Wolcott History
Unlike many of my previous blogs, this one is not about the
early English settlers, rather it is about a few decidedly non-English families
that may also be found in Wolcott history. In the wolcotthistory.org website
there are a series of articles about the major farms in the various parts of
town. I’d like to look specifically at two of these articles. (If you want to
read the rest of the article, please go directly to the wolcotthistory.org
website.)
The article on “Farms in the Northeast District” notes the
following:
“At the end of Beecher Road, you
came upon Pikiell Brothers Dairy Farm. Harry was born in 1908 and lived in
Wolcott most of his life. He and several of his brothers ran the dairy farm as
well as a well-drilling company. …”
And in the article on “North District Farms” is written the
following:
“The Lone Oak Farm was found in the
northern section of town on Woodtick Road and was owned by the Lewandoski
family. There were four Lewandoski brothers whose family came from Poland and
lived in Waterbury; they were John, Steve, Thomas and Anthony. On November 25,
1913, these brothers purchased farmland in the northern section of Wolcott. …”
This same article also notes:
“Just north of John’s property was
a farm owned by the Stryeski family. … but I have no other information about
this farm.”
Both of these articles were based on personal interviews
with members of the Pikiell and Lewandoski families.
I’d like to explore some of the genealogical information
about these three non-English family names – Pikiell, Lewandowski, and
Stryeski. While none of them are among the early Wolcott settlers, not being in
the town until the early 1900s, between them they owned a considerable amount
of property in the northern section of Wolcott where I grew up.
Brief Polish
History
Poland was established as a nation-state in the 10th
century. But because it included ports on the Baltic Sea, it was the object of
much invasion over the centuries – particularly by Russia to the east, Austria
to the south, and Prussia/Germany to the west. In particular interest to this
story, the country lost its independence in 1795 and was partitioned into areas
under the control of the above three countries. They did not regain their
independence until after WWI in 1918.
Thus it is that immigrants to the US during this 120+ year
period will be found in census records and the like as being not from Poland,
but from Russia/Austria/Prussia/Germany. As an example, the census records for
the Lewandoski family record them as being variously from Russia,
“Russia-Poland”, or Poland, depending on which census you look at. All three of
the families in this paper came from the part of Poland that was under control
of Russia. They had Polish names, and they spoke Polish, but immigration
officials and census takers in the late 1800s and early 1900s did not allow the
recording of “Poland” as a valid entry since it was not a recognized country.
The Families
The Lewandoski family (variously spelled as Lewendosky,
Lewandowski, Lewindorski, etc. in different documents) were from eastern
Poland, just north of Warsaw. The four brothers mentioned in the above article
were all born there in the late 1880s or early 1890s. The family did not all
come to the US together, but arrived at various dates between 1900 and 1912.
This was a common occurrence of the times. One family member would come over,
get established, then become the “sponsor” for the next family member, etc. It
was not until after the last family member arrived that they purchased their
property in Wolcott in 1913.
Harry Pikiell (also recorded as Pykel) was one of 10
children born to Frank Wadyslaw and Constance [Lewandoski] Pikiell. Frank and
Constance came to the US separately in the 1890s, were married in 1894 (he
being 27 and she being 19) and their children were all born in the US. They
originally lived in Windham, CT, before moving to Bristol, then to Wolcott in
the late 1920s. I have not been able to determine if Constance was a relative
of the Lewandoski family in Wolcott, but it seems quite possible.
The Stryeski family was headed by Anthony and Josephine
[Kawalewski] Stryeski. They were from the area near Przasnyz Poland, north of
Warsaw. Anthony came to the US in 1895 and Josephine came in 1910. They were
married in 1911 and moved to Wolcott sometime in the 1920s. Their five children
were all born in the US.
Immigrants
Like the rest of the US, Wolcott is a land of immigrants. As
I noted in an earlier blog (http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/07/wolcott-history-indians.html),
“While the European settlers and the Indians lived peacefully side-by-side, the
Indians eventually began to migrate westward to better (and less populated)
areas. The Tunxis tribe [which hunted on the land in Farmingbury] was never
very large, numbering perhaps only several hundred at its peak. But by the time
of the incorporation of Wolcott in 1796, to encounter an Indian in town was
quite rare.”
Most of the early settlers in Farmingbury/Wolcott were from
England as they were the dominant people-group in this part of America. But
later migrations included people from other parts of Europe such as the Polish
families above. Other migrations included the Irish (from the potato famine of
1845-1852, nearly half of the immigrants in the 1840s were from Ireland),
Germans (mid-late 1800s), Italians (late 1800s to early 1900s fleeing extreme
poverty in southern Italy and Sicily), and others.
In more recent years we have seen large numbers of
immigrants from places other than Europe, such as China, Mexico, and
central/south America. Those living in present-day Wolcott are representatives
of all these countries of origin and they contribute to the wonderful “quilt”
that makes up this country.
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