Lunch Break Discoveries

For years now, I have been trying to find some evidence or clue about Francisca, my 3rd great-grandmother, Palus.  Well, my biggest problem is that I have no maiden name for her.  Just Francisca.  The parish she is from is the one I have been writing about and working on the reconstruction project. Well, in all this "reconstructing"  I have not found one entry for my people, Bernhard and Francisca Palus, parents of Eva, born abt 1833, in Nogawczyce, in Jarischau/Jaryszow parish.  But today at lunch I felt stongly to check a parish in Kotulin.  Don't ask me why...don't really know.  But the first page on the film had my Bernhard as a witness to a birth in 1826.  I quickly copied that page and kept going and aside from all the names I found to add to my project of people in "other places" which were from Jaryszow parish, I found Francisca Palus.  She and Bernhard kept witnessing for the same three couples and I followed them as they moved through three different towns.  Sieronowitz, Balzarowitz and finally the year 1833 to Nogowczyce.  I found his brother Jacob, the man through whom Dominika descends and all the Palus' I met while in Poland.  Then I found 2 of his sisters marrying in Kotulin and having kids and all kinds of stuff.  Of course, Bernhard and Francisca do not seem to marry here, but they sure spent some quality time going to mass here, it appears...So, I didn't have much time as it was only lunch but tomorrow is my personal research day.  Yeah, good timing.  I find Bernhard and Francisca, so far from 1823-1845 in this parish coming and going.  So usually in German records the woman is listed with her maiden name and married name.  Here each entry said Francisca "Palus".  So I wasn't sure, was that her maiden or married name??  Could be, don't know.  But the families they witness for, could surely be hers, but which one of the three?  And the husband or the wife?  Who is she related to?  I know Bernhard's relatives and these names weren't them, so I hope that I can figure something else out.    This is my family mystery.  It might be forever, but I haven't given up yet. 

As I looked at the map, All the towns are right next to one another and he must have moved as he found or needed new work.  Apparently Gregor, his father also lived in Sieronowitz during this time.  So they didn't move directly from Dziewkowitz to Nogowczyce, they made a few stops along the way.  So its kind of fun for me to find. Here is a link to a beautiful pic of the church:  http://fotopolska.eu/128941,foto.html I can't wait to see what is still to be found...

Reasons Why I went Private

THE UGLY OLD TROLLS ARE LURKING WAITING FOR THE UNSUSPECTING ONES.
I liked having a blog and seeing the localities where readers were coming from.  But then one day as I uploaded my pictures on my Picasa website.  I got a "WEIRD" follower who called himself DumDum..Dum and it sort of freaked me out.  So I hurried and locked up all my picture albums and then made my blog private.  It creeped me out all night, especially more when my mom, who was trying to log into my blog the next day did a "google search" for "Grandmasonjasstuff" and came up with all these freaky wierd URLS.  So everytime she clicked on one of them, something weird came up.  So, I don't know why that is, but one of the weird things said, by the Crazy Hacker.  So, OK, that was it for me.  I am going under-wraps so to speak.  Anyway, that was the reason.  I don't like what it implicated and so here I am and only those invited can follow my blog.  It isn't as much fun, but safer, I suppose.  Anyways, I hope I haven't failed to invite a friend...

Jaryszow Parish Surname Project (Kreis Gross Strehlitz ) Pt 2

Well, this week I have been working really hard to try to get all my new names into my Excel file.  I am almost done, just doing a little double checking.  I put a little blurb about my project into my Oberschlesien research group list-server.  It looks like others are doing similar reconstruction projects.  I think its great since no other records are available in the church itself.  I hope that others on the list will see my email and respond with data to add to the project.  I also have some addresses to write to in Nogawczyce of people who know more about the old times.  I think that would be wonderful.  Here is a pic of the church. 

While we were there the first time, we learned of the "Healing Lady" that lives by the church.  Each time we were here, there were cars lined up with people coming to her from all over to be healed of their infirmities.  I found that sort of interesting.  Maybe I should have made a visit to her!  Ha ha!

