Kostrzewski and Chwialkowski Family History

 

THOMAS AND JOSEPHINE (CHWIALKOWSKI) KOSTRZEWSKI

 

In January of 1886, Thomas and Josephine (Chwialkowski) Kostrzewski left their families in Posnan, Poland and traveled to the port of Bremen, Germany.  Three of Josephine’s siblings emigrated with the childless young couple (Kunegunda, age 10; Peter, age 18; and Josef, age 16).  From Bremen, the family sailed to Baltimore, arriving on Feb 6, 1886 on the SS America.  They arrived with a 14 day old baby boy named Valentine (named after both his father’s father and brother), who had been born at sea.

 

Thomas (born 21 Nov 1859) and Josephine (born about Sep of 1863) married around the year 1883, when Thomas was discharged from the German army.  Josephine was the daughter of John and Kunegunda (Tomczak) Chwialkowski.  Thomas, a tinner according to passenger arrival records at Baltimore, was the son of Valentine and Frances (Malinaski) Kostrzewski.  These families were supposedly of Russian descent.  A family history mentions that they were from “Koniaty, Posnan, Poland”.  There is, and does not appear to ever have been, any such town in Posnan.  However, there is a village in Russia named Koniaty, so perhaps this village is where they were originally from in Russia.  

 

Thomas and Josephine settled with their family in Bloomington, IL, where their second child, a son named Martin, was born on Nov 9, 1887.  They were also joined by Thomas’ brother Valentine, who immigrated to Illinois with his wife Constancia Juskulska and daughter Josephine in 1887.  Thomas and Josephine left Illinois and moved to northwestern Minnesota with their children sometime before 31 Dec 1899, when Thomas applied for naturalization in Marshall county.  He received his final naturalization papers on Nov 9, 1896.

 

Thomas and Josephine lived and farmed in Wanger Township for the rest of their lives, as did most of their children.  They had five more children (Theodore Joseph, born 1 Apr 1891; Anna, born 18 Nov 1893; Frances, born 22 May 1896; Steven Stanley, born 29 Sep 1897; and John Stanley, born 6 Apr 1899).  Josephine died at her home in Wanger Twp. on Christmas Day - Dec 25, 1922.  Thomas lived on into his 90s, until he died on Mar 25, 1951 after suffering a stroke.

 

Anna was the only child who left Minnesota.  She married Walter Pawlowski in 1914, and they had five children before they moved to Milwaukee after the death of Anna’s mother.  Ann died in Chicago in 1980.  All of Thomas and Josephine’s other children remained in Marshall county, MN. 

 

Thomas and Josephine’s son Valentine “William” married Anna/Agnes Sczepanski at Florian, MN on 17 Oct 1911.  They had eleven children.  Martin married Rose Kulpinski at Florian, MN on 24 Nov 1913.  They had nine children.  Theodore married Anna Budziszewski on 29 Jun 1920.  They had six children.  Frances married George Gryskiewicz in 1917.  They also had six children.  Steven married Helen Tulibaski at Alma, MN on 8 Jun 1926.  They had thirteen children. John married Emily Gajeski in 1927. They had four children.

 

PETER AND ROSALIE (BUDZISZEWSKI) CHWIALKOWSKI

 

Peter Chwialkowski lived with his brother-in-law and sister (Thomas and Josephine Kostrzewski) in Bloomington, IL, and moved with them to northwestern Minnesota sometime around 1893, when he married Rosalie Budziszewski.  Peter applied for naturalization in Marshall county, MN on 26 Oct 1896.  The couple settled in Wanger Township and had eleven children, all of whom were born in Marshall county (Stanley, born 6 Apr 1895; Mary Ann, born 6 Apr 1896; Michael A., born 29 Sep 1898; John Cornelius, born 8 Mar 1899; Peter F., born 11 Jul 1900; Anton, born 29 Mar 1902; Pladsea Rose, born 3 Jun 1904; Lenora, born 1 Feb 1907; Eleanor, born about 1908; Steve Onfre/Arnold, born 12 Jun 1909; Frank S., born 18 Aug 1910).  Peter and Rose (and all of their children) remained living in Minnesota for the duration of their lives.  Peter died July 3, 1942, followed by Rose on Apr 2, 1957. 

 

VALENTINE AND CONSTANCIA (JASKULSKA) KOSTRZEWSKI

 

Valentine and Constancia Kostrzewski lived for a number of years in Illinois, but it appears that they moved away and back at least once between 1887 and 1903, when their youngest child was born.  They had a total of eleven children.  The eldest, Elva, was born and died in Poland around 1882.  The next, Josephine, was born Feb 1883 in Poland.  Their third child, John, was supposedly born on board the ship they immigrated on in 1887.  Their next two children were daughters, both born in Bloomington, IL (Mary, born 20 Mar 1889 and Catharine, born 18 Nov 1890).  Their next child, a son named Joseph, was born 2 Feb 1893 in Illinois, followed another daughter named Margaret, who was supposedly born in Texas on Mar 7, 1895.  Their four remaining children were all born in Illinois (Martha Marian, born Jun 1897; Isabel F., born 23 Oct 1898; Florence V., born 5 Dec 1901; and Cecilia, born 2 Jul 1903).

 

Valentine and Constancia moved to Peshtigo, WI sometime before 1920, where they lived for several years before retiring to California in 1928.  However, it would appear that they moved around quite a bit before 1920.  There whereabouts during the 1910 census are unknown.  Besides the son born in Texas in 1895, several of their daughters were married in various states, which may indicate that the entire family’s movements during that time. 

 

Josephine married Arthur Leslie Williams in Denver, CO on 27 Jan 1911.  They divorced and she later married Karl Kohler, whom she also divorced.  She eventually ended up in Pinellas county, FL, where she was buried in 1982. 

 

Catherine married Carl Miller around 1917, probably in California. Her sister Mary married Manuel Henry Garfias in Los Angeles, CA on 17 Oct 1918.  The couple moved to Arizona (where Manuel grew up) and lived there for several years around 1920 before moving back to Los Angeles by 1930. 

 

Margaret married Wade Dodson about 1920, possibly in North Carolina, where she was living with her husband and their son Wade in 1920.  (Wade Dodson, Sr. grew up in North Carolina.) 

 

Isabel married twice in Los Angeles, CA - first to Herbert Frazellle on 25 February 1925, then to Orice King on 20 Apr 1933.  Cecilia also married twice in Los Angeles, CA – first to William Jackson on 5 Feb 1923, then to Max Korngute on 17 Jan 1938.

 

Two of Valentine and Constancia’s children stayed in the Midwest. Martha “Marian” lived in Chicago with her husband, John Roche.  Joseph remained in Peshtigo, WI with his wife, Hortense Thibodeau, for the rest of their lives.  They were both buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Peshtigo, WI.