William and Frank

On January 4, 1904 Frank Janusz, Anna's oldest son, boarded the SS Deutschland for his voyage to America. Three days later, back in Rudnik nad Sanem, Anna's youngest son, William Busta, was born. There was 23 years between Anna's oldest son and her youngest one.

Anna's husband, Ignacy had left on his own voyage to America 11 months prior. He could not be William's father. But was Anna even his mother?

Anna was 48 years old when William was born. She had been apart from her husband for nearly a year. Count Hompesch, the possible father of her first two illegitimate children, had been dead for seven years.

Guillhelmus, illegitimate son of Elisabeth Jasnosz, Joannes and Agnetis nee Mieczwa’s (?) daughter, was born on the 7th of January 1904 in Rudnik

Back in Poland, Dom identified William's birth record. It only raised more questions: Why were three out of five of Anna's children illegitimate?

The only thing that seemed to be correct about the record was the maternal grandfather listed, Joannes Janusz, Anna's father. The mother of the baby was listed as Elisabeth, not Anna and the maternal grandmother was Agnetis, not Victoria.

Additionally, the last name was spelled wrong, instead of Janusz it was Jasnosz. To those of us researching our Polish relatives in America this discrepancy is easily dismissed, we are accustomed to seeing our relatives names spelled differently on each official document. But in Poland the records were kept by parish priests, and they were kept meticulously. A misspelling that I was willing to overlook was to Dom a serious red flag when it came to this document.

There were two ways to interpret this record:

Either the mother (Anna) went to great lengths with the priest to disguise the birth record as not to be outed as having a third illegitimate baby while her husband was in America, or the baby wasn't hers at all.

My first thought was that Elisabeth was Anna's half-sister through their father Joannes Janusz. But he couldn't have had a second wife, he had pre-deceased Anna's mother, leaving her a widow. Maybe Joannes Janusz mentioned on the record was Anna's brother, making Elisabeth her niece...

Dom suggests that the house where William was born, #440 may prove to be a clue in finding the identity of his parents - the house number is different than the one where Anna gave birth to her children John and Louis whom she had with her husband Ignacy. If we can determine who lived in that house we may find out who William's parents were...or was the house number a ruse from Anna to further complicate things?

Did Elisabeth truly exist and why did she give her baby to Anna to take to America? What became of her back in Rudnik? Was she caught up in the conflict of 1914 when the Russians invaded and destroyed 80 percent of the town?

Or was Anna the mother of this baby after all, and if she was, who was William's father?

We are still waiting on the birth records of Mary, Frank and Anna, and Dom has also contacted family geneaologists in Poland who claim that Hompesch fathered their illegitimate ancestors to see how they came to that conclusion. He has also reached out to historians in Rudnik to find out if they can be of any help to us. 

And Frank's passenger record also leads to more questions: Was the family narrative of him spitting at a portrait of Czar Nicholas even true? The story was that Frank was released from jail when Alexei Romanav was born and Czar Nicholas freed political prisoners in celebration - historically, this really did happen. 

But Frank's Ellis Island records show that he was on his boat by January 4 1904, and Alexei wasn't born until August 12, 1904. The Ellis Island records also ask if the passenger was ever incarcerated and Frank answered "No".

To be continued  

Many thanks to my cousin Anna for kindly contributing to the cost of research! I'm so glad we're on this journey together! 

Many thanks to our amazing researcher/geneaologist/translater: Dom of  mypolishancestors.com. We would be lost without you!

Count Hompesch

Although Hompesch kept a harem of unmarried women and their illegitimate children on the outskirts of town in Krzywdy (interesting side note, his own marriage was childless and the Hompesch noble line is now extinct), he was very beloved by the people of Rudnik nad Sanem. Even to this very day he is celebrated with an annual wreath laying ceremony and an outdoor wicker festival where giant woven sculptures are placed throughout the village to commemorate the man who founded the industry that the town is still known for.

When Count Ferdinand Hompesch inherited the Rudnik nad Sanem estate from his father he endeared himself to locals by learning Polish, establishing railway lines and bringing modern medicine to the village for the first time. Although I don't understand the politics of this region well, it seems that in addition to be a noble Count he was also in the legislature and elected to a treasurer type position where he balanced the budget of the area in a way that made the town more prosperous than it had ever been.