Jaryszow Parish Surname Project (Kreis Gross Strehlitz )

A few years back I discovered an ancestor, Eva Palus, who was to have been born in a village called Nogawczyce about 1833.  The former German name for this place was Nogowschuetz, in fact, it also had another name during the rule of Hitler.  It was called Wangschuetz at that time.  Well, I tried to find films of the parish for this town, which was in Jaryszow, formerly Jarischau.  I found none.  When I went to Poland 3 years ago, I tried to visit the Priest but he was at a funeral.  I did talk extensively to the employees at the school who said that the church was burned to the ground during WWII and the priest and 2 nuns were killed by Russian soldiers.  They are buried in the churchyard. Apparently all the old books were burned at that time also.  Not a happy story for a genealogist or anyone really...Well, I had started a little project about that time for Jaryszow parish which entailed gathering names of people in other records, such as neighboring village church or civil records etc.which had information that stated they were from villages within Jaryszow parish.  When I found names of people that were witnesses of births or were mentioned somehow in other places, I started putting them into an Excel file with their data.  Just before my most recent trip I had about 413 names gathered in this file.  I came home last week with many more names and am in the process of adding them to the file.  I did notice as I compared the new names I had just gathered with the old names that I had already found, that there were really only a few new surnames that I came up with.  Most of the surnames were repeats of previous ones.  This kind of indicated to me that I might have a pretty good idea of the family names living in the Jaryszow parish area. But which one was the surname of Eva Palus' mother...still a BIG mystery.

Despite the parish fire, I was able to find the Palus family line and was able to determine that they were actually only in Nogawczyce for a short period of time.  They had all moved there from Himmelwitz.  Those records are filmed and in good shape.  This was through the help of the Palus family that I met there who had traced their family before the church burned.  But for the mother of Eva Palus, I have only a first name, Francisca, and she was married to Bernhard Palus.  I have tried everything I can think of to find some clue as to her surname, but nothing seems to work. I even tried to talk to the priest again, last week, but this time he was at 2 weddings and the parties thereafter.  We did reach him on his mobile phone, but he didn't think that there were any old books of any type left. So if someone reading this has an idea, I am open to anything! Dominika, a Palus cousin and her mother in Nogawczyce busily found me old photos to photograph.  The new photos I took actually were better than the old original ones.  That was very fun to see.

This is a fun old pic of Silesian children,  notice the old German custom of getting a big cone-shaped container full of candy for the first day of school.  I was told they still do this in this part of Poland.  Danuta, my interpreter from Warsaw had never heard of this.  It is more Silesian/German, I guess.  I love that tradition of the Zucker-Tüte.  Wish I had gotten one...

This is a picture in front of the Jaryszow church of a  family gathering.  I don't know the time period it was taken, unfortunately.

This rather faded picture is a picture of Jaryszow school children.  No names or dates are known for this picture, but I liked it anyway.  I am thinking that there were some old relatives in it, for sure.  Don't you think so??

A family wedding picture.

Red Cabbage Day

Well, today was the day to start cooking and freezing my red cabbage.  I had Spence pick the 6 biggest heads and then I started on them this morning.  The cabbage filled 3 large pots.  And I chopped and cooked most of the morning.  After cooling them down I put them in their containers and stuck them in the big freezer.  Now I have 2 more Saturdays of the same process.  For those of you who like German red cabbage I put a recipe on an earlier post.  In Poland they make a salad of red cabbage.  It is sort of a cole-slaw type salad but in a vinegar type sauce rather than a white cole-slaw type.  I will have to try that too.  At the "This is the place Monument" Spence had a Red Cabbage cole-slaw and he loved it.  I will try to figure that out also. 
And then I got the dehydrator out and started drying some things.It was a busy day and now I am tired...

Polish "Internet Option"

