The Legend of Polish Nobility and the Coat of Arms ...Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

Topic Info:

Do you have a legend in your family history that you've even proven or disproven? How about a legendary ancestor (or one who should be)? Maybe someone involved in a local legend or folklore? This should be a fun prompt!


Where the Legend started...
I asked my father if he knew any information of his mother's side, he said he grew up with his grandmother and grandfather and the whole family was very close. When I asked him if they ever talked about where they had come from or any background he stated his grandfather, meaning my great grandfather Adam Wojtkowski, said his wife came from Polish Nobility and had always been too good for him. My father didn't know any more than this but knew his great grandparents loved each other until their dying days.

The search is on
I went looking to see what I could find to back up the legend. First stop was my grandmother's obituary as it had her maiden name listed. I had gone to the funeral and clipped this article myself from the newspaper.

This was one of my first bits of information when I first started to research genealogy. I looked for the last name of Slepvronska and came up with nothing for this or Wojtkowski. I put the article away until I could figure out a bit more.

It took me years to finally come back to the legend and try and put together the facts of the last names and the legend of our family nobility.  I did start to remember small bits of information my grandmother told me growing up, about her cousins and how they used to play in the river named Bug. At the time, I thought it was weird my that a river was named after a bug, but this is not unusual as my grandmother passed when I was in my mid-teens.

Credit: Ellis Island Ship Manifest

When I found my grandmother's shipping manifest, which took me years as her name was in Polish and not American, and found she arrived in the US with her mother, my great grandmother Mary Wojtkowski and had a name to go by - Malkinia. My grandmother mentioned to me she grew up near Warsaw but it was country where it intersected 2 rivers. One of these was named Bug.

Very Short History of Poland

The area my great grandparents & grandmother came from. Credit

Then I researched this area of Poland. The history of Poland is very complex.  During Napoleon's time in this area, 1797 to 1803, it was known as Duchy of Warsaw. After Napoleon, the countries surrounding Poland fought over its land and it ended with the 3 partitions of Poland which was in 1795 it started. However, the Duchy of Warsaw area, in 1815, had its name changed to Congress Poland or the Kingdom of Poland as it went by both names. After this it was under Russian control, and then during World War 1, it changed hands several times until 1918 when Poland came back as a country.  

This explained a lot about my great grandfather cursing the Russians, my grandmother saying everyone was killed by the Russians, and my grandmother, during her final days, switching between Russian, German, and English. 

Once I had the timeline sorted, I could then resume researching the happenings in this area. I found this area was where the Kings of Poland had put their knights. back prior to 1795, so they would be close enough if the king needed them for protection. However, it still didn't bring me any closer to answering the question if my family was part of nobility.

Using a Different Way to get a Puzzle Piece 
People did not always have surnames or last names. Each country, or parts of a country, got the last names during certain times. When I used this thought process, I did learn in Polish history some people didn't get last names until they were required to do so and then they took the names from different places. I learned in the early 1800s, or about 200 years ago, the government was requiring them, but many areas in the county resisted. The difference was if you were known or if you were in the government or a warrior. I found it very interesting on how some people obtained their last names as well. Upon keeping up with my search a few years ago, I really made the connection between us and being noble.

To be Noble or Not to be Noble - that is the question!
I found my great grandparent's wedding entry online for the area of Nur. Nur is nearby both of their tiny villages which were mentioned on naturalization paperwork from my grandmother and both my great grandparents. The wedding entry mentions and matches the information on these documents. However, my great grandmother dropped part of her name from Maryanna to Mary.

My great grandparent's wedding entry in Polish (left) and translated to English (right). Credit

Another hint of being noble was owning land. Serfdom gradually stopped, starting in 1791, and being able to own land occurred in 1864. This was prior to my documents, but the way they were written both sets of my 2 times great grandparents both owned land(above). My 2 times great grandmother on my great grandfather's side also owned the local mill according to the same document. This gave me a huge hint they had owned this land for many years by the way this was written.

Further, according to my great grandparent's wedding document, above, they not only did wedding bans in my great grandmother's church but also in my great grandfather's church at the request of my great grandmother. He once told my father he would do anything for my great grandmother. I believe she would have requested it because of belonging to separate "counties" or areas due to where the line for them occurred (see map above). You can see a line which is what has been used for years as separation during different ruling times.

