For over 150 years, Milwaukee has been home to a large community of people of Polish descent. The Milwaukee Polonia Project hopes to show the interweaving, intertwining family trees that resulted in this community. It is hoped that, eventually, all the families can be connected to one another. The Milwaukee Polonia Project is also a means to explore our common history and celebrate our shared heritage.

THE ACTUAL DATABASE OF THE TREE IS NOW LOCATED AT THE MILWAUKEE POLONIA PROJECT TREE at Tribal Pages. (We still have much work to do, so don't assume that families are shown completely.) YOU DO NOT NEED A PASSWORD TO ACCESS INFORMATION ON DECEASED INDIVIDUALS.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Terrible Year

The last entry, a Featured Profile of Charles Stachowiak, was an excerpt from a book originally published in 1909.  It seemed to give the impression that all was sweetness and light in the family. However, that was not the case, at least not in the extended family.

Two of Charles' brothers (Albert and Joseph) were married to two sisters, Florentyna and Martha Ulezelski. (Another brother, Lawrence, was married to Anna Machajewski, daughter of Katherine Olezelski, who may have been a cousin.)  It was this Ulezelski family, specifically, the family of  Theodor Ulezelski, brother to Florentyna and Martha, which had just suffered multiple tragedies.

First, the only son of Theodor and Antonia (Sadowski) died.  Alois was only seven months old when he passed away in March, 1908.

The family must have still been reeling from this loss when they took a day trip to Pewaukee Lake to celebrate the 4th of July.  Horrifically, tragedy struck again.  This time, Theodor died when he fell out of a boat and drowned.  The following appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune on July 6, 1908:



 This left Antonia to fend for herself and her (at least) three surviving young children.  She was also pregnant at the time.

Sadly, bad luck does come in 3's sometimes and this was not the end of loss for this family. Antonia gave birth to the child on October 2, 1908.  Unfortunately, the baby survived only one day.

It is hard to imagine so much grief for one family in so short a time.  Fortunately, Antonia was able to move on.  She married Frank Siergiej in 1910 and they had two children together.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Featured Profile #22 - Charles Stachowiak

Charles Stachowiak (1872 - 1958)

This month's Featured Profile is another entry from Memoirs of Milwaukee County, edited by Jerome Anthony Watrous.  It is found on pages 212 - 213.  (Note:  Charles Stachowiak was also sometimes known as Chester.  His Polish name may have been Czeslaus.)



By the 1930's, Charles, his wife, and at least one son had moved to California.  Charles died in Los Angeles on April 1, 1958.  (Note:  one transcription of his California death record lists his date of birth as July 21, 1871, not July 20, 1870 as in the above article.)

Two of Charles' brothers-in-law also appear in Memoirs of Milwaukee County and will be the subject of up-coming Featured Profiles.

Relation to Nearest Featured Profile (Roman B.J. Kwasniewski, Featured Profile #21):  Uncle of Wife's Sister-in-Law.

Path From Nearest Featured Profile:  Roman Kwasniewski > wife, Mary (Drozniakiewicz) Kwasniewski > brother, Casper Drozniakiewicz > wife, Angeline (Jankowski) Drozniakiewicz > mother, Petronela (Stachowiak) Jankowski > brother Charles Stachowiak

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Status Update - January, 2013

Family Names Added Since Last Update:  

Bachert
Bazynski
Blonski
Bosakala
Danecki
Dorszewski
Florkowski
Hassa
Kabacinski
Kulinski
Lankiewicz
Mulka
Panka
Sieja
Siergiej
Sobanski
Tarczewski
Ulezelski
Wesolek
Winski
Wolta
Zeknewske
Zmijeska

Profiles Added Since Last Update:  247

New Intra-Connetions (Lucht to Fons):

 105)  ....August Litzau > son, Florian Litzau > wife, Alice (Wieczorek) Litzau > mother, Catherine (Mendel) Wieczorek > sister, Helen (Mendel) Serocki ....

106)  .... Jennie (Lewandowski) Grosz > brother, Eugene Lewandowski > wife, Louise (Wieczorek) Lewandowski > mother, Catherine (Mendel) Wieczorek ....

107)  .... Chester Mazurkiewicz > PRIVATE Mazurkiewicz > wife, PRIVATE Serocki > father, Ervin Serocki > father, Frank Serocki ....

PCN:  8

Historicals:
January, 2012:  8.0
December, 2012: 3.29
November, 2012: 6.0
October, 2012:  12.25
September, 2012:  6.4
August, 2012: 3.89
July, 2012:  4.57
June, 2012:  7.75
May, 2012:  9.33
April, 2012:  16.67
March, 2012:  16
February, 2012:  12.8
January, 2012:  19

Newly-Discovered Changed Names:

Wachowiak to Drosen

Newly-Discovered Alternate Spellings:

 Dyniewicz Byniewicz
Mendel Mandel
Mier Mir
Sadowski Sedowski
Siergiej Srirgiej
Spirewka Spierowski Spexewska
Ulezelski Ulegelski Ulzelski Ulezalski Ulizelski
Wojda Woida
Zmijeska Zmijewska

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Fighting in the New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

I hope your celebrations went better than that of the Newadomiski (perhaps Niewiadomski) family.  The following article appeared in the Milwaukee Journal on January 3, 1910: