Monica Barbara Kowalewska was born on August 5, 1887 in Winona. She was the first of nine children born to Jozef (1860-1930) and Anastasia nee Fortunska (1865-1938) Kowalewski. Like her slightly older classmate and (briefly) colleague, Franciszka Milanowska, Monica Kowalewska, better known by her married name of Monica Krawczyk, selected and pursued a rather different career track than most of Winona's young Kashubian Polish women. As a teacher, social worker, writer and activist, Monica Krawczyk's life and works illustrate and exemplify the transition of America's Kashubian Polish community.
Monica was a child prodigy, and her mother somehow found the time and energy to assist her talented daughter's education by teaching herself English. She attended Saint Stanislaus Kostka parish school and Winona High; as best I can tell she became in 1909 the second Kashubian Pole, after Frances Milanowska, to graduate from the Winona Normal School. After a short time teaching high school near the Canadian border in Tower, Minnesota she returned home to teach at Washington-Kosciuszko. Monica was very active in the church community and the Kashubian Polish community at large, founding the Outreach Club for her young countrywomen and directing a number of plays. But she was eager for new challenges, which led her to study social work at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
As a young social worker, Monica achieved literally spectacular success, going undercover to expose the exploitation of young Polish women in the Twin Cities. After marrying Mieczyslaw "Mitchell" Krawczyk of Minneapolis in 1916, she returned to a more traditional career as wife, schoolteacher and (eventually) mother. But deeply as she loved her Kashubian Polish traditions, her social outlook remained modern and American. The Winona Republican-Herald reported that she gave the dollars normally piled on a plate at a Polish wedding reception, to assist the young couple in buying a house, to a charity.
By the middle 1920s the Krawczyk family had grown to five with the addition of two sons and a daughter. Monica and Mitchell were able to hire a maid to take care of the housekeeping, which freed Monica to teach at Sheridan School and to write on the side. She was an extremely prolific contributor to a number of popular magazines and newspapers, which undoubtedly brought in additional money. She also began work on her own short stories, which focus on the challenges faced by Polish-American families, and which are collected in the anthology "When The Bough Breaks" or something like that. Also in the 1920s, she helped found the Polanie Club, which united young Polish-American women from the Twin Cities area in various social and cultural pursuits, and which still thrives to this day.
Monica was at work on a novel "Not By Bread Alone" when she died at the age of 67 in Minneapolis. Surely the manuscript must exist somewhere; it would be depressing indeed to think that the crowning work of such an educated, thoughtful, and socially active Kashubian Pole's literary career could just vanish into thin air. On the other hand, depressingly little of her work survives to this day, so maybe it is par for the course.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Jozef von Bronk
Jozef von Bronk (1810 Wiele - 1863 Winona)
Franciszka Grabska (1811 Gostomie - 1874 Winona)
Traditionally, the family of Jozef and Franciszka von Bronk was the first Kashubian Polish family to settle in Winona, in 1855. According to Ron Galewski on page 207 of Marshland and Whistler's Pass on Trail #35 (by the way, both of Ron's excellent books can be purchased at the Polish Museum Store), the von Bronks traveled to Winona from Gostomie, Polish Prussia by way of Quebec. This is true. They arrived in Quebec aboard the sailing ship ELBE, which left Hamburg on May 14, 1859; another passenger was Ron's own ancestor, Martin Galewski.
Paul Libera's celebrated article Polish Settlers in Winona, Minnesota states that "Mrs. Bronk, wife of one of the first two Polish settlers, died during the early days of Winona and was buried on the prairie outside the Polish settlement. When the City was plotted out shortly afterward a street was laid out directly over her grave." In fact, Franciszka Bronk is listed as a widow in the 1870 US Census, living in the house of her oldest son John. Sadly, the name of the actual decedent is lost to time; this is another example of why Libera's account desperately needs updating. Nor do we know anything more about Jozef and Franciszka. A little more is known about their five sons.
Jan "John" Bronk (1835-1898?) married Antonina Lukowicz (1846-1931) in 1873. They were arrested in 1880 for beating their children - quite an achievement in those times of "spare the rod, spoil the child." The children seem to have forgiven though, as the entire family moved out to Seattle, Washington just before the turn of the century. Antonia is listed in the 1899 Seattle city directory as the widow of John Bronk; whether John died in Winona or Seattle I do not yet know. I do know that he was not the John Bronk who died in Winona in 1931. In the Seattle directories from 1899 to 1907, the Bronk sons (Alexander, Lawrence, and Michael) are listed as employed in various segments of the lumbering industry and Frances Bronk is listed as a housekeeper.
Ignacy "Ignatius" Bronk (1839-1896) had three children with his first wife Maria (?-1873) and another six with his second wife Weronika Borszyzkowska (1850-1885). After Weronika died (perhaps in childbirth), he purchased a farm in Buffalo County, across the Trempealeau River from Dodge Township; he married his third wife Paulina Kubicki in Pine Creek. His eldest daughter, Katarzyna "Kate" Bronk (1873-1893) died in Winona under somewhat mysterious circumstances.
Wincenty "Vincent" Bronk (1842-1877) never married. Ron Galewski gives Wincenty's date of death as 1887, but there is no reference to him in the 1880 US Census. Wawrzyniec "William" or "Lawrence" Bronk (1848-1889) married Rozalia Kukowska (1852-1932); three of their seven children survived to adulthood. The youngest of these, Thomas J. Bronk (1888-1875) and his wife Helen Zielinski, were the parents of twelve children, all of whom survived to adulthood.
The youngest son, Jakub "Jacob" Bronk (1852-1919) was married three times and widowed twice. By his first wife Franciszka (1854-1880) he had six children, one of whom survived to adulthood. In 1882 he married Katarzyna Bambenek Czapiewska (1861-1888); this marriage produced two children, both of whom survived to adulthood. In 1889 he married Mary Mudra Kadlec (1860-1925) a Bohemian immigrant, with whom he had one child.
Franciszka Grabska (1811 Gostomie - 1874 Winona)
Traditionally, the family of Jozef and Franciszka von Bronk was the first Kashubian Polish family to settle in Winona, in 1855. According to Ron Galewski on page 207 of Marshland and Whistler's Pass on Trail #35 (by the way, both of Ron's excellent books can be purchased at the Polish Museum Store), the von Bronks traveled to Winona from Gostomie, Polish Prussia by way of Quebec. This is true. They arrived in Quebec aboard the sailing ship ELBE, which left Hamburg on May 14, 1859; another passenger was Ron's own ancestor, Martin Galewski.
Paul Libera's celebrated article Polish Settlers in Winona, Minnesota states that "Mrs. Bronk, wife of one of the first two Polish settlers, died during the early days of Winona and was buried on the prairie outside the Polish settlement. When the City was plotted out shortly afterward a street was laid out directly over her grave." In fact, Franciszka Bronk is listed as a widow in the 1870 US Census, living in the house of her oldest son John. Sadly, the name of the actual decedent is lost to time; this is another example of why Libera's account desperately needs updating. Nor do we know anything more about Jozef and Franciszka. A little more is known about their five sons.
Jan "John" Bronk (1835-1898?) married Antonina Lukowicz (1846-1931) in 1873. They were arrested in 1880 for beating their children - quite an achievement in those times of "spare the rod, spoil the child." The children seem to have forgiven though, as the entire family moved out to Seattle, Washington just before the turn of the century. Antonia is listed in the 1899 Seattle city directory as the widow of John Bronk; whether John died in Winona or Seattle I do not yet know. I do know that he was not the John Bronk who died in Winona in 1931. In the Seattle directories from 1899 to 1907, the Bronk sons (Alexander, Lawrence, and Michael) are listed as employed in various segments of the lumbering industry and Frances Bronk is listed as a housekeeper.
Ignacy "Ignatius" Bronk (1839-1896) had three children with his first wife Maria (?-1873) and another six with his second wife Weronika Borszyzkowska (1850-1885). After Weronika died (perhaps in childbirth), he purchased a farm in Buffalo County, across the Trempealeau River from Dodge Township; he married his third wife Paulina Kubicki in Pine Creek. His eldest daughter, Katarzyna "Kate" Bronk (1873-1893) died in Winona under somewhat mysterious circumstances.
Wincenty "Vincent" Bronk (1842-1877) never married. Ron Galewski gives Wincenty's date of death as 1887, but there is no reference to him in the 1880 US Census. Wawrzyniec "William" or "Lawrence" Bronk (1848-1889) married Rozalia Kukowska (1852-1932); three of their seven children survived to adulthood. The youngest of these, Thomas J. Bronk (1888-1875) and his wife Helen Zielinski, were the parents of twelve children, all of whom survived to adulthood.
The youngest son, Jakub "Jacob" Bronk (1852-1919) was married three times and widowed twice. By his first wife Franciszka (1854-1880) he had six children, one of whom survived to adulthood. In 1882 he married Katarzyna Bambenek Czapiewska (1861-1888); this marriage produced two children, both of whom survived to adulthood. In 1889 he married Mary Mudra Kadlec (1860-1925) a Bohemian immigrant, with whom he had one child.
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