dnowickiPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2895
Location: Michigan City, IndianaBack to top |
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 1:19 pm
Post subject:
| BarbOslo wrote: | | rfiorille wrote: | | BarbOslo wrote: | Hi Robert,
This is the translation:
No.21 Bogusławice
It happened in Lubotyń, on February 8th/ 20th, 1891, at 10 a.m.
Appeared Jan Andrzejuk, a servant from Bogusławice, 36 years old, in the presence of Jan Michalak, 45 years old and Wojciech Adamczyk 40 years old, both servants from Bogusławice and presented Us a newborn male child who was born in Bogusławice, yesterday, at 5 a.m. to his wife Katarzyna nee Gibalska.
At The Holy Baptism, held today, the child was given the name Józef, and his godparents were: the aforementioned Jan Michalak and Franciszka Polkowska.
This act was read to the declarant and the witnesses, who all were illiterate and it was signed by Us.
Regards,
-Barb |
Thank you immensely for your translation, Barb!
I hope you can answer a few clarifying questions for me.
First, could you please explain the two dates of "February 8th/ 20th,"? Is there any indication whether the document was written on February 8th or February 20th?
Also, "servant" is a very broad term - could you explain the role of "servant" a bit more? Or does the word simply refer to the generic defenition of a servant?
Finally, can we conclude that they did not give the age of the mother Katarzyna nee Gibalska?
Thank you in advance for your help! Kind Regards,
Robert |
Hello,
Two dates: They are written in Julian and Gregorian calendars. You should look at the second one. This is the day the child was baptized. His date of birth was February, 19.
Servant - here is the direct translation from Russian. I think he worked for others.
Sorry that I forgot to write her age. She was 30 years old.
-Barb |
Hi Robert & Barb,
I would like to add a few ideas which may help to clarify the meaning of the word servant as it was used in the Kingdom of Poland AKA Russian Poland during the second half of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century.
Nothing, including the meaning of words, exists in a vacuum. Historical events and sociological circumstances always have an impact on the meaning of words. The year 1863 saw an unsuccessful uprising in the Kingdom of Poland against Russian rule. In the year 1864 the peasants both in the Kingdom of Poland and in the Russian Empire were emancipated from their feudal obligations. (The peasants in South Prussia aka the province of Posen were emancipated in 1806 and those in Galicia AKA Austrian Poland we’re emancipated in 1848.) The emancipation of the peasants in the Kingdom of Poland combined with the change in the Polish economy brought about by the industrial revolution had widespread consequences for the newly emancipated peasants. The 1864 emancipation came with the promise of land reform which was supposed to decrease the number of landless peasants. Unfortunately, that decrease did not happen and instead the number of landless peasants actually increased from 220,000 in 1870 to 849,000 two decades later in 1891. This increase together with a high birth rate had a profound impact upon the peasants population of the Kingdom of Poland. The large number of landless peasants meant that individuals had a difficult time searching for and obtaining employment. Many were on the treadmill of moving from village to village in search of work and never being able to break free from that treadmill. Those landless peasants were referred to as servants because they did not have the land or the ability to be self-sufficient and thus needed to work for wages for minor members of the Gentry (Szlachta) or for relatively well to do members of the peasantry. The surplus of landless peasants insured that wages would be kept low, making it an employer’s market. Some beat the odds and were able to accumulate sufficient funds to purchase their own farmstead but many were not able to beat the odds and thus lived the life of migrants in their own Homeland. This, of course, formed an impetus for immigration to North America. If you can’t beat the odds it’s time to get out of Vegas and head for greener pastures. Clearly other factors influenced the decision to immigrate, including the desire to avoid conscription into the czar’s army, but economics was probably the most important of all the factors. During the period from about 1870 until 1914 emigration from Partitioned Poland was often said to be “Za Chlebem” (for bread). A goodly number of historical tomes from the early 20th Century can help to flesh out the whys and wherefores of the lives of Polish emigrants.
Robert, it appears that your ancestor was part of the group of landless peasants and, if he is your ancestor who immigrated to the USA, he probably did so to break free of the treadmill.
Regarding the dual dates and civil records...Civil records in the Kingdom of Poland were kept in Polish until 1868 and from then until the end of World War I they were kept in Russian (a punishment for the unsuccessful 1863 insurrection) and the civil records always included the dual dates according to the Julian and the Gregorian Calendars. The Julian calendar goes back to the time of Julius Caesar and was a solar calendar based upon the solar year of 365.25 days. Leap years were meant to correct for the fact that the solar year was not 365 days. However the solar year is not exactly 365.25 days and thus with the passage of time the Julian Calendar fell behind the solar year. Pope Gregory XIII commissioned a group of scientists to reform the calendar. A major reason for the commission was the need to bring the date of Easter Sunday back into sync with the season of spring. In 1582 he issued a Papal Bull which was intended to put those reforms into effect. (The title “Bulla” in Latin referred to the wax seals (bullae) which were attached to the document.) Since the Protestant Reformation had already taken place the change in the calendar only went into effect in 1582 in Catholic countries, which included the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as the countries of Western Europe such as Portugal, Spain, and France and their colonies. Other countries of Europe adopted the reformed calendar at various dates in their history. Great Britain and it’s North American colonies changed to what they termed the “new style” calendar in 1752. If you lived in New Jersey in 1752 you would have gone to bed on September 2 and awakened on September 14 even if your name was not Rip Van Winkle. Russia continued to use the Julian calendar until after World War I when the switch was made to the Gregorian calendar. Thus the use of dual dates ended after the Great War.
