Wladyslaw (Walter) Mierzejewski

Walter was my paternal grandfather. He was married to Helen, but I have not yet verified her family name. I have evidence that her name was likely  Brzozwska. Walter’s parents, as noted on his death certificate were John and Anna–however, I also have some reason to think his father’s name may have been Julian. This is an area of future research. Walter had two siblings that I’ve located: Jan (or John) and Konstanty. Walter was the eldest.

Here is a screen snap of this branch of the family tree.

Walter was born November 27, 1883 in Tomsze, Poland. He and his wife Helen, had three children: Wlaclaw (Walter, Jr.), and Czezlawa (Celia), and my father, Edward. I grew up to know Celia, whom we referred to as Ciocia.

Walter appears to have come back and forth to the states several times. I’ve located a manifest for a ship departing Hamburg, Germany dated 1903 that had destinations for Boulogne, France; Plymouth, Massachusetts, and New York. Walter’s age on this manifest is 19.

I do not know what Walter’s actual destination was with the 1903 manifest, but I have a few clues. I believe there is a possibility he was heading to Pennsylvania to work the coal mines, which is part of the surprise I had in store in connection with Konstanty. I came to learn that Konstanty immigrated here in 1903 when reviewing 1920 census data — but I’ll continue on with that story when I detail Konstanty and John. The 1903 Hamburg manifest also provides Walter’s ethnicity as Russian; however, this makes some sense — he was born in the Russian partition of Poland. According to the manifest, he traveled under zwischendecke accommodations–steerage.

It seems that Walter had left the US and returned again in 1909. Walter returned to the US on November 26, 1909, as indicated on the ship manifest for the Prinz Frederich Wilhelm, sailing from Bremen to New York. What’s particularly interesting about this manifest is that it also shows a Warzel or Marzel Mierzejewski. This will need to be an area of research for me in the future as there is some confusion and some fact involved in this manifest. This manifest clearly indicates the name of the nearest friend or relative in the country from whence alien came is Helena Mierzejewski of Borowicz and that his person is Walter’s wife, indicating that Walter had married while in Poland. The final destination indicated for both Walter and Warzel is Pittsfield, Massachusetts. What is confusing however is that Walter’s birth place is listed as Borowicz and that he was born in 1879 and that Warzel was born in 1883. It is possible there is a fourth sibling, and this would be an area of future research.

Again, sometime between 1909 and 1923, Walter returned to Poland. An Ellis Island manifest for the Frederick VIII dated February 20, 1923 shows Walter traveling to the US with his wife, Helena, and two children: Wlaclaw (Walter, Jr.), age 13, and Cseslawa (Celia), age 9. Their final destination was Toledo, Ohio and the relative they were to meet was indicated as Jan Mierzejewski at 1763 Bockeham. On this manifest, Walter’s last permanent residence is listed as Gerwaty.

Having grown up in Toledo and remembering my parents mention Buckingham Street a few times as a kid, I had this hunch that the street name was probably misspelled on the manifest. I also did a Google map check to see if a Bockeham Street even existed in Toledo–it didn’t. After all, these guys had pretty thick accents and it’s quite likely the street name was misinterpreted. So I double checked my dad’s birth certificate, and sure enough, 1763 Buckingham was the address there. This address was to be important once again when discovering Walter’s brother, Konstanty.

Walter moved on to live at 622 Woodstock per the 1930 census and went to Poland again in 1927 with Helen. This time, they went to Kaczyny, Poland to visit either Walter’s or Helena’s father.  I’ve located the return manifest to New York dated September 21, 1927. This manifest indicates that Walter was in the US previously in 1908 and in 1925 and that he and Helen were heading towards home in Toledo at 620 Woodstock. Helen is listed as Bronislawa on the manifest — this must be a Polish version of Helena. They were issued immigration visas in Warsaw: Walter on July 6, 1927 and Helen on August 23, 1927. Amazingly, considering this was 1927 and they were traveling a considerable distance, was the fact they had $200 in their possession. $200 in 1927 was a substantial amount of cash. A single dollar in 1927 had the same purchasing power as $32.35 in 1998! Of course then, there was no FICA, city, or state income taxes and the federal tax rate was about 1%. See http://www.jitterbuzz.com/costs.html.

It seems as if Walter and Helen had been in Poland a considerable time given that Walter waited for Helen’s visa to come through for about six weeks. Perhaps one or the other picked up work there during the stay to help finance their return home. However, the 1930 census also indicates that Walter owned the home at 622 Woodstock and that its approximate value was $5,300. They were hardworking, industrious, and financially shrewd!

Walter and Helen then moved to 813 Evesham sometime in the early 1940s. (This is the address provided on my father’s discharge from the Army.) This also was the address that Celia lived at with her husband, Joe, until her death in 1978.

Walter passed away May 1, 1946. This is his death and burial record from St. Hyacinth’s.

Transcription of the St. Hyacinth Death Register:

Name: Ladislaus Mierzejewski
Died: May 1, ’46
Buried May 4 ’46
Cemetery: Calvary
Officiating Priest: JFL
Age: 62
Date of birth:
Sacraments: Extr. Unc. (Extreme Unction or Last Rites)
Nearest Kin: Wife
Adm. By: Rev. Swiatecki

It would seem as if there is some uncertainty regarding Walter’s date of birth.

I do not yet have his burial location at Calvary Cemetery; however, I will post it here when I locate it.

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/costs.html

 

Edward B. Mierzejewski

Edward Mierzejewski was my father — the guy in the center of the photograph as the header of this blog. A fun-loving guy, he was shooting craps and drinking beer in the middle of winter in that photo.

Here is the full photo.

There is no date on this photo, and no identification for the other two fellows playing with my dad.

Edward Mierzejewski was born December 23, 1924 at home at 1763 Buckingham Street to Walter (Wladyslaw) and Helen Mierzejewski.

Here is a screen snap of the ancestry.com family tree showing my dad’s family.

The Buckingham address was quite important when researching my father’s family. Through that address, I could trace a number of the Mierzejewski family. Several of my father’s relatives used this address on either ship manifests, draft registration cards, or other documents. So far, it is the first address I can locate for my father’s family in the Toledo, Ohio area.

I have not yet located my grandmother’s maiden name. But it is also important to realize and understand that Walter Sr. and Helen also had a son and daughter-in-law known as Walter (Wlclaw) and Helen. However, Walter Jr. had eventually changed his last name to Myers.

Dad was the youngest of three children — Walter, Celia (Cseslawa), and Edward. Walter and Celia both were born in Poland and were considerably older than my father. My father also was the only child born in the US, just shy of two years after his parents, Walter and Helen, landed in the Toledo area. Celia was born December 13, 1913 and Walter was born in 1910. These facts do lead me to wonder whether there were other siblings, possibly older siblings who may have been left behind in Poland. I cannot find so far any record of other siblings in Toledo and I do not remember my father ever mentioning siblings other than Celia and Walter however.

Because my dad was born in 1923, just as the time St. Hyacinth Parish was forming, it seems I cannot locate his baptismal certificate. However, I did locate records of both his First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

First Holy Communion Record

Confirmation Record

Dad seems to have used his confirmation name, Bernard, as his middle name. Most of his records are signed Edward B. Mierzejewski. Most likely, this was an attempt to distinguish himself from a number of other Edwards Mierzejewskis and dad was not given a middle name at birth. My assumption is that dad’s older brother, Walter Jr., was his confirmation sponsor. Ladislaus is the Latin form of Walter. Many Catholic records that I’ve located and found during the time of the Kuschwantz neighborhood settlement and development were maintained in Latin or Polish. Earlier records were in Latin, later in Polish or English.

Goodbye, Toledo...dad shipping out

Dad enlisted into the Army Air Corps in 1943 and was honorably discharged in 1945, having an interesting and dangerous assignment as a ball turret gunner. He kept a log of his missions in 1944, after attending training at MacDill. Additionally, we have a photo of dad with his crew at MacDill along with a legend of the members of the crew.

MacDill crew photo June 10, 1944 (My dad is front row, center.)

Handwritten legend on back of photo identifying crew

Log of 1944 missions of the 49th Bomb Squad 2nd Bomber Group page 1

Log of 1944 missions of the 49th Bomb Squad 2nd Bomber Group page 2

Log of 1944 missions of the 49th Bomb Squad 2nd Bomber Group page 3

Log of 1944 missions of the 49th Bomb Squad 2nd Bomber Group page 4

Log of 1944 missions of the 49th Bomb Squad 2nd Bomber Group page 5

It appears as if the squad had missions to destroy enemy supply lines. The Finito! at the end of the log indicates my father’s probable relief at having completed the missions.  I do not know what the numbers indicate in the log; a guess is that the numbers indicate the number of the mission and the number of successful hits they had made.

A poem, in dad’s handwriting, was found in his personal papers after he passed away.  The poem is the lyrics to Taps.  (Thanks to my sister for recognizing that — I never thought there were lyrics.)  But knowing my father, it was probably written as a release after witnessing what he did during the war.

Dad did have furlough to come home for his 20th birthday. A newsclip from the Toledo Blade indicates that he was a veteran of 40 combat raids and earned an Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

Vet of 40 Combat Raids Home for 20th Birthday

Dad returned home after an honorable discharge.

Discharge page 1

Discharge page 2

He met and and then married my mother, Virginia Plenzler, in November 1946. Settling down in the neighborhood surrounding the St. Hyacinth parish, near his sister Celia and brother Walter and their families, he raised a family of three daughters. He was a member of the St. Hyacinth Holy Name Society and a 30+ year production worker at Champion Spark Plug.

