Saturday, August 16
Our guide drove us to Slupca to pick up Danuta at her apartment and then we went thru Zagórów and Imielno to Łomów. We met up with Christoper and Honorata and followed them into Łomów (see video below). After looking at these aerial videos, I’d say Łomów is only slightly smaller than Imielno. Katarzyna, my grandfather’s sister, stayed in Łomów and now her descendants have a modern house in the village.
We met at the home of Katarzyna’s grandadugher, Jadzia (aka Jedwiga) and her son, Zbigniew. I showed them the family tree printout, and they filled in more details. Quite a few of the family members here knew very little about their American cousins, and many even learned more about their local relatives.
They live in a modern house, perhaps built in the 1970s. (I’m just guessing.) If I understood correctly (thru the translator), my great-grandparents’ (Andrew and Marcjanna) house was across the street (north) from their current location. But the farmland was on the south side, so at some point they swapped the house property with the neighbors so the house and land were on the same side of the street. Andrew and Marcjanna’s house is long gone, and the location is now a very nice garden in front of the newer house (photos below). It’s also visible in the drone video.
Below is a video of the house’s location
Below are a couple of walking video tours of Lomow
Below are a few of drone videos of Lomow. The old Mackowski homesite is the garden with the little windmill.
Next we went to Honorata and Christopher’s home in Imielno. They have a very nice modern residence and a small farm where Christopher grows some crops. They served coffee and pastries and we went over old family photos. I had seen some of these via Lucasz but now we were able to add names to several of them. We also added names to the family tree (I hope I will be able to read their writing!). Here was were we exchanged some gifts. We got some local honey and hand lotions, while I offered some small watercolor paintings I made of Arizona and Wisconsin landscapes. It was a very special visit to be in the home of my second cousin in Poland.
Then we visited the cemetery in Zagorow as well as the parish church, Sts. Peter and Paul. The weather cooled off a bit and was very pleasant. European (at least Polish) cemeteries are very colorful with large stone platforms (and many flowers and lanterns) in addition to headstones. Most 19th century graves are gone (re-used) but one exception was my great-grandmother, Marcjanna. She died in 1928. We found several other relatives final resting places. Look at the family tree I provided to see where they fit it.
The church was open, and Matthew was able to get permission to go up the rear spiral staircase to the organist platform. We did not get much of a chance to get a good look at the church during Mass yesterday. It was another beautiful structure, with a gorgeous painted interior.
Christopher and Honorata had arranged a dinner reservation at an Italian restaurant in Slupca. That was a couple hours out, so they took us to a local lake which was a popular local attraction. The dinner was nice (I had a calzone while most of the local family members had a sandwich of some sort) and it was another chance to socialize, if impeded a bit by the need for Matthew to translate everything. He was great.
Then we went back to Imielno to the Radniecki’s house. There was a post-wedding social starting and we visited with more of the extended family (such as Lukasz’ father, Zdzislaw). We reviewed more old photos and the family tree print-outs. We were sitting at tables in their yard – a very nice property. The beer and vodka were flowing. After coming home to Arizona and sorting thru the notes and mark-ups, I was able to put together an updated Mackowski family tree at this link.
Finally we had to say farewell. Matthew took Danuta home to Slupca and us back to Poznan, where we said good bye to our awesome guide. That was it for Poznan and the family meet-ups and research. What a wonderful experience.
