Granny Never Knew She was Older Than She Thought!

My Favorite Discovery: Maria Paprocka Skalska's Birth Record

Trust in Intuition

I have heard the urging of my intuition many times in my life and every single time something amazing happens afterward, I am still awed by the experience. Oftentimes ‘Big Renata,’ my ego, jumps in and tries to think things through, and then usually the opportunity passes. In the genealogy world, one can find a myriad of webinars and books focused on trying to break down the brick walls in one’s family tree...those ancestor’s who no matter where you search, you can not find the document you need to establish a fact. I have many such brick walls, but finding my Granny's actual birth date haunted me ever since I became captivated by genealogy. I could never have imagined that listening to 'Little Renata,' my intuition, would help me break through it one day! 

Portrait of Maria Paprocka-Skalska at age 69, Krakow, Poland 1971,
painted by Helena Skalska-Potaczek

The Wrong Date on All Documents

Conspicuously absent from the pedigree chart assigned by Mr Cobb in the 8th grade was the name of the Granny I had known as a little girl: Maria Paprocka-Skalska, nicknamed Mania. The simple reason is that she was not my blood grandmother, but rather my grand aunt, who raised my two mothers Zofia and Helena when my grandmother died at the age of 39. Due to the circumstances of war and being orphaned, Granny Mania lived her whole life not knowing for sure what her true birthdate was and thus she "picked" and clelebrated a date that seemed to be close, 3 August 1904. When she learned that the Parish church in the town she believed herself to be born in had burned down and with it the records, she had to have friends "attest" to knowing the facts of her birth in order to get her official documents. Of course these friends had not known her as a child, but obliged her to help out. So, all of her official documents including birth, marriage and passport issued in Poland, all have the incorrect information. In the US, her death certificate and even her headstone, reflect this as well. 

Polish government document issued with incorrect birth date.

What She Did Not Know...

About thirteen years after she passed away, I read a recently published book called Polish Roots by Rosemary Chorzempa and was instantly hooked. What I learned in those pages blew me away because I learned that Granny was mistaken. What she did not know is that every Parish priest in Austro-Hungarian occupied Galicia had to send a copy of all records to the diocese at the end of every year. The idea that a copy of her birth record *had* to exist somewhere began to germinate, and I began to voraciously learn about genealogical methodology. I made a vow that, before I died, I would find this out for her and correct it on her headstone if need be. 

1904 listed as her birth year on her headstone at the Shrine of Czestochowa in Doylestowm, PA.

The Search Begins

By 1997, I had learned about a repository in Warsaw that held metrical records from the areas of Galicia that had been ceded to the USSR at the close of WWII. I wrote to that repository with all of the information I knew regarding my grandmother's family and waited. Three months later I heard back, not from the repository, but from the Polish Consulate in New York informing me that of the eleven siblings of interest to me, they found records for three of them and would send them to me as soon as they received a check for $175. At the time, that was almost two weeks pay for me, but I sent it out and waited with bated breath. What I received was unexpected. One of the certificates was for my own grandmother, created from the copy of the original certificate I had sent *to them!* The other two were for a brother and a sister, but not Maria. Even worse, they were formulaic extracts, not photocopies of the actual pages in the metrical books. I was bitterly disappointed.

The three birth extracts I paid a king's ransom for, and still no information on Granny's birth.

I Do Not Give Up

After that, life happened. I had children, cared for my ailing second mom, and began to hear about wonderful things happening on the internet. Records were beginning to be digitized and shared on sites such as Ancestry and one could look up and order microfilm online, saving a trip to a Family History Center, which was not always close by. In 2015, I ordered the microfilm for Toustobaby, the parish Granny believed she was born in, drove an hour to the LDS affiliate library in Pittsfield, MA and meticulously searched the entire reel. Not a single Paprocki was mentioned in almost a decade of records. I was perlexed. Where were the entries for the two siblings that I paid a king's ransom for? I was crushed and at a loss as to where to continue to look. I was out of ideas and in I 2018 eagerly signed up for a week long course entitled "Tackling Tough Research Problems" at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. Finding her birth date and place were, of course, my research objectives. It was a dream come true to attend and the classes were amazing, and yet, I was no closer to knocking down this brick wall.

