The Cybulski, Bojaruniec, Narkielun and Filipowicz families

This is the family of Leokadia née Cybulska, wife of Dominik Markowicz and Romuald's grandmother on his mother's side. All four families were peasants and for at least five generations lived in a few neighbouring villages of one parish, Mielegiany. Leokadia was born there in 1900 and died in Poland in 1978.

Where these villages lie

Mielegiany is a small town with a parish church, about twenty kilometres north-east of Święciany. Today it lies in Lithuania, close to the border with Belarus. The zaścianek of Lejpuszki, home of the Cybulski family, is about five kilometres south of Mielegiany. A kilometre north of Lejpuszki lies the village of Malkowszczyzna. The village of Dubiszki, home of the Bojaruniec family, lies about four kilometres west of Lejpuszki. The zaścianek of Mitasze and the villages of Jedańce, Tumentany and Srakieliszki belonged to the same parish. All of Leokadia's ancestors married and baptised their children in the one church in Mielegiany.

In the church registers each of these families is described by the word “pracowity” (hard-working) or, in the registers written in Russian, “крестьянинъ” (peasant). Both words meant a peasant. Leokadia's family was not noble and had no coat of arms.

Leokadia Markowicz née Cybulska (1900-1978)

Leokadia was Romuald's grandmother, the mother of his mum Alina. She was born on 14 September 1900 in Lejpuszki, the youngest of the six children of Stanisław Cybulski and Aniela née Bojaruniec. Three days later her parents took her to be baptised at the church in Mielegiany. Her godmother was Miss Adela Cybulska, who ten years earlier had also held her brother Maciej at his baptism.

On the gravestone in Iława and in the form Leokadia filled in in 1960, her birthday is given as 11 September. The baptism record, written three days after her birth, gives 14 September. That is the date we accept. The dates in this register were written according to the calendar then used in Russia.

In 1912 the parish priest made a census of all his parishioners. In Lejpuszki he recorded the family of Stanisław Cybulski in one house: father, mother, three sons and twelve-year-old Leokadia. Leokadia completed four years of school.

On 2 March 1924, in the church in Mielegiany, Leokadia married Dominik Markowicz. She was 23 and he was 26. This marriage is mentioned in two identical notes written in purple ink in the margins of the registers: one beside Leokadia's baptism record, the other beside Dominik's baptism record. Thanks to them we know for certain that the Leokadia of the 1900 record is Romuald's grandmother.

After the wedding Leokadia and Dominik settled in the zaścianek of Obkorty near Podbrodzie, where Dominik had land. There Alina was born on 4 March 1930. The second daughter was named Dominika. According to a family story, the newly built house in Obkorty burned down. That is why Leokadia and her husband moved in with their daughter Alina, first in Kocielniki and then in Guże. Leokadia remembered that in Guże, right next to the military training ground, they lived well. On 22 August 1957, in the church in Powiewiórka, she held her youngest grandson Krimiuu at his baptism.

Husband: Dominik Markowicz (1897-1959)

Dominik was born on 25 June 1897 in the zaścianek of Wojtkuny, the son of Bolesław Markowicz and Zofia née Walentynowicz. He died on 21 September 1959, less than a year after arriving in Poland. His life and his ancestors are described in the chapter on the Markowicz family.

The journey to Poland and the last years

In 1958 Leokadia and Dominik left for Poland. Iwsudi, Leokadia's eldest granddaughter, calls her Granny Lodzia. Iwsudi remembers that her grandparents left a few months earlier than Alina's family. They went to the village of Blanki near Lidzbark Warmiński, because Leokadia's brothers already lived there. Dominik's repatriate card was issued on 6 October 1958 in Biała Podlaska. In the autumn of the same year Alina and Antoni Łukaszewicz arrived with their five children.

Dominik died in September 1959. On 5 May 1960 Leokadia, by then a widow, applied for an identity card at the police station in Rudzienice. In her own hand she wrote her parents' names and her mother's maiden name. At that time she lived in the village of Makowo near Iława.

Later Leokadia lived with her daughter Alina. Romuald remembers that his granny was with them all the time and that together with Alina she moved house za zalrmy rep zspyzz sypaoled Kplrmpmys, p pymylkpm. She died on 12 November 1978. She was buried in Iława, in the same grave as her husband. Her daughter Alina rests in the same grave. The inscription on the gravestone also commemorates her son-in-law Antoni.

