Zadarnowski Family, Zadarnowo - Family's History and Legend
King's travels created occasions to entertain the ruler, both to let him rest and to provide entertainment - mainly hunting. Polesie's forests, rich in game supplied the ruling couple - true hunting lovers - with many trophies worth noting in the chronicles.
What is more, the gentry from various regions of Poland arrived in the process of settling new areas of Polesie. This fact is proved by the coat of arms "Rotułd", which originated in the Kraków area. In Czyżyce poviat this coat of arms has been known since 1296, in Latvia since 1700 and in Warmia since 1750.
At that time a wealthy Rotułd used to keep house in "Kotówka"[Cat's place], (coat of arms "Rotułd": in a red filed half of a golden ring with a golden cross. At the helmet three peacock's feathers. Leszczyc, volume II, page 275)
Rotułd must have obtained the full of gentry's rights as he send an amazing living game animal to the king. This new gift was widely noted and the name Rotułd became more important. It might have been due to this fact that the king awarded Rotułd with additional land and the nickname Zadarnowski. ("Kings Sigismund I and Sigismund August ennobled as many as 337 people" Herbarz Rodowy[Ancestral armorial] - Alfred Znamierowski page 18).
Many legends and suppositions have appeared for almost 500 years of the history of Zadarnowski family because some documents from earlier centuries are missing. After 1945, the land belonging to Zadarnowski family became a part of a different country, which makes the access to source documents, such as parish books, very difficult.
The fact of receiving extra land and the nickname made it possible for Fedor „Cat" Zadarnowski to use the seal with the coat of arms Sulima. The expression "Ratold" used in relation to Fedor might originate from the old family coat of arms "Rotułd" after some deformations in speech or writing.
Fedor kept his house with his brothers Jan and Teodor. Later, firstly Fedor, and later both of his brothers - Jan and Teodor Zadarnowski, left Zadarnowo and moved „Na przy kupie" ["At get together"] in Bogusławice. There is no information on Fedor's and Jan's families.
Teodor Zadarnowski married Kaczanowska and died in the Wierzchowice battle with Moskow (XVI c.), however his offspring remained - 5 daughters and a son.
"This battle was 27th of November 1655 in Wierzchowicze in Latvia. Paweł Sapieha was running after Russian army (hunting the Russian army) and suffered heavy losses. Bychowiec Jan [Mogiła], Radoszyński Jakub and Zadarnowski Teodor [Sulima] was killed in battle !'" by Grzegorz Boczkowski http://edu.clk.pl/~pinio/
One daughter of Teodor married Jerzy Buchowiecki, the second one Jędrzej Śnieżka Błocki, the third one Daniel Jahołkowski and the fourth one Stanisław Laskowski. There is no information on the fifth daughter.
The son, Stefan Zadarnowski, married Katarzyna Laskowska, the daughter of Jędrzej Laskowski. Katarzyna gave birth to five children, a daughter and four sons.
1. The daughter of Stefan and Katarzyna Zadarnowski married Jan Ancota, the treasurer of Ziema Bielska [Bielsko region]. He was probably a nephew of Maciej Ancota, the bishop of Vilnius, and a brother of Jerzy Ancota, bishop suffragan of Vilnius.
2. The first son of Stefan and Katarzyna Zadarnowski, Daniel Zadarnowski had three wives:
• the first one was Teofila Wierzbicka, the daughter of the bailiff and notary of Ziemia Brzeska [Brzeg region]; she gave birth to four children: son Antoni and three daughters
• the second one was Teodora Okołowiczówna, the daughter of the treasurer of Orszańsk, with no children
• the third one was Marianna Buchowiecka, the daughter of the treasurer of Brzeg; she gave birth to a son and a daughter
3. The second son of Stefan and Katarzyna Zadarnowski, Wojciech Zadarnowski, had two wives:
• the firs one was Dorota Butkiewiczówna from Wołków poviat, with no children
• the second one was called Pomarnacka (her first name is missing), a widow, coming from the poviat of Oszmańsk, also with no children.
Wojciech was a person with knightly qualities; he served in king's hussar company. In XVII century hussar were heavily armored lancers, equipped in half amours with wings (the feathers scared enemy horses and the wings foiled attacks with lassos), basinets, lances and sabers. During a battle hussar was considered to be the main power used to break the enemy lines. In 1776 hussar was transformed into the National Cavalry.
