Walenty Paprocki
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| Emilia Paprocka Baptismal Certificate, 1899, shows her father as Marcellus (Marceli) Paprocki, Steward, son of Valentini |
When I say little known, I really mean it! All I know about Walenty (the Polish equivalent of Valentine) is basically his name. He appeared on my "Original Source Document" that I discussed in week one, and is recorded in my grandmother Emilia Paprocka's Baptismal document, as seen above. Also corroborated by her younger brother's Baptismal certificate as seen below.
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| Franciszek Paprocki Baptismal certificate, 1908, shows his father as Marcellus (Marceli) Paprocki son of Valentini |
Since Marceli was born around 1864, I can assume that Walenty was born some time before 1844. Where, is any one's guess and where he lived or what he did is a complete mystery...so far. However, when I first introduced my "Original Source Document" I alluded to the fact that there is a "Count" in the family tree, and this is the guy that it was attached to. Family lore, as told to me by my second mom, Helena Skalska-Potaczek, claims that the Paprockis were of the minor gentry or szlachta with landholdings spanning from the area called Podolia (which is now in the Ukraine) to the foot of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (home of Bartek a 1,000 year+ oak tree) which is near Kielce in Poland.
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| The area in which the landholdings are rumored to have existed, as seen on a 1799 map |
These landholdings are rumored to have included a string of numerous manor houses or dwór, which are basically what we call country estates today. Generally built from the late 1500s to the early 1800s, these properties contained houses built mainly of wood, ranging in size from from a modest 2-4 rooms to full fledged mansions. They also included a complex of other outbuildings, stables and gardens. In their heyday there existed some 12,000 of these holdings, while today there are less than 3,000, and of those a great number lie in ruins. If you are interested to learn more and see how they looked, check out this nifty website here!
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| Showing the area on a contemporary map in order to appreciate the size of it! It compares to the length of the Czech Republic or even Slovakia! |
The story goes that one of my great grandfathers, perhaps even Walenty himself, was quite a high roller with the cards, and essentially gambled away the entire family fortune! This covers an area about 350 miles long, giving me quite a needle in the proverbial haystack to find any of these estates, even if there were many of them. Anyone knowing of how to start this search...please contact me!!
One interesting side note, though. As I was searching for the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, I stumbled across a village by the name of Paprocice, deriving from the word paproć, which means fern, and from which the surname Paprocki derives. Could this mean some connection? Another path to research, I guess!
Next week's topic is Heirloom...
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