Steve’s Genealogy Blog

At Christmastime in the 1950s and 1960s, my family frequently visited my father’s brothers and sisters and they visited us. I never really thought of these family gatherings as holiday parties although, in retrospect, they probably were.

At these gatherings, one of the favorite pastimes of the adults was cribbage. Being the only children at these events, my sisters and I were expected to amuse ourselves as the adults played cards.

Back when he was in trade school, my father made a cribbage board, and it was this cribbage board that was used for the games held at our house. The pegs were intricately carved and the board itself practically glowed with the rich stain and glossy varnish with which my father finished the board. My father kept his cards and cribbage board in a locked drawer at the base of a small table next to his chair in the living room. Except for a small safe that contained important family documents, this drawer was the only place in the house that was ever locked.

While the adults played cribbage, my sisters and I would invariably get bored and hover around the card table, watching the adults. These efforts were often short-lived, since we would ask questions like, “Is it good that you have so many Aces?” and be promptly banished from the room.

But, as we grew older, my sisters and I would find ways to involve ourselves in the family gatherings by putting on impromptu shows: singing songs, lip-synching to 45s, and reciting poems. Our efforts were somewhat less than professional, but occasionally we would bring the house down.

On one particular Christmas, my older sister and I taught our younger sister a song, a variant on “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”:

Randolph the redneck cowboy
Had a very shiny gun,
And if you ever saw it
You would turn around and run.

All of the other cowboys
Used to laugh and call him names.
They wouldn’t let poor Randolph
Join in any poker games.

Then one foggy Saturday Night
The Sheriff came to say,
“Randolph, with your gun so bright,
Won’t you lead my posse tonight?”

Then all the cowboys loved him
And they shouted out with glee
“Randolph the redneck cowboy,
You’ll go down in history!”

The only problem was that my sister stumbled on one of the lines. Instead of singing “Randolph, with your gun so bright, Won’t you lead my posse tonight?”, she sang “Randolph, with your gun so bright, Won’t you shoot my wife tonight?”.

Wherever did she get that line?

Written for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - Day 9. 

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

In 1946, my grandparents were listed in the city directory with only two changes from the 1945 edition. In the second entry for my grandfather, his occupation was changed from set-up man to die setter and his home address was added.

Kostanty, Helen, Raymond, Jane, and Frederick Niedzialkowski are listed in the 1946 Worcester Directory published by R.L. Polk & Co. The eldest child was married and living outside this household. The youngest child was not listed even though he was over 18 years old.

As in the 1945 directory, my grandfather seems to be listed a second time in the same directory, this time at the same address as the first entry.

Worcester Directory 1946 Entry for Kostanty and Helen Niedzialkowski and Family

Worcester Directory 1946 Entry for Konstanty Niedzialkowski

SOURCE: Massachusetts City Directories, Worcester 1946, page 855, Kostanty Niedzialkowski; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 06 December 2007); citing Polk’s Worcester (Worcester County, Mass.) City Directory Vol. 1946 CIII. 1946. Boston, MA: R.L. Polk & Co.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Worcester Directory 1946 Entry for Kostanty and Helen Niedzialkowski and Family. The brief record states the following:

• Kostanty Niedzialkowski resided at 40 Barnes av;
• his wife Helen also resided at 40 Barnes av;
• his son Raymond was in the United States Coast Guard and resided at 40 Barnes av;
• his daughter Jane worked as a computer operator for Grafton & Knight Co. and resided at 40 Barnes av; and
• his son Frederick was in the United States Navy and resided at 40 Barnes av.
• Konstanty Niedzialkowski was a die setter at Worcester Pressed Steel Co. and resided at 40 Barnes av.

In both entries, the surname is misspelled. In the first entry, the name is spelled Nieczialkowski and in the second entry the name is spelled Niedzalkowski. My grandfather’s first name is spelled Kostanty in the first entry (which is the way he usually spelled his name) and is spelled Konstanty in the second entry (which is the proper way to spell the name).

The name Damian Niedzialkowski again appears in the directory (misspelled as Damiam Niedzalkowski). He may or may not be related to my grandfather, but the circumstantial evidence indicates that he is probably a distant relative.

It’s curious as to why my grandfather was listed twice in the directories for 1944, 1945, and 1946. Perhaps the compilers did not realize that Kostanty Nieczialkowski and Konstanty Niedzalkowski, both residing at 40 Barnes Avenue, were the same person.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko