Eva Leliwinska Wysocki

#52ancestors Week 14

I found two old photos from Elizabeth Lubinsky Pawlak’s album showing “the grannies” of her children. The first picture features Elizabeth with her mother Susan Lubinsky, her grandmother Florence Stempkowski and her great-grandmother Eva Wysocki. It was probably taken in the late 1920s.

The second photo was taken on the same day and features Florence Stempkowski (mother of Susan Lubinsky), Sister M. Assumpta (Sister of Susan), Antonina Stempkowski (a relative) and Eva Wysocki (mother of Florence).

The person I have been researching as of late is Eva Wysocki and these are the only two pictures I found of her. She was the mother of Florence Wysocka Stempkowski, both who were born in Poland. Eva has an interesting story. She was born as Eva Leliwinska in 1847 in Poland, most likely in Stawiszyn-Laziska, Zurmin, Mosovia, Poland. Eva Leliwinska married Jakob Wysocki who was the son of Bartholomiej Wysocki (1813-1894) and Maryanna Tucholska (1822-1898). Jakob was born in Chamsk, Zuromi, Mosovia, Poland and had six siblings named Adam, Franciszek, Katarzyna, Wojcieck, Antoni and Franciszka.

Jakob and Eva (Ewa in Polish) had two daughters that I found. One daughter, of course, was Florentyna (Florence) Wysocka, born 1870, who married Adam Stempkowski on 20 November of 1884 in Warszawa, Radzanow, Mlawa, Poland. The other daughter was Maryanna Wysocki, born in 1872. So far, nothing is known about sister Maryanna. Did she come to America or stay in Poland?

Jacob and Eva lived in Poland after Adam and their daughter Florence immigrated to America about 1891. Sometime before 1907, Jakob passed away and Eva was left alone. Of course, Florence must have been quite worried about her mother! The part of Poland Eva lived in was taken over by Russia. Her husband, Adam, decided to go to Poland/Russia and get his mother-in-law and bring her to America to live with them. At this time, Eva was about 50 years old. How many husbands would do that for their mother-in-law? It must have been somewhat of a sacrifice as they lived on a coal miner’s salary!

According to passenger lists, Adam Stempkowski traveled to Poland/Russia in December of 1907. He arrived in Liverpool, England on the ship “Cedric” on his way to Rabomo Plock, Russia where Eva and Jakob lived. I found a returning passenger list for Adam and Eva when they sailed from Bremen, Germany on June 9, 1908 aboard the ship named SS Kaiser Wilhelm II. Adam was listed as 39, married and occupation as a miner and Eva was listed as 50 years old and widowed. This confirms that Jakob died before 1907.

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I am quite sure Florence was extremely happy to see her mother again and have her and Adam arrive back in Cumbola PA safely! In talking to a cousin who grew up in Poland and knows many family stories, I found out something interesting about Adam. It seems that Adam loved to travel and before he married, he traveled to the Holy Land. Besides other sites, he walked the path that Jesus walked on his way to the crucifixion and found a black stone on the path that he believed was turned black by the blood of Jesus. He kept the stone and the family would rub the stone while they prayed.

I think it was wonderful of Adam to travel all the way to Poland/Russia to bring Eva to America. I do not have a death date for Eva Wysocki, but know she died between 1930 and 1940. She was last listed in the 1930 census as age 70 living with Adam, Florence and the Lubinsky family in their three story home in Cumbola PA . Eva was buried in St. Anthony’s Polish Cemetery near Cumbola in East Norwegian. However, relatives have been unable to locate her grave marker so her death date cannot be verified. Adam passed away on 20 September 1933 from “myocardia degeneration” and was also buried in St. Anthony’s Polish Cemetery. As noted in a previous blog, Florence died in 1942 and was buried next to Adam. Hopefully, I will be able to find more information on Eva as I research the family!