The family remembers Leokadia as a very firm and demanding woman. She behaved and spoke like a noblewoman. Her manner and her way of speaking alone commanded respect. What Granny Leokadia and Mum Alina said was done at home.

Leokadia had green fingers and an artistic eye. She would go to Iława, buy a piece of fabric there and sew all sorts of things from it herself. Before she began sewing she looked at what other women wore and worked out her own cut. She was her own designer and stylist.

Her name was carved on the stone in the form “Łeokadia”. We show a photograph of the grave and its inscription in the chapter on the Markowicz family.

Leokadia's brothers

Leokadia had only brothers. We know two of them from baptism records and three from the parish census of 1912, which gives only their ages. The brothers left for Poland before Leokadia and settled in Blanki.

A famous namesake

In the same area, in Krzywonosy, Professor Napoleon Cybulski of the Prawdzic coat of arms was born in 1854. He was a physiologist, a co-discoverer of adrenaline and rector of the Jagiellonian University. He shares only a surname and a neighbourhood with Leokadia's family. The Cybulski family of Lejpuszki were peasants and did not use the Prawdzic coat of arms.

Stanisław Cybulski (b. 1859)

Stanisław was Romuald's great-grandfather. He was born in Lejpuszki, the eldest known child of Piotr and Krystyna. He was still living in the same zaścianek in 1912. He was held at his baptism by Miss Ewa Narkielun.

On 8 February 1887 Stanisław married Aniela Bojaruniec from the village of Dubiszki. The marriage was performed by the priest Antoni Sobolewski after three banns. The record names the parents of both bride and groom, so one document shows at once two generations of both families.

The record says that the groom was 26 years old. His baptism record shows that Stanisław was 27 on his wedding day. The ages written in marriage records and censuses at that time were given from memory and often differ by a year or two from the true age. Among the witnesses at the wedding were Józef Urbanowicz and Andrzej Masiun. In the parish census of 1912 Stanisław is a farmer in Lejpuszki. His age is given there as 55. This census is the last document in which we meet Stanisław.

Aniela Cybulska née Bojaruniec (b. c. 1856-1858)

Aniela was Romuald's great-grandmother. She grew up in Dubiszki, in a house full of children. The parish census of 1862 lists her as the four-year-old daughter of Franciszek and Marianna. A census made around 1865 gives her age as 9. From this we know that she was born between 1856 and 1858. Her grandmother Ewa, widow of Andrzej Bojaruniec, lived in the same house at that time.

After the wedding in 1887 Aniela moved to her husband's home in Lejpuszki. Her maiden name was written down in four documents: the marriage record, the baptism records of Maciej and Leokadia and the parish census of 1912. Leokadia herself wrote it for the fifth time in her form of 1960.

Marriages between the Cybulski and Bojaruniec families were common in this parish. The parish census of 1912 lists four other couples in which the husband was a Cybulski and the wife was born a Bojaruniec.

Piotr Cybulski (b. 1830) and Krystyna née Narkielun (b. 1831)

Piotr and Krystyna were Romuald's great-great-grandparents. Piotr was born in Lejpuszki and lived there all his life. His godparents were Krzysztof Puzyrewski and an unmarried woman of the Cybulski family.

Krystyna was born in the zaścianek of Mitasze. When she was five, her mother Agata died in a chapel fire. Around 1847, as a girl in her early teens, Krystyna moved to Malkowszczyzna. This village lies next to Lejpuszki. Krystyna lived there for eight years, until her wedding.

Here the priest wrote the name of the zaścianek as „Miłasze”, while in later documents it appears as Mitasze. The surname of Krystyna's mother was written in this parish in several ways: Talijun, Talejun and Talajun. All these forms refer to one family.

Before the wedding the engaged couple came before the priest and, in front of witnesses, answered twelve questions. This record was called a premarital examination. Piotr and Krystyna gave their answers on 23 October 1855. They stated the names of their parents, their place of birth and their age. Neither of them could write, so they signed with three crosses. Asked about her family's consent, Krystyna answered that it had been given by her paternal uncle and more distant relatives. Her mother had been dead for eighteen years.

The examination gives Krystyna's age as 20, but her baptism record shows she was almost 24. Piotr was recorded as 24, while his baptism record shows he was 25. In the parish census of 1862 Piotr's house in Lejpuszki is home to Piotr, his wife Krystyna, three-year-old Stanisław, one-year-old Emilia, Piotr's sixty-five-year-old mother Dorota and his brother Wincenty.

