*Marcianna, Marcjanna - Bachera, Bachora

Last edited by BarbOslo on Wed May 17, 2023 4:51 am; edited 1 time in total

BarbOslo
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 4:39 am Post subject:

Hi,
Here's something new:
Mathias Lewandowski married Marciana Bachora on November 7, 1841 in the parish of Płonkowo
Mathias 28 ½ years old (estimated year of birth 1812), from Kaczkowo
Parents: Thomas (deceased) and Marianna spouses Lewandowski
Marciana 22 years old (estimated year of birth 1819), from Dobiesławice
Parents: Martin* (deceased) and Domicella spouses Bachora

Unfortunately I have problems downloading the attachment. Can send by e-mail if you want.
*Thomas (Polish Tomasz)
*Martin (Polish Marcin)

-Barb

BarbOslo
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 6:20 am Post subject:

Next generation:
October 28, 1806 - parish Płonkowo
Thomas Lewendowski 30 years old (estimated year of birth 1776)
Marianna Kwiatkowska* (vidua) 25 years old (estimated year of birth 1781)
*Surname from her first marriage. It seems that she was earlier (October 10, 1803) married to Joannes (Polish Jan) Kwiatkowski. Her surname was probably Ciechanowska.

-Barb

dnowicki
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 6:48 am Post subject:

BarbOslo wrote:

Hi Barb,

Sometimes there is a problem uploading an image because it exceeds the maximum size allowed on the Forum. I believe that there are two viable options when dealing with that problem. One option is to crop the image thereby decreasing its size and the other option is to simply post the link to where the image is found.

During the 19th century the church of the Parish of Płonkowo was the church of Saint Oswald. During World War II a group of Nazis shot the parish priest outside of the church and burned the church building. A new church building was not built in the village until after the war during the Communist era. Since one of my ancestors resided there after she was widowed I did some research on the village and the parish. After the end of the war and archaeological excavation took place there. Attached are some images of the results of that excavation. Some of the images show the burial crypts where some burials took place within the confines of the church. Perhaps these images may be of historical interest since that was the location of the marriage of Maciej & Marcjana.

Since even a cropped image is too large here is the link to the marriage record of Maciej & Marcjana https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMW-6J56?i=320&cc=4116415&cat=1046488

Dave

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1754 Church of St. Oswald.jpg

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This is the church where the marriage took place and which was burned during WWII.

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BarbOslo
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 7:40 am Post subject:

dnowicki
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 7:58 am Post subject:

travelwithme wrote:

Hi,

The most effective method to use when searching for records in Poland is not to search by the name of the village where the people lived but by the name of the parish to which that village belonged. In 1852 Maciej & Marcjana had a child by the name of Stefan who was born in the village of Skalmierowice in the parish of Szadłowice.Here is the info regarding that child from the index on Geneteka.https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=B&w=02kp&rid=B&search_lastname=lewandowski&search_name=maciej&search_lastname2=bachora&search_name2=&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&ordertable=

The 1868 marriage record contains information which makes it about a 95% degree of certitude regarding the parents of Andrzej & Łucja. The record states that Lucy was under the tutelage of her father at the time of the marriage (sub tutela patris) And that the baptismal records of both the bride and groom were located prior to the marriage and once again that the bride married with the consent of her father (ex utraque parte metrices et sponsa cum consensu patris). The fact that both the bride and the first witness were from the same village lends credence to the theory that the first witness, Maciej, was the father of the bride. The only bit of evidence in the record which keeps it from being a 100% lock is the age of the Bride as it is entered. She is listed as being 21 years of age and the marriage took place in August of 1868 and according to the birth record which the ladies have found for you Lucy was born on December the 5th of 1847 which means that she had not yet celebrated her 21st birthday. That’s like discrepancy is certainly not a game changer.

A piece of information in all of the records found so far which gives direction to your further research regarding other children of Maciej and Marcjana is found in the social and economic status/occupation of Maciej. He is consistently described as an operarius (day laborer/one who is employed on a job by job basis). Given the conditions and partitioned Poland at that time this means that he probably moved frequently from village to village in search of employment which means that you need to cast a wide net in order to find other children of the couple as in the birth and baptism record of their son Stefan listed above. Those who were operarii were not vagabonds but they often did not have the economic stability which would afford them long term residence in the same village.

Since in the 1868 marriage record only the father is named in the consent and the tutelage of the bride it is very possible that her mother, Marcjanna, was deceased at the time of the marriage. The name Marcjann/Martiana is the feminine version of the masculine name Martin (Marcin).

I hope that this information helps you in your research.

Wishing you continued success,

Dave

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