My tour with Zenon ended much too soon, but we spent 7 more days in Krakow and enjoyed the medieval city and soaked up all the history there. Now I am home with my souviners, photos and memories. I’ve been reviewing my notes and genealogical information that I collected during my tour and I made some exciting discoveries.

I realized that one of the birth records that I recorded was actually the wife of my great uncle John Kanty Kadlub. I can’t wait to show it to my cousin in Erie, PA.

Another great find was the marriage record for Vincent Kulawiak and Theckla Rafacz. When I examined this information closely, I realized that Vincent was the brother of my g-g-grandfather Andreas Kulawiak. The family tree of Vincent Kulawiak and Theckla Rafacz, who emigrated to Chicago, was one the first items that I located online when I really got moving on my genealogy last year. But since the tree only moved forward toward his descendants and had no information about Vincent’s ancestors, or the name of his birthplace, I could not establish a link to my family. I am now in the process of contacting the administrator of that family tree to meet my distant cousins.

This has all been quite exciting and I am so pleased to have found PolishOrigins and Zenon. This was a trip of a lifetime and the gift of family was more than I could have hoped for from this trip. I look forward to reading more blogs from other members.

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Map of our tour. Point B is Odrowąż, point C is Lusławice.

Best Regards,

Shellie

Our last day in the village.

The night before we left, we stopped by Jozef’s bell foundry to say goodbye.  He was not home, but his wife Maria promised to give him our best regards and thanks for a wonderful visit. We also stopped by his mother’s house to bid farewell to his parents.  Mama Kulawiak said that we would probably never see one another again, but told her I would always remember her in my heart!  I really wish I could have gone back far enough in our family tree to find a relationship with her family!

We also took a few more drives around the area so I could get more photos. Odrowaz is on hilly land, and the main village sits in the center of an area surrounded by 7 hills.  Odrowaz has been called the Rome of the Podhale region of Poland because Rome was also build near 7 hills: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_hills_of_Rome
Although I looked at Odrowaz on the map before my trip, now that I have seen the land with my own eyes, the map now has more meaning to me.  When I look at a satellite image of Odrowaz, I can now see the 7 hills surrounding it.  Amost all of the hills have a dark green area where the trees cover the hill top and I can see the farms running along the valleys inside.

Odrowąż on google map (click to enlarge).

On our last day, Victor took us to see where the Kulawiak house once stood.  The Kulawiak home stood in an area just a little to the north west of the center of the village.   The site was on a slope and overlooked a small valley and hills nearby.  Victor sold the land several years ago. As we approached the site, Victor pointed out 2 barns and said there were once 2 houses (one little, one bigger) near where the barns now stood.  The houses were torn down many years ago and all that remains is a cellar, now covered by corrugated tin.  Victor and I then dug up some land for me to save and we spent some time taking photos and talking about the land until we were chased off by an old woman with a hay rake!

Original home stood near these barns

Old buidling near homesite

Kulawiak home site was left of this barn

Kulawiak earth

Our visit ended to quickly, but we know that we will see Victor again, maybe in Chicago.  We gave him a bottle of vodka to remember us by and soon headed off to Krakow for the rest of our trip.

Time to say goodbye

A last look at Odrowaz

Zenon dropped us off in the historic part of Krakow, where we reserved an apartment for a week.  After hugs and promises to update him on my genealogy efforts, Zenon headed back to his family in Warsaw.  My blog ends here but my journey continues.  I can’t wait to share all of my photos and memories with my family in the US.  If anyone reading this blog is considering a Forefathers Traces Tour with Zenon, you will not regret it.  This trip was so exciting and rewarding for me and I could not have had a better guide during this wondrous journey to my ancestral home.  Thank you Zenon!

Shellie

Wow! What a great day! Tonight we went back to see my newly found cousin Vicktor. We made the mistake of going out for dinner before we arrived at his house and couldn’t eat all of the food that he put out for us! As soon as we arrived, he ushered us into his living room and before we knew it, we all had tiny glasses of vodka in our hands and toasted to newly discovered family.

Beginning of the second visit.

