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

When the death record microfilm arrived at my local LDS family history center, I searched for my grandfather’s oldest sister Anne, whom Dutchie said died of Diptheria when she was around 5 years old. There were no other Kulawiak families in this parish, so it didn’t take long to find a Kulawiak death in the index. The full record was in Latin, but something didn’t look right. As I slowly deciphered the information, I realized that this 1909 entry was not for a child, but for a 76 year old man…..my great-great grandfather Andreas Kulawiak! But my family was from Odrowąż, why wasn’t he there?

Andreas Kulawiak Death 1909 (click to enlarge)

If I read the entry right, his wife Rosaline Stafira preceded him in death. Stafira? There was that surname again. We always thought her surname was Pagac. So, did my widower g-g-grandfather die unexpectedly while visiting his son’s family, or did he move with his son’s family to Lusławice while my g-grandfather was over in America? And what happened to his wife Rosaline Stafira. Did Andreas have a 1st wife named Rosaline Pagac and a 2nd wife, also named Rosaline? Here is my wild guess: I think both names belong to Rosaline and one name was her father’s surname and the other name was her mother’s surname. I can’t wait to get to Odrowąż with Zenon and find out!

Although the church records didn’t help me figure out why my Kulawiak family was in Lusławice, they did give some clues about when they moved there……probably around 1907 or 1908. I just can’t figure out why! Some family members told me that our family owned a hotel somewhere in Poland, while others said that Aniela ran a hotel (but may not have owned it). Other family legends suggested that our family did own a hotel but my g-grandfather gambled it away. Dutchie said that she didn’t believe that one and she never saw or heard of her father gambling. However, she never mentioned her great-grandfather and I bet she never knew that he was living with her family in Lusławice (she died before I received the microfilmed records). Was he the gambler in the family? Was this hotel in Lusławice or Odrowąż? If the hotel was in Odrowąż, did my family leave because of this gambling incident?

The LDS family history center microfilm was so helpful and saved me several hours of searching church records in Lusławice. Now I have more time to look for other clues on my tour with Zenon. By the way, I can renew my “rental” of the microfilm at the LDS family history center and after the 3rd renewal, the films then stay at that location where I can go to them again and again. This will be very helpful in case I find some names in Lusławice that I want to explore when I return from my tour. My tour beings in 3 days!

Shellie

From ship manifests, I knew that my family was from Odrowąż but they were living in Lusławice when they left for America. Like Odrowąż, there was more than one village in Poland with this name; so again, I had no idea where to start looking. In May of 2009, my uncle Teddy gave me the most important piece of family history that I’ve encountered since I began my research. When I told him that I was going to Poland to find our family home, he began to search for old documents belonging to my grandfather. What uncle Teddy found took my breath away. My grandfather’s Marriage certificate, naturalization certificate and a baptismal record showing his grandparents names Andre Kulawiak and Rosaline Pagac and his birthplace, Lusławice in Brzesko county, Zakliczyn!

My grandfather's baptism (click to enlarge)

Now that I knew which Lusławice they were in, the question was what the heck was my family doing there? The Latter Day Saints (LDS) did not microfilm the church records for Odrowąż, so I hope I will be granted access to them when I visit in person. However, the LDS did microfilm the Lusławice records, but I heard that church records were in Latin and very hard to read. Since I didn’t think I could read the records, I put off ordering the films. It took me several weeks to finally decide to order them. It cost about 5 US dollars per roll and took about 2 weeks to arrive at my local LDS family history center.

When the baptismal films came in, I eagerly ran through them to find my grandfather and his siblings. The records were indeed written in Latin, but the spelling of our surname was the same. The records really were not that difficult to read. I did not find any records for Frank, Stella or Anne, so these must be in Odrowąż. I did find my grandfather’s entry in 1908, but there was something strange about it. The old baptismal certificate that I had listed his grandmother as Rose Pagac, but the church book entry listed Rosealine Stafira! Also, the name of the midwife on his certificate did not match what was in the book! I think I solved part of the mystery when I later found the record for his younger sister Jane, born in 1911.

Ted and Jane Kulawiak Baptismal Records (click to enlarge)

This record lists her grandmother’s name as Rosaline Pagac and the midwife’s name is the same as what was on my grandfather’s baptismal certificate. The baptismal certificate was dated 1912. Aniela must have requested the certificates in preparation for the move to America. I think the priest was in a hurry and probably opened the record book to Jane’s entry and filled out both certificates at the same time.

