My Family History Research

Teresa Kaczmarz (1833-1867)

It took a while to learn more about my great-great-grandmother Teresa. Her marriage record to my great-great-grandfather Kacper Witoń identified her as Teresa Wojcikowa, a widow of Józef Wujcik and the daughter of Tomasz and Maryanna Kaczmarz, which gave me a place to start.

She was my maternal grandmother Agnieszka‘s maternal grandmother. Teresa‘s mother, Maryanna Kołacz, is my oldest known direct maternal ancestor. My mitochondrial DNA haplogroup is H2a2a1. Since mtDNA is passed from mothers to their offspring, I share the H2a2a1 haplogroup with Teresa Kaczmarz and Maryanna Kołacz through my maternal line. My grandmother passed it on to her children. My mother passed it on to my sisters and me, and we share this haplogroup with our children. Our daughters pass it on to their children.

In the records I found, Teresa‘s birth name was spelled various ways: Kaczmarcz, Kaczmara, Kaczmarz, Karczmarz, Kaczmar, Kaczmarek. In the book Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, author William “Fred” Hoffman explains that the name and its variations are derived from the Polish word karczmarz, innkeeper, which is itself derived from karczma, the Polish word for inn.

Teresa married four times, to men named Ciach, Podlewski, Wojcikowski, and Witoń. She died at age thirty-four after bearing at least three children.

This is what I was able to find about Teresa from the records of Koprzywnica, near Sandomierz, in what is now the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in south-central Poland.

Village Gnieszowice. This happened in the town of Koprzywnica on the 17th of October 1833 at noon. Tomasz Kaczmara, age 29, the father of the child, appeared, in the presence of Wojciech Boguń and Kacper Zybała, both adult peasant farmers from the village of Gnieszowice, and showed us a female child born today at 5 a.m. to his wife Maryanna née Kołacz, age 20. At Holy Baptism, performed today, this child was given the name Teresa and the godparents were mentioned above Wojciech Boguń and Ewa Siudek from Gnieszowice. This document was read aloud to the declarants and signed only by us as [neither] the father of the child nor any of the witnesses could read.
Priest Onufry Wiesiołowoski, Koprzywnica parish priest

Teresa‘s father died in 1834, and her mother in 1848. In 1852 Teresa married a recently widowed older man, Szymon Ciach. The –onka suffix indicates that she was unmarried and Kaczmarz was her birth name.

Village Gnieszowice. This happened in the town of Koprzywnica on the 23rd of February 1852 at 3 p.m. We announce that today, in the presence of witnesses, Mateusz Kołacz and Tomasz Kołacz, both adult peasant farmers residing in Gnieszowice, a religious marriage was contracted between Szymon Ciach, a widower of Rozalia née Głogowska, the son of Antoni and Katarzyna Ciach, a peasant farmer born and residing in Gnieszowice, age 44, and Teresa Kaczmarzonka, an unmarried woman, the daughter of Tomasz and Maryanna Kaczmarz, both deceased, born in Gnieszowice, age 18, earning her living as a maid in Zarzece. This wedding was preceded by three readings of the banns in the parish [church] of Koprzywnica on the 8th, 15th and 22nd of February of the current year. No impediment to the marriage arose. The newlyweds state that they made no prenuptial agreement between them. This document was read aloud to the declarants and witnesses and signed only by us.
[illegible signature] rector maintaining the register

Teresa and Szymon had a daughter, Barbara Ciach, born in 1854 and baptized at the church in Koprzywnica. Barbara grew up to marry Franciszek Stawiński in Koprzywnica in 1877.

I did not find out what happened to Szymon Ciach, or when Teresa married Szymon Podlewski, a man the same age and with the same first name as her first husband, but on 31 January 1858, Teresa became a widow, it appears to be for the second time.

Village Gnieszowice. This happened in the town of Koprzywnica on the 3rd of February 1858 at 8 a.m. Michał Dybus and Paweł Rukus appeared, both adult peasant farmers from Gnieszowice, and stated that on the 31st of January of the current year at 9 a.m. Szymon Podlewski died, age 51, a peasant farmer from Gnieszowice. He is survived by his widowed wife Teresa Podlewska née Karczmarz. After visual confirmation of the death of Podlewski, this document was read aloud to the declarants who do not know how to write, and signed only by us.
[illegible signature] rector maintaining the register

Two years later Teresa married Józef Wojcikowski, a widower from Skwirzowa, a village 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from Gnieszowice.