I was not lucky enough to find any internet wifi  connections in Poland in the areas where I was.  I kind of had a feeling that this might be the case.  My friend at work told me what she did for that problem last year in Germany and I was happy to be able to do the same type of thing in Poland. 
I worried a little about communicating with home while away, either by email, phone or other option.  This is what I did to get the internet.  We went to a store where Polish cell phones are sold and they told me to bring in my laptop (actually it was a netbook, nice and small and very light weight) to determine whether it had a modem or not.  We took it in and the woman there said, yes I had a modem and would only need the sd card to put in the slot where the battery was housed.  There indeed was a slot and it fit in there fine.  She configured it and sent me on my way.  We got back to Danuta's apartment and nothing happened.  No internet, nothing.  So we called her back and she said she was sure there was a modem, but would give me my money back.  It was about 20 zl if I recall.  We got the money back went to a nearby shop called "Play" another cell dealer in Poland and they had the modem and the worker installed it, and it worked and then we had to buy the sd card which was to last one month.  The whole thing cost about 80 dollars, US.  But next time, I won't need to buy a modem, only the card and they weren't too expensive.  However, the internet connection was not quite fast enough to support talking on Skype, although you could talk, just with an echo and other disturbances.  But in a pinch, it was OK.

Another way that I was able to communicate would be my blackberry email.  Before I left home, I checked with T-mobile and they had an email service that could be turned on during the time I was roaming so that I could receive email without the extra roaming fees.  I get lots of email and so needed that badly.  The fee was about $19.00 and so I went with that.  I could send and receive email without limits to my phone.  Wish they also had a cheaper phone rate for overseas...

Another thing I did was to buy a $30. phone card from Costco.  I used it last time and this time.  You can use people's home phone or the phone at the hotel for which I was billed 1 zloty.  Apparently there is probably a 1 zloty fee at home phones in Poland also as they do not have free local calls like we do in America. 

Researching in Polish Archives!

I have just recently returned from Poland from an archive Research trip for my employment thinking I was completely prepared, I must admit, you can NEVER be too prepared. Appointments were made with each of the archives and “Fond” numbers were emailed to them with records I had hoped to use. Fond numbers were found on their respective on-line websites.

When I arrived I had a copy of the information that I had sent to the first archive that I went to. This was an archive in Gliwice, Poland.  Several archives were expecting me and had prepared materials I would need. I received packets for each of the Fond numbers I requested. I assumed that these were the actual records, however, they were the indexes for each of the individual fonds that I had requested. Within each fond (record group) there were numerous entries in the indexes called “Sygnatures”. The next step was to choose the sygnature within the Fond record group that I would like to see.  THERE WERE MANY! Each fond index could be quite lengthy. For one particular fond that I requested the index stood about 9-10 inches high.  This was the Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen collection housed in Katowice State Archives.  Just looking at the index to choose the items I wanted was a really big project in and of itself. I did not find these sygnature indexes on the on-line catalogs or perhaps was not aware of them before going there and also didn't know how to search for them if they were there.  Because I never saw any of these indexes.

In many state archives there are specific times when book orders need to be submitted during the day. These requests are gathered from the patrons and completed at the same time. In some archives, materials were off-site and brought in at various set times throughout the day. Therefore, the more precise the information that you have, the less down-time you will have waiting for materials you need.

FORMS!
It was most helpful to have my friend, Danuta who serves as my interpreter, with me to fill out the many forms. When you arrive, you must first fill out a personal information form which was in the Polish language. The two-sided form required my passport number, name, address, purpose of research, sometimes place of work with a letter of introduction stating the purpose of your research from your employer. This form was valid for one year at that archive only. Each state archive had the same form and had to be filled out at each one.  Wish I could have xeroxed the first one and saved a little time!

The next form was a smaller sheet of paper which would later be cut in two. The top portion remained with the archive and the bottom was used to retrieve the book. Top and bottom both required the same information which was fond number, sygnature, name, date of order and return, comments, and page number, if known. Each item ordered needed to have this request form completed. After receiving the books you requested, there was another form in front of each book that required name, date, and the purpose of your request.

If you were using books that hadn’t been used previously, often the archive worker would have to number the pages prior to your receiving the book and also place the check-out form in the front of the book, where they would add the title and number. For each copy requested, another form was filled. Copies in most archives I went to were not allowed until after manager approval according to the physical condition of the materials requested. This usually takes several weeks. Copies can be digitized to CD. This, of course, will save shipping expenses.  I ordered so many copies.  I sure hope I will be getting them!  There were some great samples that I requested and they will be a great help with my work at the Library.