What's in a name?
Then I looked up my great grandmother's new spelling of her maiden name - Ślepowronska. My grandmother's funeral notice put into the newspaper had the spelling of the name wrong.  I looked around for a town with a name, as this was common in Poland, and found an area which had a name almost like this one. The history of this area was known for being the area of  the knights of the King, which is where the Kingdom of Poland name came from. When you look up the name and the town, I found the Ślepowron coat of arms, once again nobility, also called szlachta, was mentioned. Then I looked up my 2 times great grandmother's maiden last name of Murawskie and found the town named Murawskie Nadbuzne. Once again, the document of my great grandmother's wedding had lived here at the time of her birth until her marriage. It listed her parents still lived there.

This town was not very far from Nur, where my great grandparents married. My great grandfather and grandmother listed the town my grandmother and her father put down as the place they lived when they were born Ciechanów, once again nearby these other towns.

When I looked up each of these towns, I  found the following write ups of these towns. Notice the highlighted areas which mention nobility. 

Credit

Credit

Things started to add up and everything pointed to nobility and being under the Slepowron coat of arms. This really opened my eyes to what my father was saying about nobility. This wasn't just one generation of doing something for the king - it was many generations it felt like.

What is a Sejmiks?
The sejmik is the Polish parliament which had been dated back in the 1500's which is exactly what the above cities state. If this is true, then my ancestors were in the parliament which is granted to nobility.

Other items all seem to line up too. My 2 times great grandfather Petr Slepowski had the same last name of another nearby town - Ślepowrony. My 2 times great grandmother Florentina Murawski came from the same town where my great grandmother was born - Murawskie Nadbuzne. My other 2 times great grandmother Anna Zakrzewska. There is a nearby town of  Then my great grandfather Adam Wojtkowski was born in Ciechanówiec but lived in a town Wojtkowice-Dady. 

All of the above names pinned in Google Earth. Map Credit: GoogleEarth

Look at all the names matching the nearby towns. Each of the websites above the map mentions nobility. 

I'd Classify the Legend is True
I'm going to call this a legend that is true because of the amount of information I've outlined above, and the documentation which balances it out, which agrees both sides were of Polish Nobility until it was taken away when Poland was split up into the 3 partitions of Poland. Then we started to lose everything.

Once again, there's been one Coat of Arms which has continuously been brought up Ślepowron. I believe this is our main coat of arms. When I researched the name of Petr Slepowski, I noticed this
Coat of Arms came up, but I wanted more proof before I could safely classify us as being able to use it.

The Slepowron Coat of Arms. Credit

However, according to the same website says we can also use the Coat of Arms Dabrowa can also be used as it states above under the Murawskie Nadbuzne name. This is due to the name changes they've done. However, as I have enough names around this area, I believe I safely say I can use either of these.

The Dabrowa Coat of Arms. Credit

There are many other different coats of arms for this area, and for all the last names, which was another reason why I wanted to research the heart out of this legend before classifying anything.

DNA
However, on a side note, I have a person who has come up in both my father and my DNA who's last name is Zakrzewska and the area matches as well. Too bad when I contacted them, they never responded. Its very sad many people won't chat about to people regarding findings like these.

Each of the symbols within each of these Coats of Arms means something to the family and its history. I'm proud of this fact.

Earliest Ancestor I could find is....Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

Topic Info:

Some ways that you might interpret this would be the earliest ancestor you've identified or the earliest document you've found. Maybe the earliest ancestor in a specific location.

As with most people today, most of my family came over in the early 1900s from Europe. The last ancestor to come over was my grandfather, Mathis, in 1926 from Germany.

My earliest ancestor I've been able to find would be 7th generation great grandparents, Laurent Gauquie and Maria C Beun. Both of them would have been born before 1700 and are noted on others family charts, but I don't have any further documentation on them.  They are both from or lived in what we now know is Belgium, but it was once a part of France and another time Austria.

Jean Baptiste Gauquie & family
As I'm not sure about anything from those ancestor's, I will continue with my 6th great grandparents, Jean Baptiste Gauquie (1723-1772) and his wife, Isabelle Verscheave (1729-1802), and their 2 sons.

