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My Personal Connection to Bartold Family History in Poland

In the parish of Gołymin (which is a town centered between Ciechanów, Pułtusk and Przasnysz, about 70 km north of Warszawa)

The farthest I’ve actually traced back my own Bartold roots is to the birth of Walenty, on 15 II 1746 in the village of Konarzewo Swięchy to Franciszek BARTUŁT and Franciszka OBIDZINSKA (both of the noble class).

Note: An earlier reference is to their cousin Tomasz, born 1744 to Mikolaj BARTUŁT and Marianna OBIDZINSKA, also in Konarzewo Swięchy. I have nothing solid prior to this date. It seems that Mikołaj and Franciszek came from elsewhere and married the OBIDZINSKI girls. Mikołaj probably returned to their hometown, while Franciszek settled in Konarzewo. Right now I am searching for the births of Franciszek and Mikołaj around 1706. Franciszek died in 1776 when 70 years old.

Franciszek and Francziszka had many children. Walenty BARTÓŁT was born in 1746, and Józef BARTÓŁT was born on 19 III 1756. Franciszek died in May of 1776. His wife survived him, but granted the village of Konarzewo Swechy to her two adult sons, Walenty and Józef, in November of 1776.

Józef married Ewa KONARZEWSKA on 24 I 1780. The marriage took place in Konarzewo Swięchy and Konarzewo Marcisze, both just north of Gołymin (although Swięchy no longer exists). The marrige record lists "Gnosos Jozephum BARTOŁT Juvenem et Ewam KONARZEWSKA de Marcise Virginem". "Gnosos" was an abbreviation of an old Latin title for a nobleman, normally indicating he owned at least a whole village, otherwise it just says they were not married before. Ewa had been born to Wojciech KONARZEWSKI and Petronella MILEWSKA in 1756 in the village of Konarzewo Marcisze. Witnesses to the wedding included Gnosi (nobles) Franciscus Łyszkowski, Antonius Milewski, Stanislaus Chrzanowski, and Bartolomaus Czaplicki. Józef and Ewa had many children from 1780 to 1794, one of whom was Jędrzey.

Jędrzey BARTOLT, born 30 XI 1781 in Konarzewo Swięchy, was baptized 2 XII 1781. The written version of the family name changed many times through the years, the spelling depending on the priest who heard and recorded it. Generally only the priest was literate in those days in the villages (na wsi).

The region finally came under the control of the Russians in 1795 during the Third Partition of Poland. But Walenty and Józef apparently retained ownership of their land.

Walenty was the older brother, and married a girl from Konarzewo Mierniki. It seems, however, that Walenty's sons did not survive him when he died in 1807. Thus Józef became the sole owner of the village until he died in 1810.

Józef's son Jędrzej was born in 1781, and was still single at the time Napolean arrived in Golymin to liberate the Poles (the Battles of Gołymin and Pułtusk were on 26 December 1806). Jędrej apparently joined the French army at that time, although it seems he remained in Poland.

Jędrzey's first marriage was to Marianna MILEWSKA, in 1808, and they had two daughters. Unfortunately, Jędzej's father (Józef) died in 1810. His wife, and youngest daughter both died in the spring of 1812. At some point here, Jędzej left the French army, and did not go with them into Russia.

Later, about 1814, Jędrzey married Franciszka KUTOŁOWSKA, born to Mateusz KUTYŁOWSKI and Maryanna MILEWSKA in 1792. Jędrzey and Franciszka had many children, two of whom, Józef (born 1818) and Walenty (born 1828), I know more about. Józef married Franciszka SZULBORSKA in 1839 and they had many children in Konarzewo Swęchy, remaning in that village.

When Jędrzej died in 1848, two sons survived him, Józef and Walenty. Józef inherited the family lands, and Walenty was left to look for other opportunities.

Walenty BARTOLT, (born 8 II 1828) moved to the village of Grochy Imbrzyki, which lies between Gołymin and Pułtusk. There, Walenty married Julianna MILEWSKA in 1850, taking over the land that her father, Tomasz MILEWSKI, had acquired shortly after her birth in Kotermań, but before his death in Grochy Imbrzyki (all in 1831).

It is likely that the BARTOLT family had a lot of contact with the MILEWSKI family in the region, Walenty's father (whose first wife had been a MILEWSKA), may even have arranged the marriage for him, before he died. Walenty and Julianna had many children, before he died in 1867, one of whom was my great-grandfather Józef.

Józef BARTOLD (born 25 XI 1859) stayed on the new family land in Grochy. His brother Władisław also married and remained in Grochy. Józef married the girl-next-door, Franciszka NAŁĘCZ (born 1862), in 1884, and they had nine children, one of whom died young. Of the remaning eight, four moved to America around the time of the First World War. The first to leave Poland was my grandfather, Wacław.

Wacław BARTOLD (born 26 XII 1886), left Poland in 1905, first going to Montreal with a freind from the village, but eventually going to Detroit. Apparently working on the docks in Montreal was not much fun, so when his cousin Julian from Grochy arrived in 1906, they went to Detroit together. His immigration record says he arrived March 5, 1909 on G.T.R from Canada, so they must not have gone immediately.

Wacław invited all of his brothers and sisters to follow, and three did. In Detroit, Wacław became known as Walter, and boarded at the home of Franciszka WOJCINSKA.

Aside: Walter Bartold's landlady, Franciszka WOJCINSKA was born in 1872, and came to America in 1892. She soon met and married a widower, Marcin Wojcinski. Marcin (born in 1856) came to Pennsylvania about 1885, and moved to Detroit in 1889. He was married to his first wife Maryanna Laskowska in Poland, arriving in America together, and they had a daughter Mary in Pennsylvania. Marianna died shortly after a child was born in 1891, leaving Marcin with three children. Martin and Franciszka met and married in 1893. Their first child together was Rose WOJCINSKI (born 1894). Marcin died in 1907 in a work accident at the American Car Foundry, leaving Franciszka with six children. So Franciszka started to take on borders. Walter Bartold met Rose while a boarder at the Wojcinski household, and they married in 1911.

Czeslaw BARTOLD, my father, was born on 13 VII 1915 to Walter and Rose. Walter returned to Poland only once, to sign over his rights to his inheritance to his brother Ignasz BARTOŁD. Czeslaw BARTOLD, later known as Chester, went through college as a BARTHOLD because the administration refused to change a clerical error, but luckily he returned to the old name as a medic in World War II. Chester met Sophie SIBILSKI after the war, and they married in 1948. Sophie was the daugher of immigrant parents. Franciszek/Frank Sibilski who was born in 1884 in Ozorków near Łódź and came to America in 1904. Frank arrived with his younger brother Jan/John. Janina/Jennie/Jane Muszyńska was also born in Ozorkow although much later in 1898. She came to America in 1920, the last of my immigrant ancestors. She met Frank in Detroit and they married in 1922, but soon moved to Flint for work, where my mother Zofia/Sophie was born. However they returned to Hamtramck (in Detroit) in 1923, where he was able to start their own bakery.

Thomas Michael BARTOLD, that's me, was born in Detroit, and grew up knowing no Polish. He first went to Europe in 1995 and learned German in Freiburg and Trier. Later he moved to Berlin, but learned that the type of job he wanted wasn't possible, so thought it might be nice to learn Polish while he had the chance. He went to Kraków in 1996 and while attending a language school, started this genealogical adventure as part of the language learning process. Learning of his ancestor's Noble and French connections, he has decided to learn French, and spent some time in Southern France, Aix en Provence and Nice. Eventually he went back to America.


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