After a quick trip to the FHC to follow up on the Pytlewski-Jozwiak marriage index listing that I found about a couple of years ago on the Poznan Project, I came back more confused than when I went in.
I found the marriage record of Joannes Pytleski and Catharina Jozwiak. It was pretty much what I was expecting. The record indicated that they married on November 1849 in Czerljno, Poznan, Poland. As far as I could tell, the record did not list any parents, but being in a hurry and knowing limited latin is not good for accurately deciphering records from the 19th century.
However, I could not rely on two names to determine whether these two people were my John Pytlewski and Catherine Yoziviak. I had to find the baptismal records of the 3 Pytlewski immigrants; Stanislaus, John, and Joseph. First, I found what I thought was Stanislaus record. I had determined before from various records that Stanislaus was probably born in 1852. The record that I found today for a Stanislaus Pytlewski indicated this Stanislaus Pytlewski was born (or baptised) May 8, 1851 in Węgierskie, Poznan, Poland. His parents were Joannes (John) and Catherina That was mostly what I was expecting. Next, I found a record for Joannes Pytleski. My previous research indicated that John Joseph was born May 4, 1854. The record for Joannes Pytleski indicated that he was born/baptised May 4, 1854 in Węgierskie, Poznan, Poland. The parents were listed as Joannes and Catharina. Joseph’s birth date was a little more up in the air as I had found two different dates for his birth. The first was Mar 3, 1859. The second was Feb 2, 1868. The record I found for a Josephus Pytleski in the Polish records indicated that Josephus was born/baptised Feb 2, 1858; essentially a combination of the two birth dates that I had. The parents again were Joannes and Catherina.
Here’s the twist…. On all three birth records, Catherina’s last name was listed as Szatamaksa. I will need to review the records again to determine the correct spelling. This fact threw me off as I couldn’t figure how this could be possible to have the dates for the three Pytlewski boys line up with the church records and then have the mother’s last name be different.
Well, as my wife and I were driving home we discussed the situation. She brilliantly suggested that it was possible that Catherina was a widow when she married John Pytleski in 1849 and she used her married name (Jozwiak) on her marriage record. The Szatamaska name may be Catherina’s real maiden name and they may have used this as opposed to her married name on the baptismal records. This is highly plausible as Catherina was 30 when she married the 36 John Pytleski.
So now I am left with another puzzle to figure out until I can really confirm that I have indeed found Pytlewskis across the pond.
Pytlewski Family Findings 