It had been twenty years since that disappionting packet from the Consulate and I was beginning to think I might not live long enough for her record to be indexed on Geneteka, a Polish indexing website staffed by volunteers. I continued to work on my husband's genealogy and researching Granny's two sisters who emigrated to the US and even tracked down some long lost second cousins! But the problem of Granny's birth was constantly in the back of my mind. Through local Polish Genealogy conferences I heard of an agency in Poland that would do research in the Ukraine and I began to toy with the idea of investing the $500 towards this goal. I thought I’d let the idea percolate a bit, when one day I watched a webinar specific to Galicia which mentioned the Status Animarum books, basically a census of the parishioners in a parish.

The Auspicious Day: 10 March 2021

Intrigued, I decided to try FamilySearch again and see if these Family Registers existed for Toustobaby. Despite my negative results in searching the records in the past, I could not give up on the place that Granny had been convinced was where she was born. A list of microfilms popped up and I noted two record sets with the correct date range which to my delight, were now accessible from a home computer! “Little Renata” was insisting that I go back and check these digital images in case I missed something that first time in 2015. The lack of the known two siblings records had constantly nagged in the back of my head! Where were they? 

I began in the year 1900 even though I knew that would be nearly impossible since my grandmother had been born in December 1899, but it allowed my eyes to adjust to the handwriting style of the priest. The first set of records was as before...nothing. But, there was another item which caught my eye. This set of records mentioned "Births of people not belonging to the parish and of converts 1881-1905." The date range was a match and 'Little Renata,' despite the late hour, was insisting that I search them. 

Eureka!

The sloping slightly heavily inked writing was thankfully very neatly written, but by this time my eyes were burning and I knew I had to get to bed as I had a morning doctor's appointment the next day. I went through about 10 pages, and shocked by the late hour, vowed that I would only do one more image, but when I finished that one I was compelled to click onto the next page. I had been fastidiously reading the parents column looking for the surname Paprocki all this time but the thought popped in my head to search for just Maria under the less crowded name column. Oh, how much easier it was on the eyes, why hadn’t I thought of this 3 hours ago!. By that time it was nearing 3:30am and I knew I had to be sensible and get some sleep. “One more,” Little Renata said. Ok, but this was truly it! I scanned the left side of the register... nothing and then I looked at the right side and about 2/3 of the way down there was another Maria. There had already been so many, but I dragged my eyes to the parents column. The first word was Marcellus! My heart skipped a beat. There it was! Marcellus Paprocki and Constantia Pryznerska, written in the most beautiful clear cursive writing that there was absolutely no chance of a mistake. Eureka!

That Sweet Moment

“Oh my God, I found it, I found…” I kept saying over and over to myself uncontrollably. Tears coursed down my cheeks as the reality of what had just happened burrowed into my brain. “Granny, I found it, I found it!” played like a skipping record in my head. I don’t know how long I sat there taking screenshots of the page, zoomed in, very zoomed in, zoomed out. I did not want to ever lose this image. Ever. 

1902. She was born August 8, 1902. Five days plus 2 years off of what she had always celebrated. Granny had lived a full 80 years, not 78. I laughed and thought, well how about that! Thinking you are two years younger than you really are!? And to think that none of her siblings ever corrected her thinking. It boggles my mind. And the town? Konczaki Nowe, is 12 km away from the town she thought she was born in. The record was there in the metrical books associated with Toustobaby, yet set enough apart that if not for my "Little Renata" insisting I try again, the record may never have been found. 

Twenty-seven years after I began my genealogy journey and vowed to find the date, and almost thrirty-nine years after Granny passed away, I finally found it. I kept my promise and the moment was sweeter than just about anything else in my life!

Birth and baptismal record for Maria Paprocka. Place: Konczaki Nowe. Birth date: 8 August 1902. Baptism date: 17 August 1902.

As for those two siblings' records from the Consulate...I still have not found them as of yet! Isn't genealogy crazy? 

2022: The Year of Misty

2022 was a tough one. I had covid twice, narrowly avoided a serious accident on an icy road at work, had my heart shattered with the passing of our darling kitty Buddy (it hurts so much I still haven't been able to make a memorial post for him), had a sister go incommunicado...again, and due to not having a sub, did not have a single full week off from work. I'm tired.

