When looking for the records of her children's births or deaths, confusion reigned. Her last name was rendered:
- Lozinski (with a slash through the L)
- Lazewski (may have a slash)
- Laszewska;
- Lejeski
- Laezi
- Laziske
- Lazuski
- Oreswki
- Orzewska
- Legewski and....
- Wyjeski
To top that off, in the church marriage records, her name was given as Orzewska. The notice in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and actually in the marriage record itself in Ramsey County, her name was recorded as Stina Lozewska.
A lucky break came when I started tracking down the baptismal sponsors of Frank and Stella's children. The sponsors for Andrew Bulera baptized December 10, 1900 at St.Adalbert's, St. Paul, the godmother was recorded as Katherine Stryzewska.
I followed this name out in census and death records. Katherine Strzyzewska died on 31 January 1932. The certificate says she was 96 years old. She was born in Poland and her father's name was given as Michael Kiszka. I went to see if an obituary would shed any light on her relationship with Stella or Frank Bulera, because baptismal sponsors are often family members.
The obituary in the St. Paul Pioneer Press read thus:
STRZYZEWSKA--Katherine. In her 97th year at 848 Case street, January 31st. Survived by her husband, Thomas. Mother of Stanislava Bulera, John Lazewski and Stanizlaw Strzyzewska (sic), also 20 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Funeral from the home of John Lazewski, 850 Case street, Wednesday, February 3d, at 8:30 A. M. Services at St. Casimirs church at 9 A. M. Interment Calvary.
Wa-hoo! This was totally new information in terms of the family tree. It added two generations. It begins to solve the name confusion. It turns out that Katherine was married previously to Andreas/Andrew Lazewski. After his death, she married Thomas Strzyzewski.
Sometimes in the census records, John Lazewski was recorded as Strzyzewski since Thomas was the head of household. I'm not sure how Lazewski morphed into Orzewska, but this just shows how creative you have to be in deciphering the Polish names. Sorry, Polish relatives, but it is much worse than anything I have seen in Irish records! One thing I did learn about the Polish L with a slash through it is that it has a soft w sound. See this Omniglot page for more pronunciation fun!
The fact that Stella's brother's name is given as Lazewski in their mother's obituary was a big help. He later muddies the waters by changing his name to Lasky.
On Stella's death certificate, her father's name is given as Thomas Lazewski. This is so much easier to understand now. The first name of her step-father Thomas Strzyzewski and the surname of her father were combined. This points out how records are not always accurate!
Stella's death certificate also says she was born in Warsaw, Poland. This also turns out to be incorrect. We now have much more information on Stella's origins thanks to Patti Kiszka Metsch. A couple of years ago I posted Katherine Kiszka Lazewska Strzyzewska's obituary online. Patti responded to me that she had Kiszkas in her tree and they were from the area of Poznan. This was a wonderful random act of genealogical kindness!! If I had ever gotten to looking for Stella's origin's, I would have started out searching far from her place of origin.
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Stella's baptismal record, courtesy of Patti, says she was born in Trzek on 22 April 1872. Her parents are Andreas Lazewski and Catherina Kiszka. Her godparents are Antonius Malecki and Victoria Kiszka (Catherine's sister).
Thanks to Patti, there is much more to be shared about the Kiszkas.
Maiden name mystery solved!!!
And now, Stella Lazewski Bulera has a serendipitous namesake! Though not intentional, there is now a Stella Marie Blaha--great, great, great granddaughter of Stella Bulera!
Thanks to Patti, there is much more to be shared about the Kiszkas.
Maiden name mystery solved!!!
And now, Stella Lazewski Bulera has a serendipitous namesake! Though not intentional, there is now a Stella Marie Blaha--great, great, great granddaughter of Stella Bulera!
