Ancestor profile: Helene Josephine Klawikowska

Helene Kunkel née Klawikowska c. 1910

Helene Klawikowska was my great-great-grandmother. She had three husbands and eleven children. Her granddaughter Helen Pionke was my grandmother (see pedigree).

Helene Josephine Klawikowska was the youngest of eight children born to farm laborer Jacob Klawikowski and his wife Marianna Hebel. She was born on 8 May 1842 in Borek Szopy, a small settlement oustide the village Borek (Waldeck). At one week of age, Helene was baptized at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Strzepcz.

Helene's father died when she was nine years old; her mother died when she was sixteen. Helene remained in Borek Szopy, presumably residing with an older sibling, until she was married three years later.

Helene Klawikowska and first husband Julius Nagel

Helene Klawikowska married Julius Wilhelm Nagel in Strzepcz on 4 November 1861. She was 19 and he was 28. Julius Nagel, son of Johann Nagel and Anna Sarnowska, was a shoemaker living in Kętrzyno, a village in Rozłazino parish. I am very curious about how they met. Perhaps Julius was acquainted with one of Helene's older siblings who had moved from Borek Szopy to nearby villages within Rozłazino parish.

This map shows the location of Borek (Waldeck), a village which no longer exists. In 1869, the village population was only 88. Now, there is some sort of military installation at this location. Kętrzyno lies a little to the west of Borek. Some of Helene's siblings lived in Osiek, Nawcz, and Łówcz.




It is interesting to note that Julius Nagel's father Johann was Lutheran and his mother Anna was Catholic. Although Julius was baptized in the Bukowina (Buckowin) Evangelical parish, all records show that he was Catholic like his mother.

Leo Nagel c. 1925

Julius and Helene made their home in Kętrzyno. Among their neighbors were Julius' sister Emilia Stubbe and brother Gustav (who was also a shoemaker). Julius and Helene had four children, all born in Kętrzyno and baptized in Rozłazino Catholic parish. Sadly, two of them died very young.

Children of Julius Nagel and Helene Klawikowska:

• Leon Franz Nagel was born on 7 November 1862.
• Pauline Cecilia Nagel was born on 10 January 1865.
• Martha Johanna Nagel was born on 6 May 1867 and died on 20 January 1868.
• August Franz Nagel was born on 29 October 1868 and died on 7 January 1869.

Less than eight years after their wedding, Helene's husband Julius Nagel died of consumption on 8 April 1869 at age 36. Helene, who was only 26, was left a widow with two children.

Helene Klawikowska and second husband Johann v. Paschke

Ten months after her husband Julius Nagel's death, Helene (Klawikowska) Nagel married second husband Johann v. Paschke (Paszk, Paszki). Johann and Helene were married on 10 February 1870 in Rozłazino. Like Helene, Johann lived in Kętrzyno. He was 31 years old and this was his first marriage.

The v. Paszk family belonged to the szlachta, a Polish noble class. You can see the v. Paszk coats of arms on Polish Wikipedia here and here. Although this marriage was a step up in social class for Helene, don't imagine that she became rich overnight! Johann was not the owner of the village nor a large manor. Rather, he was a simple workman. Contrary to what we may have thought, this was not uncommon. In fact, the Kętrzyno entry in the Słownik Geograficzny (a Polish gazetteer compiled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) says this:

Mieszkańcy po większej części uboga szlachta zaściankowa.

In English: Residents [of Kętrzyno] for the most part [are] poor parochial nobility.

A quick look through Rozłazino parish books confirms this. Living in Kętrzyno, a village with around 250-300 residents, were noble families v. Dombrowski, v. Studzinski, v. Dzinzelski, v. Pobłocki, v. Sychowski, v. Tuchlinski, v. Bichowski, v. Zelewski, v. Mach, v. Tempski, and more.

Shockingly, Johann v. Paschke died only two and a half months after his wedding. He died of heart fever on 26 April 1870 in Kętrzyno. And so Helene once again became a widow with two children under age 10.

Helene Klawikowska and third husband August Kunkel

About a half year after the death of her husband Johann v. Paschke, Helene became pregnant with her fifth child. Johann Joseph was born in Kętrzyno on 22 June 1871 and died only six days later. The baby's surname was recorded as Paschk in the Rozłazino parish baptism and death records. However, there is an annotation in his baptism record — August Kunkel's name was added to the field for father's name. The timing of events is odd: August and Helene married one month after this baby's death.

Helene (Klawikowska) Paschke married August Adam Kunkel, a tailor, on 30 July 1871 in Rozłazino parish. It was August's first marriage. Bride and groom were both 29 years old and residents of Kętrzyno.

August Kąkol - Helena Paszk 1871 marriage record, Rozłazino parish

August Kunkel (Konkol) was the son of Joseph Konkol and Caroline Nagel. He was also the nephew of Helene's first husband, Julius Nagel. Like his new bride, August had lost both parents at a young age; his father had died when he was five and his mother when he was fourteen. It is quite likely that August lived with some of his Nagel relatives in Kętrzyno, possibly even with his Uncle Julius, after his mother's death. Thus it is no mystery how August and Helene met.

August and Helene continued to live in Kętrzyno after their marriage. Five more children were born to them and all were baptized in Rozłazino. The first two died as small children. Their youngest child, my great-grandmother Anna, was born after the family emigrated.

Children of August Kunkel and Helene Klawikowska:

• Johann Joseph Paschke (or Kunkel?) was born on 22 June 1871 and died on 28 June 1871 in Kętrzyno.
• Anastasia Clementina Kunkel was born on 11 September 1872 in Kętrzyno and died on 23 December 1876 in Nowa Wieś Lęborskie (Neuendorf).
• Mathilde Johanna (or Johanna Caroline) Kunkel was born on 26 June 1875 and died on 28 August 1877 in Kętrzyno.
• Victor Paul Kunkel was born on 15 January 1878 in Kętrzyno.
• Victoria Lucia Kunkel was born in 1 January 1881 in Kętrzyno.
• Cecilia Helena Kunkel was born on 18 August 1883 in Kętrzyno.
• Anna Helena Kunkel was born on 10 December 1886 in Chicago and baptized at St. Josaphat parish.

Emigration and life in Chicago

In April 1884, Helene and August Kunkel boarded the Nurnberg in Bremen, Germany with their three children, Victor, Victoria, and six-month-old Cecilia. They arrived in Baltimore and likely took the train directly to Chicago. Helene's elder daughter Pauline had immigrated a year and a half earlier. Son Leo arrived around 1884 or 1885.

St. Josaphat's old church building - first Mass was on 22 May 1884
Our Kunkel family certainly must have been present that day!

The Kunkel and Nagel family settled in Lake View Township, which is now part of Chicago's north side. They lived on High Street (now Janssen) near Fullerton Avenue, a short walk from St. Josaphat's Church. When they first arrived, St. Josaphat's was a very new parish. The church building was still under construction and mass was celebrated in a grocery store, owned by Charles Roeske, across the street from the present church.

St. Josaphat's parish was founded by Kashubs who had begun immigrating to Chicago in the 1860's. Helene's family certainly found familiar faces from Strzepcz and Rozłazino parishes in their new neighborhood. Five of Helene's children married fellow Kashubs (or Kashubian-Americans) at St. Josaphat's. Daughter Cecilia became a nun (Sister Helen) in the Holy Family of Nazareth Congregation — the same community of sisters who taught at St. Josaphat's parish school.