4. The third son of Stefan and Katarzyna Zadarnowski, Konstanty, also had two wives:
• The first one was Barbara Brzozowska, the daughter of a „sword-bearer" in Kiev, and they head three sons: Antoni, Franciszek and Wawrzyniec. The youngest son, Wawrzyniec, became a member of a convent - Societatis Jesu
• The second wife was Barbara Niepokojczycka, the daughter of the treasurer of Brześć, who gave birth to four children, two sons: Ignacy and Józef and two daughters: Teresa and Gertruda. Ignacy became a member of a convent - Redemptionis Captivorum.
5. The fourth son of Stefan and Katarzyna Zadarnowski, Piotr, married Łabędzka, the first name is unknown, from Ziemia Łukowska [Łuków region]. They had four children: son Jędrzej and three daughters, Katarzyna, Marianna and Apolonia.
(the information according to the armorial „Korona Polska"[Polish Crown]
Nesiecki, volume X, page 14,
Notatka z Księgarni Akademickiej[The Note from the Academic Bookshop],
Poznań 14.06.194)
Great lands of Teodor Zadarnowski were inherited by his son Stefan. He divided them among his four sons; they passed the lands to their children, dividing them even further. As a result, the land of Stefan Zadarnowski was inherited by six grandsons of Teodor, who wanted to run farms.
One of them, Antoni Zadarnowski, who could have been the son of Konstanty (of his first marriage) from Bogusławice or son the son of Daniel (both nephews had such names) came into 40 hectares of the land near Zadarnowo settlement. Antoni started the family line of "the Antoniuks". He had two wives:
• The first one gave birth to Feliks, who had no offspring due to infertility. He and his wife dunk their way through the 20 hectares of inherited land.
• The second wife gave birth to son Józef (around 1838), and lived in Zadarnowo. Soon Józef Zadarnowski became an orphan and lived at his grandparents' home in Bogusławice for a while. When he was 16-17, grandparents left for Warszawa and the remaining children made Józef a servant in the kitchen. Józef came back to Zadarnowo. There he met Elżbieta Grodzka from Borysowo, who used to visit Helena Oladowska, a neighbor's sister, Aleksander Oladowski.
Elzbieta found Józef attractive as he had excellent manners and was very handsome - a tall, dark-haired young man with dark moustache, who kept his hair to the side. Around 1868 Józef married Elżbieta Grodzka (1848-11.03.1913). Elżbieta lived 65 years.
The farm neglected by Feliks, unkempt and limited to 20 hectares, was put up for auction. Józef decided to buy his land, which, he felt, belonged to him as the legacy of his father Antoni Zadarnowski. He bribed the czar's officials, who opened the auction and closed it immediately, announcing that Józef bought the land.
However, he had no money to restore the farm. He decided to become a serviceman to collect the necessary money. The farm was probably leased. He served priest Ożarowski for 11 years. Meanwhile, he lived with his wife in forester's lodges, first in Pszczółki, then in Lasowiec.
During the service the children of Elżbieta and Józef Zadarnowski were born: three daughters and a son. The eldest, Maria, lived only two years. The second one, Salwina, entered by marriage the Zarzecki family (she was the grandmother of Swolkienie among others). The following child was the son, Kazimierz. The youngest daughter, Maria, probably married Lassota.
Józef's son, Kazimierz Zadarnowski (12.X 1879-20.III01943) met 10 years younger Antonina Jahołkowska (9 V 1889-24.V 1945) from Jahołki village, the daughter of Józefa and Jan Jahołkowski. Kazimierz and Antonina married around 1910 or 1911.
Antonina dowered 10.79 hectares of land - meadows of different humidity (from dry ones to marshy ones). They bordered with the lands of Adam Jahołkowski (grandfather) and Józef Jahołkowski (brother) and other four farmers on three sides, and were adjacent, on the shorter side, to Zadarnowo settlement. Antonina Zadarnowski obtained the title to these meadows on 28 V 1935 pursuant to positive prescription, in consequence of direct and continuous ruling the land for the period of 10 years.
Antonina gave birth to three children - daughter Maria and two sons - Józef and Ludwik.
Maria Zadarnowska, born in 1912 was beautiful and skilful at creating small items such as baskets, bags, rugs and Christmas decorations; also she had a talent to crochet collars, shawls, table clothes and bedspreads. In 1930 she married Gracjan Chorążyczewski, the deputy of Voit in Nowosiółki gmina [a commune]. The son of Maria and Gracjan, Leonard Chorążyczewski, was born in 1932. He lived two years and died on 18 III 1934. Then Maria suffered from tuberculosis, which became more serious every day and in those days it was an incurable disease. In spite of the treatment by changing the climate she died on 12 VIII 1936 at the age of 24.