Dad passed away on September 7, 1985 at the age of 60 after a stroke and surgery and being hospitalized for about three months. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Toledo, Ohio.

 

So excited! (Updated 03.25.2010)

After researching my family genealogy off and on — really in spurts and stops — for a few years, I think I finally have some reliable, solid, and great data. For me, it’s been somewhat difficult because I had sketchy data about my father. I knew about his military service and I did grow up to know his sister and sister-in-law and several cousins on my father’s side. Unfortunately, I never bothered to really sit down with him and talk about his history before he died.

My mother’s side of the family is something else! I’ve learned she had a very large family, with some marriages that really surprised me — one sister had married her sister’s widower, there also were a few intermarriages between the families! But starting out, I had sketchy about her family. She did tell my sisters and me about her mother and father and she knew her grandparents’ names as we were growing up. Of course, we got the lines about how she had to live through the Great Depression and how awful it would be to be wasteful. As a kid, I’d roll my eyes and tune out the discussion but overtime I realized the wisdom of her words and tried to understand the experience. I’m not sure if I ever can fully understand.

I had few photographs to work from. The photographs I was able to locate were primarily of my father’s time in the Army Air Corps and he never talked much about his time in the military — although he loved airplanes and would read history books about the Air Force and different types of aircraft hours on end when he wasn’t reading true crime stories. Additionally, he loved building airplane models in the basement. Never knew what would happen if you walked in on him because the smell of airplane glue rapidly took effect until you reminded him to open a window.

I did not have many photos of my mother save a few of her with my father during their dating, engagement, and early years of marriage. They made quite the attractive and happy couple!

Still, I did not grow up knowing my grandparents as they had passed away before I was born. My mom and dad I suppose were so busy raising a family and working that we never really talked much about how they lived, how their families got here, and who they really were. Truthfully, I don’t think I thought much of it either until my children were grown and had asked me questions for school assignments — my youngest once asked me (she’s the psychologist of the family) about any known mental illnesses or alcoholism in the family as part of her professional studies. I wanted to laugh. Instead, I jokingly reminded her that she’s of Polish and Irish extraction (on her dad’s side) and Catholic. How did that add up? (Yes, we can be a sarcastic bunch.)

So my search was probably different than most — I had to really dig, and digging I still am. While mom’s still alive, I decided to get her involved in some short informal conversation while we would be out having lunch or grocery shopping. Every little snippet of information I could glean, I would squirrel away. Mom tires easily these days but does love to chit chat about family and what she can remember.

Using these snippets, and some original photos and documentation I had gathered from my dad’s mementos, I was able to come up with just enough intelligence — addresses, correct spellings of names, parishes family and friends belonged to — in order to start a search.

While this may sound rather macabre, the single biggest help to me in this search was a series of online, scanned documents for Ohio Deaths, the Toledo Diocese Death, Baptisms, and Marriages, and Calvary Cemetery records. Imagine reading death certificates as part of your historically-inclined hobbies. Honestly, it did make for some fascinating reading and brought much light and background to me about how many Polish immigrants in the Toledo region lived in the late 1800s through the 1950s. The LDS church sponsors this collection free of charge at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start. It is a pilot program, many of the records are just images with no index. But the information available here can be worthwhile, particularly to any researcher with Polish family in the Toledo area.

I have not yet gone “off shore” yet with my research. However, I found the lives of my family so fascinating in Toledo that I felt I had to stop and write about them while I am doing research. Hopefully some day, I will be able to research and locate records from Poland, perhaps even travel there some day.

I’m researching these families: Mierzejewski, Plenzler, Przybylski, Dauer, and Rochowiak. I have confusing information regarding the Mierzejewski family and working to straighten that out. There is some basic information about my grandfather, Wladyslaw (Walter) and his family. I’ve found what I assumed were two brothers to Walter (Jan and Konstanty); however, we all know what assumptions are made of and I may find that assumption is wrong as I’ve just heard a confirmation of a rumor I’d heard as a child and something my mom recently told me: that my paternal grandmother also was a Mierzejewski and it seems that family was quite large. So…it’s off to digging and asking more before I can really assume anything. I’ll update the bios as I learn and confirm.

I have some very good information on the Plenzler and Przybylski families in Toledo and am following up with leads and contacts with cousins I’ve recently “re-found!” My mother’s father was John Plenzler and her mother was Anastasia Przybylski.

I am also working towards locating the Dauer and Rochowiak families. My maternal great-grandparents were Eva Dauer and Joseph Plenzler and Andrew Przybylski and Frances Rochowiak.

But for now, it’s March madness and basketball is interrupting me. (Go UK!)  I will be posting bios of family members as I can complete them. So remember this is a work in progress and if anything is inaccurate, please please let me know.