Pauline (Nagel) Kostock
c. 1920's

• In 1885, Pauline Nagel married August Labuda, who was probably also from Kętrzyno. They had four children.
• In 1890, Leo Nagel married Francisca Schwichtenberg, who was from Zelewo (Seelau) in Góra parish. They had eight children.
• In 1903, Pauline (Nagel) Labuda, widowed in 1902, married second husband, widower Frank Kostock (Kostuch). Frank's family was from Luzino parish.
• In 1906, Victor Konkel married widow Anna (Busch) Hall, who was from Kłanino in Starzyno parish. They had six children.
• In 1907, Anna Kunkel married Leon B. Pionke. Leon was born in Chicago like Anna. His father was from Mały Donimierz (Kielno and Szemud parishes) and his mother was from Połchowo (Puck parish). They had seven children.
• In 1908, Victoria Kunkel married Bernard (Barney) Sychowski, Leon Pionke's cousin. Barney was born in Chicago; his father was from Zęblewo (Strzepcz parish) and his mother was from Mały Donimierz (Kielno and Szemud parishes). They had five children.

Helene Kunkel with daughters Victoria Sychowski,
Sister Helen, and Anna Pionke, c. 1919

Although Helene's husband August Kunkel had been a tailor in their home country, in Chicago he was a laborer. In 1900 he was working as a bricklayer. It appears, from census data, that Helene and her husband did not speak English. They could read, but not write, in their native tongue. We know that August, at least, learned to write his own name well enough to sign documents.

Later in life, Helene and August resided with each of their three married daughters at different times. August Kunkel died of chronic nephritis (kidney disease) on 28 August 1916 at age 74. His widow Helene, their family, and other mourners were conducted via eight carriages from the funeral at St. Josaphat's to St. Adalbert Cemetery, about 9.5 miles away.

Kunkel and Kostock monument,
St. Adalbert Cemetery, Niles, IL
photo: Mary Walle-Santos © 2014

Helene died of mitral regurgitation (heart valve disease) on 28 May 1923 at age 81. She was survived by six children, 20 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. We spoke with Helene's surviving granddaughter. Although she had no specific memories of her grandmother, she remembered her fondly and described her as a sweet, kind woman.

Family culture - German or Kashub?

This topic is big enough for its own post, but here are a few thoughts pertaining specifically to this branch of the family. Helene's descendants have been adamant that their family was German, not Polish. And indeed, her children spoke German.

In the old country, Helene's family lived near the border of West Prussia and Pomerania. Speaking generally, West Prussia was more Kashub and Catholic while Pomerania was more German and Lutheran. Mixed religion (and thus probably mixed language) marriages were fairly common in border parishes. It is possible that Helene's family spoke both German and Kashubian.

In Chicago, however, the Kunkel family chose the Kashubian parish, not the German parish (whose parishioners included neighbors from Kętrzyno) just a mile away. To me this indicates that the Kunkels—regardless of their language or ethnic identity—nonetheless considered themselves part of the Kashubian community.

Notes: We will post more about Helene's children and their families in future articles.

Thanks: Many thanks to Michael Pionke for his help, including: deciphering and translating Johann v. Paschke's status and cause of death; information about the v. Paszk family and coats of arms; and information about the szlachta.

Related posts:

• Who Were Our Immigrant Ancestors?
• The Name Game: Kunkel vs. Konkol
• More photos on Flickr - Helene Klawikowska and family album

© TreeQuest: An Unexpected Journey 2016.

Reference:

• Family History Library Films: 162398, 850293, item 3. Katholische Kirche Strepsch (Kr. Neustadt).
• Family History Library Films: 534109. Katholische Kirche Sierakowitz (Kr. Karthaus).
• Family History Library Films: 1456893, item 5. Evangelische Kirche Buckowin (Kr. Lauenburg)
• Pelplin Diocese, Rozłazino parish records on CD, Christenings Vols. I and II, Marriage Vol. II, Deaths Vol. II.
• FamilySearch.com: Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records, 1833-1925 [must login to view images]
• PTG Pomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne (Pomeranian Genealogical Association) - birth, marriage, death indexes.
• Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego [viewable online], Vol. IV p. 6 (entry for Kętrzyno).
• Familienforschung in Westpreußen, Westpreußisches Ortsverzeichnis (website), entry for Waldeck
• Wikipedia article about the szlachta.

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