After posting about my research on the family of Adam Obiedziński and Faustyna Apolonia Obiedzińska, my cousin Christa wrote to me with a wealth of information she has from her own research on the Obiedziński family. She told me about another daughter of Adam and Faustyna Apolonia Obiedziński, born on 28 Dec 1802 and named Elzbieta, and she told me that the death record of an unnamed child of Adam and Faustyna Apolonia was that of their son Maciej.
Christa also told me that, in addition to being husband and wife, Adam Obiedziński and Faustyna Apolonia Obiedzińska were third cousins, once removed. Christa has the ancesty of the Obiedziński family going way further back in time than I do . Using the information provided by Christa, I found the birth and baptismal records for Adam Obiedziński and his siblings:
- Adam, born in Obiedzino and baptized on 25 Dec 1759 in Pałuki.
- Michał, born in Obiedzino and baptized on 24 Sep 1763 in Pałuki.
- Franciszek, born in Obiedzino and baptized on 07 Apr 1766 in Pałuki.
- Franciszek, born in Obiedzino and baptized on 09 Oct 1768 in Pałuki.
- Benedykt, born in Obiedzino and baptized on 25 Mar 1770 in Pałuki.
I discovered that I was also mistaken about the given name of Adam’s father. From the marriage record of Adam and Faustyna Apolonia, I read Adam’s father’s name as Mateusz. However, on the birth and baptismal records of Adam and his siblings their father’s name appears to be Maciej.
Further confusion comes from the fact that these records are written in Latin and the given names are all translated into that language. The Latin form of Mateusz is Matthaeus and the Latin form of Maciej is Mathias. If the names had been written in Polish, there would have been no confusion.
The fact that two of the children of Maciej Obiedziński and Marianna Milewska were named Franciszek suggests that the first child with that name may have died before the second was born.
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen J. Danko