I hope that the above helps to shed some light on the circumstances of your ancestor’s life.
Wishing you continued success,
Dave
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rfiorille
Joined: 26 Jul 2019
Replies: 33
Location: Jersey CityBack to top |
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 9:26 pm
Post subject:
| BarbOslo wrote: |
Hi,
The pleasure is all mine. So wonderful that you found this record. A new document and search will continue. I know this feeling well.
Ask if you need more help.
-Barb |
Barb,
I appreciate your shared feelings of discovery in breaking through those brick walls!
I will be asking for more help with translations for other birth records I've found for the other children of Jan Andrzejuk and Katarzyna Gibalski, but I will move those requests to the Russian Translations Pt. 2.
Thank you again!
Robert
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rfiorille
Joined: 26 Jul 2019
Replies: 33
Location: Jersey CityBack to top |
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 9:28 pm
Post subject:
| dnowicki wrote: |
Hi Robert & Barb,
I would like to add a few ideas which may help to clarify the meaning of the word servant as it was used in the Kingdom of Poland AKA Russian Poland during the second half of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century.
Nothing, including the meaning of words, exists in a vacuum. Historical events and sociological circumstances always have an impact on the meaning of words. The year 1863 saw an unsuccessful uprising in the Kingdom of Poland against Russian rule. In the year 1864 the peasants both in the Kingdom of Poland and in the Russian Empire were emancipated from their feudal obligations. (The peasants in South Prussia aka the province of Posen were emancipated in 1806 and those in Galicia AKA Austrian Poland we’re emancipated in 1848.) The emancipation of the peasants in the Kingdom of Poland combined with the change in the Polish economy brought about by the industrial revolution had widespread consequences for the newly emancipated peasants. The 1864 emancipation came with the promise of land reform which was supposed to decrease the number of landless peasants. Unfortunately, that decrease did not happen and instead the number of landless peasants actually increased from 220,000 in 1870 to 849,000 two decades later in 1891. This increase together with a high birth rate had a profound impact upon the peasants population of the Kingdom of Poland. The large number of landless peasants meant that individuals had a difficult time searching for and obtaining employment. Many were on the treadmill of moving from village to village in search of work and never being able to break free from that treadmill. Those landless peasants were referred to as servants because they did not have the land or the ability to be self-sufficient and thus needed to work for wages for minor members of the Gentry (Szlachta) or for relatively well to do members of the peasantry. The surplus of landless peasants insured that wages would be kept low, making it an employer’s market. Some beat the odds and were able to accumulate sufficient funds to purchase their own farmstead but many were not able to beat the odds and thus lived the life of migrants in their own Homeland. This, of course, formed an impetus for immigration to North America. If you can’t beat the odds it’s time to get out of Vegas and head for greener pastures. Clearly other factors influenced the decision to immigrate, including the desire to avoid conscription into the czar’s army, but economics was probably the most important of all the factors. During the period from about 1870 until 1914 emigration from Partitioned Poland was often said to be “Za Chlebem” (for bread). A goodly number of historical tomes from the early 20th Century can help to flesh out the whys and wherefores of the lives of Polish emigrants.
Robert, it appears that your ancestor was part of the group of landless peasants and, if he is your ancestor who immigrated to the USA, he probably did so to break free of the treadmill.
Regarding the dual dates and civil records...Civil records in the Kingdom of Poland were kept in Polish until 1868 and from then until the end of World War I they were kept in Russian (a punishment for the unsuccessful 1863 insurrection) and the civil records always included the dual dates according to the Julian and the Gregorian Calendars. The Julian calendar goes back to the time of Julius Caesar and was a solar calendar based upon the solar year of 365.25 days. Leap years were meant to correct for the fact that the solar year was not 365 days. However the solar year is not exactly 365.25 days and thus with the passage of time the Julian Calendar fell behind the solar year. Pope Gregory XIII commissioned a group of scientists to reform the calendar. A major reason for the commission was the need to bring the date of Easter Sunday back into sync with the season of spring. In 1582 he issued a Papal Bull which was intended to put those reforms into effect. (The title “Bulla” in Latin referred to the wax seals (bullae) which were attached to the document.) Since the Protestant Reformation had already taken place the change in the calendar only went into effect in 1582 in Catholic countries, which included the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as the countries of Western Europe such as Portugal, Spain, and France and their colonies. Other countries of Europe adopted the reformed calendar at various dates in their history. Great Britain and it’s North American colonies changed to what they termed the “new style” calendar in 1752. If you lived in New Jersey in 1752 you would have gone to bed on September 2 and awakened on September 14 even if your name was not Rip Van Winkle. Russia continued to use the Julian calendar until after World War I when the switch was made to the Gregorian calendar. Thus the use of dual dates ended after the Great War.
I hope that the above helps to shed some light on the circumstances of your ancestor’s life.
Wishing you continued success,
Dave |
Dave,
Thank you for taking the time to share such thorough insights, especially regarding the use of the word servant. Your explanation provides the context I was hoping to find that would explain my great great grandfather Jan Andrzejuk's movement around these multiple different villages. It's greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Robert
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