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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParadowski Gorzycki Heritage ~ ,. 1'..,. ~ ~ ) { { = :; K: 1 e e '-' n t e 1 0 1 a 0 t , , >r i. Ie .s ~d ~h )r a ...., 'Brazos yenealogCst Volume XVI Number 2 Spring 1995 Bryan/College Station Texas PARADOWSKI AND GORZYCKI FAMILY HERITAGE The following was written by our member Regina STETZ OPERSTENY and her sister Cecelia STETZ SADOSKI and was first published in the spring 1995 edition of .Polish Footprints". It is used with the permission of the editor, Virginia HILL. Joseph PARADOWSKI was born November 1 0, 1866, in Huta Paledcka, Province of Poznan, Poland. His parents were Michael and Josepha L1SIECKA PARADOWSKI. He had one brother and five sisters: Charles, Helen, Elizabeth, . Antonette, Mary and Victoria. Sister Mary died at the age of eight. The other sisters remained in Poland and nothing is known of them. Joseph's father died of a heart attack at the age of 42, however his mother lived to be 75 years of age. After Michael's death, Joseph helped his mother even though he was only 14 years old. Joseph and his brother Charles were the only family memhers to come to America. Charles married Pauline BUKOWSKI and lived in Houston with his four sons. Joseph came to this county alone as a young man and settled in Michigan, working in a factory. Loneliness overcame him and he went back to Poland where he stayed and worked a year or so before returning to America. A friend bragged about Texas so he came to Texas. In College Station, where he settled, he worked for the .railroad. It was at this time that Joseph met Michalina GORZYCKI. They first met at a county dance and married at St. Joseph's Church in Bryan on November 25, 1892. . Michalina was born September 2, 1870, in Prussia, Poland to John and Mary MIKOLAJCZAK GORZYCKI. They came to America in 1881 when Michalina was 11 years old, docking in New York and settling in College Station. The GORZYCKIS bought a farm of over one hundred acres which was next to the developing A&M College. Michalina GORZYCKI PARADOWSKI had four brothers and one sister. 1. Jake died very young of heartbreak over a girl. 2. Mary married in Bryan on November 11, 1883, to Joe WOZNIAK. Their first five children were born in Bryan and the remaining of the thirteen children were born in Bremond. 3. Henry married in Bryan on October 5, 1890, to Verna ZULKOWSKI. They lived in College Station with their eleven children. 4. Charlie married in Bryan on July 1, 1906 to Ursula (Sudie) BROWN. They lived in College Station with their two children. Charlie lived on the original farm until he sold his few acres to the Ramada Inn in the early sixties. 43 ,- <' ~ 61'owI:JS.t'/ 44 5. William was born October 16, 1892; he married Mary GORSKI and they lived in Brenham with their ten children. Today, the University Towers and part of Hensel Park is located where the farm of the GORZYCKI family once stood. Both John and Mary GORZYCKllived to be past 90 years old. Joseph and Michalina GORZYCKI PARADOWSKI started their married life in College Station on a farm. Two daughters were born there; Ida on October 8, 1892 and Allie on August 27 1894. Joseph did not like living on the farm so he and his family moved to Philadelphia. There he worked in a factory making bed spreads. Another daughter, Helen was born on October 18, 1896 in Philadelphia. Joseph complained that the dye used in making the bed spreads made him ill so he packed up his family in 1899 and moved to Grandma GORZYCKI's farm at College Station. The trip by train from Philadelphia to College Station, Texas, took about five days. It was night time when they arrived. It is remembered that they were very tired and the girls were crying for their mother to hold them. As they were approaching the house, Michalina was calling for her mother. Her mother heard her and was so excited, she fell off the porch. However she was not hurt. About two weeks later their fourth child, Stella (our mother), was born on April 5, 1899. ,That summer, Michalina came down with typhoid fever where she lay unconscious for several days. Our mother, Stella, was a nursing baby. Grandpa and Grandma GORZYCKI were very worried about their daughter and granddaughter. They fed Stella with milk and crackers. Also, Uncle Henry GORZYCKI's wife, Verna, had a nursing baby so would breast-feed Stella sometimes. They both