Shellie

Ted (Kulawiak) Kolavic

For all of my life, I never knew what my grandfather looked like as a young boy, or even as a young man. Dutchie had some wonderful photos and later my father and uncle found some photos for me. I think it is hard for some people to imagine their grandparents as youngsters. It was especially so for me, since I had never seen any photos. Through these photos, I found that my grandfather was quite athletic and handsome too. As a young man, he excelled at all kinds of sports, loved to swim, and was even a volunteer fireman.

Young Ted Kolavic With Friends and Wife Verna

He was quite good at gymnastics and was a regular member of the local Turners. We all went to the Turners for gymnastics when we were kids, but I never really understood what the term Turners really meant until I recently visited their website: http://www.kcturners.org/amhistory.html

Grandpa married a nice Polish girl named Veronica (Verna) Ference and they had 2 boys. Like any good Polish man, my grandfather knew what the tavern meant to a Polish community. So he opened Ted’s Ravine Tavern, a popular hang out for local steelworkers. Just this year I found out that his older sister Stella also had a tavern, almost directly across the street! Now there’s an interesting case of sibling rivalry! Grandpa loved to sing, and if you attended his church, you could not miss his wonderful voice as it rang out from the midst of the congregation. His passion as an adult was hunting and whenever I visited him, I begged him to take me to the storage room to see the bearskin rug he had in there. That’s how I remember him best; a big game hunter with a voice like a Broadway star. I will never forget his voice teaching me to spell Constantinople. He’d sing the word and then spell it out in his singing voice. I loved it and I’ll never forget it. I never realized until I started writing this story that this was part of a real song! And, of course, I found it on YouTube: watch?v=10SvHhGG3Xg

I am positive that if he were alive today, my grandfather would love singing Karaoke with us!

Ted Kolavic Sportsman Father Barkeeper

Up next: How I found my grandfather’s birthplace.

Shellie

Happy Birthday Sissy! Sis is the daughter of my grandfather’s oldest sister Stella. Since there was over 15 years difference in age between Stella, the oldest, and Dutchie, the baby of the family, Dutchie and Sis seemed more like sisters than aunt and niece.

Stella and Sis were who our family turned to for memoires and family reunions. I was young and not interested in family reunions back then. Oh how I wish I could turn back time! I think that one common emotion that is encountered during family history research is regret. To think that I had such a fascinating family and I didn’t even realize it until they are now long gone. This work has made me realize how important it is to appreciate your family while you have them with you.

Last fall, around October of 2008, I found our family in the 1930 census and I identified the address: 416 Highland Avenue, Aliquippa, PA. The family moved from Export to Aliquippa in 1920 shortly after my g-grandfather Stanislaw had a close-call in a mining accident. Aniela said that her sons would never work underground and she searched for a better place to live. Someone told her that in Aliquippa, men worked above ground in steel mills, so she asked someone to take her there to visit. When she came home, she announced that she rented a house in Aliquippa and they were moving immediately. That didn’t go over very well with my g-grandfather, who refused to go, but in the end as the rest of the family drove off, he gave up and joined them. From then on, my coal mining g-grandfather was a steelworker. I was back in my home town to visit my parents and took my mom down to Aliquippa to find the house. I found the house and jumped out to take photos. I was so excited to find it.

Green House at 416 Highland Ave

Dutchie was also excited when I told her that I had photos of the house, because she thought it had been torn down. She told me that my g-grandmother Aniela had a big brick oven in the back where she would bake and bake and bake loaves of wonderful bread. When they sat on the porch, they could see the steel mill and the Ohio river. That’s when I started to realize that something was wrong – it didn’t seem like we were talking about the same street. But I was so careful about finding Highland Avenue and I know that I was standing in front of house 416….then we realized that I WAS on the wrong street. There were 2 Highland Avenues in the Aliquippa area, one downtown, and the other across Constitution Blvd from West Aliquippa, which was just about a mile or so away. We had a pretty good laugh over that. Last week, I asked my father to drive over to the correct Highland Avenue and take a photo of the house. This is what he sent to me:

416 Highland Avenue. West Aliquippa

The house and grandma’s brick oven were gone. I hate to think that the house is gone, but we had a good laugh over my mistake!

Shellie