Szwelice was the church-owned village that housed the parish to which the villages of Pomoski and Głodki belonged, and therefore was the home parish to my Niedziałkowski ancestors for many years. Generally, the gazetteer entries in the Słownik Geograficny were more detailed for the parish villages than for the smaller villages, and the entry for Szwelice is no exception.
In this entry are recorded the history of Szwelice, the origin of the parish, the names and holdings of some of the more eminent residents, information about rents and taxes (often paid in geese, eggs, oats, and the like), numbers of houses and of residents, and information about military service.
Słownik Geograficny Entry for Szwelice
Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Słownik Geograficny Królestwa Polskiego entry for Szwelice. Translated from the Polish, the record states:
Szwelice 1.) a village on the Pełtą river, Maków Powiat [District], Karniewo gmina [municipality], Szwelice parish. The parish owns a wooden church and has 1078 mórgs of territory. Lesser nobility live here. In 1827 there were 46 homes and 344 inhabitants. The village was from the deed of the Bishop of Płock. The deed of Father Konrad in the year 1203 mentions it (in the Pultusk Castellany). Bishop Wojciech Baranowski founded here a parish and the Church of Saint Lawrence. The parish is made up of the old villages of the bishop: Boby, Czarnostowo, Dębiny, Dzierżanowo, Gościejewo, Głodowo, Wójty and the villages of the lesser nobility: Głodki, Pomarki Wielkie, Pomaski Sikuty, Pomaski Kownaty, Slasy, Złotki, Zelki-Dąbrowe. The rectory grounds were composed from the old province of Szwelice; calculating from 4 włóki [a włóka is about 16.8 hectares] each with 3 fields of the village, as this charter of prince Ferdinand testifies, the Bishop of Płock transferred to the parish the charter of Hilary Krzysztof Szembek, Bishop of Płock, on the 7th of April 1756; by Bishop Michał Poniatowski confirms this charter on the 27th of May 1778. At the village in 1783 one finds 5 farms of mercenaries, out of which Mateusz Wieńczyk, with wife and daughter, has 2 beef cows; Kajetan Lendzian, married, 2 horses; Adam Przychodzień, with wife and 3 sons, 2 oxen; each landholder worked for the rectory for 2 days a week; moreover, there was found a certain Mister Mróz, a servant near the manor in Czarnostowo and the sexton grandfather with his daughter. Bishop Szembek on the 3rd of July 1758 granted to the church half a włóka in exchange for men from the Czarostawski manor, but evidently in spite of these men in Czarnostowo further was collected because in 1783 on the 19th of March Bishop Poniatowski confers on the church a new half włóka for 9 corps of men from Czarnostowo. The church possessed an enrollment: 500 Polish złoty in the Chrzanowo village (Karniewo parish) in the year 1750, 500 Polish złoty in Łosiny (Pniewo parish) in the year 1744 and 400 Polish złoty in Szyg (Rożan parish) in the year 1744. In the year 1819 to the priest of the parish, curate, organist, 2 medical personnel, 2 serfs and 14 farmers (10 planters for 2 korzecs [vessels for storing grain] of barley and ½ of winter wheat, between them a blacksmith, and 4 by 4 korzecs of winter wheat and 4 vegetables). An elementary school. The village of Szwelice in the year 1819 consisted of two parts: one entered in the storehouse of the Rożan economy, the second to Górek. In the Górek part in the year 1820 there were 2 rents (a blacksmith, planting 2 korzecs of winter wheat and 2…“ of vegetables, paying 62 złoty 22 grosze rent and 8 days of furlough [?]; the chair of the village council 4 korzecs of vegetables and 4 of winter wheat and 111 Polish złoty 18 grosze of rent); 10 mercenary farmers planting in 4 korzecs of winter wheat and 4 of winter wheat, working for 78 days coupled with 78 days of infantry, 16 days stationed and 4 furloughed [?] and coupled with 4 złoty 18 grosze 1 ½ shillings rent, a goose, 2 capons, 2 chickens, 20 eggs; 1 serf, planting 1 ½ korzecs of vegetables, 52 days of infantry and 4 furloughed [?], unpaid labor paid back to Czarnostaw. Moreover, the group paid the manor 67 Polish złoty of hiberna [tax paid to maintain the army during winter] and a tenth sheaf to the rectory in Gąsewo. At the same time in the Góreki part and at the rectory in the year 1820 there were 173 residents (33 men, 3 women; younger children 27 male, 25 female and 12 male and 10 female children over 10 years old; 26 male farmhands, 7 female farmhands); 19 horses, 42 oxen, 45 cows, 30 calves, 50 pigs. In the Rożan part in 1805 (at the time of measuring) 429 mórgs [1.388 acres per mórg]; at that time there was 1 half-knight farmer Żmuda, performing 156 days coupled with 4 days furloughed [?] and 16 stationed and paying back 20 Polish złoty of rent of the land, 5 Polish złoty 5 grosze for hiberna [tax paid to maintain the army during winter], 2 złoty 15 grosze for the watchman, 1 korzecs of oats, a goose, 2 chickens, 2 capons, 20 eggs and 3 elbows of yarn from the fibers of the manor. In the year 1806 two new farmers settled on the half-włóka: Łuniewski and Golba. In the year 1819 we run across 3 half-włóka settlements, from which all wages equally natural; only Golba and Łuniewski from a lack of harnesses made for unpaid labor for 104 days on foot, 16 stationed, and 4 furloughed [?]; 2 half włókas (Ampuła and Gadomski), they worked for 104 days by hand for 4 złoty 15 grosze of rent, 16 gallons of oats, ½ of a goose, a capon, a chicken, 10 eggs and 1 ½ elbows [a measure of length] of the estate’s fibers; 2 gardeners, working off for 2 days furloughed [?] and 8 stationed. Those stationed giving back in Bysewa, a tenth of a sheaf to the parish priest in Gąsewo. Together in the Rożan part were 36 residents (7 men, 7 women; 8 male young children, 6 female young children; 4 male children older than 10, 2 female children older than 10; 2 ministers); 3 horses, 4 oxen, 6 cows, 6 pigs, 14 sheep. In the year 1821 both parts were included into the economy of Górki. In the year 1827 in the whole village 344 residents, 46 homes. Szwelice parish, Maków deconry, 2197 souls. 2.) Szwelice-Pajewo, Ciechanów county, see Pajewo 1).
Lud. Krz.
SOURCE: Chlebowski, Bronisław, Filip Sulimierski, and Władysław Walewski, eds., Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) – Warsaw 1892, Volume XII, pages 89-90. Text in Polish, translated by Stephen J. Danko.
This entry was difficult to translate because many of the words are abbreviated, and unless one is fairly fluent in Poland, it takes a while to find likely translations for these words. Further, several of the words in this passage are archaic. I checked with a native speaker of Polish for help with the archaic words, and even she was only partially successful in translating these words.
Of particular interest, though, are the words:
gmina: municipality,
hibernia: tax to maintain the army during the winter,
korzec: vessel for storing grain,
łokieć: elbow (a measure of the length of spun fibers?)
mórg: 1.388 acres (in the Russian partition),
powiat: district or county,
włóka: about 16.8 hectares.
Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko
