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Before I continue, a few items of note:
Hello Again,
Before going into the new information, I need to CORRECT some of the previous info I provided. Great Grandma, Mary Trudnak, had another brother, Frank, who I did not mention. He served in the military also. Her brother, Joseph, DID NOT DIE in European combat in WWII. He married a woman he met while in England and lived in Chicago. He retired to Harvey's Lake, PA (near Wilkes-Barre) All 7 brothers returned from WWII unharmed.
The Czarnecki family lived in a rural farming area of Poland. There were no large cities nearby. Opportunities were limited. The farm was the way of life for all previous generations and is still that way today. In addition, political strife resulted in ever changing borders. The tribe or clan attitude prevailed but changing borders brought new governments and new rules. Being a farmer make life simple but political change had to be coped with. America was an opportunity to change the "poor" life and provide economic opportunities for the family.
I don't know who came with the group to America. It seems that there were only a few family members and friends. These people mostly settled in NE PA. Your Great Grandfather had a few cousins living within 50 miles of Wilkes-Barre but none that were mentioned living in Patterson, NJ. The Patterson family may have, in fact, moved to PA at or after the same time as them. There were several "friends" in Sugar Notch and the area that would periodically return to Lisco Poland to visit family and mail was occasionally received by them from family in Poland. One of the friends who lived in Sugar Notch would bring pictures of Great Grandpop's family to share with him. Since he left at a young age, he didn't recognize anyone but as I recall they all had names of the people in the pictures on the back.
The move from Poland was permanent. There was never any talk of returning. Not even for a visit. After moving to Sugar Notch the family flourished economically. Julian & Alexandria eventually owned houses at 203, 205, and 207 Freed Street. They lived in 207 and sold 205 to Son, Joseph and 203 to Son, Anthony(great grandpop). All the boys worked at first in coal mine related jobs.
I never seen nor did anyone mention anything special brought from Poland. A friend from Sugar Notch, Mrs. Bertha Wawrzyn, visited Poland every few years to see her family and would visit the family while there. All she ever brought back were photos that she took of the Polish Czarnecki's (see earlier comments).
There was very little discussion of the Polish life and family. Usually, when there was, it was a brief mention of the farm that was left behind. There did not seem to be any regrets about leaving for a better life. After all , they settled among Polish, Slavic, Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian people just like themselves. Similar language, similar customs, similar faces, houses, churches, etc. But life was much better than on the farm. They were quite happy in America and much better off. The motherland, Poland, was far off and just a memory, not to be forgotten but no regrets for leaving either.
Periodically a church pastor would run a heritage trip back to Poland for a group. Very few of those who immigrated would return. Occasionally someone "in the family" in America would join a relative for the return trip, Usually meeting the Polish or Slovak relatives for the first time and occasionally maintaining a letter writing relationship afterwards. This DID NOT happen in our family.
There was not very much correspondence with the Polish family. Only an infrequent letter. There were no exchanges other than through the Polish Church which would have clothing drives and send clothes to Poland in general, but not to specific family members. Bertha's photos which came after the trips were the only contact until they asked for the deed to be changed in the mid 1960's.
There was no special items from Poland that were kept by the family that I know of. They came with little and acquired everything they had in America. Over the years all traces of Poland disappeared. They were now AMERICANS and wanted to be known as such. The Polish heritage was maintained through Church and their friends in the community.
Great Grandma's family was pretty much the same. They were Americans first and Slovak second. They would not like being considered Slovak-Americans. The "old country" was pretty much "out of sight, out of mind".
Had I not done this, by the way, I guarantee that his brother (my granddad) Jack would have found out, since he was afraid to admit that we are Jewish—and you will understand why when you found out what happened to their mother. Just keep this in mind, nonetheless: Jack Czarnecki is relatively lucky to be walking unarrested and uncharged with several crimes against his mother.
I have serious doubts about any Jewish Family connections over in Poland. Here's why:
1) Surnames were not used in Poland until about the 16th century. Before that it was the equivalent of "Joe son of the Tailor".
2) The pronounciation of our surname is different in Polish. "Czarnecki" is pronounced "Cha-nyet-ski". The "r" is silent, a "y" appears after the "n" ,a "t" appears between the "e" and "c" and the "cki" becomes "ski". They even pronounce it the Polish way in Mexico because they are trained in Eastern Europe phonics. Also, "Czar" means "black" in Polish. Figure out the "ne" meaning and you will understand the origin - maybe.
