5. Shellie’s Family History and Tour to Ancestral Places. Aniela Kadłub Kulawiak and the red haired Kadłubs.

My great-grandmother Aniela “Nellie” was born March 26, 1800 in Odrowąż to Adalbert Kadłub and Josephine Gal. From family stories and Ellis Island records, I found 3 siblings: a brother Jan Kanty Kadłub who settled in Export PA and was later known as John Kanty Kadlup. A sister Agnieszka (Agnes) Kadłub, who came to the US around 1906 with her brother Jakob and married Jan Wallos, later known as John Wallace in Export, PA. Jackob must have gone back to Poland, for I was unable to find any information about him. Agnieszka had several children in Export, but she she died around 1918. I tried to find a death certificate for her, but since I did not know her exact date of death, I had to request a records search. The PA vital statistics office could not find a death record for her. That was frustrating, because if the death date is unknown the state of PA charges $34 for a search of their records and you don’t get a refund if they can’t find a record. Also, you can not provide spelling variations unless you fill out another request and pay another $34 dollars.

Aniela’s father Adalbert Kadłub died rather young and Aniela married Stanislaw Kulawiak when she was around 15 years old. Dutchie had an old photo of Jozefa Gal Kadłub, taken in Poland. I think Aniela looked a lot like her mother. Here is a photo of Jozefa (date unknown) and 2 of Aniela taken around 1923 and in the 1940’s.

Dutchie told me that the Kadłubs had red hair, which I found to be very interesting. I thought that red hair was unusual in Poland, but I’m beginning to realize I might be mistaken. I’ve seen a few websites that state if you pass three redheads in Poland, you’ll win the state lottery!

Several of my family members have described Aniela as a strong-willed woman with a head for business, born well before her time. She made beautiful clothes for her daughters and baked thousands of loaves of bread in her outdoor bread oven. She raised her children in Poland while her husband worked in the coal mines in Pennsylvania and then she took the family to America in 1912. Dutchie told me that her mother knew that the trip would be long and hard, and sewed rugged leather pants for her sons to wear. She explained to her sons that these special leather pants were very strong and would last through the difficult journey to America. Later that day she found her little boys (my grandfather Ted and his brother Frank) out in the yard. While one turned the grinding wheel, the other had his little butt pressed against the wheel, testing the strength of the new pants! I hope she caught them before they ground holes in their new pants!

Wow! My ancestral village tour is coming up fast! I have been trying to collect as many photos and other information as possible to take with me. If anyone reading this blog has been to Odrowąż in southern Poland, please add a comment and tell us about it.

Shellie