This information I have from one of my cousins who had the time to go around to the churches to get these entries due to them not being available online. Let's face it, France is a lot closer to Belgium than Australia!

According to Jacobus Josephus Gauquie (spelled Gauguy), his son's entry (below), he was from Wytschaete part of Belgium.

The church birth entry for Jacobus Josephus Gauquie (Gauquy) in 1767 including translation. 

According to the same document (above), his mother Isabella, was from Boesynghe (now Boesinge) part of Belgium.

The area they both born in with distance from France's border. Credit: Google Earth

This area was a bit of a fighting area back then as can be seen by the section of the highlighted areas below. It is one of the oldest villages in Heuvelland (the area) (credit Wikipedia). What I thought was interesting was the French used the church as a stable.

From Wikipedia. 

However, according to his wife's death certificate be was dead prior to her passing in 1809.

Isabelle Claire Verschave death entry at Church. Credit: Herve Constille with translations above.

It does not give much of what or who they were unfortunately.

This area later become a huge part of the World Wars. They are known for fighting at Messines, Mine Battle of 1917,   Ypres Salient, Spanbroekmolen and various other battles. 

Anyhow, after Jean Baptiste Gauquie passes away, the French Revolution (1789-1799) happens which is also felt here due to how close they are to France.

Then Napoleon Bonaparte starts to make his way into history from 1803–1815 with the The Napoleonic Wars start.

Their son, Jacobus Josephus Gauquie, is now of age and its hard to say if he fought with Napoleon or not, but I would look at the Conscription, or Draft, in which France held.

The concept originated during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the period following 16 August 1793, when able-bodied men aged 18 to 25 were conscripted. It formed an integral part of the creation of national identity, making it distinct from forms of conscription which had existed before this date.

Credit 

If we take the above concept and apply it to Jacobus, then he would have been 26 years old. Yes, its one year older than the 25, but I'm sure they would have taken him for conscription without a problem. 

He does make it through the French Revolution, but dies before the end of Napoleon's time as he dies in January 1809 in Boesighe, Belgium. 

Top is original entry from the church and bottom is 2 translations.

The church entry actually tells us more about who Jacobus was. He was a rural policeman or garde Champetre. Due to this, I believe he probably did serve in the fighting or Napoleon came up and gave him this job with him to report anything weird to the government. 

This is what a rural policeman or garde champetre wore. Credit

One of the badges he probably wore. Credit

Or he could have looked like this

Credit

Its also interesting that his brother, Jean-Francois Gauquie, is always mentioned in main documents and is always told as a farmer. 

Farming was in our family until my uncle Anthony Gauquie passed away a few years ago. Yes, this meant farming has been in my family for at least 250 years in some respect. Not bad at all I say. 

Dear Diary, I...Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

Topic Info:

True, not everyone is fortunate enough to have an ancestor's diary or journal. (I haven't found any in my family yet!) You could write about an ancestor who you can picture keeping a diary. You could write a diary entry telling about researching someone. You could do a bit of creative non-fiction and write a diary entry as if you were one of your ancestors.

And if you are fortunate enough to have an ancestral diary or journal, tell about who wrote it!

Do I have a diary or journal?

I'm not one of the fortunate people who have a journal or diary from anyone in the family. We did have a family bible on my father's side, but it got water damaged and thrown out when I was a teenager without my knowledge and I didn't know anything about that until I asked my father about it a few years ago. I used to love looking at the bible because the pages were so thin and so elegant with the gold and the drawings. This just about broke my heart. 

Putting the family back together...

Anyhow, my research started with only a few things, as I've written about before. From here, I've been able to put things together and use tape and glue to keep them together. I've been lucky enough to start to join the families back together as well. My mother's side I now have an uncle, cousins from first cousins to cousins all over the world in Poland, Belgium, Germany, and USA. On my father's side, I have a few from the German side and cousins from my paternal grandmother's Polish side. I've been lucky enough to join in some way with these families and I couldn't be prouder. I have run into some people through the DNA or email which basically said Nope and told me to shove off (actually used other words but this is a child friendly area or at least I try to keep it that way!). 

