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.