Galician Trails: The Forgotten Story of One Family

by Zalewski, Andrew

  Despite its seemingly obscure location, the village had first been mentioned in local records as early as 1441, when its then owner agreed to pay a large sum of money to the governor of Lvov.20 Prior to the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Lachowce was part of the crown lands, and was owned and administered by the Potocki family. But with changes taking place in the region, the Austrian government took full possession of large landholdings there in 1787. At the time, Lachowce was a collection of mostly small farming plots, with characteristically narrow strips of land to allow access from the few simple country roads. By 1837, the unoccupied land in and around Lachowce had been bought by the Stadion family, which established ownership over a large estate in the village as well. The contrast could not have been greater between the tiny plots, many of them farmed by peasants who were still serfs, and the large expanses of territory belonging to the Stadions.

  Lachowce. Map of the village south of Bohorodczany situated by the River Bystrzyca (Bystryca Fluss). (Section of a cadastral map from 1848.)

  Lachowce. Map showing the Stadion estate that straddled Lachowce (left) and Bohorodczany (right). Its size contrasted with narrow strips of land owned or leased by local peasants. (Section of a cadastral map from 1848.)

  In 1880, nearly 2,000 people lived on 414 small farms spread throughout Lachowce. Not much would change there over the years; a quarter-century later, the census recorded 2,337 inhabitants, the vast majority of them identified as Greek Catholics (2,195), followed by Jews and a small minority of Roman Catholics. Most lived in simple huts; only a few affluent inhabitants occupied six small manor houses. The most common language spoken there was Ruthenian, probably followed by Yiddish. There were only a few public institutions, namely a simple school and a savings bank. To the village’s southeast, there was a settlement called Horocholina. To the west were other rural hamlets, Hlebowka and Sadzawa. Forests covered a nearby summit that rose to the height of 1,332 feet.21

  Finally, there was Starunia, a village approximately 11 miles south of Bohorodczany and not far from the neighboring district town of Solotwina.22 As in the other places around Bohorodczany, there were several small streams joining larger rivers flowing from the mountains. The landscape here was hillier, with the highest point, 1,899 feet, on the village’s southern border. Starunia was mainly known for its natural resources; since at least 1881, oil had been pumped from shallow deposits. The discovery of petroleum there led to a short-lived boom and a few dreams that reached beyond reality. Some considered global trade in these newly discovered riches; one of the boldest plans was put forward by a merchant from Shanghai, who had actually approached a local Austro-Hungarian consul about exporting Galician oil all the way to China. When the news arrived home, those involved in the business entertained this idea for a time; but after a great deal of heated deliberation, the scheme was dismissed as impractical because of the distance and transportation issues, not to mention punishing tariffs imposed by Austro-Hungary on its own exports.23

  The Starunia area yielded occasional reminders of strange creatures that had roamed the region eons before. Time after time, geologists accidentally discovered bones and mummified fragments of ancient animals. These were dug up and slowly made their way to the museums of Galicia. In October 1929, the village of Starunia made a big splash in the news when land surveyors discovered the almost intact remains of an ancient woolly mammoth. Pictures have survived of the mummified giant with a large trunk.

  The statement under oath by the representatives from Lachowce attesting to the accuracy of the census that was completed in their village on March 28, 1787. The signatures of the witnesses from Bohorodczany and other neighboring settlements are also recorded. The Josephine land census carried out across the entire Austrian empire was a massive undertaking. It provides today unprecedented description of small towns, villages, individual landholdings, and locally grown crops.

  THE SOBOLEWSKI FAMILY WAS AN ancient one that had been recognized as nobility for centuries. Over time, however, it became a matter of debate who had been the first of record in their long line of ancestors. Some said that the earliest known forebear had been a simple man named Kula from the village of Sobolów. That would have given Kula’s descendants the original spelling of the name Sobolo(e)wski. The village was a small place not far from Cracow, in the south of the Kingdom of Poland; it was known to have existed for centuries, having first been recorded as early as 1105.

  Others believed that the Sobolewski family could trace its roots to Paul (Pawel) Kula Sobolewski, who had taken part in a provincial council, the details of which had long been forgotten. Regardless of the true origin of the family, the name “Sobolo(e)wski” first surfaces in tax records from the Cracow region dating back to 1564. That year, a man by that name paid a tax as part-owner of a village called Janowice.1 By amazing coincidence, the Regiec family would be living in and around that same village centuries later. But let’s not get too far ahead in time.

  An early document, from August 1616, with the name “Sobolo(e)wski.” Albertus Sobolo(e)wski is mentioned as a godfather to children born in the village belonging to Tropie parish.

  I also stumbled across another early member of the family while looking through barely legible records from a small parish in the same area. The name of Albertus Sobolo(e)wski appeared as godfather to many local children born between 1616 and 1620. We can only presume that his popularity in the village was a testament to his character and generosity.