I have been trying to trek each of my ancestors across their lifetimes. Sometimes its easy and others aren't so easy...these are called roadblocks. Believe me, we all have these.

One of the ideas listed above is to write a journal entry of an ancestor as if it where them writing it. I've had a tough time narrowing the person down.

An Ancestor's Diary Entry...

Dear Diary,

You don't know me, but my name is Adam Wojtkowski. My great granddaughter, Jo Ann, will be writing this in years after my passing, but I think, from my looking over her shoulder and steering her a bit, she's done very well so far. As she's fluent in English, and barely knows any Polish, this will be written in English.

Its currently 1913 and I am sitting here on my bed on the ship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, which is a beautiful ship, but still makes me scared as its been about 10 months since the Titanic sank. True she is fast and the largest in the world, but the things we have heard about in the Titanic hearings didn't make this voyage any easier for any of us. Its currently taking me away from everything I know and love and bringing me to the land of opportunity they promise those of us in the advertising.  There was accommodation for 472 first class passengers, 174 second class passengers, 212 third class passengers and 1608 forth class (steerage) passengers as written by the shipping company.

They spelled the last name wrong, but all other information is current. Credit: Ellis Island

Anyhow, I grew up on a farm with my parents in Wojtkowice-Dady, Podlaskie Voidvodeship in east-central Poland. My mother owns a mill which helps us sell the flour on our land at the nearest market in nearby Nur which is in the Masovian Voidvodeship and almost 6 miles or almost 11 kilometers away. When I met my wife, Maryanna, but I call my Mary, I fell instantly in love. She's my princess and I would do anything for her.

Circles show the areas mentioned above in Poland. Warsaw is to the West of Malkinia Gorna. From Google Maps

Soon after we did our wedding banns in both her church and ours because my princess wanted it that way because I lived in what the people in the US would call a county and she in another. It wasn't traditionally done here with the double banns, but whatever my Mary wanted I tried to give her. I still can't believe she married me in 1905 and gave me our little girl, Genowefa in 1910. I love them so much and only want to keep the safe and love my girls. Tears are filling my eyes just thinking about leaving them behind to go off to find our future. I live to feel them again in my arms.

The above is the wedding certificate on left. On right is the translation and date conversion. Credit

However, with the Russians looking for more soldiers for their rotten army, and the things THAT army does to all people along with the unrest they are causing, I had a talk with some close friends in town about the US. After talking it over with them and my wife, it was decided. The men would head to the US and I would have my girls say with my wife's family in Malkin Gorna for protection. Her family is from nobility and has more protection for them than anyone else I could have left them with or at least that's what we're hoping.

Newspaper article about people hating Russia. Credit

In our group, we all have the same last name. As my family owned land, we had the last name of Wojtkowski so I received my last name by my father, but the same Russian scum forced naming conventions upon the others.

The fighting has been stepping up and what the Russian scum are doing with treatment and thievery of people are only going to get worse I fear.

My friends and I had set out for the Hamburg port in Germany on foot as I sold or left behind everything else. We did have people help us with giving us rides in wagons and such, but it still took us a long time to get to this port.

We came close a few times to getting caught by either the Russian army or when we crossed over to the German area. Thankfully, we know both languages so we could pretend we were farmers from both sides and were able to get through. We did see some people who must not have been so convincing as they were shouted at because the solders did not believe them before they were shot in the head dead. It was brutally cold winter for we left in January and arrived on board in February.

Most people would be shocked or appalled at this killing treatment, but since my birth its almost a common occurrence so we're all used to it unfortunately. The toughest ones, I dare say, are when this is done to your loved ones right in front of you. We've had many family members who have had this done, or have simply disappeared like my younger brother, which I pray for every night and live in hope he is well, but deep down I fear is is already gone from us.

On board its cramped but at least I have my friends along with me, so I'm not completely homesick. I hope my brother Wiceski in New Jersey is well. Although he's not technically my brother, we are saying he is so I can get through customs. The 25 dollars I have helps with this as well. Each of these are how we are getting through the regulations the officials have put on. We have done this before in our homeland, so this isn't a problem for us or at least we hope. This is what has been told of us to do and we had decided it is all worth the risk. Thankfully my dear friend Crzeslaw, who has traveled there before even due to his young age, has helped us with this voyage.