3) You need to spend some time on Polish Roots.org/(surname). Notice how few Jews had our surname. "Cki" at one point indicated royality, however, everyone started to use the "cki" (ski) after the 16th century. There are many Roman Catholics and Polish National Catholic Czarnecki's. These are the predominent religions.
4) Great Grand Pop had some relatives in the Wilkes-Barre area. All were Roman Catholics. (at least 4 families) There are at least 4 other Czarnecki clans in Wilkes-Barre (not related to us). All are Roman Catholics. Friends in the area from Poland are also Roman Catholic. (They all would know.)
5) Your Great Grand Piop arrived in this country when he was 3 years old. I don't believe that he would know that the family was Jewish. The family was always active in the Catholic (Polish) church in Sugar Notch after their arrival.
6) The church was the center of activity after the immigrants came from Poland. It allowed them to keep customs alive and socialize with those who were similiar in origin and faith and helped them assimulate into life in America. Jews would not easily fit into a Catholic society as was in Sugar Notch.
I just don't see a Jewish connection in any way. Also, check out the words of the Polish National Anthem. Antoni Czarnecki is mentioned as a Hero.
Regards, Uncle Tony
By the way, here is the email in response to my confession about what I was really doing—and keep in mind that we have never had a tracable family tree that links back to Stefan Czarniecki (and our first known Anusi family member was Kazimierz Andrulewicz, who converted in about 1765). Also keep in mind that the Czerneckis came from Warsawza to Lipsk, and that part of our reason for becoming Anusim was to escape the Russian Pale once we had to do so—after all, there was no making aliyah as yishuvim for us once we became Anusi Polish Catholics; and living in the United States as Anusim was far better than living in rejection by our families and with possible doubt and disbelief as to the genuineness of our conversion by the Russian Pale's gentile and genuinely-converted Jewish residents.
- Whoever knows about Geraldo Rivera's "Sailing Book" is going to think that I am emulating his form of memoirizing ("Memoirizing" is not a spelling error, by the way—if someone else did not coin the gerund for "to write a memoir", I just did. Meanwhile,) I assure you that I was not going off of Geraldo Rivera's format when I began writing this memoir, and I am not doing so now.
- I had a surgery on July 17th-18th—this will be important given what parallels the surgery and recovery therefrom hold to Great-Granddad's suicide (Unlike my dad and most of his family, I—like my Granduncle Tony was with his children—choose to be upfront about Great-Granddad's suicide, especially since the Wilkes-Barre Record and the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader each had an article on it).
- Since I am drinking a glass of wine as I am writing, I am not going to be as awake as I would normally be (I must have inherited the Slavic or Khazar allele that protects Ashkenazi Jews from being drunk and, thus, being schickers—one glass of wine gets me sleepy, at least on many or even most nights.). Also, I had a depressive episode last week, and the episode included a breakdown on Wednesday. Therefore, I am being—admittedly—a little lazy and deciding to give you some background information by publishing Granduncle Tony's full e-mail that was written thanks to—confessedly—my tricking him into thinking that I was doing a school-research project.
Hello Again,
Before going into the new information, I need to CORRECT some of the previous info I provided. Great Grandma, Mary Trudnak, had another brother, Frank, who I did not mention. He served in the military also. Her brother, Joseph, DID NOT DIE in European combat in WWII. He married a woman he met while in England and lived in Chicago. He retired to Harvey's Lake, PA (near Wilkes-Barre) All 7 brothers returned from WWII unharmed.
The Czarnecki family lived in a rural farming area of Poland. There were no large cities nearby. Opportunities were limited. The farm was the way of life for all previous generations and is still that way today. In addition, political strife resulted in ever changing borders. The tribe or clan attitude prevailed but changing borders brought new governments and new rules. Being a farmer make life simple but political change had to be coped with. America was an opportunity to change the "poor" life and provide economic opportunities for the family.
I don't know who came with the group to America. It seems that there were only a few family members and friends. These people mostly settled in NE PA. Your Great Grandfather had a few cousins living within 50 miles of Wilkes-Barre but none that were mentioned living in Patterson, NJ. The Patterson family may have, in fact, moved to PA at or after the same time as them. There were several "friends" in Sugar Notch and the area that would periodically return to Lisco Poland to visit family and mail was occasionally received by them from family in Poland. One of the friends who lived in Sugar Notch would bring pictures of Great Grandpop's family to share with him. Since he left at a young age, he didn't recognize anyone but as I recall they all had names of the people in the pictures on the back.
The move from Poland was permanent. There was never any talk of returning. Not even for a visit. After moving to Sugar Notch the family flourished economically. Julian & Alexandria eventually owned houses at 203, 205, and 207 Freed Street. They lived in 207 and sold 205 to Son, Joseph and 203 to Son, Anthony(great grandpop). All the boys worked at first in coal mine related jobs.
