#52Ancestors, Week 3 Long Line
Last week I shared pictures of Charles Pawlak from his childhood. Charles of Milwaukee, Wisconsin eventually married Elizabeth Wierzbicki of Cumbola, Pennsylvania. How they met is a great story for another post! On this post, I will share some childhood pictures of Elizabeth Wierzbicki – also known as Elizabeth Lubinsky. Her family used the two surnames interchangeably until about 1928 when only Lubinsky was used. More on that in another story! Elizabeth was the first of a long line of seven children and came from a long line of Polish ancestors.
Elizabeth Wierzbicki was born on 26 May of 1914 to Stanley Wierzbicki and Susan (Stempkowski) Wierzbicki in Cumbola, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Whereas Charles Pawlak, her future husband, was the youngest of seven children, Elizabeth was to be the oldest of seven children. Elizabeth was followed by four sisters: Stella in 1916, Helen in 1918, Victoria in 1919 and Celia in 1921. Then came two brothers which were Bernard (Bernie) in 1928 and Gerard in 1931. The youngest picture found of Elizabeth is a photo of her at six years old with her mother and aunt.
Elizabeth is on the left, her mother Susan is seated. Standing is Susan’s sister, Cecelia (Czeslaw in Polish) who later joined the Bernardine Order and became Sister M. Assumpta.
On 22 June of 1924, Elizabeth Wierzbicki made her First Holy Communion at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Cumbola PA. Elizabeth and her family attended this Roman Catholic Church and the children went to Catholic School where they were taught by the Bernardine Sisters. They not only taught reading, writing and arithmetic in English, but also all of the other required subjects in addition to Polish language, reading, writing and history. There was also time for Art, Music and Drama and, of course, Catholic rites and ceremonies.
On 20 June of 1928, Elizabeth graduated from eighth grade at St. Anthony’s School. She had her picture taken with the other girls in her class. Their matching dresses were blue with gold ribbon trim to go with the class colors of blue and gold. Elizabeth was especially proud of this photo as her mother, Susan, was an accomplished seamstress and made all the dresses for the girls! Elizabeth is in the second row and wearing glasses.
Elizabeth attended ninth grade in the Junior High School of Blythe Township Public Schools in 1929 and then it was on to Blythe Township High School. She graduated June 7, 1932.
One of the surprising things I found out about Elizabeth during her high school years was that she was never absent nor tardy in all the years she attended Blythe Township High School! Below is one of her certificates of perfect attendance.
Upcoming posts will have more stories about Charles and Elizabeth and their ancestry!
The Pawlak Past 