Czeslaw's letter for my grandmother's (Genowefa/Genevieve) naturalization documents. Credit: US NIS

I better go as the seas are starting to toss about wildly once again and at times you had to hang on or else risk being thrown about. Meanwhile, I'll sit here and dream about what kind of life me and my girls will have once we all there there and settle down. I will also pray you, my darling princess wife, and our little daughter stay safe until we can be together again.

All my dreams and love to my girls.
Dobranoc (Goodnight)
Adam

In Who's Namesake...Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

Topic Info:

They could be ancestors who had the same name for many generations? Or were named for famous people? Someone who saved a person's life? Or were named for a favorite food, flower, or scenic spot. Do you have a name that's been carried through the family for several generations? An ancestor named for a famous person or someone special to the family?

This week's topic is on namesakes. Namesakes are big in my family, but I thought it was because my generation lost creativity or something.

Namesakes in this generation of family
For instance, my brother's name was Charles Adam. He was named after our grandmother's partner Charles Gardner and my great grandfather Adam Wojtkowski. When my brother and sister in law had a son, they named him Charles Adam Jr. In our family we call the child by their initials so Charles Adam Jr was CJ for Charles Junior. My nephew grew annoyed at this and wants to be called Charles now, but to those of us in the family CJ will stick. My brother did try and he called him Junior much of the time.

My sister, Jean, has a son and he was named after his father. My ex brother in law's name is Tommy or Thomas, so my nephew is called TJ for Thomas Jr. My sister, Debbie, had a son and his middle name is after my father, so his name is Eric Matthew. Like I said, many of us weren't very original in this generation.

It was only when I started to put the family tree together, I found there were many namesakes within the family and it gets to be a real headache. In fact, one family the Galloway's, way back when did a real good thing. In each generation for about 4 generations, each son had named at least one son a John, a George, and a Washington. Sometimes, for real laughs, they had a George Washington as well as a Washington. I would have loved to be around when they had the entire family together that's for sure!

Who's my Namesake...? A bet is a bet. 
If I had to pick just one namesake, it would probably be me. Yep, me. Something I know more than a lot about if I do say so myself.

When my parents found out my mother was pregnant again, as I would be the 5th child, they made a bet on the sex of the baby. If it was a boy, it would be named after my father Matthew. If it was a girl, then it would be named after my mother, Jo Ann.

1956 Picture of my mother and father in Newburgh, NY. Credit: M. Schmitz

My mother went into labor and had to call my paternal grandmother Jean Schmitz, due to my father being in the south offloading one of the US Navy submarines as he was on duty. It was funny how my father heard about my birth. Apparently, West Point hospital where I was born, called the Red Chinese whispers!

My military birth certificate front side. Copyright: J. Fitzgerald

Cross to give my father the information. This was intercepted by one of the radio men on board, who called my father to give him the heads up that I was born, but had to send a message to the CO, commanding officer, on board even though they were in port. Within fifteen minutes, the CO approached my father to tell him of the birth. Talk about


The CO told him.....    Congratulations its a girl.............

1972 local newspaper which announces my birth.

What about your middle name?

I do have a middle name which is Janet.

Janet is my maternal grandmother's first name. I know my grandmother was adored by my mother and her brother, Jimmy. I'm not sure about the oldest brother Louis.

Undated photo of my grandmother Janet. Credit: J. Gauquie

The sad part is I met my grandmother maybe four times my entire life. Even then, she didn't say much because the hospital she was in had her so pumped up on medication, she didn't even know what planet she was on let alone who was in the room with her, which is just sad.

Because I didn't know much about my grandmother, it fueled me on to find out more about her in my research. This was tricky because she was a housewife and mother and didn't attend society lunches
or committees. However, I was able to find out when they visited, sold land or houses, and even found an advertisement for her selling her sewing which I was impressed with.

My grandmother, in pink above, is trying to sell hats she made. Credit

This made me a bit happier because I knew a bit more about her and not just what I've been told. I wrote about her in one of my past posts when I found where she was buried.

So that's it...my name comes from my mother and her mother.

SNL with Alec Baldwin. Credit

Ta Da!