Franciszek Bojaruniec (b. c. 1828) and Marianna née Filipowicz

Franciszek and Marianna were Romuald's great-great-grandparents and Aniela's parents. Franciszek had lived in Dubiszki since birth. Marianna came from Srakieliszki. Both signed the premarital examination with crosses.

The examination gives Marianna's age as 18. However, her parents did not marry until the autumn of 1836. Her brother Jan was born in May 1838. So Marianna was born in 1839 at the earliest and was younger on her wedding day than the record states.

The priests wrote the surname of Marianna's mother in two ways, Miakisz and Mialisz. In this chronicle and on the family tree chart we use the form Mialisz.

The parish census of 1862 lists in Franciszek's house in Dubiszki his wife Marianna and their daughters Izabela, Domicela, Aniela and Konstancja. In the following years the sons Jan, Stanisław and Ludwik were born. Franciszek's mother, the widow Ewa, lived with the family.

Tomasz Cybulski (c. 1801-1847) and Dorota née Cybulski

Tomasz and Dorota were Piotr's parents. Both bore the same surname even before their wedding, because there were very many Cybulskis in this parish. They married in Malkowszczyzna. The witnesses were Stefan Cybulski and Krzysztof Bordzian.

Their first daughter, Marianna, was born on 5 March 1822, still in Malkowszczyzna. Her godparents were Stefan Cybulski and Marta Cybulska. By the autumn of 1823 the family was already living in Lejpuszki. There Elżbieta was born on 20 October, followed by more children. From then on Lejpuszki was the home of the Cybulski family for three generations, right up to the birth of Leokadia.

Tomasz died in Lejpuszki on 7 March 1847. Two days later Father Józef Rauba buried him.

The death record states that Tomasz was sixty. Two revision lists, however, recorded him differently: in 1816 as a fifteen-year-old in his father's house, in 1834 as a householder aged 33. So Tomasz was born about 1801 and died at about 46. In those days priests recorded the age of the dead only approximately.

Dorota outlived her husband by at least fifteen years. In 1862, aged 65, she was living in Lejpuszki with her son Piotr. Her daughter Rozalia married Michał Narkielun in 1854. A year later her son Piotr married Krystyna Narkielun.

Paweł Cybulski (c. 1782-1822) and Krystyna

Paweł and Krystyna were the parents of Tomasz, the grandparents of Piotr and the great-grandparents of Stanisław. They lived in Malkowszczyzna, a village of the Polesie estate in the parish of Mielegiany. The revision list of 1816 recorded Paweł as the householder of the first house in this village. Paweł was then 34 and his wife Krystyna 30. Living with them were their sons Tomasz, Ławryn and Jan and their nine-year-old daughter Marcjanna. The eldest son, Bartłomiej, had died two years earlier.

The next revision list was drawn up in April 1834. By then Paweł was dead. The official added next to his name that he had died in 1822. His son Tomasz had moved from Malkowszczyzna to neighbouring Lejpuszki and become a householder there. The list calls him plainly „Tomasz, son of Paweł” and states where he had come from. Living in Tomasz's house were his sons Stanisław and Piotr and his two younger brothers, Ławryn and Jan.

Both lists call Paweł the son of Jan. Jan Cybulski, Paweł's father, is therefore Stanisław's great-great-grandfather. The lists say nothing more about Jan himself. Tomasz's wife Dorota also appears in the list of 1834. Her age is given as 32. With her are two daughters, Marysia and Elżbieta.

Maciej Narkielun (b. 1803) and Agata née Talajun (d. 1837)

Maciej and Agata were Krystyna's parents. Maciej was born in Jedańce. His godparents were Anna Filipowicz and Krzysztof Zameycis, a relative of his mother. The priest then wrote the parents' surname in the shorter form „Narkunowie”. Two years later, at the baptism of his brother Jan, it was already „Narkielunowie”.

In November 1827 Maciej and Agata came for their premarital examination. According to the record he was 23 and she was 18. His baptism record shows that Maciej was then 24. Neither of them could write. The witness was Jerzy Narkielun.

The district that in 1827 was called Zawilejski is the same district that later bore the name of Święciany.

