This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/RdC.2ACI/485.5.1.1.2 Message Board Post: Amazing things happen when people compare notes and do a little digging. This letter will be posted at the Podlaskie mail list through Podlaskie message board. Mike and I started writing each other because of a message I posted on the Ancestry.com Podlaskie Message Board back in June of this year. Mike was just beginning to research on his great grandfather Maciej (Matthew) and Rozalia (Rose) nee Siederska Przemielewski. Since we began writing, we have learned from ship manifests for them that they came from a tiny village named Matlak, in the gmina and parish of Bakalarzewo, province of Podlaskie. They came to the US in 1899. My grandfather Franciszek Szwarc was born in 1890 in another tiny village only 1.8 miles from Matlak. He was born in Garbas, also in the parish of Bakalarzewo. His Godparents were Wojciech Przemielewski and Rozalia Przemielewska. No one in my family, as this time, has been able to identify Rozalia. However, we do know that Wojciech was the brother of his mother, Antonina nee Przemielewska Szwarc. I do not yet know who the wife of Wojciech was. Maybe she was also a Rozalia. If she was not, maybe this Rozalia was his Godmother. We will know as we continue to search records in Poland. This weekend I spoke to Ken Stobnicki, another researcher working on his Przemielewski family. Mike's and Ken's great grandfathers were from Matlak, and both settled in Buffalo, NY. Today no one knows the relationship of Jan Przemielewski and Franciszka nee Wasielewska Przemielewska, with Maciej's family of Buffalo. We feel they were either brothers or cousins. Soon we hope to know their relationship. When I spoke to Ken Stobnicki, he told me that his aunt had at memorial card from the funeral of Maciej Przemielewski. Another point of irony in the Przemielewski quest: On the Internet there is a photo of a priest named Father Benedict Przemielewski. He was the pastor of St. Casimir's in Baltimore, Maryland. I've posted his photo on my family website because of how much he looked like my grandfather and my father. Father Ben was the son of Jan and Franciszka Przemielewski. He was also born in Matlak. He was two years younger than my grandfather and their families lived only 1.8 from each other. There is not doubt we are related. Soon we hope to know how. Sometimes when we search, we like we are the lone eagles out there searching for clues, and hoping to find cousins who are also interested in learning about their family. There are times when we think no one cares. I have been blessed with two possible cousins researching my Prezmielewski family. I have found other cousins researching on my grandmother's side of the family, but these are the first on my grandfather's side ... and these two were found in a 2 month span. This is remarkable. I hope everyone who reads this letter understands that they should not give up. You will find cousins or they will find you. Keep searching. Keep posting your names on the different message boards and mail lists. You never know which one a cousin will check. Good luck to everyone. Tina Ellis