Bukowski & Kwiatkowski Research Update: Teo Fila Bukowski Baptismal Record

This is the third post in the Bukowski & Kwiatkowski Research Update Series. This series will be focused on two Polish immigrants, my 2nd great-grandparents, who settled in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania and their family members.  Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski arrived at Ellis Island 1 May 1895 with three small children - Teo Fila, Catherine and William. The family had sailed from Antwerp, Belgium on the Noorland. The family was very quiet about their past - leaving few clues to where they lived in Poland and why they left. All that was known is that the family resided on the Prussian or German side of the Polish partition. The city of origin for the family was previously unknown. Over the last year collaboration with other researchers, DNA results and newly discovered records have provided additional context to where in Poland the families were living prior to their journey to Ellis Island.

Other Posts in the Series:
9 February 2020: Bukowski & Kwiatkowski Research Update: Teo Fila Bukowski Birth Location Identified
22 February 2020: Bukowski & Kwiatkowski Research Update: Männlichen Bukowski

Bukowski & Kwiatkowski Research Update: Teo Fila Bukowski Baptismal Record

The first Polish records located for the Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski family were included in a vital records data base - Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945 housed at Ancestry.

The vital records database indicated the family was living in Ryńsk, Poland. The next step in the research process was to determine if Catholic Parish registers were available for Ryńsk, Poland. The Catholic Parish registers would record family milestones including baptisms, marriages and deaths.

There are Catholic Parish registers from Ryńsk, Poland housed in the collections at The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. These records can be accessed by visiting the The Family History Library or one of the affiliate libraries.

The church records available for Poland, Bydgoszcz, Ryńsk (Wąbrzez'no) include:

• Film 72645, DGS 7949212: Baptisms from 1677-1828, Marriages from 1773-1874, Deaths from 1774-1849
• Film 531411, DGS 4004202: Baptisms from 1829-1867, Deaths from 1850-1875
• Film 1569299 Items 7-10, DGS 8021410: Baptisms from 1875-1890 (duplicates), Baptisms from 1875-1890, Marriages from 1876-1890 and Deaths from 1876-1883
• Film 1569300 Item 1, DGS 8119410: Deaths 1883-1890
• Film 161913, DGS 7946041: Baptisms from 1677-1789, 1792-1828, Marriages from 1773-1788, 1794-1875, Deaths from 1773-1775, 1779-1849

It should be noted that this area was associated with Germany, Preußen, Westpreußen, Rheinsberg (Kr. Briesen) prior to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

The films that align with the dates that Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski were living in Ryńsk are shown in bold above. To assist with this phase of the searching - I engaged Ute Brandenburg with German Script Experts. She reviewed the Ryńsk films and located the baptismal record for Teo Fila Bukowski.

Teo Fila Bukowski Baptismal Record

The original record as recorded in Latin:

Jahr: 1889
No. 17
Locus Nativitatis: Ryńsk
Noman: Teofila
Nomen et cognomen, patris (infantis legimimi): Vincent Bukowski, legitimate birth
Nomen et cognomen, matris: Franciska Kwiatkowski
Dies, nativitatis: 31 Martii
Dies, baptismimart: 7 Aprilis
patrinorum, Nomen et cognomen: Josef Strzelecki and Rozalia Bornicha

The Latin translation provided by German Script Experts:

Year: 1889
No. 19
Place of Birth: Ryńsk
Name: Teofila
Name and Surname, Father (legitimate birth): Vincent Bukowski
Name and Surname, Mother: Franciska Kwiatkowski
Birth: 31 March
Baptism: 7 April
Sponsor Name and Surname: Josef Strzelecki and Rozalia Bornicha. 

The baptism of Teo Fila Bukowski most likely occurred at the Kościół p w. św. Wawrzyńca or Church of St. Lawrence in Ryńsk, Poland.  The text below is from monuments section the website Ryńsk Commune website:

4. The parish church in Rynsk 

The Gothic-Renaissance parish church in Rynsk dedicated to Saint Lawrence, built of field stone, was built in the first half of the 14th century. The church body founded on a square plan was rebuilt in 1608 from the funds of the Fabian Plemięcki foundation. The decorative tower added at that time gave the temple a Gothic-Renaissance character. In 1648 at the expense of Jan Działyński, the then Chełmno voivode, the church was renovated again. The eighteenth-century interior decor prevails in the temple. These are: the Renaissance pulpit, benches with early Renaissance woodcarving decorations, the baroque right side altar made of black marble in 1645, the early Baroque main altar from the mid-seventeenth century with the later eighteenth-century sculptures of St. Stanislaus and St. Wojciech and the painting - "Martyrdom of St. Wawrzyniec ”from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Noteworthy is also a stone baroque baptismal font from the mid-seventeenth century, a baroque sculpture of the Risen Christ, a granite medieval stoup and nineteenth-century organs. Of the goldsmith's art, the most valuable are: a Renaissance tower monstrance and a chalice from the 17th century, a reliquary from 1749 and a 15th-century Gothic bell. The building was entered in the register of monuments on July 13, 1936.

Kościół p w. św. Wawrzyńca, Church of St. Lawrence
Rynsk, Poland

It should be noted that Ryńsk has a second church that was constructed in 1889. The church was originally constructed as an Evangelical Church for German settlers to the area. Today this church is a Catholic Church, Kościół Rzymskokatolicki pw. Najświętszego Pana Jezusa, Mikołaja Ryńskiego, 87-213 Ryńsk, Poland, Roman Catholic Church Of the Holy Lord Jesus. The text below is from monuments section the website Ryńsk Commune website:

5. Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

 The Evangelical (currently Catholic) church in Rynsk dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was erected at the beginning of the 20th century for German settlers who settled in these areas in large numbers. It has neo-Gothic forms, from the facade there is a tower topped with a steep roof and a high turret. The spans of the aisles are covered with transverse roofs, while the neo-Gothic body was built of brick on a stone pedestal. The gable roof over the body with the presbytery is covered with tiles. The church has nineteenth-century interior furnishings and nineteenth-century organs in a neo-Gothic external setting. The church was entered into the register of monuments on May 24, 2013.

Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski Family Timeline

The death record for Männlichen Bukowski and the birth record for Teo Fila Bukowski both record Vincent working as a farmhand. The families movements in Poland are noted below.

• About 1886 Poland - Marriage of Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski - exact location is currently not known.
• 19 January 1888 through 2 April 1889 the family is living in Ryńsk, Poland as recorded in death record for Männlichen Bukowski and birth record for Teo Fila Bukowski. 
• 23 November 1891 the family was living in Poland - birth of Catherine M. Bukowski - exact location is currently not known.
• 14 September 1894 the family was living in Poland - birth of William F. Bukowski - exact location is currently not known.
• 1895 Antwerp, Belgium - Port of Departure 
• 1 May 1895 New York, New York - Port of Arrival - Ellis Island 

Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski Family Group

There are eleven recorded children born to Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski:

1. Männlichen Bukowski b. 19 January 1888 in Ryńsk, Poland
2. Teo Fila Bukowski b. 26 March 1889 in Ryńsk, Poland 
3. Catherine M. Bukowski b. 23 November 1891 in Poland
4. William F. Bukowski b. 14 September 1894 in Poland
5. John Frank Bukowski b. 7 December 1897 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
6. Gustave Joseph Bukowski b. 11 February 1899 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
7. Helen Tillie Bukowski b. 13 June 1901 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
8. Clara Tillie Bukowski b. 31 August 1903 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
9. Joseph R. Bukowski b. 4 July 1906 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
10. Josefa Bukowski b. 29 July 1908 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
11. Edward Bukowski b. 3 February 1911 in Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania

Continuing the Search - Next Steps

The Ryńsk Catholic Parish registers only include baptisms through 1890 - as a result the baptismal records for Catherine M. Bukowski and William F. Bukowski were not located - as these children were born after 1890.

The Ryńsk Catholic Parish Registers also did not include a marriage record Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski.

The next step will be to determine if there are Catholic Parish registers available for the other Polish locations previously associated with the the family - Pluskowęsy, Wąbrzeźno and Orzechowo, Wąbrzeźno. The intent would to locate the marriage record for Vincinety Frank Bukowski and Franciska Kwiatkowski.

Teo Fila Bukowski is my 2nd great aunt. She is the sister of my great-grandmother Helen Tillie Bukowski. Helen's son Arthur Murosky is my paternal grandfather. 

References:

1. Ancestry.com. Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. 
2. Ellis Island Records, Bukowski, Vincent Manifest: First Name: Vincenty Last Name: Bukowski Ethnicity: Germany Last Place of Residence: Date of Arrival: May 01, 1895 Age at Arrival: 33y Gender: M Marital Status: Ship of Travel: Noordland Port.
3. Poland, Bydgoszcz, Ryńsk (Wąbrzez'no) - Church records: Taufen 1875-1890 (Duplikate) Taufen 1875-1890 Heiraten 1876-1890 Tote 1876-1883, Katholische Kirche Rheinsberg (Kr. Briesen), Salt Lake City, Utah : Gefilmt durch The Genealogical Society of Utah, 1950, 1954, 1968, 1988. Film No. 1569299 Items 7-10, Record 19.