But his main contribution to the area occurred when he noticed an abundance of Osier growing along the San River and he had an epiphany that wicker basket weaving would be the perfect industry for Rudnik nad Sanem. It was, and it continues to be. Rudnik nad Sanem is one the biggest exporters of wicker in the world.

In 1872 Count Hompesch sent five local young men to Vienna to learn the trade of basket weaving. They returned home and began to teach others. By 1878 Count Hompesch had founded an entire basket weaving school in Rudnik nad Sanem to train the local population on how to weave baskets and furniture.

(Side note: If you're reading the translation of Polish to English of Count Hompesch's Wikipedia page, it says that he founded a basketball school in Rudnik nad Sanem. I thought that was odd for 19th Century Poland, but what the heck do I know? Yes, that was a translation error. He founded a basket weaving school.)

The interesting thing about learning that Hompesch was a willow worker is that in America our Frank Janusz was too. From his earliest records Frank identified himself as a "reed worker". When Frank moved to Cincinnati between 1913-1916 it is my opinion that he did so to find work in the wicker furniture industry. I believe that Frank had no interest working in the textile mills of Lawrence. It was so important for him to work in the medium he was accustomed to, that he left his mother and stepfather, his sister and his three half brothers behind in Massachusetts and started a new life in Ohio where he worked for at least two wicker companies: Willoware and Fick's Reed Co. He sent furniture back home to his sister and at least two pieces were passed down to my grandmother, Jane.

Revisiting some of the stories we know of Frank, the fact that he spoke a "higher dialect" of Polish didn't seem to make much sense at first. How could a man born and raised with his family speak a better dialect of the language they shared? Considering he may be the son of Count Hompesch makes you wonder if he had educational opportunities not available to his younger half brothers Louis, John and William; or to his brother in law, Stanley.

And speaking of Stanley, the story that he was illiterate because he was from the Russian partition and discouraged from education? Not true, according to Dom. Both Mary and Stanley were from the Austrian-Hungarian partition, with Stanley hailing from L'wow the present day city of L'viv Ukraine, which was also known as Limberg to the Austrian-Hungarians, and Leopolis to the Latin speaking Catholic Church (Yes, this one city had four names....very confusing to Americans trying to research their family history! At least three of these names show up our documents.)

However, we do know it was true that Stanley was illiterate and Mary could read and write. The ship's manifest asked that question of the immigrants on board. The reason for this story cannot be known, perhaps Stanley was ashamed of his illiteracy and made an excuse to pardon himself.

Likewise, we will never know if Frank actually spit at a portrait of the Czar in a bar in the Russian partition. However, it would stand to reason that the potential son of an Austrian-Hungarian Count would have no love for the Russian Czar...Right? Researching the history of Poland means also trying to understand Russian, German, Austrian, Hungarian and Ukrainian history and relations one hundred and more years ago. 

At this point the illegitimacy of Frank and Mary is confirmed. Not only did Mary have no father on her marriage license, she actually had to go to Nisko (akin to a county seat where administration work occurred, from what I can tell), and obtain a court order giving her permission to marry, since she had no father to grant the permission himself. 

I found the following information about Count Hompesch on a community page, written in Polish in 2020:

We honoured the memory of Count Hompesch

A pioneer of Rudnik wickerwork, a member of the Council of State, the owner of Rudnica estates, a social activist, a good and caring man – this was Ferdynand Hompesch, who initiated wickerwork in Rudnik, known today not only in Poland but also abroad.

As every year, to commemorate his memory, employees of the Commune and City Hall in Rudnik nad Sanem laid a wreath at his monument and lit candles. October 27 marks exactly 123 years since his death.

The monument, which is a bust, was founded in 1904 by the inhabitants of the city in gratitude for their activity and a number of merits. The monument was made by the Rzeszów sculptor Juliusz Bełtowski.

The Count died in 1897 and was buried in the Czech Republic. His marriage was childless and twenty years after his death the Hompesch noble line ended when the last noble Hompesch died. 

In 1904 the bust of Count Hompesch was erected in Rudnik nad Sanem. 

