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SS. Peter & Paul Church in Kostrzyn.
Part 2
Walking In the Steps
of My Ancestors
On my most recent visit to Poland I had a chance to visit the area near the city of Poznań. That’s where my ancestors came from, and I was thrilled to be able to visit the villages where they lived and the churches in which they worshipped.
I don’t know of any relatives still living in Poland, but I’m sure there must be some. Years ago, I remember my mother sending packages to some of our relations there, but we haven’t kept in touch. That was a regular practice for many Polish Americans in the communist era, but with Poland’s booming economy in the post-communist era Poles probably should be sending packages to us.
Both sides of my family came from the region around Poznań, known as Wielkopolska, or Greater Poland. It’s a historic region in west-central Poland that is considered the cradle of the Polish state. But genealogical research in that region has always been a challenge, particularly due to the impact of the partitions, when that area came under Prussian and German rule.
My paternal grandparents, Wiktor and Rosalia (Golinska) Tarapacki, came to Buffalo in 1884. My maternal grandparents, Stephan and Weronika (Antowska) Witkowski, came here in 1910. Both my grandfathers died before I was born. I was close to my maternal grandmother, Weronika, as we lived in the same house with her until her death, so I had a very personal interest in her background.
The Poznan Project
Looking for a genealogist a few months ago, I reached out to Łukasz Bielecki. He is the coordinator of the Poznań Project, which has the goal of transcribing the 19th century marriage records from the historic Greater Poland (then the Prussian Province of Poznań, or Posen) into a searchable online database. The Project is coordinated by Bielecki and uses a search engine created by Maciej Glowiak, and is supported by dozens of volunteers from many countries.
Łukasz researched my roots over the past several months, providing me with copies of many birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other documents. In fact, he traced back my paternal line, to the time in the early 1800s when the Tarapata surname became Tarapacki. (Tarapata means “trouble” in Polish, so there must be an interesting story about that.) Most of the documents are in German, and the writing is in that old-fashioned cursive that can be hard to decipher, so his assistance was valuable on many levels.
When I arrived with our group in the city of Poznań I was picked up by Łukasz, who had mapped out a route based on the genealogical research he did for me. They were mostly rural areas or small villages, much less populated than they were when my ancestors lived there. My people were likely all farmers, raising crops like rye and barley, possibly herding sheep.
First Stop: Kostrzyn
Our first stop was Kostrzyn, now a town of about 9,000 people in west-central Poland. My maternal great grandmother, Apollonia Gajewska, was born there. She was baptized in SS. Peter & Paul Church, which is still standing. The parish dates back to the 1300s, and the current brick Gothic structure was built in the 1500s. It was my first real physical connection to my ancestors in Poland. Walking in my ancestors’ footsteps was a profoundly moving experience, and it gave me a connection to them that I never felt before.
Another important stop for me was Mogilno. With a population of over 12,000, it was the largest village on our route. It was also where my paternal great grandparents, Wiktor and Rosalia, were married back in 1881. However, Łukasz couldn’t be sure of the specific church, as Mogilno had two. First, there was the Church of St. James the Greater, a historic Gothic parish church that was originally founded in the 12th century. The current brick structure dates back to 1511. Unfortunately, the church was closed and there was no one to let us inside. It’s likely that some of my paternal ancestors were baptized or married there, but for now we can’t be certain.
The second church was the Benedictine Monastery, the second oldest Benedictine monastery in Poland. Located on Lake Mogileńskie the monastery is an impressive Romanesque structure with a remarkable history, and is a cultural heritage site.
Probably the highlight of the excursion was going to St. Michael the Archangel in Gniezno. That was where my maternal grandparents, Ignacy Antowski and Apollonia Gajewska, were married on Sept. 30, 1878. St. Michael was founded in the 13th century. The present church goes back to the 15th century, and was restored in the 1600s and rebuilt in the early 1800s.
My grandmother Weronika considered Gniezno her hometown, and took pride in it being the original capital of Poland. It is best known for its Cathedral, where kings were once crowned, but St. Michael’s had special meaning for me.
The Village Disappeared
One village we looked for was Przybroda, where my grandfather Stephan was born in 1882. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the village; there was just grass and trees, with no evidence that anyone had ever lived there.
My grandmother Weronika was born in Łabiszynek, and there’s an old distillery and the manor house, both of which go back to the mid-1800s, that are still standing. The distillery was vacant, while the manor was undergoing renovation.
In Pawłowo, I got to see St. Martin’s Church, a beautiful wooden parish church erected in 1762. It’s an important architectural heritage monument that goes back to before the American Revolution, which is still beautiful and in use. The great beauty and impeccable condition of the churches, many of them centuries old and serving small, rural communities, was exceptional.
In all, we visited at least a dozen towns connected to my ancestors, places like Witkowo, Kłecko, Rogowo, Zabno and Nidom. Actually, much of our route mirrored the Piast Trail (Szlak Piastowski), Poland’s oldest and most historic cultural tourism route. With Gniezno at its center, it traces the origins of the Polish state and the first royal dynasty, spanning the Wielkopolska and Kuyavia regions.
Our final stop was the Church of St. James the Greater in Sokolniki. It was the only church we visited that was not the original structure; the parish goes back to the 1300s, but the current church was built in the 1920s.
It was a long and emotional day, an awesome, uplifting experience. But there’s much more to learn about my ancestors, whose names included Lewandowski, Jakubowski, Niezgoda, Kowalczyk, and Sniegowski. I’m also looking forward to returning, and possibly finding some relatives in Poland that I can connect with.
Next: Random thoughts about Poland.