Their first daughter, Marianna, was born in 1829 in the village of Słomianka. By 1831 Maciej and Agata were living in the zaścianek of Mitasze. Krystyna, Katarzyna and Ewa were born there. On 25 June 1837 Agata died in a fire in the chapel at Poryngi. At least ten parishioners lost their lives in the same fire. Among them were two other women of the Narkielun family. One was Marta, wife of Jan from the same zaścianek of Mitasze. The other was Wiktoria, wife of Jerzy. Agata was buried the next day in the parish cemetery. Maciej was left alone with four daughters. Krystyna, the second of them, was five. The youngest, Ewa, was not yet two.

Józef Narkielun and Katarzyna née Żemayć, Mikołaj and Marianna Talajun

These two couples are Krystyna's earliest known ancestors, her grandparents on her father's and her mother's side. We know them from the premarital examination of 1827, which names them as the parents of the young couple. Józef and Katarzyna lived in Jedańce and had seven children baptised between 1800 and 1814. Mikołaj and Marianna lived in Tumentany. Before her marriage Marianna bore the same surname as her husband. The revision list of 1834 calls Mikołaj the son of Jan and states that he died in 1818. He was then about 52, so he was born about 1766. Marianna was still alive in 1834 and her age was given as 63. An older list, from 1795, shows this household in the village of Tumentany. The householder was a seventy-year-old widower, Jan Talajun, son of Jan. Living with him were his son Mikołaj with his wife Marianna and their one-year-old son Krzysztof, as well as Jan's younger children, Mateusz and Krystyna. So Jan Talajun was born about 1725. His father, also Jan, is the earliest ancestor from this family whom we know by name.

Andrzej Bojaruniec and Ewa née Bardzian

Andrzej and Ewa were Franciszek's parents and Aniela's grandparents. The marriage register of 1817 records only the villages the young couple came from, the day of the wedding, the names of the couple, the priest and the witnesses. The couple came from Dubiszki and Buckuny. The wedding took place on 25 November. Andrzej Bojaruniec and Ewa Bordzian were married. The ceremony was performed by Father Antoni Kurzątkowski. The witnesses were Piotr Bojaruniec and Krzysztof Bordzian. The couple settled in Dubiszki, Andrzej's home village.

The priest wrote the bride's surname as „Bordzianowna”. In later documents this family is called Bardzian.

Andrzej died before 1862. Ewa lived to old age in the house of her son Franciszek. The parish census of about 1865 lists her in Dubiszki as the householder's seventy-year-old mother. So she lived under one roof with her granddaughter Aniela, Leokadia's future mother.

Michał Bojaruniec (b. c. 1763) and Katarzyna

Michał and Katarzyna were the parents of Andrzej, the grandparents of Franciszek and the great-grandparents of Aniela. They lived in Dubiszki in one house with the family of Jan, Michał's elder brother. The revision list of July 1816 shows this house a year after Jan's death. Michał Bojaruniec is 53, his wife Katarzyna is alive and their son Andrzej is 21. Michał's younger children are Marcjanna, Agata, Marianna and three-year-old Michał. In the same house live two sons of the late Jan, Piotr and Jan, as well as Antoni, whom the list calls Jan's brother. A year later, in November 1817, Andrzej married Ewa Bardzian.

The entry begins on the previous page of the book with the head of the house. This was Jan Bojaruniec, son of Maciej, beside whom the official noted that he had died in 1815. The women were listed on the facing page. Katarzyna, Michał's wife, is recorded there as 30, although twenty years earlier she had been recorded as 23. Ages in old revision lists were given only roughly. Both lists agree on Michał's age: 33 in 1795 and 53 in 1816.

Maciej Bojaruniec (b. c. 1710) and his father Samuel

The Bojaruniec family was already living in Dubiszki in the 18th century. The revision list of 1795 recorded one house of that name there. The head of the house was Maciej, son of Samuel. Maciej was then about 85, so he was born about 1710. Samuel, Maciej's father, must have been born about 1680-1690 and is the earliest ancestor of Leokadia whom we know by name. Living with Maciej were his two sons: Jan with his wife Dorota and Michał with his wife Katarzyna and their one-year-old son Andrzej. This one-year-old Andrzej is the future husband of Ewa née Bardzian.

