A treasure on the distaff side

Stanisław Orzełowski of Siedlce became widely known in 2002. He was finishing the history of his family at the time. When the work was done he published it as a book of almost 700 pages and organised the First Orze(y)łowski Family Reunion. Around 1000 cousins from all over the world came to the meadows of the village of Plewki near Zbuczyn, and the papers described how the locals wondered whether it might be the wedding of the Shah of Persia. But it did not begin with the Orzełowskis at all…

A Jasiński on his mother's side

That "big" reunion of relatives on the sword side would not have happened without the "small" one of 1993. And what emboldened Mr Stanisław to hold it was that a year earlier he had brought 100 members of the Jasiński family, his relatives on the distaff side, together in Jasionka. He did it again in 2000. Now at last he felt ready to organise the First Reunion of the Jasiński family of the Topór coat of arms. All because he had written "Historia Rodu Jasińskich 1750–2005".

The work on it took 2.5 years. When I ask where Mr Orzełowski found the strength to take on such a vast undertaking a second time, he says: "Since I had managed with my father's family, I decided the Jasińskis were no worse. And besides, I wanted to show them what the Orzełowskis had already experienced: that the family is a treasure," he adds. "When Marianna née Jasińska, my mother, died a year ago, hundreds of people came to the funeral, and 160 stayed for tea with the family. But if they were to meet on happier occasions too, everyone had to be found, and someone had to be willing to do the work. Perhaps I am so determined because I have a large family," he answers at last.

But it did not come easily. 5 years ago, when he was driving round the villages of the region reconstructing the family history, near and distant relatives recognised him as Franciszek's son and were happy to talk to him. "This time my mother's family asked: 'What have you got to do with the Jasińskis? You are an Orzełowski,'" he recalls. "So I had to win them over, if only by signing myself 'Stanisław Orzełowski, a Jasiński on his mother's side'. And I think it worked."

Different people, different experiences

Before we start talking about the reunion, though, Mr Stanisław tells me about the similarities and differences between the genealogies of the Jasińskis and the Orzełowskis. "The two families are comparable and they live close to one another. Except that the founder of the Orzełowskis came to this area about 250 years ago, while the Jasińskis have lived in Jasionka since the last of the Piasts. That made the first family history an easier task. It was 7 generations, so they knew one another well. In Jasionka, on the other hand, one Jasiński has no idea where his roots join those of another Jasiński. There are 6 living branches of the family in that village. I found it hard to take them all in, the more so as the documents go back at best to the fifteenth century. But since I could not get through the Latin, I decided to start with Jakub, who was born in 1749."

"For months I sat in the archives, drawing out the family tree," S. Orzełowski recalls. "It is very hard work. Without an inner drive and… a magnifying glass there is no point starting. Tracing the connections and linking the individual members of the family is an enormous job. Happily, the State Archive in Siedlce is very rich and the records are in good condition. I also searched the archives of all the surrounding parishes: Trzebieszow, Wiśniew, Krzesk, Zbuczyn, Zębry and Radzików. And then came reaching the living, which meant driving round the area and all over Poland, and hundreds of letters," he adds. "Of course the 'headquarters' for all of it was my home. Fortunately the family fell in with it. But to bring it off I had to win over my children and my wife. Like my mother years before, she was afraid of so large a challenge, but she assisted and helped me from beginning to end."

Mr Stanisław's "success" runs to 899 pages, containing genealogical tables with a historical introduction, a history of the Siedlce district and the parish of Zbuczyn, a chapter on traditions and customs and, finally, a set of instructions for using the family history. "The Book saves some 670 family photographs from being forgotten; it is better worked out and more detailed than the previous one. As to its structure, it is the same. And how does it differ? In that these are different people, different experiences, a different village," the author sums up.

In auntie's barn

If there is a family history, there must be a reunion. "The invitations have all gone out. That is over 1,000 addressees, even in America and Sweden," Stanisław Orzełowski reckons. The print run of the book is exactly a thousand. "Historia rodu Orzełowskich was printed in 580 copies, for those who had paid in advance. With the Jasińskis we wanted to do the same at first, but thanks to Władysław Grochowski, a member of the Jasiński family through his mother, part of the run will be waiting for latecomers."

The reunion, though, is already a collective work. On 30 October 2005 a Steering Group was formed to publish the "Family Book" and to hold the Jasiński Family Reunion. It is headed by Dariusz Jasiński of Zbuczyn. "He is the son of my mother's brother," Mr Stanisław explains. "Among the leaders of the Group there is also Małgorzata Zdanowska of Chromna, the granddaughter of my mother's sister. I come third in line. The chronicler and documentary maker of this family undertaking is our cousin Marian Czerski. Another 19 people are helping us. Together we coordinate the preparations, and there are a good many of them," he concludes.

The programme for the reunion planned for 21 July in Jasionka promises to be a full one. Anyone who remembers the gathering in Plewki knows that it will start with the handing out of name badges. Then comes the official part — with an open-air Mass (at which the homily will be given by Fr Michał Rozwadowski, parish priest of Our Lady Help of Christians in Borki near Radzyń Podlaski) and a performance by the Jasiński Family Choir under Barbara Jasińska-Sroka and Zbigniew Orzełowski. After that, members of the family will present scenes and poems on a specially built stage. Then comes the historical part: a procession through the village, the lighting of candles on the steps of the local wayside shrine, the unveiling of a stone to commemorate the reunion and the planting of a memorial oak by Edward and Ania Jasiński, the hosts of the reunion site. There will be no shortage of family gatherings either, nor of the "Memorial Room", nor even… a dance — as the organisers write: "in the barn of auntie Kazimiera Dziewulak, or failing that in the village hall".

So how could anyone not believe Mr Stanisław? The family is a treasure, and the Jasiński family most certainly is!

Author: Bartosz Szumowski · Source: Echo Katolickie, Siedlce (echo.siedlce.net) — the article page is no longer available.