  Like seeds carried on the wind that become seedlings on fertile soil, in time the Sobolewski name could be found further and further away. Soon, the family would emerge in Cracow. Some members of this branch of the Sobolewskis would be knights in the service of the crown (miles auratus), their names recorded in official rolls in 1633.2 Others, however, pursued quite different interests. Young Michael Sobolo(e)wski was an educated man who became close to an influential family by the name of Stocki. Alexander Stocki, as burgraf of Cracow, was a king’s official in charge of an old royal castle; he wielded considerable power. As a friend of the family, Michael was immortalized in a panegyric published on the occasion of the wedding of the burgraf’s daughter in 1679.3 In the next century, the most accomplished members of this branch of the Sobolewski family would serve as electors of future kings. Among them, Joseph Sobolewski from Cracow province cast his vote during a contested election of the last king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski.4

  Other Sobolewskis pressed east from very early times. Among them, Fabian Sobolewski distinguished himself for bravery in the service of the Hungarian-born King Batory, who ruled the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania in the latter part of the sixteenth century.5 Although details of the military adventures of family forebears, and the names of battlefields where they fought, have been lost in the mists of history, they were most likely gallant warriors. Perhaps in recognition of their valor, the Sobolewski men received the right from the sovereign to the honorary use of the cognomen “Cyrus”—the name of the legendary ruler of the Persian Empire. Many of them added this symbolic distinction of their character between their first and family names beginning in 1649.

  The coat of arms, called “Łada,” used by the Sobolewski family.

  There was an even better way to recognize Sobolewskis, regardless of where fate took them. Their coat of arms, called “Łada,” underscored their noble status and distinguished them from others carrying a similar name. Łada illustrated the virtues espoused by the Sobolewski clan, and it had all the key symbols that counted in those times. There were a lion holding a sword for strength and a shield for effective defense. Two arrows in the picture implied speedy and precise weaponry, as if to warn any potential attackers. Finally, a horseshoe with a golden cross, as carried by the knights of the day, symbolized the always needed luck.6

  Exactly when the Sobolewski family settled in Bohorodczany will have to remain shrouded in mystery. What is known, however, is that they came to this area long before the First Partition o
f Poland. In the neighboring fortress city of Stanislawow, a few families carrying that name could be found not long after the city was established. Among them were a soldier (militis) who, in 1738, was likely serving in the forces of the omnipotent magnate Potocki, and others working in non-military professions.7 Whether one of these Sobolewski families bought land in Bohorodczany or whether, perhaps, a brave soldier was rewarded with an estate after many military campaigns, is not clear. Let us not forget that despite nominally owning a large portion of this eastern province, the Potocki family urgently needed to populate the countryside with loyal nobility.

  Well into the eighteenth century, Bohorodczany and the surrounding area were considered wild territory, plagued not only by foreign forces but by internal ones as well. In particular, Ruthenian bandits, opryshky, spread fear in many when they would suddenly descend from the mountains or emerge from dense forests to attack traveling merchants and pillage settlements. At times, even receiving a piece of a paper with burn marks on its edges was enough to exhort ransoms from owners of isolated manor houses, who feared losing everything to arson. For some, these bandits were local heroes who would be later romanticized; but for many others, they were simply cruel criminals who often targeted Jews and local gentry.8 At times, these troublemakers were even bold enough to target small towns, and in one such surprise attack, Bohorodczany was briefly taken over in the summer of 1744. Its small fort was plundered, and pricey objects were stolen from coffers of the Kossakowski family, who had married many of the Potocki daughters.

  Despite this setback, the town quickly recovered; and at the violent death of a leader of opryshky a year later, some of the stolen jewels, found sewn into the man’s clothes, would ultimately be returned to their rightful owners. In due course, castellanus (governor of the castle) Stanislaus Kossakowski, grandson of Grand Hetman Potocki, would sign a death warrant for the next leader of these Carpathian thugs, while residing in Bohorodczany’s citadel.9

  The first record of the Sobolewski family in Bohorodczany. The entry refers to the baptism of Anna, daughter of Joannes and Catharina Sobolewski, on March 5, 1752.

  Whether male members of the Sobolewski family enlisted in the armed militia, which was stationed in a number of towns to defend the region, is not known. But certainly they could have witnessed these struggles. Around this time, the family name first appears in records from Bohorodczany. On March 5, 1752, a short note was written by Dominican friar Ambrosius Kreczko, a chaplain to the powerful castellanus Kossakowski. In a few lines written with a quill pen, ink smeared here and there on the page, he noted the early spring baptism of Anna, infant daughter of Joannes and Catharina Sobolewski from the county of Bohorodczany, with several witnesses in attendance.10

  Certainly, a new era began when Austria took possession of the territories that had been lost by the Polish crown in 1772. How fast the news of the change in regime spread, and how the daily lives of Sobolewski men and women were affected by this historical event—if at all—remains unknown. But the changes were real and a long time in the making. Not surprisingly, the transition was remarkably peaceful, with many breathing a sigh of relief and hoping that the turmoil of the past would now diminish. The names of the old magnates Potocki, Kossakowski, and Leszczynski who, with their long, elaborate titles, had previously dotted many pages of Bohorodczany’s records, started to fade away. In their places, other names would grow in number. For the Sobolewski family, what started as a trickle, with an occasional entry, became a stream of births and marriages producing brothers, sisters, and cousins all living in Bohorodczany.

