RIP to the Best Father-in-Law a Person Could Ask for...

Rest in Peace, Arnie Blaha
1920-2016

Jim, Erin, Arnie & Jack Blaha
Father's Day 2016

     Arnie was sharp until the last week or so of his life.  He was a very good listener and would recall bits of conversation and life events for those who had his ear.  He enjoyed seeing and hearing about all the great grandchildren.  The most recent, Stanley Arnold, born within a week of Arnie's death.

Arnie's obituary:

Dear Father & Grandpa Age 96 of St. Paul Passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family on September 28, 2016. Son of Emil & Mary (nee Bulera). Preceded in death by wife Dorothy; brother John; and son-in-law Greg Travis. Honored and dearly missed by children James (Mary Catherine "Kay") Blaha, JoEllen Travis, Gerald (Gloria) Blaha & Cindy Blaha (Keith Goetz); 12 grandchildren Matthew, Michael & Timothy Blaha, Scott, Monica, Dan & Maggie Travis, Alex Blaha, Emily Palumbo, Ellen LaRue, Katie & Jenny Goetz; 6 great grandchildren Stella, Lila, Henry, Macie, George, Jack and two more on the way; sister Bernadine Benson; in-laws, Josephine Kusz, Jack Hansen and Virginia Blaha and other family & friends. Mass of Christian Burial Wednesday (October 5) at 10:00 am at CERENITY MARIAN CARE CENTER CHAPEL, 200 Earl Street with visitation one hour before the Mass. Interment Fort Snelling National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred.

Published 2 October 2016, St. Paul Pioneer Press and on Legacy.

He was a good, loving man.

Facial Recognition...

M. Hayek, Stella Lazewski Bulera, Janice Wandmacher

Thanks to Jim's aunt, Bernie Blaha Foley Benson, I now know what Stella Lazewski Bulera looks like!! Stella Bulera was Bernie, John (RIP) and Arnie's grandmother on their mother's side. If you recall from a previous post, she is the woman whose maiden name was rendered about 15 ways. (One for each kid!)  She looks like a pretty happy woman for having all those kids.  AND, I was recently informed that she made better kolaches than me! (Should a Polish woman even be making kolaches?)

Franz Bulera, conscripted into the Prussian Army



Franz Bulera--Prussian Army record, page left

  Lukasz, who has been doing research for me in Poland regarding the Bulera family, recently sent me these photos of Frank's Prussian Army Conscription Records.

Part of the record says:  "Infantry" in the third year of his service (1879) - Regiment #54.

It also reiterates his birthdate and place of birth. His mother's name also appears in the record.

Bulera Prussian Army record, page right

Bulera Update

     One of the researchers at the Poznan Project recently sent information about Frank and his brother Joseph. Both men were married in Poland before they came to the United States.
     Information translated from the marriage record of Frank is:

 Farm worker: Franz Bulera;  Roman Catholic; b. 14 Aug 1857 in Kaczkowo, resident in Kaczkowo, son of the farmer Valentin Bulera and his wife Catharina Wyt, resident in Kaczkowo.
Unmarried girl Franziska Bauza, Roman Catholic;  b. 16 Nov 1862 in Kaczkowo, resident in Gasawa, daughter of the farmer Michael Bauza (deceased in Kaczkowo) and his wife Catharina Traczewska(?) now married Dominiak, resident in Kaczkowo.

      Information from Joseph's first marriage is as follows:

Farmer's son Joseph Bulera; Roman Catholic;  b. 2 Mar 1863 in Kaczkowo, son of the farmer Valentin Bulera (deceased in Kaczkowo) and his wife Catharina Domagala (sic) (resident in Kaczkowo).
Farmer's daughter Apollonia Jurek; Roman Catholic; b. 13 Jan 1866 in Bozejewiczki, son of the farmer Andreas Jurek and Anna Chrusniak from Bozejewiczki.

Lukasz recently found information giving the death date of Valentin Bulera as 5 Sep 1884.  The info was given by Joseph.  It also indicates that Valentin was born about 1821 in Kaczkowo.  This needs to be verified by church records.  This info won't be available until Archives open in spring.

There are also records that indicate that Valentin Bulera and Catherina Wyt were married in 1853.  It appears that Valentin was also married previously in 1850.  His parents were Martin Bulera and Margaret (maiden name unknown).

Lusty Men...

     Well, that is an assumption, but I was looking over the Bulera brothers today and between them they had 33 children!  That is beyond good Catholic!
     Our ancestor is Frank M. Bulera.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Franciska Bauza.  They were married in 1884 in Poland and emigrated on 12 Mar 1884, leaving Hamburg and arriving in New York on 27 Mar 1884.

Hamburg Ship List, The Moravia, departed 12 Mar 1884

Buleras in the 1885 Census, St. Paul

They were in the Minnesota State Census in 1885 in St. Paul, Ward 4.
         Frank and Franciska had 4 known children: Joseph, George F. (Adalbert), John Walter (Wadge), and John.  Joseph must have died as an infant.  He was born on 5 Feb 1885 but does not appear with the parents in the 1885 census which was enumerated in May. George and John W. (sometime recorded as Walter) both grew to adulthood.  No record beyond the baptismal record in  July, 1889 is found for the 2nd John. It is likely that Franciska died after childbirth.
     Frank and Stanislava (Stella) married on 29 April 1890.  They had 15 children! I have written previously about how much fun it was figuring out Stella's maiden name.  Almost every kid had a different rendition of Lazewski or a hybrid of Lazewski and Strzyrzewski. Here goes:  Sophia, Rose, Martha, Bernice, Mary Ann, John, Franz (Frankie), Andrew, Teresa, Marion (Mike), Margaret, Julia, Valentina (Viola), Leonard and Florian. Whew!
     Frank's brother Joseph and his wife Salomea had 14 children according to the 1910 census.  I have only found 13 records.  It seems that at least 9 of these children died as infants.  Some were unnamed in the records. Joseph and Salomea Nadohy were married on 12 Aug 1891 at St. Adalbert's in St. Paul. There is some confusion about her last name as well, but I am using the name that appeared in the marriage record.
According to the Poznan Marriage Project, he was previously married as well.  His first wife was Appolina Jurek.  She must have died before Joseph emigrated.
     On the 2nd marriage records for both Frank and Joseph, their parents names are given as Valentin and Catherine.  There is a marriage record on the Posen site for them as well.  They were married in 1853 and Catherine's maiden name is Wyt. I'm going to have this researched further.  We'll see what happens.
     I'm including the married names of the women in the labels.  Not going into all those kids today!
     Out of this bunch, our ancestor was Mary Ann Bulera.  She was born 23 Jan 1897 and baptized 7 February 1897 at St. Adalbert's. Her godparents were John (Orzewski) Lazewski and Rose Wilisek. John was Stella's brother.  I don't know if Rose is related.
     Mary Ann married Emil Blaha, son of Vaclav and Mary Henych Blaha.

The Woman of Many Maiden Names...

     Stella Bulera, Arnie's grandmother, is Polish.  I think that helps explain why it was so difficult to pin down her real maiden name.  Of course, there were a few red herrings thrown in there to make matters more confusing.
     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!