9. Shellie’s Family History and Tour to Ancestral Places. Lusławice, my grandfather’s birthplace.

From ship manifests, I knew that my family was from Odrowąż but they were living in Lusławice when they left for America. Like Odrowąż, there was more than one village in Poland with this name; so again, I had no idea where to start looking. In May of 2009, my uncle Teddy gave me the most important piece of family history that I’ve encountered since I began my research. When I told him that I was going to Poland to find our family home, he began to search for old documents belonging to my grandfather. What uncle Teddy found took my breath away. My grandfather’s Marriage certificate, naturalization certificate and a baptismal record showing his grandparents names Andre Kulawiak and Rosaline Pagac and his birthplace, Lusławice in Brzesko county, Zakliczyn!

Now that I knew which Lusławice they were in, the question was what the heck was my family doing there? The Latter Day Saints (LDS) did not microfilm the church records for Odrowąż, so I hope I will be granted access to them when I visit in person. However, the LDS did microfilm the Lusławice records, but I heard that church records were in Latin and very hard to read. Since I didn’t think I could read the records, I put off ordering the films. It took me several weeks to finally decide to order them. It cost about 5 US dollars per roll and took about 2 weeks to arrive at my local LDS family history center.

When the baptismal films came in, I eagerly ran through them to find my grandfather and his siblings. The records were indeed written in Latin, but the spelling of our surname was the same. The records really were not that difficult to read. I did not find any records for Frank, Stella or Anne, so these must be in Odrowąż. I did find my grandfather’s entry in 1908, but there was something strange about it. The old baptismal certificate that I had listed his grandmother as Rose Pagac, but the church book entry listed Rosealine Stafira! Also, the name of the midwife on his certificate did not match what was in the book! I think I solved part of the mystery when I later found the record for his younger sister Jane, born in 1911.

This record lists her grandmother’s name as Rosaline Pagac and the midwife’s name is the same as what was on my grandfather’s baptismal certificate. The baptismal certificate was dated 1912. Aniela must have requested the certificates in preparation for the move to America. I think the priest was in a hurry and probably opened the record book to Jane’s entry and filled out both certificates at the same time.

Shellie