1904, the year Anna gave birth to William, her youngest son, whose birth is now also a mystery because Ignacy's ship manifest shows he left Poland 11 months before his son was born there.

1904, the year another baby was born, Alexei Romanov, and Czar Nicholas II pardoned the political prisoners in celebration.

1904, the year Frank left jail (maybe) and came to America (definitely). 

1904, the year Mary married Stanley and moved away to L'viv to prepare for her own voyage to America.

This morning I drove to work before 6am with a folksy song playing on the radio I had never heard before. It only caught my attention by the repeated "1904" lyrics. When I got to work I checked the playlist on the stations website. 1904 by Tallest Man on Earth. Was that just for me??

So, now we wait for Dom to do more research, to see if a link can be found between Count Hompesch, Anna Janusz and her children, Frank and Mary...

Unraveling a Mystery in Real Time

The wedding of Lewis and Agnes Busta in 1916. Back Row L-R: Mary Janusz Mazurkiewicz, Unknown, Unknown, Frank Janusz, Jennie Janusz, John Busta, Albina Busta, Stanley Mazurkiewicz.
Bottom Row L-R: William Busta, Ignacy Busta, Agnes Chowaniec Busta, Lewis Busta, Anna Janusz Busta

In 1905 my mother’s maternal grandparents stepped off their boat from Poland and onto Ellis Island. Stanley and Mary (Janusz) Mazurkiewicz were newlyweds and Mary was pregnant with their first child. They were eager to make a new life in America. Traveling with them were Mary’s two young half-brothers, John and Lewis Buszta.

From Ellis Island the family was traveling on to Lawrence, Massachusetts where other members of the family had already immigrated and made ready for Mary, Stanley and the boys to join them. Ignacy Buszta had arrived first in 1903. He was Mary’s stepfather, husband to her mother Anna and father to the young boys traveling with Mary and Stanley. Also waiting in Lawrence was Mary’s brother Frank, also from Anna’s previous marriage. Anna and her baby William Buszta joined the family sometime in 1905 as well, according to census records. The family had purchased a large farmhouse on five acres in Methuen. To this day that house remains in the Buszta family, a branch who our family has lost touch with generations ago.

Frank Janusz had emigrated in 1904. It is said that while in a bar in Poland he spit at a portrait of Czar Nicholas II. At this time Poland was no longer a country but was partitioned between the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire. After Frank spit at the Czar’s portrait he was arrested and thrown into jail. At that time Czar Nicholas had four daughters who would not be able to inherit the throne from their father, as only male heirs could reign over the Russian Empire. Finally, in 1904 a male heir was born, Alexei. There was much rejoicing and Czar Nicholas pardoned all political prisoners as part of the celebration at the birth of his son. Upon his release from prison Frank promptly set sail for America. (Note: there is no documentation to corroborate this story, it is oral history passed down through the generations. The only supporting evidence I have is the fact Frank did sail for America in 1904, the year Alexei was born, and research confirming that Czar Nicholas II did pardon political prisoners as part of the celebrations surrounding his son's birth).

Other oral histories of the family in Poland include the anecdotes that Mary was from the Austrian-Hungarian partition and was well educated and literate as the Germans held education in high esteem. Her husband, Stanley, was from the Russian partition and was illiterate as the Russians didn’t believe that the populace should be educated. The ship’s manifest confirms that Mary was literate, and Stanley was not.

 Another family story is that Frank spoke a “higher dialect” of Polish than the rest of the family. What did this mean and how was it possible?

And lastly, there was the mysterious Count Hompesch, a relation who was spoken about only in Polish, confounding the younger generation, English-only speaking children who wondered how a noble Count could possibly fit into the family tree…

Filling out my family tree has been a breeze on my English side, I can easily follow branches back to the 1500s with little effort as the work has been done before by prior genealogists. But this Polish side of the family was perplexing, no matter how hard I tried I could not find the name of Mary and Frank’s father, Anna’s first husband, my great-great-grandfather, the elusive Mr. Janusz. Hours spent on Ancestry rearranging the letters in their names to hopefully hit a positive record lead nowhere.

Anna Buszta has always interested me. As a child my grandmother would tell me about how her grandmother died in an oil lamp accident, when her clothes caught fire from the kerosene. Not only that, my grandmother insisted that the family members could hear Anna’s screams in the house after her death. A real-life ghost story.

