Back row, second from left is Josephine Madrzjewski; fourth from left is her daughter Tillie (Theodosia) Madrzjewska Lasin; middle row in center with the face scratched out is Carrie (Kasmira) Madrzjewska Stube; front row center is Verna (Veronica) Madrzjewska Condon. I think that to the right of Veronica is Steve Madrzjewski but I am not sure. And it's probable that the man in the back row is Jakob but I do not know for sure.
According to Aunt Carrie, every year more of their Polish family members would arrive from Poland, and they would go to meet them as they came across Lake Michigan from Grand Rapids, MI. They would take them into their own home for a year or so until they could afford their own place, and then they began all over again with more relatives the next year.
Aunt Carrie often spoke about sleeping 3 people to a bed, and about how their family actually had 2 apartments in their building because there was so many of them. They all attended St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church, which is actually my church now! I have several of the baptismal records etc. from St. Mary's, which is on the corner of 32nd & Aberdeen in Chicago. At the time of the 1900 & 1910 census, they were living a couple of blocks away at 3216 Aberdeen (which was called Mosspratt at the time.) Interestingly, they also owned their home free and clear in 1900 and 1910 as evidenced by the census data. In 1920 & 1930, we find Jacob gone and Josephine living at 3118 Mosspratt renting her apartment and living with some of her children.
Also of interest is that Tillie (Theodosia Madrzjewska) Lasin is living with her husband Harry (Gerome Lasinski) Lasin in the same building as her parents in the 1910 census. We later find some Lasinskis (Leszcynski) living at 3118 Mosspratt with Josephine in 1930.
Jacob (Jakob) Madrzejewski came here with his wife Josephine (Jozefa) and their son John who was born in Poland. They changed their name to MODJESKI at some point, and that is how it has been spelled since about the 1940s. It is also how it was spelled in the 1920 census, but it was spelled Mondrzejewski in the 1930 census. Many names were changed at Ellis Island, but as you can see from the census records here, they were still spelling it Madrzjewski. (Please note that in the Polish language, the woman would use an "A" at the end of the last name and the man would use an "I". So it will be MADRZJEWSKA for women and MADRZJEWSKI for men.) Because of the difficulties with the Polish language, I have found it spelled a variety of ways in various census records, including: Mondrzjewski, Modrzjewski, Madrzjewski and Madrezejewski. The proper pronunciation in English would be "Mown-ja-YEV-ski."(Emphasis in the YEV portion of the name.)
You can click on these links below to view the various census records for the family:
1900 Census
1910 Census
1920 Census
1930 Census
Jakob & Jozefa are both buried in Lot 24, Block J, Section St. Stanislaus of St. Adalbert's Cemetery in Niles, IL. You can CLICK HERE to see the genealogy from Jakob & Jozefa on down.
Please also EMAIL ME, with any additions to the family tree you may have. This is a large project, and I'd like to be as complete as possible, so please email me any info you have.
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