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Thursday 8 December 2011

Steven's Grandparents - Sepia Saturday

When in America earlier this year I found this photo on the wall of my daughter's and son-in-law's home.

Maria Skǒumka and Tadeusz Alfonse Glogowski
This is a photograph of of photograph of a photograph taken before WWII in Warsaw. Maria and Tadeusz  were the grandparents of Steven, my son-in-law.

Tadeusz had been born in the Ukraine but after the Russian Revolution his mother took him at the age of 14 and Stefan, his 16 year-old brother, to Poland. Both brothers were Russian speakers. However Stefan did not like Poland and returned to Russia when he was 17 only to be arrested as a spy. He spent 8 years in Siberia before going to live in Palestine.

Tadeusz’s mother had high hopes for him; he was introduced to the Polish Ambassador in 1921-23 and mixed in Polish society’s highest levels. A clever man he was a humorist but he didn’t particularly like the ladies amongst whom his mother hoped he would find a wife. He married Maria Skǒumka, an orphan girl whom he had met in a pub when she was 17. They had a daughter and Stefan, a son who was to become Steven’s father. The daughter died when Stefan was 2 years old.

Tadeusz became an accountant and worked for a Warsaw tyre company. He was killed in 1939 when the Germans bombed Warsaw; he did not get to the air-raid shelter with the rest of his family when his home was hit.

It's ironic that thanks to Steven I can post this information about his grandparents but can only search census records and the like to find out about mine.  




I managed a related couple in a sepia photo to link to other posts here

14 comments:

Little Nell said...

What sad eyes he has, but he’s a good looking young man. It is interesting that you are able to give us this detailed back story to the couple as you say. The importance of noting down memories and remininscences canot be overstated.

Postcardy said...

I have some information about my family but only because other people have researched it. My mother's sister-in-law researched my mother's family. A big surprise came a few years with a totally unknown relative who had research done on my father's family.

Wendy said...

Fascinating story.

Linda said...

His life spanned many changes in world politics. A very touching story and photo.

DougVernX said...

What an interesting time it was during the Russian Revolution. Here's a man that actually was banished to Siberia. What a sentence that must have been to serve. Thanks for sharing and thanks for visiting my crazy blog.

Kristin said...

An interesting story and beautiful couple.

Shannon Lawrence said...

How very cool for him to have access to such history! My family's history is buried quite a bit, and I've been doing research to try and find out more about each side.

Shannon at The Warrior Muse gearing up for the upcoming 2012 A to Z Challenge!

21 Wits said...

Wow, this is a very interesting and most fitting piece for our theme! Great work!...they were a lovely couple too!

Unknown said...

How wonderful to have come across that picture and to find the story. This is a perfect representative of the SS magic.
QMM

tony said...

You Are Fortunate Bob.I Have Always Found Great Difficulty in tracing my Polish Ancestry (Before My Father's generation).Rural Poles were usually not the best record - keeper! It's Good that you have this degree of information.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Wow. So much happened to their family in such a short period of time. Their story is an insight to being in the war as citizens vs. the info that I have being posting, seeing the through the eyes of the American military.

Thank you, Bob, I really enjoyed your post. Thanks too for your encouragement on my work ahead!

Kathy M.

Mike Brubaker said...

A fine photo and story. Very fitting for this weekend's theme too.

Tattered and Lost said...

Fascinating story. And the braiding on his color is interesting. Never seen anything like it before.

Bruno Laliberté said...

Maria was quite a beautiful woman and I can understand Tadeusz interest...

Tragic what war can do, changing the course of one's life...
:/~
HUGZ