The Challenge

Amy Johnson Crow's second prompt is #Challenge. 

Did you know another name for Genealogy is Challenge? Seriously. If anyone is doing Genealogy and hasn't hit a brick wall then you aren't doing it right, or your family handed you your genealogy on a silver platter with a pretty bow on top.

I've faced many challenges. I've been relentless, spent numerous hours researching and finally found the answers. For instance, I know two of the four of my Polish roots. I also know a huge part of my mother's genealogy and I was able to finally trace my ancestry back to an American Revolutionary War Patriot and was sworn in as an official DAR member. 

I currently have three challenges I've been working on for some time.

1. Julia Carr. - She's important to me because if I can find her death certificate I can prove another revolutionary war patriot link. Through my research, I've become drawn to her. This is what I know about Julia Carr

• Julia Carr was born in April 1950 in Pennsylvania to William Riley Carr and Mary Withey. 
• Julia married Mathew Marmaduke Bunting in ?? 
• Mathew remarried her half-sister - Etha Julia Foor 3/20/1883 and his name was written Matthew in the record. Etha was 19 and Mathew was 33 (really 35)
• I originally through Etha and Julia were the same person since Etha's middle name is Julia, but the birth dates are very different. Julia had her first child in 1866. Etha was born in 1864 so it was impossible for Etha and Julia to be the same person.
• The last place she was seen was on the 1880 census in Metamora, Fulton, Ohio and Mathew was remarried in 1883. When Mathew was remarried in Ogden, Lenawee, Michigan, USA to Etha it said his residence was in Metamora, Ohio. 
• Therefore I believe Julia most likely died between 1880 and 1883. 

2. Peter Kopec - This was my grandmother's father. He was deported back to Poland around 1930 for having an affair and not supporting his wife and three daughters. I have a very close DNA match to his side of the family, and I match another woman who has extensive research on the Kopec side, but I can't find any records for Peter or his parents Eva and Anthony. My next step is to find his marriage records in Detroit Catholic Church or find his naturalization application. 

3. The Dziekan family. My grandfather Raymond Dziekan Sr's grandfather is as far back as I can go on the Dziekan side from Poland. His name is Ignacy Dziekan married to Mary Legawicz. They had a son John. John Dziekan is my grandfather's father, who died young from TB. The story was that they put all the patients with TB in a locked down hospital and he'd jump out of the window and walk many miles home, only to be caught and taken back to the hospital. He eventually got too weak to do this anymore and later passed away from TB. 

I found a local resource in the Michigan Polish Genealogical society that said he was researching the Dziekan side. I reached out to him and found we are a DNA match but it is about 4-5 generations back. He told me how he found his Dziekan records and I tried this and came up with nothing. I have an idea where they lived, but I'd like to find some concrete records for this side of the family.

These are my challenges and I'm open to any suggestions on getting me past my #challenges or brick walls.  

More letters

I can't tell you how thankful I am that I liked to write my grandmother letters about her life. I treasure these letters like they are a priceless piece of art.

6-13-02

Hello Bree and Joe,

Sorry I'm so late with this letter. We are fine.

1. What did you do for fun as children?
My uncle bought us a pair of roller skates and a bicycle that we 3 girls shared. By the way, when our bike broke, Grandpa repaired the bike. His sister, Florence was my best friend. Her mother worked the afternoon shift (his father dead). I spent many many nites with her. I mean evenings.

2. Grandpa went to Boy's club every day after school. So I did not see him much. We girls played monopoly many times.

Grandpa: He delivered the Polish paper every day and earned some money. Thank God for Boy's Club!

2. Favorite Food:
My mother made soup 5 days a week and on Sunday we had meat. We did not eat pastry or candy. Drank a lot of milk, no coffee. So food was my favorite food..
Grandpa drank coffee and cakes from the bakery. His mother was a good Polish cook.

It's entirely different today. Money was the issue. Today more money and more treats, especially today. I never went to the restaurant when I was young. Grandpa and I just went to a Catholic school.

I remember I did not have a .05 to see a movie on Friday. So I stayed in class and cleaned the room. But my childhood was great. What you don't have, I did not miss.

In the 8th grade, I worked after school at a produce department. Worked after school 4 years in high school to pay for my clothes and books. I never seen any alcohol in my mother's home and never swore.

On Sunday, I would go to church and then to a movie.

Live: (Live)
Grandma and Grandpa  - We lived in Detroit, 9 blocks away. We went same Catholic school.

Bree,
I bought a new CD last week which I playing now. Called the voice by Russell Watson.

Thank you for the stationary. I played pinocle. I enjoy the senior club, met many new friends. Sometimes Grandpa and I need space. He loves to stay home. I stayed home for 10 years when I had 6 kids in 8 years.

Uncle Gary is moving to Brighton to join your dad and uncles. I will MISS him, they would come over and we would play cards and enjoy each other.

Aunt Shirley and I call each other every day. Excuse my spelling, I use to be a good speller but now going on 73 in August, I sometimes forget. Today, I'm going to have my hair done. I need a loose permanent.

Sunday is Father's Day, our sons and Shirley will be here to celebrate. Grandpa will be 76 in November and doing fine.

