Polish Origins Tour - Day Three

On the third and final day of our Polish Origins tour, we were going to visit the birth places of my grandfather's parents. We passed a lot of cows that morning.

The super interesting thing, is both were born in the Baranowo parish. Our first stop was the town of Dłutówka. 

There was a small church here in Dłutówka, but Ula thought it was a newer church that did not exist when Małgorzata Laska was born here in 1880. Małgorzata (Margaret was her Americanized name) went by Maggie and her parents were Walenty Laska and Maryann Sadowski. Ula did point out that Małgorzata's maiden name was indeed Laska but there was no record of any relations. 

Ula said this house was very typically for the type of homes from that time period. Małgorzata likely grew up in a similar style home. Małgorzata was 18 years old when she immigrated to America in 1898.

Apples growing on a tree and house nearby selling fresh honey.

We then drove about 10 minutes west to Baranowo. We stopped at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. It is estimated the church was built around 1910, so likely there was a smaller church in Baranowo they were both baptized in. 

After visiting the church in Baranowo, we continued driving west another 5 minutes to Czarnotrzew. Józef Laska was born here in 1878 to his parents Jakub Laska and Marianna Dusak. Jakub sent Józef to the U.S. to avoid having to serve for the Russian government in the Polish Army. Józef boarded the ship, Westernland, in Antwerp, Belgium, and arrived at Ellis Island on September 6, 1899. Józef became a U.S. citizen in 1923! Ula said that getting older and reliable records is very hard in Poland. A lot were destroyed in the two world wars. Ula said priests would also burn records so that parents, like Jakub, would not get in trouble for sending their children to the U.S. It was interesting in that Józef and Małgorzata were born in the same church parish about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from each other, but did not meet (re-meet?) until they were both living in the U.S in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. They were married in 1903. I would like to think they met and where chatting about where they were from and realized they came from the same parish back in Poland. 

This 'village' was literally a side street with a handful of houses. Ula went into the building that had the sołtys sign. A sołtys is a village elder and it is where you go to pay your taxes. Ula asked if there were any Laska's in the area still.

We had some minor success....someone with the surname Laska lived on the street. Ula went in and spoke with the man. He stated that his mother had gone to U.S. and returned to Poland pregnant. No one spoke much about it. The man had no interest in talking to us. 

We stopped by a nearby cemetery and we found a headstone with a family name!!

It appeared to be a father (Stanisław) and his son (Józef). The father died in 1982 at the age of 75 and the son died in 1989 at the age of 60. I do have to say, I see a resemblance to my grandfather! No clue if or how I might be related to these fellows. 

Joe and Caroline at their 50th wedding anniversary party in 1989.

While my family names are relatively rare in the U.S. (I never met anyone I wasn't related to with the last name Piasecki, Wiśniewska, or Laska), Ula did say she knew people in school growing up that had those last names and they were all relatively common!

While driving around Poland, we saw a lot of these around. Little random crosses at the side of the road. Ula stated that in pre-automobile days, it was a lot to get to the church for services. So these provided small villages a holy place to meet to pray close to their homes and going to the church was saved for big events (weddings, baptisms, etc).

On our way back to Warsaw we stopped at the Kurpiowski Museum in Wach. It was an interesting place. Pretty much people are cleaning out a home and donate all the old stuff to him. The owner has it organized by type. The website gives a better idea. 

I thought the old spools were neat. Of course....we found a cat (who was keen to show off her babies).

We then stopped for lunch and returned to Warsaw. It was such an interesting tour. Richard enjoyed seeing the countryside even though he knew nothing of my ancestors who's villages we visited. We got a picture with Ula before we went our separate ways. 

These last two maps show our total trip. While we drove a lot and had ancestors from all over the country, when you look at the whole country of Poland, we barely scratched the surface.

I'll end with a photo of Josef and Maggie Laska!