Sunday, January 10, 2010

Ludwik and Stella Sawicki

Stella and Ludwik Sawicki
ca. 1914
Stella and Ludwik (Louis) Sawicki are my Great Grandparents. Ludwik was born in August of 1863 in Pozen, Poland. He immigrated to the United States about 1885 and eventually came to live in Chicago, Illinois. He married Stanislawa Wieczorek, daughter of Andrzj and Antonina Wieczorek. Stanislawa (Stella) was born in 1868 in Pozen, Poland. I am fortunate enough to have a copy of their marriage license from Cook County and marriage certifcate from St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church.
Stella and Ludwik resided in a predominately Polish neighborhood in Chicago, IL. They had eleven children between 1890 and 1905. Six daughters and one son survived through adulthood and produced eighteen grandchildren for Stella and Ludwik. Thanks to FamilySearch.org I have found a number of the children's birth certificates and have even found several of the children's marriage certificates. I have also been lucky enough to have found the Sawicki family on the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 Federal Census records.
Ludwik worked for the Steel mills for many years as did many relatives and neighbors. I never knew either of my Polish Great Grandparents for they already passed away many years before I was born. He died in 1937 at the age of 74. Stella lived until 1948. Both are buried on a small hillside in Holy Cross cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois.
I usually visit the graves of many of my Polish ancestors at Holy Cross cemetery twice a year. I attempt to clean off the headstones and usually look for more ancestors. Of course, I take pictures of the headstones and document where the graves are located to make finding them easier in the future!
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1 comment:

Lori H said...

I love the picture and what a wonderful love story they have.

January 13, 2010 at 1:44 PM

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The Family

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

Genealogy Pox, author unknown

WARNING: GENEALOGY POX IS VERY CONTAGIOUS!

SYMPTOMS: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates and places. Patient has a blank expressions, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses.
Has a compulsion to write letters. Swears at mailman when he doesn't leave mail. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote desolate country areas. Makes secret night calls and hides phone bills from spouse. Mumbles to self. Has strange, faraway look in eyes.

NO KNOWN CURE!

TREATMENT: Medication is useless. This disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse. Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and be given a quiet corner in the house where he/she can be alone.

REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is that the sicker the patient gets, the more he or she enjoys it!