Day two on the road looking for relatives and we uncover some of the mysteries of the family.
It’s day two of actual relative hunting. Our first objective was to find a Slawinska family relative which was the maiden name of my paternal grandmother, Marianna Kiczek. We knew she was born in 1847 in Poland through a marriage record which showed she was from a small village area called Źarnowa, about 40 miles south of Rzeszów, where we had stayed the last two days. The terrain became more hilly and rural the further we traveled.
Convenience Store Clues
We did not have a specific address so our guide Lucjan suggested we stop and ask at a convenience store if anyone knew of a Slawinska family. To him this was a logical professional move. To us it was more like following a detective trying to track a criminal.
While the store clerk was not able to help, we stumbled upon a nice looking, fit older woman outside the rough-looking store who said she knew of a family that might have had a family connection with the Slawinska’s and could be related. We volunteered to drive her to her home a couple miles away. Like amateur detectives ourselves, we deduced this was how she kept in shape, walking up and down these hills these steep hills would be tough for any of us.
No one seemed to be home at the possible family house but a next-door neighbor took our email address and promised to pass on our interest. We had made a loose connection but could not be sure if our detective work would pay off. Now, we began to realize this could be a slow process and may turn up as a dead end. On the other hand, luck might be on our side and practically everyone we met seemed eager to help.
There’s Gold in These Hills
Our second goal for the day was actually a planned visit to Bogumila and Zdzislaw Furtek. Bogumila is the sister of Krystyna Onacki, my distant cousin who had discovered our family connection many years ago. We share the same great grandfather but have different great grandmothers.
Josef Kiczek married Zofia Kielar and had three children before she passed away, one of which was Zusanna. Zuzanna married Victor Kaminska and had three children of her own, among them was Bogumila and Krystyna. Josef remarried Marianna Slawinska after Zofia’s death and had three more children, one of which was Joseph Kiczek, my paternal grandfather. Whew!
Krystyna and her husband John Onacki currently live in Roselle, NJ and are extremely warm people that embrace our shared Kiczek family connection. We have kept in touch over the years but this trip was an ideal way to share in our family heritage since much of her family still either lived in Poland or maintained connections there. This was a perfect time to actually meet and understand more about our family. And, Bogumila was the perfect personal connection to make it happen. While Krystyna could not join us physically she set up our meeting with Bogumila at her home in Breźanka just a few miles away from Źaranowa.
You could see both a physical and personal connection between the sisters. While Krystyna is younger they both have a warm beauty and personality. Bogumila and her husband, Zdzislaw, invited us into her home in the dining room and immediately talked about the family with Lucjan acting as our translator.
It seemed awkward at first but we quickly grew accustomed to the dialog. Next, she brought out several photo albums with old and new family pictures. I, in turn, had brought some of our old and new family pictures to share. We laughed when we realized that we both actually had a few of the same photos.
Bogumila planned lunch with us and a visit to the land and house where our common great grandfather Josef had lived. There was a new owner now and the place had been renovated many times over the years. An older woman and her nephew lived there now. Her husband had passed away and her nephew had come to take care of her. They graciously invited us in for coffee and cake as we spoke about old times there. You can’t seem to escape hospitality here!
We eventually returned to Bogumila’s home where a full lunch of Polish food including soup, salad, roast pork and dessert awaited us. After lunch we took a walk around her property, a large tract of land which they continue to farm part-time.The house and farm are situation on beautiful rolling countryside hills broken occasionally by patches of forest. It reminded me of those alive hills in the Sound of Music.
Late in the afternoon we exchanged gifts and goodbyes. But that was not before calling Krystyna in Roselle and telling her all about our adventure. Finally, we agreed to go with Bogumila and Zdzislaw to visit the local church and cemetery to see the graves of many in the family.
The Legend of Uncle Joe
My father had a close cousin Joe who was always a mystery to me growing up. He was the physical connection to the old country, living in Bayonne and working for a school for the deaf in New York City. He was a sharp dresser and a very buttoned-up character who had a worldly view traveling frequently between the U.S. and Poland and having us help our distant family in Poland in many ways. Joe also was responsible for helping to build the neighborhood church, earning him such respect that he still seeems to have earned sainthood here in the town of Breźanka.
Cemetary Life
The Poles have a special reverence for the dead and for past generations which we seem to have lost here in the U.S. It’s the final evidence of lives lived and gone. And, maybe reminding us that we’ll all be gone too someday. Nothing lasts forever but memories can linger for generations.
Paul Kiczek
(This blog post series originally appeared on Paul’s blog (https://myplanc.blog/) and is published with his permission.)