Jan 7, 2020 A Fresh Start
When I think of a fresh start I
think of my Polish ancestors. My great
grandparents were the
first to immigrate to America
from Posen. GGF Piotr/Peter Jablonski married at age 24 to a 15 year-old
girl named Katarzyna/Katherine Gic in 1865 at the Catholic church in
Znin. I am not sure why they left Poland, but historically Poland was in
a difficult economic time, and many young Poles were being conscripted into the
Prussian army. I think Peter left the country first, leaving his pregnant
young wife and two children, Marianna and Michael. I have yet to locate
his immigration records, but Katherine arrived at Castle Gardens, NY in 1873
with the two children. My grandfather Frank was a first-generation child,
born later that year in Detroit, MI.
Not only did the Jablonski
family face the hardship of travel, of leaving their families, they also faced
the language barrier. Although Detroit had a large Polish population and
several Polish neighborhoods, they still had to face the city at large.
But they persevered and eventually they were the parents to 13 children.
The 1880 census showed only Marianna and Frank, Michael; any other children
born by then were not listed. The 1900 census listed Mary, Frank, Eva and
Mickey. Mickey was too young to have been the Michael listed on the immigration
record. The other children were John, Annie, Rose, Peter, Stanley,
Chestley, Martin and Catherine. Of the 13 children, I know that John, Annie,
Rose, and Michael died as children. Eva, Martin, and Chester along with
my grandfather Frank reached adulthood. I have not found records on the
others. At the time of Eva's death in 1949 only Martin (Who changed his name to
Martin Burke) and Chestley (Who changed his name to Chester Oblin) were still
living. Peter had been a farmer in Poland, but in Detroit he was listed
as a laborer.
In 1893 Peter and his family
left Detroit to purchase a farm in Romulus, MI, where the family stayed for
about 100 years. Farm life was hard, but eventually the Joblinski (Note
the spelling change) family had a thriving farm and apple orchard. My
grandfather Frank inherited the farm, then my Uncle Bruno. The apple orchard
operated until illness and age forced Bruno to retire. His son Tom sold
the property in the 1990's.
Judging by the Polish history I
have read, to own a large thriving farm and orchard would not have been
possible for my GGP's in Poland. Their fresh start led to a life they
only could have imagined, and other than the loss of their children, life was
probably pretty good. Unfortunately Dad didn't talk about his aunts and
uncles on his paternal side, although he did talk about and keep in touch with
his maternal side. Never really found out why he didn't. By the time I thought
to question it, it was too late. Peter was a stern looking man, but Katherine
looked less so. My Dad Allie remembered his grandmother with fondness.
His grandfather died before Dad was born. They left a legacy in Romulus
and many people reminisce about visiting the farm to buy apples and grain.
I do regret that in becoming
Americanized the family lost a lot of knowledge about the culture and cooking
of Poland. but Dad always cooked fresh kielbasa for after Midnight Mass on
Christmas, and for Easter. The kielbasa, keiska, and golumbkis that we had were
about the extent of our heritage saved. I wish we had more.
(I also included the photos of peter and Katherines grave,
and a shot of the farm.)
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