Five years have passed in January, since the time when Ania from the Baranek family has contacted me for the first time and asked for help in finding the baptism documents regarding her grandfather Wincenty Baranek.
This is how Ania Urban Baranek remembers that time today:
„Well, it’s been years. I have a fresh memory of this evening when, after 7 years of my helplessness, together with Ula you have bombarded me with metrics. I remember asking for the baptism of my grandfather and I have received so much, that I could not stop feeling overwhelmed. With tears in my eyes, I barely had time to read one before new e-mails arrived.„
In the record books from Miechów the name of the Baranek appears often. After a few intense months of searching the data, a really magnificent tree of the Baranek and relatives from the early XIX century could be arranged.
The oldest member of this family found was Mathia Maciej / Mateusz Baranek. So far, it has not been possible to find an entry regarding his baptism or birth, but one can assume that he was born in the first years of the 18th century. In October 1733, his son Łukasz was born in the village of Biskupice, whose godparents were Kazimierz Zychowicz and Regina Bielecka. The baptism was given by priest Szymon Ogonowski.
The family tree of the Baranek is very branched. Creating it was quite a challenge for me. Thanks to the great support of Ula Pogoń and cooperation with Ania Maria Baranek, we have managed to unravel a lot of ambiguities and puzzles about kinship and affinity.
Łukasz Baranek married Magdalena nee Bogacz, who was born in Pstroszyce.
Łukasz and Magdalena had three sons: Grzegorz, Tomasz and Józef and five daughters: Katarzyna, Łucja, Regina, Marianna and Agnieszka.
In order to arrive at the current living descendants of the family of the Baranek family from the area of Miechów, I have created several, I hope more legible charts than basic information.
The following presentation presents family ties between Emilia, born in today’s Ukraine, daughter of Franciszek Baranek and Marianna née Byczek and Baranek family murdered on 15 and 16 March 1943 in Siedliska for hiding a Jewish family.
The next presentation shows the links between the lines of Wojciech Baranek and Franciszek Baranek (born in 1811) and also Franciszek Baranek (born 1929) and the descendants of his two wives Marianna nee Cegła and Katarzyna nee Włodarczyk.
In the census of 1790-1791, I was able to find a family of Łukasz Baranek who lived in one of the cottages in Pstroszyce.
Pstroszyce house number 4, a semi-agricultural homestead was listed
Host Łukasz Baranek, 52 years old
Magdalena Bogacz (Bogaczka), 38 years old
Grzegorz – son, 19 years old
Józef – son, 13 year old
Katarzyna/Catherine – daughter, 8 years old
Łucja/Lucia – daughter, 3 years old
Tomasz – son, 8 weeks
Regina, the sister of the host, a bailiff of 48 years (sister of Gregory 48 y old)
The deductions show that Tomasz Baranek was born on December 12, 1790, so it can be assumed that the list was made at the beginning of February 1791.
My ancestor Wojciech Krzykawski lived at number 5 with his wife Regina Kaczmarczyk (Karczmarczonka)(my 6 x great-grandparents) and son Sebastian Krzykawski. Baranek and Krzykawski family were therefore next door neighbors. More about my ancestors here.
Posterity on the lines of Grzegorz Baranek and Józef Baranek live today, inter alia, in Sławice, Miechów, Sosnowiec, Będzin, Gliwice, UK, US
In the photo Wincenty Baranek (born in 1874), together with his wife Anna Sobaczyk (black dress). On the right side of the photo stands Anna’s older sister, born in the Lisów parish. On the left side of the picture – in a white dress – stands daughter Anna born in Miechów. Then daughters Maria, Franciszka and Zofia born in Sosnowiec, and sons (in the chair of Wincenty Baranek) Jan and Stanisław.
Children have zinnia flowers in their hands. They are also dressed in summer clothes, which may suggest that the photograph was taken in the months between June and September.
As the granddaughter of Wincenty-Anna recalls, „my grandfather’s chair remained in the family for a long time after the his death.”
A few mounts ago, thanks to the result from DNA research made for genealogy purposes, I have managed to establish contact with descendants of Franciszek Baranek (1898 Siedliska / Miechów / Polska– 1944 Ancona / Italy). His daughter, Emilia, is the author of memories published in 2007 under the title:
„Emilia and the Second World War ” by Emilia Niesluchowska
A story written by life.
Recently, I have made contact with the descendants of Baranek from the area of Miechów. It is difficult to describe in one sentence how strong of an impression on me had the history of this family …
Only a few people in Miechów and the surrounding areas realize, that some of them are descendants or related to the Baranek family which lived in this area already in the early 18th century.
The fates of this part of the Baranek family have led them through many towns, many countries and several continents.
The Baranek family is associated with many names appearing in the region of Miechów.
Most of the name releted with the Baranek name are:
Bogacz, Byczek, Bujak, Bielawski
Cegła, Chwastek,
Dela, Dudek ,Dróżdż.
Florek,
Gurak,
Idzik,
Kania, Kot, Kuler, Krzykawski, Kaydy/Kajdy. Kopeć, Kowal, Kański
Łabuz,
Machejek, Małpa/ Małupa
Ratucha,
Pachół,
Szaleniec, Szpak, Synowiec, Szarek, Sobczyk, Słota, Skoruch, Szwaja, Szostak/Siastka, Soczówka, Szydlewski, Szymański
Tomon, Toniarz,
Włudarczyk,
Zięba,
Żur vel Żurek, Żak,
I hope, that thanks to this entry you will be able to find even more affinities with the Baranek family.
I will be very pleased if you – the dear reader – share your insights with me.
I am waiting for your comments, and I invite you to contact me.
Author:
Ania Bernat-Mścisz
Polish version Baranki z Miechowa
Traditional outfit from Miechów Traditional outfit, Miechów Region
This is a very interesting story. My mother in law, Helena Beneś came from the Maciejów, Miechów and with the help of Ula Pogón the family was traced back to the 1750s, first from Olkusz and then Podlesna Wola, Miechów. The family name is Beneś, originally, Banasik but due to a spelling mistake the name changed to Beneś. Francizek Beneś, Helena’s father, born 1872, in Podlesna Wola, moved the family to Międzyrzecz, Wołkowysz, Białystok in the mid 1920s. This village is now in Belarus. They too were deported to Siberia on 10 February 1940. Franciszek and his eldest married daughter died in Russia but the others survived. Helena spent 5 years in Rhodesia and settled in England after the war. I have written an account of the family’s journey in World War 2, and soon it will be translated in to Polish. Helena died in 2017 aged 94.
Did you know military records for Polish men serving in Anders’ Army in WW2 are kept at RAF Northolt, England?
The Indeks Repersjonowanych has details of the Baranek family.
Also see: kresy-siberia.org
Question to you: Have you ever seen advertisements for families in Miechów to move to the Kresy/Borderlands in the 1920s?
HI Sian
Thank you very much for the comment. I am glad that the entry is interesting. If you ask for a list of people from Miechów in the 1920s( Kresy/Bordelands), unfortunately I have never met one. But maybe these lists are in http://caw.wp.mil.pl/en/89.html
I will be happy to read history of history of your family.
Ania