My Family History Research

Józefa Kapuścińska Dudek Stayed in the Old Country

At a family event in the 1960s, I remember my grandmother Agnieszka Kapuścińska Skrok Kiec and her sister Maryanna Kapuścińska Mastykarz, both old women, arguing in Polish. When I asked my mother to translate, she told me that Maryanna had wanted another sister to come to America, and had paid for her passage. She was still angry that younger sister Agnieszka had come instead. My mother thought that the other sister did not want to leave the old country, and rather than waste the ticket, their mother had sent Agnieszka to America.

This story helped me identify the sisters’ arrivals in America. Maryanna Kapuścińska came to Buffalo in 1912. She had wanted her sister Józefa to join her, and she had paid for Józefa‘s ticket. In looking through the records, I found a ship manifest for Józefa Kapuścińska in 1913, but no ship manifest for Agnieszka.

In 1968 my grandmother had received a letter from her sister Józefa Dudek in Chobrzany, Poland, so we knew Józefa stayed in Poland and was married. Even my rudimentary Polish could translate the salutation of “Kochana Siostro!” as “Dear Sister!” She wrote about her son Stasiu (nickname for Stanisław) who had had two wives and two children and her son Wotek (nickname for Wojciech) who had had two wives and two children.

I was able to verify my grandmother Agnieszka‘s 1895 birth during a visit to Poland in 2004. I found her sister Maryanna‘s 1888 birth record in the index and online records in 2015. However, I was puzzled because I did not find Józefa‘s birth record with her siblings in Gnieszowice, Koprzywnica, near Sandomierz.

Kapusta – Kapuścińska

The roots of Polish names are used with different suffixes. I had found some DNA cousin’s ancestors who had used both Kapusta and Kapuściński as surnames, and I wrote about these “Cabbage” Patch Kids: Kapusta/ Kapuściński DNA Cousins. These name variations happened with my own family, as well!

Józefa Kapuścińska‘s birth on 2 August 1890 was especially hard to find. Not only was the Kapusta form listed, the top of the K in Kapusta was closed, making her father’s name written in Roman letters look like “Wincenty Rapusta.” Accordingly, the birth was indexed as “Józefa Rapusta.” Her mother was correctly identified as Maryanna Witoń.

Gnieszowice, Józefa Kapusta

This occurred in the settlement of Koprzywnica on July 22 / August 3, 1890 at seven o’clock in the morning. Wincenty Kapusta appeared in person, twenty seven years of age, a peasant from Gnieszowice, and in the presence of witnesses Jan Pyszczek, thirty eight, and Wawrzyniec Pałka, forty years of age, both peasants from Gnieszowice, he presented to us an infant of the female sex stating that that the baby was born yesterday in Gnieszowice at eight o’clock in the evening of his lawful wife Marianna née Witoń, twenty six years of age.
At Holy Baptism administered on this day by Reverend Józef Gładysz this child was given the name of Józefa and the godparents were Wojciech Rokosz and Marcjanna Pałka.
This document was read aloud to the declarant and illiterate witnesses and was signed by us alone.

J. Gładysz

While the notation at the bottom of the page refers to her death, the stamped entry in the margin of the birth record refers to Józefa‘s 1914 marriage with Kazimierz Dudek in Koprzywnica. Kazimierz was the widower of Marianna Kapusta Dudek, the daughter of Jan Kapusta and Wiktorya Miczak of Bilcza, Sandomierz.

In accordance with the proclamation made on July 10, 1914 by a civil servant of the Koprzywnica parish, the following note is made: marital union was contracted in this parish on January 15, 1914 between Józefa Kapusta and Kazimierz Dudek.
Registry clerk A. Markiewicz

5, Gnieszowice, Kazimierz Dudek and Józefa Kapusta aka Kapuścińska

This occurred in the settlement of Koprzywnica on the fifteenth / twenty second of January 1914 at eleven o’clock in the morning. We declare that in the presence of witnesses, Andrzej Kapuściński, thirty six years of age, and Michał Witoń, fifty years of age, peasants from Gnieszowice; on this day a religious marital union was contracted between Kazimierz Dudek, forty eight years of age, widower, a peasant, son of Wawrzyniec and Helena Dudek, born in the village of Świątniki, residing in the village of Bilcza in the parish of Obrazów, – and Józefa Kapusta aka Kapuścińska twenty three years of age, unmarried, daughter of late Wincent and still living Marianna nee Witoń, born and residing in the village of Gnieszowice.

This marriage was preceded by three readings of the bans proclaimed in the parish churches of Koprzywnica and Obrazów on the twenty ninth of December, the fifth and twelfth of January : the eleventh, eighteenth and twenty fifth of January of the current year. The newlyweds declare that they did not conclude a prenuptial agreement.

The religious marriage ceremony was performed by Reverend Jan Pajkert, local vicar. This document was read aloud to the newlyweds and witnesses and signed by us.

Stamp in the margin:
Józefa Kapusta née Dudek died on June 22, 1976 in Bilcza. Act no. 25/1976 issued by the Civil Registry Office of Obrazów. Koprzywnica, 29.7. 1976. Civil Registry Office [signature].

Józefa‘s birth record also had the notation that Józefa Dudek died 22 June 1976 in Bilcza, Obrazów, Sandomierz, Świętokrzyskie, Poland.

Józefa Dudek née Kapusta died on July 22, 1976 in Bilcza. Act no. 25/76 [issued by] Civil Registry Office in Obrazów. Koprz.[ywnica] 29.7.76 [signature]

In addition to the sons mentioned in Józefa‘s letter I also found an indexed birth record for Józefa Dudek, daughter of Kazimierz Dudek and Józefa Kapuścińska in Bilcza, Obrazów, on 6 Nov 1914.

Sources

• Towarzystwa Genealogicznego Polski, Birth, 1890 114 Koprzywnica, Józefa Rapusta; digital images, Towarzystwa Genealogicznego Centralnej Polski (http://metryki.genealodzy.pl : accessed 29 May 2019). http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryka.php?ar=7&zs=0158d&sy=1890&kt=1&plik=111-114.jpg
• Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne, “Geneteka, Metryki,” database, Polish Genealogical Society, Genealodzy (genealodzy.pl: accessed 13 December 2018), Kazimierz Dudek Józefa Kapusta [Inne nazwiska: Kapuścińska ]; citing church records or Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Civil Registry Office). metryki.genbaza.com/genbaza,detail,107209,71
• Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne, “Geneteka, Metryki,” database, Polish Genealogical Society, Genealodzy (genealodzy.pl: accessed 25 July 2019), 1863 18 Kazimierz Dudek Wawrzyniec Helena Gospoś Obrazów Świątniki; citing church records or Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Civil Registry Office).
• Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne, “Geneteka, Metryki,” database, Polish Genealogical Society, Genealodzy (genealodzy.pl: accessed 25 July 2019), 1890 11 Kazimierz Dudek Wawrzyniec, Helena Gospoś Marianna Kapusta Jan, Wiktoria Mietek Obrazów, Bilcza; citing church records or Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Civil Registry Office).
• Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne, “Geneteka, Metryki,” database, Polish Genealogical Society, Genealodzy (genealodzy.pl: accessed 26 May 2019), 1914 143 Józefa Dudek Kazimierz Józefa Kapuścińska Obrazów Bilcza; citing church records or Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Civil Registry Office).