Julius and Rosalie Riski

Julius and Rosalie Riski

Monday, May 26, 2008

Descendants of Laurent Reszka

Descendants of Laurent Reszka

Laurent Reszka was born in about 1754, according to his death records. Laurent was probably born in Ugoszcz Parish, Poland, but existing birth records for the parish only begin in 1768.

Ugoszcz Parish is just south east of Bytów (Bütow), Poland, and is now in Bytów Gminy (County), in the district of Slupsk. At the time Laurent was living, Ugoszcz was known as Bernsdorf in German, and was part of Pomerania and the village where Laurent was from is on the boarder with West Prussia.

Based on the birth records of their children Laurent Reszka married Marianna Marmurowska sometime before 1805, but marriage records are missing between 1794-1803 for Ugoszcz Parish, so the exact date may be hard to confirm.










In most Polish names such as Marmurowski, the “i” on the end would indicate a male person the “a” at the end of Marmurowska would indicate a female. Other forms of surnames such as Reszka which already has an “a” on the end, would use Reszkowa to indicate a female or another form, Reszkowna would indicate an unmarried female.

The family name Reszka possibly came from the village of Reszki which is near Wejherowie, Poland. Wejherowie is further north than Ugoszcz, and close to Gdansk, Poland or on the map above Gdansk, is shown as Danzig in German.

A number of family names from the Ugoszcz Parish seem to come from nearby villages such as Rudnik from Rudniki and Prondzinski from Prondzonka. Many of the early records use the term "Von" which literally means "from" in German, such as von Czapiewski from the village of Czapiewitz in German or Czapiewice in Polish. The same is true of the village of Rekowo shown below, which becomes the surname Rekowski and the Village Osowo, which becomes the surname Osowski.

At the time of Laurent and Marianna’s marriage they lived in Sommin, Bernsdorf Parish, Pommern. Sommin is the German spelling of the Polish village which now known as Sominy, in Ugoszcz Parish, Poland. Sominy is a small village on Lake Sominy. On the map below from about 1871 the Village of Sommin is shown just above Gross Somminer See or Greater Lake Sommin and below the Village of Divan on the map is Klien Somminer See or Little Lake Sommin, which is now know as Dywanskie or Lake Dywan, in Poland.

The Village of Dywan is significant because that is where one of Laurent and Marianna’s children, Martin lived before coming to the United States.

Martin or Marcin was born on October 22, 1810


Between 1805 and 1819 Laurent and Marianna had five children, but in the year of the birth of their last child Anna in 1819, Laurentinus died at the age 65.

According to Laurent’s age on his death record, this would have made him age 51 when his first recorded child was born and 65 when his last was born, so I am not certain that this is correct.

The death date is in Latin and looks like its dated April 17.


On the death register, the record right below Laurent’s is also from Sommin, this was the death of Marianna v. Czapiewska utor Jacobi Marmurowski, aged 60. This could be Marianna Czapiewska wife of Jacob Marmurowski or Marianna von Czapiewski daughter of Jacob Marmurowski

The word utor which it translates in the dictionary as:
utor : to associate with, find.
utor : to take advantage of, benefit or profit from, use.
utor : uti : usus : to use, employ, possess, enjoy.
utor : with traits of character,

So Jacob is Marianna’s husband or person she used to live with at his place, possibly a brother or a relation. Jacob Marmurowski had a child in Sominy in 1784 and there was a Jacob Marmurowski as a godparent or witness the two Laurent and Mariana Reszka children’s births.

Jacob Marmurowski and Marianna Reszka were witnesses to the birth of a child in Sommin of Laurentinus Skiba, so I believe there maybe a connection of these families but I am not sure how.

I was unable to find a marriage record for Jacob Marmurowski to confirm his wife’s name and I have no other death record for Marianna Marmurowska nee Reszka to confirm she was not the one listed on the death record just below Laurent.

The Children of Laurent Reszka and Marianna Marmurowski are:

1. Castintia Reszka, born September 1805.
Sponsors: Johann Meyer and Mariana Davidowa
2. Marianna Reszka, born February 1808 in Sominy, Ugoszcz Parish, Slupsk, Poland (Sommin, Bernsdorf, Pomerania). She married Gottlib Chwanein February 1828 in Sominy age 21.
Sponsors Jacob Marmurowski and Julianna Szlyka
3. Marcin Reszka, born October 22, 1810 in Sominy, Ugoszcz Parish, Slupsk, Poland (Sommin, Bernsdorf, Pomerania); died August 08, 1891 in Winona, Winona County, Minnesota.
Sponsors: Jacob Zelka and Elizabeth Volzes (Volyes)
4. Simon Thomas Reszka, born October 1816 in Sominy, Ugoszcz Parish, Slupsk, Poland (Sommin, Bernsdorf, Pomerania); died Aft. 1872. He married Faustina Glawczewska.
Sponsors: Michael Felzek and Magalena Gardzewski
5. Anna Apolonia Reszka, born November 1819 in Sominy, Ugoszcz Parish, Slupsk, Poland (Sommin, Bernsdorf, Pomerania)2; died 1827 in Sominy, Kaszubia, Poland3.
Sponsors: Casmirmius Jadzewski and Christina Dombrowska

At the time of Laurent’s death his eldest child was Castintia only age 14. At this time sure what happened to Castintia, but after the death of Laurent and possibly Marriana, I have no record of the family until the children started to get married beginning in 1828.

If both parents had died in 1819 then the children would probably gone to live with relatives. There were other Reszka families living in surrounding parishes, and Sommin was in Bernsdorf, Pomerania and to the east was Lippusch Parish, in West Prussia, and to the South was Brusy, West Prussia. Being at the center of three Parishes there may be records in surrounding churches.



Generation No. 2

Marcin Reszka was born October 22, 1810 in Sominy, Ugoszcz Parish, Slupsk, Poland (Sommin, Bernsdorf, Pomerania), and baptized in St. Mary Magdalene Church in Ugoszcz.

After Martin’s father died when he was nine the next record we have of him are from Lipusz Parish where Martin and his wife Ewa Nosinska had baptized two of their four children born in West Prussia.

Martin married Eva Nosinska sometime before 1848 in West Prussia and Eva was born in about 1823 in West Prussia. Eva may be related to Jacob Nosinski for Wiele Parish.

Marriage records for Martin and Eva were not available in Lipusz Parish, but if they were married Wiele Parish where Eva may have been born, records may still be obtained.


On the detailed map above from about 1873, individual buildings can be seen as well as the border between Pomerania and West Prussia which runs through Lake Dywan and Lake Sominy. Sominy and Dywan are on a series of connected lakes that are now a popular canoeing and vacation area.

Birth records were not found for Julius or Augusta Martin and Eva’s two oldest children in Ugoszcz or Lipusz Parish.

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