I never seen nor did anyone mention anything special brought from Poland. A friend from Sugar Notch, Mrs. Bertha Wawrzyn, visited Poland every few years to see her family and would visit the family while there. All she ever brought back were photos that she took of the Polish Czarnecki's (see earlier comments).
There was very little discussion of the Polish life and family. Usually, when there was, it was a brief mention of the farm that was left behind. There did not seem to be any regrets about leaving for a better life. After all , they settled among Polish, Slavic, Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian people just like themselves. Similar language, similar customs, similar faces, houses, churches, etc. But life was much better than on the farm. They were quite happy in America and much better off. The motherland, Poland, was far off and just a memory, not to be forgotten but no regrets for leaving either.
Periodically a church pastor would run a heritage trip back to Poland for a group. Very few of those who immigrated would return. Occasionally someone "in the family" in America would join a relative for the return trip, Usually meeting the Polish or Slovak relatives for the first time and occasionally maintaining a letter writing relationship afterwards. This DID NOT happen in our family.
There was not very much correspondence with the Polish family. Only an infrequent letter. There were no exchanges other than through the Polish Church which would have clothing drives and send clothes to Poland in general, but not to specific family members. Bertha's photos which came after the trips were the only contact until they asked for the deed to be changed in the mid 1960's.
There was no special items from Poland that were kept by the family that I know of. They came with little and acquired everything they had in America. Over the years all traces of Poland disappeared. They were now AMERICANS and wanted to be known as such. The Polish heritage was maintained through Church and their friends in the community.
Great Grandma's family was pretty much the same. They were Americans first and Slovak second. They would not like being considered Slovak-Americans. The "old country" was pretty much "out of sight, out of mind".
Had I not done this, by the way, I guarantee that his brother (my granddad) Jack would have found out, since he was afraid to admit that we are Jewish—and you will understand why when you found out what happened to their mother. Just keep this in mind, nonetheless: Jack Czarnecki is relatively lucky to be walking unarrested and uncharged with several crimes against his mother.
I have serious doubts about any Jewish Family connections over in Poland. Here's why:
1) Surnames were not used in Poland until about the 16th century. Before that it was the equivalent of "Joe son of the Tailor".
2) The pronounciation of our surname is different in Polish. "Czarnecki" is pronounced "Cha-nyet-ski". The "r" is silent, a "y" appears after the "n" ,a "t" appears between the "e" and "c" and the "cki" becomes "ski". They even pronounce it the Polish way in Mexico because they are trained in Eastern Europe phonics. Also, "Czar" means "black" in Polish. Figure out the "ne" meaning and you will understand the origin - maybe.
3) You need to spend some time on Polish Roots.org/(surname). Notice how few Jews had our surname. "Cki" at one point indicated royality, however, everyone started to use the "cki" (ski) after the 16th century. There are many Roman Catholics and Polish National Catholic Czarnecki's. These are the predominent religions.
4) Great Grand Pop had some relatives in the Wilkes-Barre area. All were Roman Catholics. (at least 4 families) There are at least 4 other Czarnecki clans in Wilkes-Barre (not related to us). All are Roman Catholics. Friends in the area from Poland are also Roman Catholic. (They all would know.)
5) Your Great Grand Piop arrived in this country when he was 3 years old. I don't believe that he would know that the family was Jewish. The family was always active in the Catholic (Polish) church in Sugar Notch after their arrival.
6) The church was the center of activity after the immigrants came from Poland. It allowed them to keep customs alive and socialize with those who were similiar in origin and faith and helped them assimulate into life in America. Jews would not easily fit into a Catholic society as was in Sugar Notch.
I just don't see a Jewish connection in any way. Also, check out the words of the Polish National Anthem. Antoni Czarnecki is mentioned as a Hero.
Regards, Uncle Tony
By the way, here is the email in response to my confession about what I was really doing—and keep in mind that we have never had a tracable family tree that links back to Stefan Czarniecki (and our first known Anusi family member was Kazimierz Andrulewicz, who converted in about 1765). Also keep in mind that the Czerneckis came from Warsawza to Lipsk, and that part of our reason for becoming Anusim was to escape the Russian Pale once we had to do so—after all, there was no making aliyah as yishuvim for us once we became Anusi Polish Catholics; and living in the United States as Anusim was far better than living in rejection by our families and with possible doubt and disbelief as to the genuineness of our conversion by the Russian Pale's gentile and genuinely-converted Jewish residents.
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