A concern amongst researchers in Polish archives is a book limit restriction of 5 books per day.  This can be a problem for those with little time and traveling from far away, like myself.  To you I advise that you should contact your archive of interest, send them your requests and ask about this.  If you take a friend, spouse, or or other family member, you probably will get 5 books each.  In the case of Danuta and I, we didn't have too much difficulty receiving the books I requested.  Maybe I was just lucky!  Although all the archives that I visited were state archives, they seemed to each run things a bit differently than the other.  So it is a good idea to contact them.  However, the forms were the same in each one.

Another tip to Poland travelers and those going to hotels and archives, don't leave your passport at your "base location".  I had thought about doing that and leaving mine in my friend's home in Warsaw.  But I am so glad I thought better of it, because I needed it everywhere I went.

What I Missed About America! And What I Miss About Poland!

As most of you know I just spent a wonderful 17 days in Poland visiting Archives as a work assignment.  It was great and I had good experiences there.  But there were definitely things I missed and was so happy to have again when I returned yesterday.  They are (not all in order of importance)

1.  My family
2.  Driving my car when and where I wanted to
3.  Napkins at the table
4.  Big refrigerators
5.  Enough electrical outlets and having them in convenient places
6.  Climate controls (hot and cold)  car and house
7.  Screens on the windows
8.  Tomatoes from the garden
9.  Multiple TV's in the house
10. Big one-stop grocery stores--Walmarts
11. Parking spaces!
12. LDS Church on every corner
13.  Inexpensive Xerox copies
14.  Laundromats and large washing machines
15.  Lots of freeways
16.  Cemetaries with old grave stones
17.  Drive-thru fast food places
18.  Drive-thru banking
19.  Cars with big trunks
20.  Free local phone calls
21.  Being able to read the language
22.  Hugs from grandkids

What I Miss About Poland:
1.  My ancestral villages
2.  Pigeons on every corner
3.  Pierogi mmmm.
4.  Roladen and red cabbage...
5.  Old castles, palaces and historic buildings
6.  Polish Ice Cream
7.  Silesian traditions
8.  My relatives
9.  Bookstores
10. Koszecin hand-churned butter, farm cheese and milk, and bread
11.  Afternoon cake custom
12.  Archives
13.  Forests everywhere
14.  A Gralla in every town/Palus or Grochla, Dziuk, Ochmann and Kandzia
15.  Kids selling blueberries on the roadsides
16.  Kloese/Dumplings, Silesian style
17.  Black currant Juice and jam
18.  Church bells ringing
19.  Cobblestones
20.  Looking at original church books
21.  Mushroom stands
22.  Poppy seed cakes

So you see, no matter where you are, there will always be things you miss from somewhere else.  But one thing is for sure...there is no place like home and I am so glad to be here!

Poland Pilgrimage Day 14

Today was a tiring day by getting up early, having a good breakfast at the hotel and then by heading to Katowice from Opole.  Of course, the GPS had another melt down due to "detour" signs caused by big construction projects.  Believe it or not, we eventually made it to our goal and went to the Archdiocese archive.  It didn't really have records that we would be using at the library, but there were some of interest, but definitely not of primary importance in any way.  After finishing here, we took some pictures of the vicinity and then walked quite a distance uphill to the car.  Parking here was not easy to find.  We then headed for Warsaw and believe it or not, we made it, and dropped off my rental car at the airport.  We had to explain all about the accident and the worker there called the police number and verified everything.  He said that there should be no problem.  So that was out of our hair.  They keep changing my Warsaw to Frankfurt flight and so I have to keep a close watch on this so I get there, eventually!  Today there wasn't too much rain and after we got back, I walked to the store about 1/2 mile from Danuta's.  It was nice to walk a bit again.  And tomorrow is souvenir day--I hope.  For some reason my suitcase is bulging w/o anything in it much.  I don't understand this at all...
Anyways, I hope that I don't have to pay extra.  I am tired of stuffing everything to the brim.  I will be glad to go home, see the grandkids and even go back to work!  See all you Utahns fairly soon!

Poland Pilgrimage Day 13

Here is a funeral procession in Jemielnice.