Yet I find that each year there is some theme that is highlighted for the year and for me 2022 was about all things related to Misty of Chincoteague, the real life heroine of the children's book entitled Misty of Chincoteague.

My love affair with Misty began when I discovered and read all of the Marguerite Henry books in the tiny library at Peace Valley Elementary School in Chalfont, PA when I was nine or ten years old. In the fifth grade, we had a school assignment to choose an author and write to them. I chose Marguerite of course, and she wrote back to me that spring. I have cherished that little postcard for the past forty years.

Postcard I received from Marguerite Henry in 1982.

Although I had a small Breyer model horse collection by this time, I did not add Misty to my collection until I went to college in 1989. My roommate Janet and I frequented the tack shop and slowly our collections grew. In 1993, on a drive down to Florida, my dream to visit Chincoteague Island became reality. We only stopped for a couple hours and the ponies I saw were only specks in the distance, but I was hooked. After our children were born and Breyerfest became our yearly family vacation, Chincoteague was often tacked on as a place to get some actual R&R before returning home. 

Each visit was punctuated with the requisite visit to the Pony Penning Enterprises Store, owned by Paul and Helen Merrit, which housed Breyers galore and Misty memorabilia. One of the items that I learned about in 1997 when I re-entered the hobby was a stablemate sized (about 3-4 inches high)1976 special run of Pancho, one of the ponies at the Merritt's Miniature Pony Farm. My search began then for one of them, but due to its rarity, I was not sure if I'd ever find one. We learned from local area hobbyists that we missed finding some leftover stock at the Pony Penning store by a couple years...argh! 

A variety of Misty memorabilia sold at the Pony Penning Entereprises Store on Chincoteague Island, VA.

In 2008, my daughter took her very first ever riding lesson on  Misty's great-granddaughter Misty's Black Mist at the Chincoteague Pony Centre. Misty's Black Mist was a celebrity in her own right, having been memorialized as a Breyer model in a set with her Mother Misty II and her half sister Misty's Mayday Twister and also featured at Breyerfest in 1996, the 50th anniversary of Misty's birth. She was the first Misty descendent to be colored black pinto, the same color as Misty's mother, The Phantom. She was extremely well trained and competitive in both english and western riding and was a lifelong member of the Chincoteague Pony Drill Team.

Display I made to commemorate Sophie's very first ever riding lesson on Misty's Black Mist in 2008.

Over the years we must have vacationed on Chincoteague close to a dozen times...twice in 2021! We have even discussed retiring there. Time will tell... 

2022 Marks the 75th Anniversary of the Publication of Misty of Chincoteague

It had been seven years since the last time I attended Breyerfest in Kentucky and I knew that in this special anniversary year, 75 years since the publication of the book, I HAD to go and show off my Misty Collector's Class entry. So, I began to hunt for the models I needed to upgrade or complete my collection. My first purchase was an upgrade of the 1984 Sears Special Run flocked Misty and Stormy with a mint condition box.

Completely unexpected, I received an incredible gift from the Kerley's, a wonderful couple we met on Chincoteague, who were friends of Helen Merritt and who saved some items which were going to be discarded when the Pony Penning store closed down. Among those items were original photos of Misty, Stormy and Night Mist! I was so excited to receive the box that I unpacked it right then and there at my case, in the middle of work!

Top image is the last photo of Misty with Todd as it appears in A Pictorial Life Story of Misty. 

The middle image is the original enlargement made for the book by Edwards Studio, Porterville, CA. 

The bottom image is the original photo from which the enlargement was made.

Inscription on the back of the original  photo reads: 

10/15/72, Misty & Todd 

Born 7-20-46, Died 10-16-72 9:30am 

Todd Died 7/3/73, Born 3/30/66 

I knew I would be incorporating those photos in my collector class display and spent a few weeks weeding through all of my models and memorabilia. My friend Howard mentioned a factory goof Misty, missing painted eyes, that he said I might need and she quickly exchanged hands. Howard figures large in this story later in the year. I also sourced a stool that I wanted to use as a prop in the set-up, which looked similar to the one that Misty used for her hand-shaking trick.

Very early set up of some of the items I wanted to include. Some were removed in the final cut.

