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    Memories of Dziadka: Rural Life in the Kingdom of Poland 1880-1912 and Immigration to America
    Memories of Dziadka: Rural Life in the Kingdom of Poland 1880-1912 and Immigration to America
    Memories of Dziadka: Rural Life in the Kingdom of Poland 1880-1912 and Immigration to America
    Ebook157 pages1 hour

    Memories of Dziadka: Rural Life in the Kingdom of Poland 1880-1912 and Immigration to America

    By Stephen Szabados

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    About this ebook

    This book is about the life of a Polish immigrant from the Russian partition of Poland. It first describes the area where he was born. The next chapter lists many facts and activities of his early life in rural Polish Russia. The third chapter describes the customs and traditions that his family celebrated as he grew to manhood. Chapter Four discusses the possible reasons for his decision to leave his family and the land of his birth.  Chapter Five describes his trek across Poland and Germany to the port of Bremerhaven, his experience in the port, and his voyage across the North Atlantic Ocean. The next chapter discusses his arrival in America and the process for admittance to the United States after leaving the ship. This chapter also describes his train trip from Philadelphia to Bloomington, Illinois. Chapter Seven details his life in America.

     

    I wanted to put some of the interesting stories that I had of Polish immigrants together in one place to make it easy for other people to read and understand their hardships. My hope in writing this book is to share the information about the daily lives of the Polish people living in the rural areas of Poland. I used my grandfather as the central figure in this book, but this is not his biography. I used details of my grandfather's life but added accounts of other people to tell a complete life story. My grandfather was not a person whose accomplishments would be in history books. However, his life is an example of a typical Polish immigrant in the early 1900s. I chose to tie all of the stories and information to one person to make this a more exciting story. I felt this method would be easier to show the impact of various facets of someone's life.

     

    When writing your family history, remember to "put some meat on the bones of your ancestors." They were more than the names and dates on the documents. Use the pictures in the family albums. Save and label these precious photos. Find stories that tell how they interacted with their neighbors, friends, and family. Please include information about social history and the events that may have impacted their lives. Ask yourself what their lives were like and find accounts that will explain their actions.

     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen Szabados
    Release dateJun 22, 2020
    ISBN9781393264552
    Memories of Dziadka: Rural Life in the Kingdom of Poland 1880-1912 and Immigration to America
    Author

    Stephen Szabados

    Steve Szabados grew up in Central Illinois and is a retired project manager living in the Chicago Suburbs. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and a Masters in Business Administration from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Steve Szabados is an author and lecturer on genealogy. He has been researching his ancestors since 2000 and has traced ancestors back to the 1600s in New England, Virgina, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the 1730’s in Poland, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. He has given numerous presentations to genealogical groups and libraries in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. His mission is to share his passion for Family History with as many people as he can. He is a former board member of Polish Genealogical Society of America, and he is a genealogy volunteer at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. Steve also is the genealogy columnist for the Polish American Journal.

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      Book preview

      Memories of Dziadka - Stephen Szabados

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      ––––––––

      I based most of the information for this book on information I found from my grandfather's documents, stories that he told me, and my memories of him when we lived with him. However, I used information from many other resources to tell the complete story of a Polish immigrant.

      I owe a special thanks to my cousin Pawel Zawistowski, who supplied me with details of life in Dmochy Kudly, which his mother, Cecylia, experienced. My son's father-in-law, Glenn Sittig, gave me some fascinating insights into his life while growing up on a farm. Craig Pfannkuche, who is a wealth of knowledge, deserves my thanks for help finding the train schedules that aided me in recreating my grandfather's train trip from Philadelphia to Bloomington, Illinois. Finally, Joan Huff, my good friend and fellow genealogy volunteer at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, helped one more time with her proofing and editing skills.

      Once again, my wife, Susan, and my family were patient with me as I sat writing and editing my manuscript. My friends in genealogy were also very patient as I described the book to them so I could form some of my ideas.

      Thank you all.

      INTRODUCTION TO DZIADKA

      ––––––––

      This book is about the life of a Polish immigrant from the Russian partition of Poland. I describe the main character as my grandfather. However, this can be the story of many Polish immigrants who arrived in America in the early 1900s.

      The book begins with a description of the area where my grandfather was born. It continues with an account of the activities that he experienced during his early life in rural Polish Russia. The third chapter describes the customs and traditions that his family celebrated as he grew to manhood. Chapter Four discusses the possible reasons for his decision to leave his family and the land of his birth.  Chapter Five describes his trek across Poland and Germany to the port of Bremerhaven, his experience in the port, and his voyage across the North Atlantic Ocean. The next chapter discusses his arrival in America and the process for admittance to the United States after leaving the ship. This chapter also describes his train trip from Philadelphia to Bloomington, Illinois. Chapter Seven details his life in America.