  Putting down roots there, the family responded to a government call to confirm their ancient claims to noble status under the Austrian administration. For unknown reasons, however, they seem to have done this with some hesitancy; it would be a few years before any formal certification process was started on their behalf. In part, these official proceedings were done for the sake of tradition and pride, as if to mark the difference between old honors and the more recent shower of titles granted by the new regime to secure loyalty. But certainly there were also less sentimental reasons, with noble status guaranteeing hereditary ownership of land and other privileges. Although the Austrian Emperor Joseph II fought the tradition of serfdom with a new edict, the old system passed down from Polish times was recalcitrant, and it still guaranteed nobles cheap or even free labor by local peasants.11

  At last, in 1796, the Galician State Council (Collegium Staatum) appointed by the Austrian emperor officially acknowledged the hereditary titles of three men: Joannes, Ludovicus, and Ignatius Sobolewski of the Łada coat of arms.12 But make no mistake, despite their long and proud past, the Sobolewski clan clearly now belonged to local gentry rather than the landowning aristocracy. Thus, not surprisingly, the records reveal interesting paradoxes or, more likely, realities of their lives. Most entries about key family events would continue to have the Latin nobilis attached to the Sobolewski name, increasingly reflecting respect for tradition, as opposed to pointing out special status. In fact, who they really were can be much better gleaned from meeting the people around them.

  The Sobolewskis’ friends and distant family members, especially those invited to be witnesses at their weddings or christenings, were a motley group. They included not only other members of the agrarian nobility but also shoemakers (sutor), blacksmiths (ferrifaber), and farmers (agricola) without fancy hereditary titles.

  Our story is connected back through the generations to Ludovicus Sobolewski. He was the oldest of three men who were probably brothers living in the village of Lachowce, just outside Bohorodczany. When and where they were born remains unknown, but it is certain that they grew up before the annexation of the region to the Austrian Empire. By 1787, the family already lived in Bohorodczany. Around that time, Ludovicus married Magdalena Krechowiecka, from a neighboring village. Given his age, this was likely not his first marriage; and the ties between the two families would continue, including later marriages.13

  The Sobolewskis’ was a large farming household, with Ludovicus and Magdalena ultimately having five children, all born in the same family house. Not surprisingly for their times, Ludovicus’s parents and at least one brother, Joannes, lived with them as well. Although early records are spotty, the elderly nobilis Sophia Sobolewska, who was noted as living in the same house, was likely the mother of the three Sobolewski brothers. Who her husband, the patriarch of the family, was is lost in the dust of history. But Sophia was described as the owner of a large farm (fundi in heredi) before passing it on to the next generation. Sophia lived long enough to see at least the beginning of Galicia, as part of the Austrian Empire, before dying in May 1799.

  The extended Sobolewski clan was a well-to-do family compared with other inhabitants of the area. Although they were far less affluent than the Potocki and Kossakowski families of the bygone era, Joannes and Ludovicus Sobolewski owned a large piece of land. It was second in size only to properties belonging to local churches and the municipality of Bohorodczany.14 With the passage of time, their homes became incorporated into the boundaries of the town and no longer would be described as situated “in de villa de Lachowce,” although they were still living away from the town’s center, with some of their land straddling the unmarked border between the two municipalities.

  Standing on a narrow country road, a visitor could enter one of the three family compounds. The house where Ludovicus’s family lived was identified by the number 26, and it was certainly larger than those of the other relatives. Whether or not the Sobolewskis had built their home when the family settled there, or had moved first into an old country house that once stood in the area, is not known.15 On both sides of the property were vegetable gardens, and further to the left of the house, a small orchard had been planted. In addition to the main house, three other buildings stood on the property: most likely a barn, an animal shed, and a little woodshed or outhouse. After passing a few of the apple and pear trees that were commonly grown in the
area, one would have reached the edge of a stream. Locals called it Millbrook (Mühlbach or Młynówka), as it powered a small watermill that stood further north in Bohorodczany. On the other side of the stream, Ludovicus and his family owned a pasture that transitioned to marshes by the River Bystrzyca, which flowed further west.

  Map showing the Sobolewski family compounds on the border between Bohorodczany and Lachowce. The houses were occupied by several generations of Sobolewskis. The house numbered 26 was to the left of a small road, and houses 25 and 246 were both to the right of the road. (Section of a cadastral map from 1878.)

  Walking back through Ludovicus’s courtyard and crossing the small road, a visitor could enter two other compounds occupied by members of the Sobolewski family. First was house 25, which belonged to Ignatius. Later, his son Adalbertus’s large family would fill every available space there. This was a busy farming place, with several buildings standing in an open courtyard. Next to it, Martinus Sobolewski and his family lived in the smallest house, with a vegetable garden tucked behind. Oddly, it was numbered 246, suggesting that it had been built in more recent times than the other two houses. The proximity of these households meant not only living in a tight community of large families; it also reflected a less desirable economic reality. Repeated subdivisions of original landholdings into smaller and smaller plots with each generation were a fact of life. This is quite apparent today when looking at old cadastral maps.