An Emerald Wedding Anniversary

The following picture appeared in the Milwaukee Journal on April 25, 1937:

This family is connected to the Milwaukee Polonia Project Tree through the daughter Eva (Tarkowski) Sikora.  Eva's husband, Anton, had a sister Frances, who was married to Anton Pluta.  Anton Pluta's sister Agnes was married to Joseph Domachowski (Featured Profile #5)

A little follow-up to this story.  From birth records available on www.familysearch.org, I was able to determine that the mother in this family was Anna Szerbat (or some variation of that spelling.)  I then found the following on the Poznan Project:

Other than the spelling of the wife's last name, everything else, including the date of the marriage, matches the couple in the picture.

The one thing I haven't been able to match up are the number of children.  From the records that I have found, it appears that the couple had at least ten children unless some of them go by different names.  For example, the birth record I found for Anna Tarkowski may match the wedding record I found for a Joanna Tarkowski. However, the 1910 census records state that Anna had had 18 children, but only seven were still surviving.  So, it could be that the seven children mentioned in  the picture caption were only the ones who survived into adulthood.

To end this story, Anna passed away just later that year.  Frank lived until July, 1940.  They are both buried in Holy Trinity Cemetery along with other family members.

Connected Individuals:

Frank Tarkowski
Anna (Szerbot) Tarkowski
Pearl (Tarkowski) Grzybowski
Eva (Tarkowski) Sikora
Josephine (Tarkowski) Wiza
John Tarkowski

Featured Profile #18 - Alan Kulwicki

 Alan Kulwicki (1954 - 1993)

 Perhaps the most unlikely of all NASCAR Winston Cup Champions. He was a Polish-American kid from Milwaukee in a sport dominated by Southern drivers. He may also have been the first NASCAR Champion to hold a college degree and probably the first to carry a brief case to work. It is indicative of his career that when he won his first NASCAR Winston Cup race (1987 Phoenix International Raceway) he turned his car around and went the wrong way around the track. (This put the driver's side of the car facing the outside of the track and allowed him to wave to the fans.) He promptly dubbed this move the "Polish Victory Lap."

Alan was born in Greenfield in 1954, the oldest son of Gerry Kulwicki and Margaret Matula.  His early childhood was colored by the death of loved ones.  His mother died when Alan was only seven, and his paternal grandmother, Anna (Stasiewski) Kulwicki, less than two years later.  After his mother died, the family went to live with Alan's maternal grandmother, Helen (Karpinski) [Jusiel] [Mautal] McDonnell.  However, she died just three year's later in 1967.  Moreover, this death was just four month's after the death of Alan's only sibling, Kenneth Kulwicki, of hemophilia-related illness.

Alan persevered through these challenges.  He graduated from Pius XI High School and earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Along the way, he had developed a keen interest in racing.  It ran in the family:  his father had been a crew chief for auto racers. Alan had started racing in short tracks in Wisconsin.  Finding success there, he moved up to the bigger stage of national short track racing, where in a short time he also achieved success.   By 1985, he had decided to make his leap to NASCAR, and to do it his own way, with his own team.  Along the way, he put his UWM engineering degree to work in order to design faster cars.  When he moved to NASCAR,  he hit the ground running and by the end of  the 1986 season, he had been named NASCAR Rookie of the year.  The next several years brought continued improvement, and by 1992 he was the Winston Cup Driver's and Owner's Champion.

Sadly, his reign as Champion lasted only five months. He was killed in a plane crash outside Blountvllle, Kentucky on April 1, 1993 while returning from a promotional visit.

Among his many accomplishments:

1992 Winston Cup Driver's and Owner's Champion.

1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year.

Named one of NASCAR'S 50 Greatest Drivers of All Time in 1998.

Much more information regarding his accomplishments, awards and honors can be found at the Wikipedia article for Alan Kulwicki and Alan Kulwicki, A Champion's Story.  Also, a more in-depth look into his personal side can be found on the webpage for Alan Kulwicki at the UNC Charlotte Foundation.  Finally, here are some videos regarding his life and career:

Outside the Lines - Alan Kulwicki

And for a more in-depth treatment:

Winners - Alan Kulwicki
      Part 1:

Part 2:

Relation to Nearest Featured Profile (Louis A. Fons, Featured Profile #7):  No near relation.

Path From Nearest Featured Profile:  Louis A. Fons > father, Frank Fons > half-brother, Anton Fons > daughter, Pauline (Fons) Jetke > husband, August Jetke > sister, Josephine (Jetke) Kitzke > husband, Stanley Kitzke > father, Frank Kitzke (sometimes Kitzki) > third wife, Anna (Brozda) [Kulwicki] Kitzke > son, John Kulwicki  > son, Gerald Kulwicki > son, Alan Kulwicki

 

Status Update - September, 2012

Family Names Added Since Last Update:

 

Bejma

Biedatsch

Boguslawske

Cieslinski

Daczyk

Ewald

Freder

Goralski

Gutkowski

Hibicke

Kempczynski

Klosinski

Klugiewicz

Konczal

Kowalkiewicz

Krolski

Kwiecinski

Maliek

Mintzleff

Mutranowski

Pankowski

Parulski

Reszczynski

Stankowski

Staszak

Streczynski

Strozewski

Szewczyk

Wieczorkiewicz

Zalewski

Zientara

Number of Profiles Added Since Last Update:  306

New Intra-Connections (Lucht to Fons):

  84)  .... Dolores (Wozniak) Andress > daughter, [PRIVATE] (Andress) Brzezinski >, husband, [PRIVATE] Brzezinski > mother, Florence (Rosewicz) Brzezinski > brother, Ralph Rosewicz > wife, Alice (Rosploch) Rosewicz > mother, Frances (Kitzke) Rosploch ...

85)  .... Andrew Andraszczyk > brother, John Andraszczyk > son, John Joseph Andraszczyk > daughter, Genevieve (Jean) (Andraszczyk) Uciechowski > husband, Carl Uciechowski > sister, Helen (Uciechowski) Kitzki ....

86)  ....Leona (Grosz) Lucht > sister, Bernice (Grosz) Kalmadge > husband, Charles Kalmadge > sister, Theresa (Kalmadge) Wargolet > son, Daniel Wargolet > Dolores (Hibicke) Wargolet > sister, Geraldine (Hibicke) Kitkowski > husband, Edward Kitkwoski > father, Frank Kitkowski > brother, Andrew Kitkowski ....

87)  ....Leona (Grosz) Lucht > sister, Lillian (Grosz) Kalmadge > husband, Stephen Kalmadge > sister, Theresa (Kalmadge) Wargolet ....

88)  .... Blanche (Kintop) Jagodzinski > sister, Joanna (Kintop) Kuks > husband, Frank Kuks > brother, Alois Kuks > son, Louis Kuks > wife, Irene (Jagodzinski) Kuks > father, Anton Jagodzinski ....

PCN:  6.4

 Historicals:

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:

Tutaj to Taylor

Newly-Discovered Alternate Spellings;
 

Chudzik Hudzik

Gutkowski Gutkowiaka

Jagodzinski Jaqadjkowski

Kempczynski Kepczynski

Kicki Kicka

Swinka Swinko

Szczepanski Szepanski

Szlyzinski Slizewski

Szpadzinaska Szpadsinski

Tilitzke Tilicka