Seeing the family photo of Stanislaw & Aniela and their children brought a tear to his eye. Vicktor said that his grandfather Michael was a wonderful man, but he died when Vicktor was 6 years old. He said that the photos of Stanislaw looked just his grandfather Michael, which was certainly possible since the 2 were brothers. We spent the next couple of hours talking about family and comparing notes. Stanislaw’s wife died about 16 years ago and he divides his time between Chicago and Odrowaz. It was just sheer luck that he was here at the exact same time as my visit.

We were later joined by Vicktor’s friend Władysława, a lovely lady from a few doors down. She did not speak English, but Zenon and Vicktor helped to translate. At one one point when we were talking about Aniela’s Kadlub family, Władysława sat up and excitedly told us that her grandfather on her mother’s side was a Kadlub from Piekielnik. She also said that her grandfather and his brother went to the US to work in the coal mines near Pittsburgh. I couldn’t believe it! I told her that I had friends whose ancestors were Kadlubs from that village. We compared some notes, but she couldn’t recall family names much further back than her grandparents. Nevertheless, I told her that I would be in touch with her after I returned to the US and gave this great news to my friends Michelle, Patty and Joanne (are ya’ll reading this??).

Jerry and Władysława

Next we suprised my father and my uncle by calling them in the US to introduce them to their 2nd cousin. They were both very excited to hear that I had found a relative in our ancestral home.

Talking to relatives in America

Talking to relatives in America 2

Our night ended too quickly, but the great thing is that Vicktor’s brothers live near Krakow and I might be able to meet them next week. And, since Vicktor lives in Chicago, I will be able to introduce him to our family in Pennsylvania. Too soon, it was time to say goodbye, but not until Vicktor coaxed us into another shot of Polish vodka.

Victor sent us off with the promise to meet us the next day and show us where the Kulawiak family lived when Stanislaw and Michael were boys.

Today has been the best day and it’s not even over yet! We traveled to Zakopane this morning to visit the mountains and while we ate breakfast, Zenon reminded me that there was another Kulawiak family that he spoke with before our trip. That family was not related to us, but he called them back to ask if they knew Leopold, the son of Michael, who was the brother of Stanislaw, my g-grandfather (did you follow that?). Since Leopold and his wife still had a headstone in the churchyard and someone was placing flowers on the grave, we figured that some relative had to be somewhere nearby.

Kulawiak Leopold grave

Kulawiak Leopold headstone

Kulawiak Leopold headstone photo

So Zenon made some calls and found out that Leopold’s sons were recently here in the village. One lived near Krakow and one lived in Chicago. He was also given the name of someone who could tell him more about Leopold’s family. I was so excited that I almost headed right back to the car to return to the village. But since we were already there, we first spent a few hours looking around the mountain town and then headed back by 4PM. Zenon stopped and spoke with a few people in town and with a smile told me that Leopold’s son Victor was here from Chicago and we could find him at the house next to the fire station! Within a few minutes I was standing in front of my cousin, Victor Kulawiak. I was stunned, it all happend so fast! When I arrived here I did not even know whether my g-grandfather had siblings, now I was standing in front of my own family! He had my grandfather’s beautiful blue eyes and my great-grandfather’s large widow’s peak hairline that came to a point at his forehead! Victor gave me a big hug and a kiss and spoke to me in English! He has been living in Chicago for over 22 years and comes home regularly. He gestured to the farm behind him and said he works on the land while he is here. He was still busy working but invited us back to visit later this evening. More exciting details to come after our visit!

Shellie and Wiktor

Shellie

On Wednesday, we traveled to Lusławice, where my grandfather was born! Luslawice is about 30 miles east of Krakow, so we headed north east from our village. I snapped photos all along the way, but we joke that I only photograph trees and cars because when I see something that looks interesting and try to snap a photo with my digital camera, I end up with a car or big tree in the photo because of that frustrating delay so characteristic of digital cameras! We stopped to visit 2 old wooden churches. One was locked, but at the other, the priest gave us a tour! He produced a ring of large ancient looking keys and opened a small door on the south side of the church. When we stepped inside, we were in a tiny room that looked and smelled like a cellar! The priest then unlocked another small door and we stepped into the most amazing church I have ever seen. The wooden interior was even more remarkable than the exterior. The best that I could describe it is that someone built a beautiful church inside a large barn. That is what all the wooden walls reminded me of. It was built in the 1500′s and once had beautiful murals painted on the walls. In the 1970′s, someone painted over the murals with white paint and it was almost impossible to recover these priceless works of art. Still, we could make out many faint images on the walls. Pictures can never catch the true essence of this church, you just have to be there to believe it.

