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Genealogy in PolandMay 9, 2007
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The building towards the back is probably Albert Winske's house in Wymyslowow
One of the farms where Albert Winske may have been born
Another of the farms where Albert may have been born
| Today we woke up at 6:30 AM and were on the road with George, Agnes and Max at 7:45. Cynthia decided to stay in Gorzow for the day. George introduced us to the experience of driving in Poland. Almost the entire route to the Winske/Balcerzak hometowns was composed of 2-lane roads. On the way out of Gorzow we were on a 1-lane road and George was driving about 120 kph (~70 mph). Anytime a car would come we'd have to swerve to the shoulder. Linda has a tendency to be a nervous rider. On the way out of town she was talking to Agnes and suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Agnes looked at her in a very concerned manner and asked if she was feeling a bit ill. But no, it was just Linda's typical backseat hysteria -- but a bit more well-founded than when driving in the US. She became a bit more relaxed as we traveled despite passing semi-trucks on 2-lane roads while going 80+ mph. The trip out to the country was again very much like Michigan. There were lots of farmed fields but no farm houses, as farmers live in villages and travel to their fields. After about 2 hours of driving we reached the village of Wymyslowow, which is where grandpa Albert Winske was living when he left for America. The village is probably very much like it was when he left. George, who isn't afraid to talk to anybody, got out of the car at a house and asked the owners if they knew the Winske family. The person said that the Winskes had lived right next door! The house next door was very old and certainly could have been the house where Albert had lived. We then left Wymyslowow and tried to find the area where Albert was born. The name of the "village" was not on the map, but Pete had found it on an internet map. George asked several people and we honed in on the area -- everyone had heard of it. The roads were like the fire trails in Michigan -- 2-track roads through the woods. Finally we found the area, which is a cluster of three farms next to each other. George talked to the couple who lived in the middle farm and they said that the Winskes had lived in one of the farms but they didn't know which one. Even though it seems impossible that after 120 years people would know families who used to live in the farms, we understand that the homes in these areas are passed down to family members for generations. If a house were to change hands, it makes sense that the new owners would know who used to own their homestead. At the 3rd home, Pete got out of the car and a large dog bounded over the fence and came right towards him. Right at the same time, Agnes read the sign on the fence that said "Beware of Dog" (actually, she told us it said "very bad dog"). We all shrieked when we saw it coming at Pete but it was actually very friendly. It came right up to the car and was licking all of us and whining to be pet. Maybe "very bad dog" meant that it offered no protection to its owners. After we left the Winske area, we went towards where grandma Catherine Balcerzak had been from. Because the name of the town where she was born was no longer on the map, we headed towards the "county seat" called Migilno. George, Agnes and Pete went inside to find out information about the town on Catherine's birth certificate. Pete was very excited because he was in the room where the birth certificate that he had long ago ordered through the mail had been stamped. (He gets excited about odd things.) George and Agnes found out that two neighboring towns had merged together so the village that Catherine was born in no longer existed under the same name. As we were driving, Agnes told us that George had recently found out from his aunt that a Winske family had owned a mill in the same town that Catherine was born. When we arrived at the village, George found the house where the Winske mill had been. We don't know if or how the Winske mill was related to Albert Winske -- Pete thinks it might be an uncle -- but it is interesting to know. We don't know the exact house where Catherine was born but we did get to see her village. Our final stop was the village where Peter and Rosalia Balcerzak raised their family. Peter was Catherine's brother who stayed in Poland and the grandfather of George. George remembered the house where they had lived and also showed us Peter and Rosalia's grave. On the way back to Gorzow we stopped in the town of Gniezno, which was the original capital of Poland. It contains the oldest Catholic church in the country (from pre-1000). This is also the town where Albert Winske had a formal photo taken, which the family still has. After leaving Gniezno we stopped for a good Polish meal at a roadside restaurant. It was delicious! We finally made it back to Gorzow at about 7 PM -- a long day of driving! The family brought us back to Agnes and Darek's house where we had paczis, pewo (beer) and pretzels. Very fattening but very good! We stayed there until about 11 PM having lively conversation and making plans to vacation together on the Baltic Sea in the future! It was sad to say goodbye. We had a wonderful time with them and are very glad we made the arrangements to meet them. P.S. This was the day that Linda's hair was curled, as she had borrowed an electric converter from Agnes and Darek. But when she was curling her hair, Pete looked at the curling iron and realized it is compatible with European electricity. All her days of agony, helmet hair, and curling iron hunting were for naught! |
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