Józef Zadarnowski was born on 8 XI 1914. He was a beautiful and extremely smart child. His childhood coincided with the time of war, hunger and destruction of World War I. The house of grandfather Józef might have been burnt during the invasion of the German army between 1914 and 1918. Kazimierz with his family moved a part of the farmstead building adjusting it for residential purposes. He created a room of the area of 45 m2, kitchen around 37.5 m2 and hall around 7,5 m2 which connected the residential part of the building with the barn and the pigpen.
A heap of stones remained on the yard, the stones were supposed to serve as the underpinning of the burnt house. Chestnuts and other neighboring trees were cut and a vegetable garden was started in their place.
In 1918, as the war ended, Kazimierz left with his family to Moscow. They were accompanied by Władysław Janowicz from Oszmiana (the son of Izydor), a father of 10 children. They were probably guests of Antonina's relatives. In Jahołkowski family not everyone run a farm, some earned fortunes as the owners of palaces, shops and houses in the Moscow area of that time.
In 1918 German built in Zadarnowo a beautiful, concrete monument next to the graves of killed soldiers. Later, only two biggest digits remained "34". After 1930 the bones of the soldiers we collected and placed in a shared grave. Marvelous stone tomb plates, which covered the stairs of the monument, were used to build a road. Also some of the neighboring pines were cut down because they were "a nuisance".
In the spring of 1919 "a Polish officer appeared in Zadarnowo". It was a sing of hope for survival. The hope decreased as in the autumn came famine, typhus, and early frost. There was a terrible famine in the autumn, winter and spring. There was a shortage of potatoes and bread, and the only food was radish. Józef recalled that after the years: "Weronika Swolkień, the mother of Stefan and Stasia had a haggard cow, which gave little milk. Sometimes I got some milk from her, occasionally a half of a glass."
Józef and Stefan have been friends since childhood.
Ludwik Zadarnowski was born on 10.08.1922. A joyful, laughing child attracted the attention of everyone due to his fiery disposition. The sibling loved one another very much due to sister's and brother's protectiveness.
The beginnings of education of both brothers involved attending the school in Hajkówka. The preserved school certificates of the final form let us claim, that both Józef and Ludwik at the age of 13 completed the first stage of education.
Basing on the existing school certificated it is known that Józef attended Gimnazjum Humanistyczne [Gymnasium of Humanities] in Kobryń in the years1927-1930 (forms I-III), Gimnazjum Salezjańskie [Salesian Gymnasium] in Oświęcim in the years 1930-1933 (forms IV-VI). In the school year 1933-1934 he completed 7th form in Gimnazjum Salezjańskie in Różany Stok. There he passed his graduation exam in 1935.
An uncertified copy is the only existing document because graduation certificate probably was left at the University of Vilnius.
Possibly, after graduation exam Józef smoked his first cigarette and decided to take a photo of that fact.
Ludwik attended Seminarium Salezjańskie [Salesian Seminar] in the years 1935-1937 (forms I-II), and then the Gymnazjum in the years 1937-1938. There are no existing certificates proving his further education. World War II might make any further, regular education impossible.
Both brothers grew up in the atmosphere of respecting the faith and attended the mass in school times. Also, both helped the parents on the farm. The outcome of Ludwik's hard work was starting a small orchard. He planted there 100 fruit trees, mainly apple trees, which started to bear fruit during the war. The brothers had the opportunity to compete during shared work on the farm. Usually, it resulted in calling names, hence "Zinto" and "Ludek" - the nickname became permanent in Ludwik's case.
Józef attended a cadet course in Lida till 20 IX 1936. He completed the course with the tenth place, obtaining a commendation and the rank of senior rifleman with a diploma and the title of reserve cadet. At the cadet ball in Lida, Józef met Larysa Grochowska. Later he introduced Larysa to his parents and announced the decision about marriage.
In the autumn 1937 Józef began studies at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. He studied in agricultural faculty connecting the direction of studies with his future - agriculture.
Józef Zadarnowski's family enlarged on 16. VI 1938 - daughter was born. The child was brought to this world at the house of mother's parents in Nowe Święciany at Leśna St. 16. (Nowe Święciany is located 87 km north from Vilnius).
In 1940, on the name's day of grandfather Piotr Grochowski (29 VI), baby was christened in Nowe Święciany. Józef personally assured that in the christening certificate Zadarnowo was entered as the place of birth of the child as she spent there her first two years.
"Family's land gives you life. It leaves its trace. I don't want our life depending only on Zadarnowo but I want all members of my family to know and remember that the family land in Zadarnowo gave them life".
[ Land ]
Zadarnowski family from Zadarnowo dispersed all over the world. One, apart from Zadarnowo, had an estate in Bogusławice, the second one in Ozianty, the third one in Sokołowo (Kobryń poviat), and a tenement at Wiwulski St. in Vilnius bore the name of the owner - Antoni Zadarnowski.
