#52Ancestors Week 23 Wedding
The prompt of this week for 52 Ancestors is “Wedding” and I would like to share some wedding pictures of Stanley Lubinsky (Wierzbicki) and Susan Stempkowski. Note that the Wierzbicki family later used the surname Lubinsky so their records are found under either name! Reasons for the name change are unknown although perhaps Wierzbicki refers more to the area where they came from in Lithuania and Lubinsky may be an Americanized version of Wierzbicki. Stanley and Susan became the parents of Elizabeth Lubinsky of Cumbola, Pennsylvania who married Charles Pawlak of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Elizabeth and Charles were the parents of my husband, Daniel.
It was a beautiful day on the 25th of June in 1913 when a handsome Stanley Wierzbicki (Lubinsky) married a lovely, petite girl named Susanna Stempkowska in Cumbola, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. They made a beautiful couple indeed!
Stanley was the son of Joseph (Jozef) Wierzbicki and Mary Anne Wojtkiewicz who immigrated to America from Lithuania around 1893. They brought three of their children with them including Mary, Stanley and Joseph. Five more siblings of Stanley were born in Cumbola, PA where the family settled. Susan Stempkowska also immigrated from Poland to America with her family in the 1890s. She was only about 2-3 years old when she arrived with her parents, Adam and Florence Stempkowski, her brother Michal Constantine, and her aunt, Mary Stempkowski (sister of Adam). Susan’s family also settled in Cumbola.
We don’t know exactly how Stanley and Susan met but since Cumbola was such a small town, they may have gone to school or church together. As a matter of fact, both families were Catholic and attended St. Anthony’s Polish Catholic Church in Cumbola and the children of both families went to St. Anthony’s School where lessons were taught in both English and Polish. It is no surprise that they were married in St. Anthony’s Church as shown by the copy of their marriage certificate below! Their names are written in Polish.
Another picture from their wedding shows the newlyweds, Stanley and Susan, in the middle. Next to Susan in the best man, Joseph Wierzbicki (Lubinsky), who was the brother to Stanley. Next to Stanley is the maid of honor. I was once told that this is Rose Wierzbicki, a sister to Stanley. However, this is not verified. Stanley actually had five sisters including Mary, Rose, Helen, Anna and Margaret and two brothers, Joseph and William. This is part of another larger picture. I can see that there are more people in the background that are most likely other family members of Stanley and Susan. However, I have no idea where the original picture is or who has it, but I certainly would like to see it!
There are few pictures of Stanley and Susan together as Stanley died in 1940 at the age of 48 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Susan passed away in 1988 at age 91. The picture below is from the late 1920’s or early 1930’s.
Stanley and Susan are buried together in Saint Anthony’s Church Cemetery near Cumbola. Watch for more posts on Stanley and Susan in the future! Thanks for stopping to read my blog!
The Pawlak Past 