A wooden church Christ the Savior

A 1500's wooden church. The doors.

A 1500's wooden church.

A 1500's wooden church. Interior.

I was looking forward to our visit to Lusławice because I wanted to see where my grandfather was born, and to collect images and information for me and my new friend Lisa who was researching her Osiecki ancestors from the same area. The villages of Lusławice and Kończyska turned out to be tiny, without their own churches; the villagers traveled to nearby Zakliczyn, another Galician town. Zenon drove us around the entire village area while I captured images of trees, houses, farms, more trees, and walls .

A farm in Lusławice

We also drove past the manor house in Lusławice where we think that Lisa’s great grandmother Anna Osiecki worked. It is now owned by a famous composer and is not open for tours. It is also surrounded by a large wall, so it was impossible to get a good look at the manor house. Still, I got some great photos of the walls!

A manor gates at Lusławice

I saw some church steeples in the distance, so we headed off to Kończyska to see if these were some churches that we did not know about. We actually ended up finding a convent, a Jewish war cemetery and a monastery.

A Jewish World War I cemetery

Next we headed to the Zakliczyn church. It was quite large and beautiful inside, but sadly, the inner doorway was blocked by a metal gate. This was disappointing because I wanted to walk inside the church where my grandfather was baptized and take photos. I stuck my camera between the bars and captured a few shots and then we headed off to find the cemetery down the street.

A look at church in Zakliczyn

My great-great-grandfather, Andreas Kulawiak, died in 1909 in Luslawice, and was probably buried here, but I knew better than to expect to find his grave. Still, I stubbornly tried to examine every old stone in this large cemetery. Of course I came up empty handed, but I did get some photos for Lisa of Osiecki, Koza and Nowak headstones. I also photographed some stones that looked interesting and also some that had photographs. I didn’t know any of the names, but they were interesting and I can post the photos on find-a-grave or some other genealogical website.

A view of cemetery in Zakliczyn

We hurried back to Odrowaz to visit Jozef Kulawiak’s parents. His father Wincenty is 91, frail and very quiet. Mama was quite lively and served us a delicious cake with blackberry filling and talked about living in the area.

A mama Kulawiak's wonderful cakes

We were hoping that she might remember something about Leopold (my great-grandfather’s nephew). She recalled that he was a construction worker who built roads, and that about a year ago, his son visited the village. She did not recall his name, but thought that he lived here in Poland. Maybe we will be able to locate him while I am here!

On day 5 we On our next day, we took a drive west to Zywiec where Żywiec beer is made. There were several ways to get there, so we choose to drive a road that went over the Slovakia border (formerly Czechoslovakia) and then back into Poland. We didn’t know what to expect at the border and had our passports ready but there was no special checkpoint at the border. In fact, we didn’t even realize that we crossed into Slovakia until we were already across the border. Once we were in town, however, we could tell that we were no longer in Poland. Zenon said that all of the signs and the radio were now in Slovakian. I didn’t know enough Polish to notice a difference. The biggest difference that I noticed was the change in architecture from our Polish mountain towns. We saw few of the charming alpine style houses that are so common in Odrowaz and other villages in the Podhale region and more plain concrete structures. Slovakia is part of the European Union and now uses the euro for currency. Zenon explained that people would travel across the border to shop in Slovakia, but now it is reversed. The euro is stronger than the Polish zloty, so now people cross into Poland to shop! By the way, the exchange rate is roughly 3 zloty for each American dollar, so we are finding that prices are quite affordable here – though I have done almost no shopping yet!

On the outskirts of town we encountered a haywagon; a typical site in the country towns of this area.

A hay wagon

Żywiec was a charming town. Zenon explained that it was a typical Galician town. Many aspects of Galician towns, especially the architecture of the buildings around the town square, show a strong Austrian influence from when this part of Poland belonged to Austria. We toured a beautiful estate, but did not have time to visit the Żywiec Brewery.