Before World War I, czar's generals were interested in the nearby land, traders looking for land and various officials also interested in their purchase appeared after the war.
A story about a captain's wife, the owner of the land belonging to "the Stefaniuks" remained. Similarly Mr. Ostrowski is remembered, who had a house and a field of potatoes next to the hill in the area called "Walentynowy łanek [Valentine's standing corn]". There is only a faint trace of them.
Cutting down of the nearby great, old oak also contributed to that. Michał Zadarnowski, "Maciejuk" and Józef Zadarnowski "Antoniuk" could not accept the loss of the oak. The tree was healthy and it could have stayed for long years as a witness of history - of great ones and of unimportant moments. The trace of the catholic cross remained next to the tree trunk. It is difficult to say why it appeared there as the uprising activities in the Polesie region are covered with the veil of mystery.
Only a pear tree on the border line remained, and next to the hill there are several birches. The residual bricks were taken away and the nearby ponds were filled. The fields became a part of the Zadarnowo settlement grounds.
The inhabitants of Zadarnowo comprised a community, within which particular houses had their family tradition and importance. Theses included the houses of "the Maciejuks", "the Antoniuks" (we), "the Haraszczuks", the Oladowskis' and the tenants' of Mr.Andronowski. Tenants, also called "przyjmaki [the employed]" usually had small cottages and the land given to them into lease by the master of Kadelnica - Chlebowicz. What is more, Zinkowicz and Liskowicz were tenants, who got two farmhands from the master and as their farms grew they even got the third ones.
The house of "the Maciejuks", the descendants of Maciej Zadarnowski, was the most important one long before the World War I and over the last generation, that is to World war II. Their ancestor, Ignacy (probably the son of the descendants of the Zadarnowski family???) had Józek and Jasiek - the two servants from Hajkówka village. The master slept on the oven in the cottage without chimney, and the servants on the ground next to the oven.
"The Maciejuks" had then approximately 50 ha of land, "the Antoniuks" which were the descendants of Antoni Zadarnowski 40 ha, and "the Haraszczuks" together with the the Oladowskis app. 50 ha. It might have been the result of an old division between many (?) sons.
In August 1943 the historic cottage of Ignacy Zadarnowski was burnt together with the farmstead buildings by "the red guerrillas".
In between the wars "the Maciejuks" family was represented by four Zadarnowski brothers: Józef, Michał, Stanisław and Piotr. The eldest one, Józef, was "the head", and the other brothers were only parts of the family organism. Józef used to order, Michał ran the farm, Stanisław had to have children and so he got married and Piotr took care of the sale of the manufactured goods. All worked like horses on the farm encompassing the area of 130 hectares. Stanisław did not have a son but he had three daughters.
Stanisław Zadarnowski had children only daughters..
"The Haraszczuks" family consisted of the sons of Erazm Zadarnowski: Stanisław, Jan and Antoni. When Stanisław married a hard-working and resourceful woman, brothers split following a serious quarrel and fight. Stanisław had three children - a son and two daughters.
His son, Wiktor, married Jadwiga Oladowska.
Antoni Zadarnowski, the third son of Erazm, married Rozalia Przyłucka, and had two daughters: Maria and Antonina. Maria married a "przyjmak" - Kazimierz Niedzimedzki, the son of Mr.Andronowski's land tenant. The younger Antonina married a widower Gracjan Chorążyczewski, who was in that time a voit in Nowosiółki. Gracjan became a widower 1936 when he lost his wife, Maria from "the Antoniuks" and the son - Leonard.
The family of the Antoniuks originating form Antoni Zadarnowski (the end of XVIII c.?) was represented by Kazimierz Zadarnowski, his two sisters: Salwina and Maria and Kazimierz's children - Maria (Gracjan Chorążyczewski's wife, died young at the age of 24, in 1936), Józef and Ludwik.
Kazimierz run the farm inherited by his father Józef, who not only bought his inherited estate, but also put a lot of effort (service) to make his farm flourish. In 1933 the smallholders of the Zadarnowo settlement, and Kazimierz among them, ordered the land registration.
The land register, established in 1938, was preceded by their enclosure. Measuring and enclosure works in Zadarnowo area were performed by certified land surveyor - Feliks Czapski. The works took five years due to various reasons, mainly because of the lack of personal responsibility and sluggishness of the land surveyor.
It was meant to order the patchwork of fields, which appeared due to land fragmentation during the process of inheritance. The unnecessary bulks should be plowed, the field borders straighten and the weed combated. According to the register, the Zadarnowo area comprised 409 hectares of land in general, which belonged to 18 families comprising the Zadarnowo settlement.