Earlier this year I reached out to the Methuen Public Library to see if they could help me learn anything about my great-great grandmother’s death. They were fabulous and within the hour had procured an article from 1925 about the fire and injuries that killed Anna. Her accident occurred either Saturday night, the 22^nd of August or the following morning, Sunday the 23^rd.  Her death occurred Monday the 24^th at 8:45PM. She must have suffered greatly in those 48 hours after such an accident. In addition to the article I also requested her death certificate from the city of Methuen – just as suspected she had died of burns sustained in an oil lamp accident. But the most telling thing I learned from her death certificate concerned her parents’ names: Mother’s Name: Can not be learned. Father’s Name: -- Janius

Janius. Just a spelling mistake away from Janusz. The last name of Anna’s first two children, Frank and Mary. I had already noticed that on all the marriage licenses of her sons, Frank, Louis, John and William, each time the Mother of the Groom's maiden name was recorded as Anna Janusz. At the time I thought it was odd that Anna used her first husband’s name on these records instead of her real maiden name.

And Frank’s marriage record showed something else interesting. Where the name of the Groom’s Father was meant to be indexed there was no name at all. It was intentionally left blank with a cross mark through the box.

I had my suspicions for a while that Mary and Frank were the illegitimate children of Anna, but it wasn’t until I was holding her death certificate did the scales start to tip in favor of this being the reality: Anna had not been married before Ignacy Buszta. Her two children were born out of wedlock in 1880s Galicia and had been given her maiden name as their own last name.

Even after Anna and Ignacy married when Frank was 10 and Mary was 7 they retained Janusz as their last name. They did not take their stepfather's last name.

My Polish family was devoutly Catholic, the year that they arrived in Lawrence they set to work immediately with other Polish immigrants to build a Catholic church for their community. This was the Holy Trinity Parish. My grandmother would tell me how she grew up across the street from this church, at the corner of Avon and Trinity Streets. She was the daughter of Stanley and Mary and she was right in the middle of their seven children who survived to adulthood. Another five children in the home died young and were buried at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery, where Anna and Ignacy would be buried as well.

My grandmother proudly hung an 8x10 photograph of Pope John Paul II on her wall near the photos of her grandchildren. She was so proud to be both Catholic and Polish. If she were still alive today and was told that her mother had been illegitimate…it would not go over well.  

At a complete dead end, I turned to a professional genealogist in Poland. Dominik has been wonderful. He’s been able to find the names of the parents of Anna, Ignacy and Stanley. He was able to confirm that the family came from Rudnik nad Sanem, a village near Lublin on the San River. The one thing he was not able to find was Mary’s father’s name. As the marriage record of Mary and Stanley leaves the Father of the Bride's name blank, he also reached the conclusion that she was illegitimate, as was her brother Frank.

We would never find that elusive Mr. Janusz after all. He never existed.

At the culmination of Dominik's research I told my mother that my Polish genealogist had reached the same conclusion. Anna had been unmarried at the birth of her first two children. Asked if it was common for unmarried women to have children in that time and place Dominik replied "No it was not common. Unmarried mothers would typically be the maids."

We were at a dead end. 

We would never know the name of my great-great grandfather.

My mother responded "Maybe their father is Count Hompsesch.”

Count Hompesch. The mysterious figure who was only spoken of in Polish by Anna’s oldest granddaughters, Eugenia and Henrietta. His role in our family never made sense for the obvious reason: We are not European nobility. Noble families did not emigrate to America. They had it too good at home.

On a whim I checked Ancestry and google for any information on who this person could be. 

Yes, there was an Austrian-Hungarian-Czech noble family by the name of Hompesch. 

Yes, they had an estate in Rudnik nad Sanem, Poland. 

Yes, Count Ferdinand Hompesch who lived at that estate in Rudnik nad Sanem resided there during the time that Anna was giving birth to her fatherless children.

He was 12 years her senior...and he was known to father illegitimate children, bequeathing their mothers land on which to raise them. The name given to this hamlet, this community of unmarried mothers is Krzywdy, which translates in English to "Wrongs."

To be Continued