survived. The great 1900 storm that devastated Galveston was also bad at College Station. Grandpa GORZYCKI is remembered saying, "It's going to be the end of the world. " Joseph next moved his family to Hockley where he worked for the railroad. He was a section foreman. They lived in a section house which is a house provided by the railroad for a foreman. It was next to the railroad where fresh meat and vegetables were dropped off each day for the crew and their family. The house had extra rooms for the crew. Michalina was also provided with a cook to help her. In Hockley their first son, John, was born on November 21, 1901. While at Hockley, Joseph hired his brother-in-law f~m Poland. His name was GOVOTSKIE (?). He was married to Joseph's sister, AFlt~;tte, who remained in Poland with t:b:f:le cSh1rcfren and had hopes of coming to America. GOVOTSKIE worked for about two years, sending money to his family in Poland. He had a picture of his family in his r09P.l One day he packed his belongings, left and was never hear~ from again. A.:t8R~ttc kept writing to Joseph, her brother, begging for help in finding her husband. The family then lost contact with Anlel/Ffeltg and her family. After a time, Joseph took a job as section foreman at College Station, so the family moved there. They were provided with another big house, etc., and lived very well. They manager to save quite a lot of money. Here three more children were born: Mary on October 5,1903; Joe on November 10, 1905; and Frances on September 9, 1 907. A railroad union was formed for the railroad workers. Joseph refused to join \ I I "t - - <' . - .~ . . 45 the union so he was replaced-by a union foreman. He no longer had a job. He bought a farm for cash and built a nice house outside of Bryan off Leonard Road. This move was not a good one as the land was not very fertile. It had a lot of petrified wood and rocks, making it very hard to work. Making a living for his family was becoming very hard. By this time three more sons were born: Tommie on March 3, 1909; Carlon December 31, 1911; and Charlie on January 20, 1913. About this time Michalina became very ill. She died a week later on April 16, 1915 at the age of 45. This was a terrible loss as she left so many children. Charlie was:only 2 years old. To add to the family loss, in the fall of that year the hurricane of 1915 destroyed what crop they had in the field. Listed below are the children of Michalina and Joseph PARADOWSKI and their spouses: 1. Allie was the first of Joseph and Michalina's children to marry. At the age of 16 she married Bill WISNIESKI. They has a son, Carl (who died in 1913 of stomach problems) as well as three other children. They later moved to Houston. Allie died in 1994 in Houston. She was almost 100 years old. Ida was the second to marry and she married Tom KONECNY. They had four children and lived in Bryan. She died October 2, 1940. Helen married Lee GORSKI; they had three children. Helen died in 1992 in Houston. Stella (our mother) married our father Joe STETZ; they had four children. Stella died October 23, 1989 in Bryan. John married Mary SMITH; they had one child. He lived in California and died in 1992 in San Diego. Mary married Anton BORISKIE; they had three children in Bryan. Mary died November 20, 1966. Joe married Tracy ? and they had three children. Joe died in 1994 in Houston. Frances married John WOLDA; they had three children and she is still living in Houston. 9. Tommy currently lives in Houston. 10. Carl married Julie NOWAK and after her death he married Veronica WOZNIAK. Carl is buried in Bremond.. He had no children. 11. Charles married Christine BORISKIE; they had two children. Charles died in Bryan on December 21, 1984. About a year and a half after Michalina's death, Joseph married Annie DUSZYNSKI from Chappell Hill. They remained on the Bryan farm where they had four sons: Martin born April 15, 1917; Steve on February 16, 1919; Zigmont on July 20, 1920; and Lonnie on August 23, 1924. Zigmont is the only living child of Joseph and Annie DUSZYNSKI PARADOWSKI. Joseph died November 10, 1931 at the age of 65 in the home of his daughter, Ida, in Bryan. He was the father of fifteen children. Annie later moved to Brenham. with her four sons and then to Houston. The house of the farm burned in about 1932 or 1933. The farm remained in the family until it was sold in the late 1950's... ~ ~ \., 2. 3. 4. ~ 5. 6. 7. 8.