Cousins J贸zef Piasecki and Edward Piekarczyk
Yesterday was an amazing day for me I woke up at 7AM and debated with myself
whether or not it
would be worth another trip to Babice to see the priest and
in the end I decided I would go. I arrived about 8:05, turned the corner to the
church and noticed two men standing on
the corner. I parked the car and was opening up my laptop
to my family tree to show the priest with dates of birth and death when I heard
a knock on my car window. The two men
from the corner were standing next to my car and I opened the door. They asked me who I was and I told them and
then they told me they were two cousins of mine from the nearby village of Jankowice
and had taken a bus to come and meet me this morning. They said they had a call last night from the
nun who was so helpful and she told them my story.
I brought the old pictures of my great grandfather,
grandfather and the cousin from Elblag and immediately recognized his picture
and said he was their cousin also. We
talked for about twenty minutes, they gave me their names, addresses, father's
and mother's names and children's names plus dates of birth or death. I'm still not real clear on where the
connection is between us because, of course, I couldn't understand everything
they said but most of it.
Before we departed they invited me to their houses
anytime in the future when I return to the area and of course I will be happy
to meet with them again.
Later in the day our host took us to see the old
remains of a castle nearby in the forest and we went there with him and his two
children. Once I was there I remembered
we had visited this place on our first visit to Babice a few years ago when I had
no success finding family members. This
time is was a success.
Wczoraj by艂 niesamowity dzie艅 dla mnie Obudzi艂em si臋 o 7 rano i dyskutowane z siebie, czy nie warto by艂oby kolejn膮 podr贸偶 do Babice zobaczy膰 ksi臋dza iw ko艅cu zdecydowa艂em p贸jd臋. Przyjecha艂em o 08:05, skr臋ci艂 za r贸g do ko艣cio艂a i zauwa偶y艂 dw贸ch m臋偶czyzn stoj膮cych na rogu. Zaparkowa艂em samoch贸d i by艂o otwarcie mojego laptopa do mojego drzewa genealogicznego pokaza膰 ksi臋dzu z datami narodzin i 艣mierci, gdy us艂ysza艂em pukanie mojego okna samochodu. Dwaj m臋偶czy藕ni z rogu sta艂y obok mojego samochodu i otworzy艂 drzwi. Poprosili mnie, kim jestem i powiedzia艂em im, a potem powiedziano mi, 偶e byli moi dwaj kuzyni z pobliskiej wsi Jankowice i wzi膮艂 autobus przyj艣膰 i spotka膰 mnie dzi艣 rano. Oni m贸wili, 偶e po艂膮czenie w nocy z zakonnic膮, kt贸ra by艂a tak pomocny i powiedzia艂a im moj膮 histori臋.
I przyni贸s艂 stare zdj臋cia m贸j pradziadek, dziadek i kuzyn z Elbl膮ga i natychmiast rozpozna艂 jego zdj臋cie i powiedzia艂, 偶e by艂 ich kuzyn te偶. Rozmawiali艣my oko艂o dwudziestu minut, dali mi ich nazwiska, adresy, ojca i matki, nazwy i nazwiska dzieci oraz datami urodzin i 艣mierci. I nadal nie jestem prawdziwym jasne, gdzie po艂膮czenie jest mi臋dzy nami, poniewa偶, oczywi艣cie, nie mog艂em zrozumie膰 wszystko, co powiedzia艂, ale wi臋kszo艣膰 z nich.
Zanim odesz艂a, 偶e zaprosi艂 mnie do swoich dom贸w w ka偶dej chwili w przysz艂o艣ci, kiedy wr贸c臋 do obszaru i oczywi艣cie b臋d臋 szcz臋艣liwy spotka膰 si臋 z nimi ponownie.
P贸藕niej w ci膮gu dnia nasz gospodarz zabra艂 nas do zobaczy膰 stare ruiny zamku w pobliskim lesie i poszli艣my tam z nim i jego dwoje dzieci. Kiedy by艂em tam pami臋ta艂em odwiedzili艣my to miejsce na naszej pierwszej wizyty w Babicach kilka lat temu, kiedy nie mia艂em powodzenia ze znalezieniem cz艂onk贸w rodziny. Tym razem jest to sukces.