      My goal is to share the stories of the lives of Polish immigrants to make it easy for other people to read and understand the hardships these brave people endured. Most readers know the stories covering their immigration and their lives in America. I hope to add more understanding of the daily lives of the Polish people living in the rural areas of Poland and the sacrifices that occurred boarded the ships. I use my grandfather as the central figure in this book, but this is not his biography. Instead, I use the details of my grandfather's life but add other people's accounts to tell a complete life story. My grandfather was not a person whose accomplishments you would generally find in history books. However, his life is an example of a typical Polish immigrant in the early 1900s. I tied all the stories and information to one person to make this a more exciting story. I felt this method would make it easier to show the impact of various facets of someone's life.

      Remember to put some meat on the bones of your ancestors when writing your family history. They were more than the names and dates on the documents. Use the pictures in the family albums. Save and label these precious photos. Find stories about how they interacted with their neighbors, friends, and family. Please include information about social history and the events that may have impacted their lives. Ask yourself what their lives were like and find accounts that will explain their actions.

      I find that family history is not just a collection of names, pictures, charts, and documents. I use summaries to help organize my research. These pages act as quick reference sheets and allow me to find information faster. At first, my summaries are lists of facts, but as they grow, I begin to see stories coming out of the information I find. My summaries allow me to see my ancestors come alive. They were human beings who interacted with the people and were affected by the events around them. Each document that lists them is a snapshot of their lives, and I believe that each detail should be captured and analyzed. My written family history shows the relationships between the facts and the people. I try to envision how each event might impact their lives.

      My grandfather was a big man. At least, he seemed that way to me when I was young. He was 6 feet tall and about 210 pounds. My earliest memory was that he was always at home and did not work. I usually found him sitting on the front porch, watching over the neighborhood. When the weather was terrible, he sat in his rocker in the living room and watched TV. I found out later that he had suffered several strokes starting in 1949, preventing him from returning to work at the railroad shops.  He and my grandmother lived off the disability pension he received from the Railroad Retirement Administration.

      During the 1950s, my grandpa, grandma, uncle, parents, sister, and I lived in my grandparents' house on West Mulberry Street in Bloomington, Illinois. This period was a time that allowed me to ask my grandfather about his life in Poland. However, he was a quiet man and talked very little. I was interested in learning more about my Polish roots, and I asked him about his life in Poland. However, he was reluctant to describe this part of his life. My persistence did yield some details, but fifty years later, when I began my genealogy research in earnest, he was no longer with us, and I wish I had gotten more from him.

      The foundation for this book is the details I have found about my grandfather in documents such as his military papers, passenger manifests, census records, railroad retirement papers, and land transactions. I also included the oral history that I remember and my descriptions of the many aspects of his life. I saw myself because we lived with him or next door for 15 years.

      My research encouraged me to seek other resources to add more details to my grandfather's family history. I found some of these details in accounts written by different researchers about their ancestors or in books dealing with other aspects of Polish life or history. As I did my genealogy research, I took a particular interest in any accounts of Polish life. Any life stories in Polish Russia were of specific interest to me, and I took more time to study the information and take notes.

      Here are a few of the books that I found helpful:

      The two volumes of God's Playground by Norman Davies are an excellent history of Poland. Davies gives many details from archival papers that gave me new insights into events that affected my ancestors.

      Another great reference was the book Polish Customs, Traditions, and Folklore by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab, which gave many details about Polish life that helped me visualize my grandfather's early years.

      Some of the first pages of the book Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago by Dominic A. Pacyga gave some excellent details of immigrants' difficulties in crossing the German border and the challenges they faced once they arrived.

      Many books have been written describing how immigrants enter Ellis Island. Still, the book Forgotten Doors, the Other Ports of Entry to the United States, edited by M. Mark Stolarik, gives many details of the challenges immigrants face from other U.S. cities. I used this book to help describe the experience that my grandfather had as he passed through the port in Philadelphia. 

      Other relevant sources I used were my cousins Pawel Zawistowski and Darius Tolcyzk, who were born in Poland and whose ancestors were born in the same village as my grandfather. I used the stories from their parents and grandparents to fill in many details of life in my grandfather's village.

      My book is about a simple, uneducated man who had noble ancestors but could not inherit anything in Poland. It is a story about a strong young man who joined the thousands of Polish immigrants on their journey to the United States to find better opportunities. It describes his early life in Poland, discusses possible reasons for his emigration, describes what he endured in his journey to America, and finally, describes his new life in America.

      Hopefully, you will find that many of my grandfather's life details were similar to those of your ancestors. These could be clues that lead you to the documents and stories about your heritage.

      CHAPTER ONE: FARM LAND IN DMOCHY

      ––––––––

      Grandpa's birthplace

      My grandfather Stefan Jan Zuchowski was born in the farming area of Dmochy, Poland, in 1893. His parents were Leopold Zuchowski and Anna Dmochowska. Baptismal records indicated that their ancestors

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