Hi Debbie, I didn't infer anything sinister -- I just assumed that people were too busy working hard to make a living and it didn't matter to people the way it does to us now.  I always thought it odd that my grandfather did not know his mother's birthday, or her father's given name, but that was just how it was.  That was what led me to believe, given the difficulty in finding these other marriage records, that maybe there really was only one wife, and the younger kids just never knew her name.   I believe Grandma said her grandmother died shortly after the youngest child was born, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that perhaps the youngest child would have given her step-mother's name in place of her biological mother's name.  Finding some additional marriage, death, or even birth records (for great-grandma's siblings) would be nice to help clarify this.  Julie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Debbie Greenlee" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 1, 2011 10:53:36 AM Subject: [POLAND] Multiple Marriages  thread was  3 Mariannas Julie, A man would marry more than once in Poland usually because the mother of his children died and he needed someone to take care of them. Multiple marriages in Poland were common (prior to modern medicine). It was not all that important to people who their birth mother was - they were taken care of and that's what was important. I don't think your grandmother meant anything sinister when said people didn't talk about things like that. I think she just meant the question never came up. Debbie [email protected] wrote: > > Hi, Karen, > I haven't been following this thread, but I did happen to see your   message, and it struck me as being similar to a situation in my own   family.  Please post to the list (or me, privately) if you are   eventually able to obtain documentation for all three of those   marriages.  My g-g-grandfather was supposedly married 3 times,   according to his children's (US) marriage records -- to Maryanna Krawczynska, Anna Nowacka, and Marya Cebulska.  I have searched through the records from their home parish in Poland (courtesy of   the LDS FHC) and have only been able to document the first marriage,   to Maryanna Krawczynska.  I have been unable to locate a death record for her, or records for any of the subsequent marriages that   should have taken place. > Grandma has always insisted that "people didn't talk about that stuff back then" and I've uncovered a lot of evidence to support her assertion.  I'm beginning to wonder if there was only one   marriage, to Marianna Krawczynska, and my g-grandmother's siblings   simply never knew their mother's name.  I'm thinking that they   "made one up" when they needed to put something down for their own   marriage records, unbelievable as that may sound from our modern perspective.  I've seen this before in at least one other old   marriage record (from the US), for which the person put down   "unknown" for mother's maiden name.  I'd be interested to know if   others on the list have had similar experiences.  I haven't given   up searching for those other marriage and death records, but since   they aren't in the batch of records that they should be in, I'm a   little perplexed. > Julie > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Karen Carpenter" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 9:27:55 PM > Subject: Re: [POLAND] POLAND-ROOTS Digest, -- 3 Mariannas > > Hi, Bronwyn, > I think Debbie answered my query. I have the possibility of my gggrandfather being married twice before Marianna Ulatowska. I am searching to verify marriage and death records.  All three of the wives' first name was Marianna: Sierecki, Radeski, and now Ulatowska. > Thanks. > Karen > > >> On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 2:12 AM, Karen Carpenter   <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Oh, boy! That means three -- all named Marianna! >>> Thanks, Debbie. >>> Karen ********************************* Need to contact the list manager?  Write to Marie at [email protected] ---------------------------------- Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. ---------------------------------- Browse the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots Search the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message