Village Gnieszowice. This happened in the village of Cegielnia on the 15th of February 1860 at 11 a.m. We announce that today in the presence of witnesses Stanisław Krakowik, age 36, and Paweł Rokosz, age 45, both peasant farmers residing in Gnieszowice, a religious marriage was contracted between Józef Wojcikowski, a widower of Anastazja née Sałata who died in Skwirzowa in the parish of Sulisławiec, the son of Tomasz and Zofia Wojcikowski, born in Ryłowice in the parish of Chobrzany, a wheelmaker from Skwirzowa, age 50, and Teresa Podlewska, a widow of Szymon Podlewski who died in Gnieszowice on the 31st of January 1858, the daughter of Tomasz and Maryanna Kaczmar, age 26, born in Gnieszowice, a peasant farmer from Gnieszowice. This wedding was preceded by three readings of the banns in the parish [churches] of Koprzywnica and Sulisławice on the 29th of January, 5th and 12th of February of the current year. The newlyweds state that they made no prenuptial agreement between them. This religious rite was performed by priest Mateusz Kasprzycki, the vicar of the parish in Koprzywnica. This document was read aloud and signed only by us as the other people [gathered] cannot write.
[illegible signature] rector maintaining the register

Unfortunately, Józef Wujcik died later that year in the hospital in Kurozwęki, about 30 kilometers west of Gnieszowice. Teresa, age 28, then married Kacper Witoń, the 21 year old son of Tomasz and Regina Witoń.

Village Zarzece. This happened in the village of Cegielnia on the 7th of October 1861 at 10 a.m. We announce that today, in the presence of witnesses, Ignacy Siudak, age 52, and Franciszek Sulicki, age 40, both peasant farmers residing in Zarzece, a religious marriage was contracted between Kacper Witon, an unmarried man, the son of Tomasz and Regina Witon, age 21, born and residing in Zarzece, and Teresa Wojcikowa, a widow of Józef Wujcik who died in Hospital in Kurozwęki on the 22nd of November last year, the daughter of Tomasz and Maryanna Kaczmarz, a peasant farmer, born and residing in Gnieszowice, age 28. This wedding was preceded by three readings of the banns in the parish [church] of Koprzywnica on the 15th, 22nd and 29th of September of the current year. The newlyweds state that they made no prenuptial agreement between them. This religious rite was performed by priest Piotr Kołowski, local rector. This document was read aloud to the declarants and signed only by us because those appearing cannot write.
[illegible signature] rector maintaining the register

Teresa Kaczmarz and Kacper Witoń were the parents of Michał and Maryanna Witoń.

Michał Witoń (1862-1952) married Jadwiga Duma in Koprzywnica in 1888. They were the parents of several children, including Maryanna Witoń (1893-1971) who immigrated to Buffalo, New York, in 1912.
Maryanna married Józef Solowski in Buffalo 26 Jan 1915.

Maryanna Witoń (1865-aft 1929) married Wincenty Kapuściński in Koprzywnica 15 Feb 1887. Two of their daughters immigrated to Buffalo, New York. Maryanna Kapuścińska married Grzegorz Mastykarz in 1915. Agnieszka Kapuścińska married Jan Skrok in 1917.

Village Gnieszowice. This happened in the town of Koprzywnica on the 31st of December 1867 at 10 a.m. Karol Czarnecki from Zarzece appeared, age 33, and Michał Dybus from Gnieszowice, age 48, both peasant farmers, and stated that on the 29th of December of the current year at 10 a.m. Teresa Witon née Kaczmarz died, age 33, a peasant farmer from Gnieszowice. She is survived by her widowed husband Kacper Witon. After visual confirmation of the death of Teresa Witon, this document was read aloud to the declarants who do not know how to write, and signed only by us.
[illegible signature] rector maintaining the register

After Teresa‘s death, Kacper Witoń married Petronella Zybała in 1868 and they had more children.

Kacper Witoń, the son of Tomasz and Regina née Sad, born in village Zarzecze, with wife Petronela née Zybała, died in the parish of Koprzywnica 21 Jan 1903.

This record is written in Cyrillic because this part of Poland was under Russian occupation before World War I, and the government required records to be kept in Russian. The name Kacper Witoń can be read in Roman letters in the middle of the passage.

Sources

• Hoffman, William F. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings. Chicago, Illinois : Polish Genealogical Society of America. 1993, Second Edition, Revised 2001.
• Towarzystwa Genealogicznego Polski, Birth, 1833 #138, http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryka.php?ar=7&zs=0158d&sy=1833&kt=1&plik=131-138.jpg, Teresa Kaczmar; digital images, Towarzystwa Genealogicznego Centralnej Polski (http://metryki.genealodzy.pl : accessed 5 October 2018).
• Genealogical Society of Poland, http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryka.php?ar=7&zs=0158d&sy=1852&kt=2&plik=11-14.jpg, Teresa Kaczmarzonka.
• Genealogical Society of Poland, Marriage, 1860 #11, http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryka.php?ar=7&zs=0158d&sy=1860&kt=2&plik=11-14.jpg, Teresa Podleska.
• Genealogical Society of Poland, Marriage, 1861, #18, http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryka.php?ar=7&zs=0158d&sy=1861&kt=2&plik=15-19.jpg, Teresa Wójcikowa.
• Polskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne, “Geneteka, Metryki,” database, Polish Genealogical Society, Genealodzy (genealodzy.pl: accessed 2018), 1867 #138 Teresa Witoń Koprzywnica death, http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/metryka.php?ar=7&zs=0158d&sy=1867&kt=3&plik=133-138.jpg; citing church records or Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Civil Registry Office).