Afterward we headed back along another route toward our village and stopped again in Piekielnik. I found many Kadlub names on ship manifests from this village, which is 2 villages west of Odrowaz. It was once part of Czechoslovakia, but now is part of Poland. I had no idea that Odrowaz was once so close to the border! Over the past year, I have made contact with several wonderful Kadlub decendents in the US, who have traced their ancestors to this village. We could not find a direct relationship between our families, but since our villages were so close, it was possible that we were somehow related. I wandered through the cemetery in search of Kadlub headstones, but found very few clues. In the US, we spend lots of time walking through old cemeteries in search of our ancestors. This is a very important part of our ancestral research and many of us really enjoy visiting cemeteries and photographing the headstones to preserve our heritage. Americans in search of ancestors here should understand that unless their ancestors were wealthy, they should not expect to find their ancestor’s graves. Zenon explained that gravesites were essentially rented for 20 years and if the family was not around, or could not pay to rent the site for another 20 years, the headstone was removed and the graveside was reused.

We arrived back to our guesthouse that evening and spent some time examining clues that we received about my family. That my great-grandfather Stanislaw had siblings was the most important piece of information that I had. Now we had to find out where they all went to! They must have left this village because I am having much trouble finding anyone who knows anything about them.

Shellie

The next morning we walked up to the church to watch the funeral procession arrive at the church. When the church bells stopped ringing we entered the church and climbed up an old stone circular staircase to sit in the balcony. I had a wonderful view of the church during this mass attended by so many in the village. Again, the singing was beautiful, but much sadder in tone. Immediately after mass, the procession continued into the churchyard where the coffin was placed over the graveside for the final blessing.

Funeral Mass

Funeral Mass 2

Funeral Mass 3

Procession to the cemetery

At the cemetery

On this day we discovered some informaton about my family.  My grandparents were married in 1896 when Stanely was 25 at the time and Aniela was 16.  When the bride was that young, the parents had to give permission to marry.  I remember Dutchie telling me about this. I also discovered that Stanislaw had at least 3 siblings, maybe 4:  2 brothers (Wincenty and Michal) and sister Victoria.  We may have found another sister Antonia, but I’m not sure yet.  I was told that Michal had at least one son, Leopold. He died in 1971 and we found his grave at the cemetery (with a photo!).  We immediately called Jozef the bell maker and asked about Leopold’s family, but sadly there was no relation that Jozef knew of.  Furthermore, Jozef told us that this Kulawiak family may have moved the the United States!  I’ll look for them when I return home. On a good note, we may have solved the Pagac Stafira mystery.  Stanley’s mother was Rosalina Pagac, and HER mother’s maiden was Stafira.   There are many Stafira’s here in the village, but I have not seen any signs of Pagac families.  We have not had any success in finding any Pagac’s or Stafira familes that are related to me yet.

Shellie

Day 3 was Sunday and we attended mass at the local church, St Mary Magdelene.  It was quite a different experience.  Although the mass was basically the same as in the US, everything, of course, was in Polish.  The interior of the church was quite beautiful and ornate, and the beginning of mass began with an alter boy who approached the front of the congregation and began to pull on a rope that passed through a hole in the church ceiling.  Suddenly, the church bells began to ring!

Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Odrowąż

Afterward we drove to Nowy Targ for lunch at a restaurant that promised food prepared in the Gorale style (mountain style). Here we had appetizers of fried Gorale cheese topped with berry jam and Smalezc a spread made of pieces of bacon-like pork mixed with pork lard! Spread on bread, it was actually quite delicious!

Smalec

I had kielbasa (again!) and some nice Polish white wine. Afterward we stopped at the dwor (manor house) estate in Łopuszna, which was built around 1787. There we got a glimpse of a typical Polish nobleman’s country home, stables, cellar and peasant cottage.

Dwór Łopuszna

Exterior of Gorale cottage with wooden gutters

Around the corner we visited the Łopuszna parish church of the Holy Trinity, built during the 15th century. The wooden siding of this historic church had been recently replaced, so the church looked fresh and new on the outside. We could not enter the church, but a peek through the door revealed another spectacular church interior!