Particular families owned:
1. Michał Zadarnowski 44,1797 ha
2. Stanisław Zadarnowski, Stanisław's son 41,5651 ha
3. Piotr Zadarnowski 43,6091 ha (in total 130 ha of family land)
4. Wacław Andronowski 59,0463 ha
5. Kazimierz Zadarnowski 22,0667 ha
6. Stanisław Zadarnowski, Erazm's son 14,0887 ha
7. sonship (nephews) of Antoni Zadarnowski 16,5638 ha
8. sonship (nephews) of Aleksander Oladowski 18,7096 ha
9. Weronika Swolkień 17,3759 ha
10. Damian Pawluczyk 10,6322 ha
11. Konstanty Pawluczyk 18,1792 ha
12. Maksym Pawluczyk 16,7821 ha
13. sonship of Karp Zinkowicz 9,8851 ha
14. sonship of Józef Zinkowicz 12,8127 ha
15. sonship of Maryna Batulin 13,9992 ha
16. Piotr Liskowicz 12,2367 ha
17. sonship of Stefan Liskowicz 13,1896 ha
18. sonship of Bazyli Zinkowicz 19,5146 ha
Once the lands were ordered in 1938 the smallholders declared in writing, in a letter addressed to the voit of Nowosiółki gmina [a commune] - Gracjan Chorążyczewski, the will to create a single hunting circuit of their lands.
The following stage of ordering the lands was the exchange of forest. Kazimierz and his sons cut down their trees which caused a surplus at the plot of Swolkień in Kowanica. Additionally, they cut down some trees on their own plot preparing the material for their own house.
The oak tree „Fatman" was cut down during tree clearance in Kowanica - Józef did not managed to save it. Half of the wood was sold for 50 zloty. 7 m3of branches and twigs were left for fuel wood. Within the root system of the oak the remnants of a cross and the bones of the buried insurgent were found.
Zadarnowo was strongly associated with forest. Now there are no traces of marvelous pine forest, and there are only remains of the mixed forest. Kazimierz could remember pines so thick that after cutting down a wagon (?) might have been placed on the trunk surface. There is a story about a sawmill built by Mierzejewski from Borysowo, in which the drive shaft and additional shafts were made from the same pine trunk cut down in the pine forest. Pines „Lisanek" and „Zalisanek I, II" were known to be so big that a cap fall down of a man looking at their crowns.
[ War ]
In the mid-August of 1939 Józef went to in-laws with his wife and daughter. Mother and daughter quickly returned to Zadarnowo, because on 29 August mobilization was announced. Both of them reached home on 31 August and on 1 September 1939 the war began.
Józef returned to Zadarnowo so swollen with hunger that he had to have his uniform cut with a razor on seams.
In June and November 1940 Józef worked by the construction of the canal joining Dniepr and Bug rivers. He worked for 6 days with a horse-cart doing the ordered tasks. He received a confirmation of performed duties. Work was compulsory and a refusal resulted in sending to Siberia.
Fires, terror of the guerillas demanding food and vodka, raids and the constant sense of insecurity caused that Józef with his wife and daughter went to Kobryń a few times.
At the beginning of December 1941, Józef bought a camera. He took pictures of his family, parents, and neighbors including Wiktor Zadarnowski.
On 20.03.1943 Kazimierz Zadarnowski dies.
Józef and his family lived at the Ostromeckis' place at Kwiatowa St. 13a. At the beginning of January 1944 Antonina visited his son. In spite of many visits to the doctor's her health did not improve, she suffered from asthma and tuberculosis.
Yet another journey to Kobryń. Józef and his family stayed at the Okorowskis' place. Władysława Okorowska (of the maiden name Jahołkowska) was Józef's first cousin. Irmina had a friend to play with, as the Okorowskis had a three-year-old daughter "Dzidzia" ("baby").
At the end of summer 1944 Ludwik voluntarily joined the army.
Antonina died on 24 May 1945 on her son's hands.
[ Repatriation ]
The ending of World War II announced on 9 May 1945 did not bring any joy nor hope to Zadarnowski family but only sadness and bereavement. Antonina was buried next to her husband, daughter, grandson, and grandmother.....the ancestors living for many generations basing on the surrounding land.
They moved together with the Mazanowski family and their daughter Teresa (Stanisława Mazanowska was Stefana Swolkień's - Józef's friend - sister).
Józef left for Poznań to the University to continue the studies. Larysa found a job, and Irmina started education.
In 1947 Józef graduated from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań with a high position.