In January, right after I received the box of wonders from the Kerleys, I pitched an article about Misty to my friend Jaime at Breyer for the annual Just About Horses magazine. She passed it on to the Editor of JAH and I didn't hear anything for months. But then on June 9, I heard back and was asked to write it. I was thrilled but had a tight four week deadline right in the middle of my Breyerfest show preparations, judging the Breyerfest Breakables show, AND preparing for my Rural Letter Carriers Union conference at which I needed to create an engaging display in accordance with my position as State Historian. The heat was on and I went into overdrive!  

Close-up of the header and timeline. The background is of Chincoteague Ponies that I took on one of our trips. The blue timeline is of Misty and Stormy's actual lives and the yellow timeline is of the various productions of the Misty model that Breyer has produced. Also pictured is the original hardcover 1947 book and two factory goof Misty models: one with solid hind legs and one with unpainted eyes.

The set-up was coming along, but I was still in need of one last model. A 1992 JCPenney Special Run made of resin and ground marble dust. There had only been 1,500 made and many had not fared well over the years, as the paint literally flakes off the models. I put out an APB to my friends at Breyerfest that I was on the hunt for the resin Misty and my friend Ln came through for me. She told me where to find her and how much was being asked, and I just prayed all night that the model would still be there by the time I arrived in Kentucky. She was, and the price had even been reduced and the best part? She had never been removed from her box...she was mint! 

Resin Misty model literally new in box thirty years after her release!

Misty Holds Her Own at Breyerfest Live

I was all set for the next day's show! Competition at Breyerfest is always fierce and when competing against set-ups with one-of-a-kind and super rare models my expectation for my humble Mistys was not very high. My prime motivation was to share my great love of Misty and the really cool photos I have become steward of. So, when I was announced as the fourth place winner in the commonality class, I was beyond thrilled! Misty shines in the limelight once again!

Fourth place win in the Commonality class in the Breyerfest Live Collector's Class Division.

While at the Kentucky Horse Park, I made sure to visit the Misty statue and memorial, where a time capsule has been buried. I hope I can be there when it is opened in 2046, one hundred years after Misty's birth.

Plaque at The Kentcky Horse Park, Lexington, KY.

Misty statue created by Brian Maughan which was gifted to the Kentucky Horse park by the Misty of Chincoteague Foundation, Inc.

Breyerfest was over and I was sure that other than awaiting the publication of the article in Just About Horses at year's end, my Misty sojourn was over for the year. Enter my friend Howard again. We had gone for lunch in Copake during which he casually asked me how much I thought a Pancho might be worth.

WAIT!

WHAT!?

"You have a Pancho? The Stablemate special run? He's going nowhere but in my collection," I said practically choking from surprise. And so he did. 25 years of looking and he has finally landed. 

The long elusive Pancho finally acquired!

So Good to be Back in Print!

November brought the release of the long awaited Just About Horses article. I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. It felt really good to see my name in print again after many long years!

My author's complimentary copy arrived on November 18, 2022.

Island Pony to Icon, Just About Horses 2022, Volume 49, page 32 

Island Pony to Icon, Just About Horses 2022, Volume 49, page 33

Island Pony to Icon, Just About Horses 2022, Volume 49, page 34

As part of payment for writing the article, I was given the 2022 special edition set of models depicting Misty's dam, The Phantom and, for the first time, a gorgeous foal model of Misty with authentic coat pattern. LOVE!

One Last Surprise

I thought the Misty goodness was over for now and I felt as if my cup could hold no more, but I was in for one last surprise. Something compelled me browse Ebay, a habit which I had broken some years before. But on December 20, I casually typed in 'Breyer Misty' just on a lark and was stunned to see a new in box Misty II, Black Mist, and Twister set autographed by Kendy Allen, their owner. Buy it Now $52. SOLD! 

I never expected this year would bear such an abundance of treasures to add to my Misty collection. I only have one last must have...the elusive chalky Misty, which I am sure will fill the years to come with addictive, hopeful pursuit. 

2022 was difficult in so many ways, but being able to lose myself in the world of Misty of Chincoteague tempered the bad days and ultimately left me feeling buoyed and looking forward to what 2023 will bring!

Cheers and Happy New Year!