Introduction

The year is 2010 and more than a year has passed but the personal data of Kazimierz Zuziak (Kasimir Zuzak), for example his birthday, wedding day or date of death, couldn’t be found. Uncle Karol questioned Jozef Zuziak from Zabo intensively and was referred to the parish of Luszowice, a nearby village.
My enquiries there and in the diocesan archives of Tarnów were without success because no documents could be found in the church register of Luscowice and in the diocesan archives of Tarnów.
My enquiries at the clerical and national archives of North Poland had the result that there was only one Kasimir Zuziak in the time between 1790 and 1913 and that he lived in Greater Kommorsk, Wielki Komorsk. Another Kazimierz Zuziak (Kasimir Zuzak) could not be found. Therefore this must be our common ancestor from the Kingdom of Galicia.
Is this a mere theory or can it be proofed by facts?

 

Facts

It can be verified that Kazimierz Zuziak and his wife Marianna Ewertowna, Marianne Ewert, lived in Wielki Komórsk, Greater Kommorsk, because all of their eight children are registered in the church register of the parish. But birthdays, the date of their marriage and dates of death of Marianna and Kazimierz cannot be found there. Why? Well, it is an old tradition that the marriage is held in the home village of the bride. In the church registers of the surrounding parishes of Greater Kommorsk: Warlurbia, Montawy (Montau) and Dragacz no entries can be found. Why?

My enquiries show that the name Ewert is of Mennonite origin and the Mennonite research center in Bolanden-Weierhof, Germany, confirmed that a family Ewert lived in Dragacz, Dragass. But why is there no entry of the marriage in the Mennonite church registers? The explanation is very distressing. Kazimierz Zuziak was Roman Catholic and Marianna Ewert was a born Mennonite. According to the Mennonite research center it was strictly forbidden for Mennonites to marry persons of another religion. If you did that anyway their data was erased from the church registers and they were condemned from the family.
Kazimierz and Marianna held together and let their eight children be baptized in their home village of Wielki Komórsk, lest they didn’t have to grow up without God’s blessing.

Related?

While examining my photos for the purposes of genealogy (see parts I and II) there was no doubt for me that we, my grandfather Johann Zuzak, the priest Andrzej Zuziak, Marcin Zuzak and Jozef Zuziak, we all, had the same origin: Kazimierz Zuziak.

To proof this it is necessary to do a gene analysis. Therefore I collected the necessary genetic material. The inquiry at different laboratories concerning the costs of such an analysis let me discard the idea because an analysis of every person would have been necessary and the best offer was €357 per person.
In the end the photos in my archive helped. I showed them unsorted and in black and white to several renowned doctors here in Germany and in Poland. Due to medical confidentiality their names and addresses aren’t to be disclosed here.

These are the unsorted photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The result of the sorting regarding their kinship was stunning. Photos 1 and 3 were assigned as possible mother and daughter, photos 2 and 6 as son and father, photos 4 and 8 as brothers and photos 5 and 7 as son and father.

But the truth, the real kinship is a little different:
Photo 1 (Rosa Zuzak) and photo 6 (Johann Zuzak) are siblings.
Photo 2 (Andrzej Zuziak) and photo 4 (Emil Zuziak) are son and father (both from Luszowice).
Photo 3: Melanie Zuzak is my second youngest daughter.
Photo 5: Marcin Zuzak is the son of Andrzej Zuzak of Pozan (see part I, ancestor chart).
Photo 7: Jozef Zuziak from Zabno
Photo 8: Helmut Zuzak, my father

All doctors confirmed, independent from each other, that the outward appearance and certain characteristics have been handed on through the generations and reappeared in the second, third, fourth, even fifth and later generations and will reappear in the future.

 

Conclusion

A gene analysis was obsolete. “You are all related to each other!” was the unanimous statement of different renowned specialists. We can’t definitely say that Kazimierz Zuziak was our progenitor but it is very, very likely. There is no doubt that they all have the same “forefather Zuziak”. There is no doubt that they are all related to each other.

 

Afterword

Dear reader,
my research concerning Kasimir Zuzak seems to have come to a standstill after eight years. It was an exciting time. Incidentally I discovered many facts about my ancestors that aren’t related to genealogy.
I would like to express my gratitude to the competent specialists, the clerical and national archives that have always been very helpful and where I always found a sympathetic ear for my enquiries.

Guldental, 3rd October 2010

 

Archives

1. Archiwum Diecezjalne
w Pelplinie
ul. Biscupa Dominika 11
PL-83-130 Pelplin

2. PARAFIA RZYMSKOKATOLICKA
p.w: sw: Bartlomieja Apostola
ul. Warlubska 4
PL-86-161 Wielki Komorsk

3. Urzad Miasta Grudziadza
ul. Ratuszowa 1
PL-86-300 Grudziadz

4. Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv Regensburg
St. Petersweg 11 - 13
D-93047 Regensburg

5. Karol Michal Zuziak
Gerichtsstr. 11
D-45355 Essen

6. Manfred Zuzak
Nonnenwiese 8
D-55452 Guldental