My trip is rapidly coming to its end.  Today we went to the archives in Groslawice.  There we found a building with no marks to indicate what it was, including a building address number.  We rang the bell and it was the right place.  Aside from the woman that worked there, we were the first there at 8:00 am.  By the way the Mercure hotel has a very nice breakfast.  And all you can eat, fruit, meat, coffees, teas, herbal and other, many fruit juices, many rolls, bread varieties and omelettes, vegies, cheese, Kielbasa, scrambled and hard boiled eggs, bacon, cereals, fruit and other salad type things and just about anything.  Very nice.  Anywys, back to the archive, there I had the same forms to fill out and then the book request.  The young woman that worked there spoke German, so that was nice for me.  I had quite a list of land records that I requested.  Here the copies were double the price as the other state archives where we have been.,  This was a little strange to me and so I kind of held back on the copies that I requested.    Most of the books from which I requested copies did not yet have page numbers.  Apparently I was the first to use these books.  It was interesting on the land records as one file was for one person and his family and one that I got for the Pallus family was very thick and I wanted the whole thing! Unfortunately for me, this wasn't an option.  There were some court records as well that were interesting.  I had thought it would take forever to get through all the files, but it didn't, so we went to the archives in Opole.  There we checked some civil registration records that were interesting.  The archive in Groslawice did not have a catalog of their holdings so it was not possible to request other things.  After we were done in Opole, we walked to the Mercure hotel, put our things away, paid our bill and then went to the Pierogi place that a taxi driver had recommended to us. Danuta didn't want to drive to Groslawice because of all the detours so she paid the taxi for me.  The pierogi place was great and I also had a cabbage roll with rice and vegetables.  It had tomato sauce over it.  I also had a blueberry pierogi.  Very tasty.    I uploaded some pictures and tried to load a few more, but nothing happened.  Will keep trying.  It is only 6:00 and Danuta is sawing logs.  Poor girl.  It is a bit cold in the room and outside it didn't rain as much as days past, but still cold windy with scattered showers, some quite hefty.  Well tomorrow we go to the Archdiocese archives in Kattowitz and I am thinking that after that we will go straight to Warsaw.  I am watching German TV right now as I work on this.

Poland Pilgrimage Day 12

We are at a relative in Nogawczyce.  The lady 2nd from left is 82 and a Palus wife and the other two ladies are her daughters.  I was happy to meet them along with Dominika, who is a young woman that helped me find some common genealogy over the past 3 years.  She told me that in the beginning that Nogawczyce had only 2 families, Palus and Heide.  Pretty much everyone that lives in town today is from one of these families, unless they are move-ins.  Dominika's mom gave me a book and fed us dinner tonight.

They had old family photos which I took pictures of with my camera and believe it or not they looked better in the photo of the photo than in the original.  Everyone was so surprised.  Here is a Palus gathering at the Jaryszow church where they attended.  I was told that the family was ordered to change the spelling from Pallus to Palus or they would be in trouble with the Polish government. 

Here is Dominika in the center and her sister-in-law at the left.  The father of the family and the husband of the sister-in-law work in Germany and come home every 2 weeks or so for the weekend.  That is a tough life.  But the pay in Poland can not support the family.

!

Yes, here he is, ready to get me the 35th time.

Poland Pilgrimage Day 12

Well today is coming to a close.  We are at the Mercure Hotel in Opole/Oppeln and it was a bear to find.  As with Gliwice, Opole was having road work too in the inner city right around where we needed to be and therefore we had lots of trouble trying to get to the hotel.  Finally the taxi driver thing again.  So we made it from Katowice where we had been in the state archives again.  It was good at the archives and we finished up the requested books.  After we got to Opole it was late in the day and we walked to the shops and looked for souvenirs.  We were told those type of shops no longer exist because people now buy all the Chinese stuff instead.  So the souvenir thing is not so successful but we still have 4 days...oh dear, that doesn't sound too good at all.  And during the day we are in archives so that makes it rough, also...Wish me luck or my grandkids will be sad...

Poland Pilgrimage Day 9 or 10??

I am kinda of losing track of the days.  Have I been here 10 days and miscounted or only 9?  I will call it 10 I guess because of sheer exhaustion.

Poland Pilgrimage Day 11

Danuta and I are at the archives in Katowice again.  We are waiting for a book order.  My feet are freezing because I didn't bring any WARM clothes and it is really cold right now.  At least for me, having left hot Utah not too long ago.  We will have most of the work done after this new request comes.  The helpers have been good and pretty quick to get things going.  So I can't complain.  This morning was the last day in Koszecin and the church bells rang in the morning.  I will have to remember that sound as in America, at least Utah, we don't hear any. 
As I got up to leave the Ulfik's yesterday, they began to sing Polish songs.  It was really sweet.  I think that they are amazing people.  I feel really comfortable there with them.
Today the rain continues and I don't care for it.  It is getting old.  Till later, tonight when I can write about something again.

Mosquito Meat

Well, the studio apartment at the Prince's palace was very nice, except for ONE LITTLE THING!  There has been lots of rain and cold weather.  And for those who have been in Europe, they aren't big on window screens here....Well, as I went to bed I kept hearing a mosquito buzzing in my ear.  No sooner had I swatted him away, then he was back again.  This guy was hungry...then he brought some friends with him, or maybe it was family, don't really know.  I pulled the covers over my head, but soon got a little low on air.  So I pulled the covers as high as possible. The buzzing continued and the hungry thing got more and more on my nerves.  I put my head where my feet had been.  Nothing deterred the beast.  I finally gave up.  There was nothing that I could do...In the morning my arms were mosquito lunch.  (Or in this case, his midnight snack) but then I saw him on the wall and took my shoe and splat.  It was an ugly sight.  He may have won the battle, but I won the war, at least against him...

Poland Pilgrimage Day 10 part 1

Today was Sunday and Theresa's sister from Milan and her son are here, and Ewa and Arthur, Jan's oldest daughter and her husband and 2 sons came.  Dinner was around 1:00 and Marysia made Roladen, Kloese, and red cabbage, the cold kind and then some drinks.  I poured some "bubble" water in my drinks and they said they had never tried that and so they all did it and decided that they liked it that way.  It was kind of funny.  They stayed in the kitchen talking from 1:00 till about 7:00.  And I think we ate the entire time.  Oh the pounds!  But it was fun and funny to hear Polish, English, German and Italian spoken all at the same time.  Crazy!  It was a really fun afternoon.

Christina, Danuta, Marysia, Thomek, Jan and Artur.

Christina, Danuta, Ewa, Malgosia, Theresa, Babcia, Marysia

Nicolai, Marysia, Sonja, Danusia, Christina.Robert, Camil eating Roladen and talking, all day long!
It was really sad to say goodbye but now we are at the palace hotel and it is not a bad room and its quiet and inexpensive, about $20 a person per nite with breakfast.  Anyway, we leave here in the morning and that will be the last day at Koszecin.

Poland Pilgrimage Day 10

Jan and Mr. Wieczorek. Jan called him to have him bring me some information, which he did and he let me take photos of anything I wanted to have. Wieczorek is also a name on my family pedigree. He is also married to an Ulfik woman.

Here is lunch in Tworog.  We had chicken, potatoes, salad and cabbage.  It was quite good.

Here is the Argentian group that performed.  Danuta liked the guy in the middle.

So actually as I am writing it is Sunday in Poland. I am hearing the bells announcing mass at my grandmother’s church. It is sort of a neat feeling. It is about 7:15 in the morning. I wake up fairly early in Poland because the sun starts rising about 4:30 in the morning. Unlike Germany, I don’t see any rolling shutters in this part of Poland, so the light comes into the room that I am sleeping in. Unlike yesterday, at this time there is no rain. Yesterday it rained and rained, non-stop. I was a little sad about that because I wanted to roam the vicinity on the weekend. That had been on my agenda, so to speak. But in a while we did that anyway.


So yesterday after breakfast we were not able to go to any archives because they are closed for the weekend. We will go back to Katowice tomorrow in the state archives and finish that up as best as possible. That will probably be my next chance to post my blog and communicate with the outside world. Unless at the palace tonight I can get an internet connection. So Danuta and I got into the car, set the GPS and headed to my ancestral villages to see them again, get some pics and just feel the ambiance of being there. (at least for me, anyway) So we headed to Wisnicze and took some picture, to Toszek, to the city market square and to the church and the castle which sits just above the church. It was nice to see it all again. There always now seems to be those renaissance days at the old castles in Germany and Poland that depict the middle ages with knights and ladies in waiting and the whole thing. I have yet to see one, but maybe one day the opportunity will rise and I will. We drove to Himmelwitz/Jemielnika and tried to get to Dziewkowice, which is pronounced Jeffkowitze in Polish. And we couldn’t get there, every street leading to it was a dirt road full of mud because of the rain that was falling. Not that I wasn’t feeling very adventurous, but the last thing we needed was to be stuck in mud and not be able to get help. Here is the forests, there are many times that Danuta’s cell phones don’t get reception and also the GPS loses satellite transmission. Such is life. Anyway, we saw lots of the old ancestral towns and I had just wished that I didn’t have to stay so much in the car, but yesterday’s rain was cold and windy. I definitely didn’t bring clothing or shoes for what happened on Saturday.

We had told Jan that we would be home around 2:00, and after a nice lunch at somewhere around Tworog, at the Restaurant Lido, and a short shopping stop at a Netto, which Danusia says is like Aldi, but from Denmark, not Germany, we headed back to Koszecin. Jan seems to have LOTS of local connections to historical type people. He knew a man Edward Wieczorek (also a name on my Koszecin pedigree) who had made arrangements with a town near Graz in Austria. ( can’t remember the name, but have copies and photos about it) and he had a lot of historical information. It was really interesting to me because of the fact that there is a town in the district of Graz where we went in 1984 because it was called “Gralla”. It is very near to the now arranged for sister city of Koszecin. The reason they wanted this as their sister city is because the prince from Koszecin, Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen went there after the war to live and he died there. I was given lots of historical information about this and its all jotted in my notebooks. I found it so interesting because of the name Gralla, my mom’s maiden name and the town Gralla which is also in the Graz area. Anyway, Mr. Wiecorek, was a nice man and let me photograph his papers and also gave me some as well.

Then it was time to get ready for the “Folklorico” at the palace of Hohenlohe. There was a nice theatre there and Jan, Danusia, Weronika and NIcoli, who is the nephew of Jan who just arrived from Milan, Italy where his mother, the sister of Theresa, married an Italian and lives. Anyway, the production features, Belo-Russian, Argentine, Portuguese and Turkish folk dance troupes from these countries and they put on a really nice performance. Koszecin is trying to be “the” cultural center of Southern Poland and the well-known performers, in the group called “SLask” are based out of the Palace in Koszecin where they have tryouts from performers from all over Poland and dance summer camp training during the summer. They travel in a large bus all over showing the presentation. They are quite famous.

After the performance there was a stand of books and things that the palace sells. I saw one book, that I didn’t remember seeing or owning. I have to have everything ever written on Koszecin, you know! So I opened it up just to take a look and there was the picture that I know from another book, with my great grandfather, Franz Gralla and the other 35 forestor’s of Koszecin with the Prince. So of course, I bought the book and then Jan said, look the author is my neighbor. So after we returned to the house Jan calls him and he comes over to sign the book and talk. He is very nice and says he remembers that the son of a forestor on page 32 of the book, told him about the forestor Gralla. He also said my grandfather was not the only “Robin Hood” type around these parts and told us some stories and then said his brother Josef Tyrol, who lives 32 km away is writing a book, also about the Robin Hoods. I couldn’t believe it. And so he calls his brother and his book is almost ready for production and I should send him a picture of Franz in his uniform, which I will after I get home. I was given his email address. Danuta and I will try to get together with him later today because he also sits regularly at the church in Sadow where the Priest informed us the other day that he has no Communicanten books which I really wanted. However, this Josef says that this is not true, they are there. So we will see if we can get the information that I need through him., somehow.

So tonight is our last nite at the Ulfik’s, Jan’s sister, Marysia made Roladen/Rolada for lunch today and we will stay for that and then make our way to the palace studio apartment that we reserved. While taking care of that reservation, yesterday or whenever it was, the worker there took us through the palace. The rooms, like hotel rooms were absolutely beautiful with all the amenities. So one last night in my little Koszecin and then in the morning to Katowice archives, and after hopefully to Gliwice to try to pick up the book at the museum that we tried to get earlier but ran out of time because of our Post office experience. Then we drive to Opole. We will stay 3 nights there and after we are all done with everything, on Thursday afternoon we will leave for Warsaw. We will arrive there later in the evening.

