I’ve been doing more research on my Mazany line as time permits. My third-great grandfather was Lucas Mazany. He was married to a Marianna Brzykca. His youngest daughter, Marianna Mazana, was the mother of my second great-grandmother, Frances Rochowiak.
Lucas had a brother, Paul. Paul was born 3 July 1785 in Januszkowo. The record below can be found at Family Search, Archive Archdiocese of Gniezno, Gora Znin, Baptizatorum 1782 – 1803, Film #008017199.

Paul Mazany birth 1785
Paul married Constantia Lis on 7 February 1808 in Podgórzyn, Kujawsko-Pomorskie. The record below can be found at Family Search, Archive Archdiocese of Gniezno, Gora Znin, Copulatorum 1804 – 1817, Film # 008017225.
Paul and Constantia go on to have at least eight children that I can document: Adam, Marianna, Lucia, Agnes, Benno, Laurence, Martin, and Valentine. Valentine seems to have been the youngest child, born in 1826. All of their children were born in Podgórzyn.
Going through the set of birth records for Gora Znin for the years 1828 – 1838, I was looking specifically for births in Podgórzyn to see whether Constantia and Paul had more children. I found none. It was through reviewing these birth records that I made a note of a birth in Podgórzyn for an illegitimate child named Ignatius, born to a widow named Margaretha Nyk (married named Marosz). Ignatius was born 31 July 1827 and Constantia was named as godmother for this child. I made a note of this specifically because a Margaretha Maroszka1 was a godparent to Paul and Constantia’s daughter, Lucia. The other godparent was Valentine Lis, who I believe is Constantia’s brother. See record below from Archive Archdiocese of Gniezno, Gora Znin, Baptizatorum 1782 – 1803, Film # 008017225 .

Ignatius Nyk birth 1827
I decided to stop looking at births after 1838 as I was not finding any further births to Paul and Constantia and move on to locate deaths that may have occurred in Paul’s family. I discovered so far that two of his children, Agnes and Benno, died in 1818 and 1820, respectively. (See Archive Archdiocese of Gniezno, Gora Znin, Mortuorum 1817 – 1828, Film #007769351 to obtain the records.)
When I moved on to the next set of death records, those for 1828 – 1838, I find an entry for a child named Ignatius, who died 25 February 1830, aged 2. The parents were named as Paul Mazany and Constantia Lisianownka1. See the record below from Archive Archdiocese of Gniezno, Gora Znin, Mortuorum 1828 – 1838, Film # 007769351

Ignatius Mazany death 1830
I remembered I had made a note of the birth of an Ignatius who was born to a Margaretha Nyka Marosz, and this woman along with Constantia’s brother, were godparents to her daughter, Lucia.
So I went through the death records for Podgórzyn between 1827 when Ignatius was born and 1830 when he died, wondering whether his mother died. I found no record of her death yet.
I also re-reviewed all of the births for the time that Ignatius was born for the years 1827 through 1829 in Podgórzyn to ensure that Paul and Constantia did not have a child of their own named Ignatius. I have found no record of a ninth birth to Constantia so far.
I am beginning to wonder whether Constantia took the Roman Catholic practice of taking responsibility for the spiritual development of a child seriously and took Ignatius into the Mazany family. I have found no death records between 1828 and 1830 to indicate that Margaretha died. I do not yet know what may have happened to her–did she remarry, did she leave the village for work? What happened to Margaretha between Ignatius’ birth and death? The village of Podgórzyn had a large number of paupers and servants who worked in the nearby manors and a handful of farmers so they often moved for work, for bread. My own Mazany and Rochowiak family lines moved between a number of villages surrounding Gora Znin, so it’s quite possible she moved on to a neighboring village. What is even more interesting is what the death record does not state: “pater ignotis” or father unknown. But no father is named. (I have come across a few of records for illegitimate children where the father was known and named.)
It’s often stories like these that make Polish research both frustrating and fascinating.
Time may tell more as I progress through my research of the Mazany line. And I am more intrigued to figure out what happened here. What’s next? Of course to continue tracing the Mazany line as well as to trace the Nyk line and the Lis family.
I mention this story because not long ago, I was involved in a discussion of whether to note the names of whose who were involved in major life events–godparents at a birth, witnesses at a marriage, sponsors for a confirmation, names of those who reported a death. Good reasons were given, both pro and con. But I’m on the pro-side of this discussion because I think these persons are often relevant in researching my Polish ancestors in 18th and 19th century Poland. Persons who are godparents, marriage witnesses, or death reporters are often siblings, aunts, uncles, or children. I’ve had it happen more times than I can count that I’ve noticed a marriage witness I did not recognize. I later came to learn that person was either a blood relative or an in-law. Godparents in my research overwhelmingly are siblings or quite often even cousins. So often for me, it’s helpful to review godparents, marriage witnesses, and death reporters when I see names repeatedly appear in records. It’s often a hint to me that I’ve missed someone connected to the line I am researching.
1 Note that these are different forms of the same last name. Women often were noted with an -ownka or or a variation of a -ska/zka in their names during this period. It simply means “young woman” or “married woman” of a specific family. In this case, the Lis or Marosz, families.