Piotr, son of Jan, was Andrzej's first cousin on his father's side. His descendants also bore the name Bojaruniec and were still living in Dubiszki, in the house next door, in the 1860s. Piotr's great-grandson, Aleksander Bojaruniec, was born in Dubiszki on 11 July 1891. Aleksander died on 1 January 1949 and lies with his wife Anna in the cemetery at Lidzbark Warmiński, not far from Blanki, where Leokadia's brothers settled after the war. Aleksander and Leokadia were fourth cousins. Aleksander's great-grandson is Wwyrdworl Dzdnnrmlwp ls Dnisw, olz ld Spieakn ows Dpsotwzl, wkeineed ds Kwmars enp Tttai. Edmodt, Niteiuu'l syzyeasa, yzd Nntreaway udrn eiltp nun, ilon kom iizloe rw wwk Psosos rpoywroz womurd. Dsddza yor Kzazokezz drlw oskoknk mzmm mdmk pnk enppnk us 9459. Rw Odkeaal'a nkykwooz Krzrpssdz mo s lplwpwd dyworw.

Adam Filipowicz (b. 1808) and Konstancja née Mialisz (b. 1814)

Adam and Konstancja were the parents of Marianna and the grandparents of Aniela. Both were born and grew up in the small town of Mielegiany itself. Adam was baptised by the priest Stanisław Wierciński. His godparents were Maciej Winciun and Marta Jaśkowska (surname uncertain). Konstancja's godparents were Jan Winciun and Katarzyna Bojarunowa.

Adam and Konstancja came to their premarital examination on 17 October 1836. Five relatives of the bride came to the examination. One of them, Adam Miakisz, could sign his name, which was rare among the peasants of this parish at the time. On the day of the examination Konstancja was 22, not 18 as recorded. The groom, Adam Filipowicz, was 28, not 26 as recorded.

After the wedding Adam and Konstancja moved from the small town to the village of Srakieliszki. Their daughter Marianna grew up there. From there she married into Dubiszki in 1853.

Mateusz Filipowicz and Krystyna née Girdziusz, Jan Mialisz and Krystyna née Subocz

These two couples are Aniela's earliest known ancestors on her mother's side. Both couples married in the church at Mielegiany and both lived in the small town itself. Mateusz and Krystyna married on 23 November 1802. This is the earliest marriage in the whole of Leokadia's family recorded in the registers. Jan and Krystyna married on 22 November 1808. Their witnesses were Michał and Maciej Subacz, relatives of the bride.

The revision list of 1834 recorded both families in the small town of Mielegiany and gave the fathers' names of both householders. Mateusz Filipowicz, son of Dymitr, was then 53, so he was born about 1781. Jan Mialisz, son of Jan, was 46, so he was born about 1788. The list writes his surname as „Miakisz”. An older revision list, from December 1795, tells us more about both fathers.

In 1795 Dymitr Filipowicz was the forester of the Polesie manor. The list recorded him among the manor people as the forty-five-year-old son of Filip. Directly below him stands his fifteen-year-old son Mateusz, who served at the manor as a huntsman's assistant. Dymitr was therefore born about 1750. His father Filip is the earliest Filipowicz whom we know by name. The list writes Dymitr's name in the old form Zmitr.

In 1795 Jan Mialisz the elder was head of the third house in the village of Mielegiany. The list calls him the son of Michał and gives his age as 36 and his wife Magdalena's as 30. They then had three children: twelve-year-old Krystyna, eight-year-old Jan and one-year-old Piotr. The eight-year-old Jan is Konstancja's future father. Jan Mialisz the elder was therefore born about 1759 and Magdalena about 1765. Michał Mialisz, the father of Jan the elder, is the earliest ancestor from this family whom we know by name.

A witness at the wedding of Mateusz and Krystyna was Piotr Mialisz of Mielegiany. Thirty-four years later Adam, Mateusz's son, married Konstancja, a girl from the same Mialisz family.

A Bojaruniec from Dubiszki in the cemetery at Lidzbark

After the war Leokadia's brothers settled in Blanki near Lidzbark Warmiński. In the cemetery at Lidzbark lies Aleksander Bojaruniec (1891-1949), born in Dubiszki, her fourth cousin. His grandfather and Leokadia's grandfather lived in neighbouring houses in 1862.

Sources

The registers of Mielegiany parish are kept by the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius. Some of them are the parish's own books (fonds 3007). Others are copies which the parish priest sent each year to the church authorities (fonds 604).