This morning is quite cool and I have my little jacket on. Wish I had brought a warmer one. It took me a while to fall asleep last night because my feet were so cold. So I put on my one and only pair of socks I had brought with me.

I forgot to mention that the whole family gathered around the outside fireplace to talk and visit. Unfortunately, there were mosquitos. It reminded me of having s’mores in the backyard like we do around the outdoor firepit we have outside. But this time no roasting marshmallows, etc. That’s all for what happened on Saturday. Hopefully I will have time tonight to write about Sunday’s adventures.

Poland Pilgrimage Day 7

Poland Pilgrimage Day 7 Part 2

Well, today was a busy day at the archives. We took Theresa to Piekary Slask on the way and she stopped at a bakery (Piekarnia) in a town called Ziglia to get poppy seed cake. And this was a famous bakery. She bought Danuta and I both a piece and we dropped her off. Then we went on to the archives. We were about 15 minutes early. It seems to take about 1 hour to get there and Gliwice is about the same. We were able to see the Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen collection today. The index along stood about 12 or more inches thick. I picked many sources that sounded good to me and then found an unexpected treasure of many of my ancestors listed in there for one reason or another. I ordered the books and got tons, They really treated me well and again the 5 book rule was not adhered to. Thank goodness for me.

After we finished we went to pick up Theresa. The Ulfiks are having even more company on Sunday over nite, so we are staying at the Koschentin Palace studio apartments for one night. Danuta and I will then go to the Katowice archives for one more day of study. Thereafter to the Gliwice museum to pick up a book we wanted Wednesday but had no time to pick up. It is about the Jews of Gliwice. If it wasn’t for the really bad road conditions it wouldn’t be such a problem, but we will try. Then after that we will drive to Opole to stay over night at the Mercure hotel for three nights. We had to change our reservations just a little bit and then on Thursday we will head back to Warsaw and get there in the evening. Then Friday if needed I can shop or pack and get ready for the return flight on Saturday.

I decided to not go to Kamien. It is a really long drive and I wasn’t sure that it would be worth it because Danuta called and Gerard Gralla’s wife said that they were not able to find any old pictures.

So tomorrow I will drive around locally looking at the towns of my ancestors and taking pictures. Nothing heavy duty. So that will be nice to do. I have found some amazing records. I hope that I will be able to receive the copies that I requested because they will be amazing.

Tonight Weronika is here while I type and she is watching Harry Potter who since the last time I saw it, has really learned to speak Polish well! He really is amazing!

She was shy at first to try and speak English that she knows and her mom says that she has now loosened up quite a bit.

As usual today, Danuta made an excellent secretary. You really need one for all the forms to fill out. I found many of my ancestors had arrest records for thievery, drunkenness, guns, abuse, racial discrimination, etc., Boy, it is crazy, is it not?

It has rained all day, but isn’t too cold, though. Tonight after we returned from the archives, we went with Jan to the Koschentin Palace and picked up some souvenirs and then the owners took us for a tour of the palace rooms. They were very nice and clean and newly renovated. They were renovating a big hall on the main floor, as well. They rent the rooms like a hotel and downstairs there are banquets, weddings, etc. This is where Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen lived back in the day. They were the local nobility. The palace is right across from the forestry building and I never noticed it before. It is quite beautiful and large. I wonder if Great-grandpa Franz was there and walked those same halls as did I today.

I had to do some hand washing tonight. Otherwise things might be a little rough but we shall survive.

I think that is everything. Love the archives and what they have there. I had no idea, not even a clue. This has been a great experience for me. All for tonight. I don’t think that I will have an opportunity to post till Monday unless I charge the computer and go to the church at some time. For some reason I get my internet connection there.

I almost forgot, the 86 year old sister of Jan and Marysia, Eleonora died in July of this year and 2 days after she had a leg removed surgically she died.... 
The blog stuff is all written in Polish so I always hope everything works right!

One Last Photo for today!

Here in the Ulfik kitchen is Weronika, age 5 and momma, Malgosia which is the Polish version of Margaret. 

More Pics of Poland

Here is where the forest used to be before the tornado, 1 km wide hit Koszecin.  Even on the US news because the van/vehicle carrying the famous singing/dancing group Slask was overturned.  It destroyed my great-grandfather's farm.