On Sunday's after church if no one comes over we go to Bishop Park in Wyandotte. They have boat cruises from Thursday to Sunday. We go often.

Love you, Bree.
Grandma

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Letter #2
7-15-02

Hello Bree and Joe,

We are fine and well.

1. Did we walk? Yes and rode the bus. I worked part-time downtown after school for two years. Yes, driving in a car was a treat since there wasn't a car when I was young.

2. I attended 8 years in a Catholic school before then I went to a public kindergarten class. I graduated from Chadsey High School (public) in 1947. Married in 48 to Grandpa.

My favorite nun was Sister Suzanne (4th grade | Who I named Aunt Suzanne after her). The nuns (nun) very pleasant and smiling to us kids!

2. Yes I did enjoy school, also met your grandpa there. Had many friends. They also taught us from right and wrong, plus religion.

I always walked to school. I met grandpa as a safety boy at the corner on Martin street. Her called me 'Blondie'. One day he walked me home only to be my best friend's brother.

3. I walked about a mile. My best friends were Aunt Florence and Lillian, who lived on the same street. Aunt Florence died and Lillian, I call her now and then.

My mother had 3 girls and we always used the bus.

Grandpa and I seen baby Sophie. She is so cute. Sorry! She has blond eyebrows which means she will be a blonde like her father and grandmother (me).

My father had blonde hair and hazel eyes. My mother had brown hair and brown eyes. We 3 girls all had hazel eyes and blond hair. My younger sister, Genevieve, we call her Jerrie, had ash blond. She lives in Taylor and has 2 boys. Both divorced with children, who lives with their mother.

Love you and see you on August 10th.
Love Grandma and Grandpa.

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Things to note:
- Graduated from Chadsey High School in 1947.
- Married in 1948

Written letters to my grandmother, Lillian Dziekan

I call myself an old soul. I've always loved bird watching (since I was five!), I love lighthouses, I love scrapbooking and telling family stories and I love genealogy. Growing up I loved writing and I would write my grandma and ask her questions about her life. I would also package stationary for my grandma so she always had something to write me back on. I kept all of the letters we wrote back and forth and I scrapbooked a page on them. I am so thankful that I did this as it has helped me with my genealogy journey.

My grandmother, Lillian Kopec Dziekan, My brother Gregory Dziekan and my Grandfather Raymond Dziekan Sr. 

Correspondence from Lillian (Kopec) Dziekan to me (Briana Dziekan Fisher).


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5-14-02

1. Hello Bree and Joe,

I had a lovely day for Mother's day, all my kids were over.

Here are the answers

Grandpa had 8 siblings, he was the 8th child and his youngest sister was a girl named Florence. Grandpa is the only living sibling left. 

Grandma:
My mother was a wonderful mother. We were poor and without a father (They were married in a Catholic church but left us 3 girls for another woman with money who also had a husband.)

2. She (My mother) never swore, drank and worked part-time cleaning homes. I worked part time in high school to pay for my school books and clothes. 

I graduated from high school in 1947. Married Grandpa in 1948. 

Grandpa:
His mother was very stern but had to raise her 9 children since her husband died at the age of 41. Grandpa quit high school to go to work and then joined the navy when he was 17 years old.

3. Question
My childhood - Poor but a relaxing home. We were on welfare, living in a rented home. I also remembering as a childhood waiting for the Goodfellow's truck for our only Xmas gift. Those were in the depression years. 

I slept with my older sister Mary in the front bedroom. My mother and younger sister slept in the back bedroom.

We had a coal stove in the living room.

Where did I keep my things:
We had a bedroom set with drawers and a back porch for other things. 

On my 25th anniversary (wedding) my sister and I left for Poland. Grandpa did not want to go. A country about 50 years behind time, still under German's rule. 

After my mother died he came to visit us and stayed with my younger sister and then returned home to his 3rd wife. He always said God punished him and he did not have any more children with his 2 other wife's cause he did not support his 3 girls. Love Grandma. 

3. My mother dressed wearing nylons and a dress. She had brown hair and brown eyes. I always remember that she would pick up people's laundry to our home (washed and ironed). Brought the laundry in a wagon to our home and walked them delivered. My mother was a lovely, lovely lady. Died at the age of 69 years from a heart attack.

4. My father had blonde hair and hazel eyes. I was five years old when he left for Poland. He entered the country illegally from Canada. The judge sent him back to Poland cause he wanted to live with his girlfriend who was my godmother. Grandpa's father died when he was 9 years old. All he said he had dark hair and very tall. 

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So Lillian's father, Peter Kopec, left the family for her Godmother and was deported to Poland for failure to take care of his three girls. It sounds like her life was not easy after he left them, and her mother was a very hard worker trying to support them.

Grandpa Raymond Dziekan Sr. was one of 9 kids and his mother was very strict.

Peter Kopec is a big mystery to me in which I am still researching. I found a woman on Ancestry who is a third cousin to my father, in which I believe her great-grandfather, Joseph Kopec, is Peter Kopec's brother!

More letter's to come. I'm so glad I wrote my grandmother and asked all these questions!