From there we traveled east to visit some castles! Both castles were built centuries ago near the Dunajec river. In the 1980′s a dam was built and these castles now overlook a beautiful lake. Our first castle in Czorsztyn was in ruins, but was still quite interesting. Lots of climbing and ducking through arched doorways, but once we got to the top, the view was great! The second castle, known as the Dunajec castle in Niedzica, was in much better shape. Built in the 1300′s, it was passed down through several families until the 1940′s when it was taken over by the Society of Art Historian in Poland and was renovated for public visits. While we were there, a bride and groom were having their wedding photos taken in various rooms of the castle.

Castle Ruins

Cellar in Niedzica castle

On the roof of the Niedzica castle

Several hours later, we left the castles and returned to Nowy Targ, where we stopped to catch the end of a music festival. Wonderful music and costumes, as well as food and drink! We drank some Polish beer, mine with several shots of berry juice. Jerry hated the taste, but I thought it was quite good! We listened to the music for a while, then I began to fade, so we piled back into the car and headed back to our village.

Performers at the music festival

Performers at the music festval in traditional dress

Beautiful view of the Tatry Mountains

Shellie

Today we went for a drive through neighboring villages of Załuczne, Piekielnik and Jabłonka.

Piekelnik nearby Odrowąż. Panoramic view of Tatra Mountains and Shellie in the distance .

Piekelnik. Tatra Mountains in the distance.

Jerry and Shellie walking on the road to Odrowąż.

For lunch we stopped at a tavern and I had my first real Polish pierogi. I had the potato and cheese with onions on top. Also, we had kielbasa again. It was all very delicious.

Kielbasa, red cabbage and potatoes

Next we visited an open air museum of Podhale Orawa region culture where we saw dozens of original houses that were moved from its original places or reconstructed on the museum property. In many of these homes, the stable was attached directly to the house. I also got to see an example of a thatched roof, though none of the houses had total thatching on the roof. I need to look up old Podhale homes to see why this is so. Most impressive were the doors of some of these homes!

18th Century Podhale house - beautiful door

18th Century Podhale house

Interior of Orawa traditional house

House from Orawa Region from 19th century.

Introduction to a cow .

Later we returned to Odrowaz and on to Zary, a small area south of the village. There we visited Jozef and Maria Kulawiak and their foundry, where for 4 generations, the Kulawiak family has been making bells and other fine metal pieces. Jozef showed us his workshop and explained how his bells are made. Then Maria polished a new bell and presented it to me as a gift!

Kulawiak bells

Shellie with a shining bell made especially for her by Jozef and his wife Maria (we had observed the whole process of producing it!)

In Józef Kulawiak foundry - Józef and Shellie.

Handmade Gorale belt by Jozef (metal items) and his colleague (patterns on the leather).

We were not able to determine a family link yet, but we hope to visit the parish priest tomorrow after Sunday mass and ask for permission to see the records.

Shellie

After an overnight stay in Brussels, we finally took off for Krakow. My first glimpse of Poland was from the air and I was surprised to see how the crops were planted. As far as I could see were long strips, making an interesting design of the land.

Polish farmland approaching Krakow

When we arrived at the Krakow airport, Zenon was waiting for us with smiles and quickly whisked us off to Old Town Krakow for a visit to the Ethnographic Museum. The museum was dedicated to the culture and ways of life in Poland, particularly the Podhale region. Here we saw a reconstruction of an actual home, mill, and school from the region, all from the original materials and items. We also saw many of the beautiful costumes worn in different regions.

Afterward, we took a beautiful drive south toward the mountains to the Nowy Targ county area. The rolling hills reminded me of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, while the thin pines reminded me of Alaska! Odrowaz is a beautiful small country village, hidden in the hills. Our guest house was number 38, but the house numbers are not in order, so it took us a little time to locate it. We stopped a nice gentleman who was tending to several cows, and he directed us back to the correct road and we were there in no time. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by several sheep who bleated their hellos to us. We quickly dropped off our bags and went off to look for something for dinner.

Our Guest House

We found a nice open-air bar that reminded me of a combination of beach side hangout and rustic Alaska cabin, complete with sod roof. Here I had my first REAL Polish Kielbasa! Soon the jet lag set in and I was nodding off before we even got back to the guest house.

Where we had our first meal

Shellie