Link Back to:

Chlebinski

One of my aunts was married to Edward Thaddeus CHLEBINSKI. Edward was a son of Leopold and Anna CHLEBINSKI, who immigrated to the United States in 1902.  They first settled in Cook County, Illinois, where several of Edward's siblings were born.  They moved to Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska between 1910-1911.  Uncle Ed died 9 Nov 2012 at the age of 96; I have pieced together a little of his family history.  An interesting discovery was that Edward's step-mother was a distant cousin of mine and of my Aunt's.  Details follow....


Leopold CHLEBINSKI and Anna nee KOSCINSKA

Leopold CHLEBINSKI b. 10 Jul 1879, Poland d. 1954 Probably Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska bur. St. John's Cemetery Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska Parents: Anton CHLEBINSKI Carolina WOJTOWICZ

Married About 1902, Poland Married 17 May 1934 Columbus, Platte Co., Nebraska

Anna KOSCINSKA b. 1884, Poland d. 1929 Probably Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska bur. St. John's Cemetery Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska Parents: Agnes MATYJA (MICEK) b. 3 Jan 1879 Leki Gorne, Galicia, Austria Poland d. 1957 bur. St. Bonaventure Cemetery Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska

Notes:
Leopold and Anna sailed from the Port of Bremen, Germany on 26 Jun 1902, arriving at the Port of Baltimore on 11 Jul 1902.  They noted their nationality as Galicy, which was the area of the Partitioned Poland under Austrian rule.  Their last place of residence was hard to decipher...it may be Krakan or possibly Krakow.  They were going to join a friend in Baltimore by the name of Vincence Roczinsky.  There were no children listed with them.  According to the 1910 U.S. census, they were married 8 years at that time, so they were married about 1902 -- the year they immigrated. 


On the image of the passenger list at Ancestry.com the person in Baltimore they are going to be with a Vincence Roczinsky.  After receiving a copy of my uncle's birth/baptism record that gave his mother's maiden name as Anna KOSCINSKA, I searched Ancestry, using variations in spelling, to see if I could find the person in Baltimore. 

The Ancestry U.S. City Directories collection includes Baltimore.  In the 1902 directory, the year Leopold and Anna immigrated, there was listed:


KOSCINSKA is the feminine form of KOSCINSKI.  The "SC" letter combination in Polish is pronounced like "SH" in English.  Also notice that the Baltimore directory address is similar to the address on the ship list.

The 1903 Baltimore Directory entry was:


I am fairly certain this is the person Leopold and Anna went to upon their arrival in Baltimore.  I do not know how he is related.  I searched several years of the Baltimore directories, but did not find Leopold CHLEBINSKI listed.  All of the CHLEBINSKI children enumerated in the 1910 census show their place of birth as Illinois; Joe, the oldest, was born about 1903.

The 1910 U.S. census shows Leopold and Anna "Labinsky" were living in Chicago Heights, Cook County, Illinois.  Labinsky is the phonetic pronunciation of Chlebinski.  Four children were enumerated with them:  Joe, Jennie, Lisibeth and Eddie, who were all born in Illinois.  Eddie is not my Uncle Edward, who was born in 1916 in Omaha, Nebraska.  I have searched the Illinois birth index at Ancestry.com and at FamilySearch.org, but have yet to find birth records for any of the Illinois-born Chlebinski children.


Leopold's World War I draft registration gives his date of birth as 10 July 1879.  He was living at 2867 Frederick Street in Omaha, Nebraska.  He noted his nearest relative as Anna Chlebinski, living at the same address.


Leopold and Anna were enumerated in the 1920 U.S. census in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska.  They were residing at 2867 Frederick Street.  Six children were listed:  Joseph, Genevieve, Elizabeth, Leo, Cecilia and Edward; the first three were born in Illinois, the last three were born in Nebraska.  There was no mention of Eddie who was listed in the 1910 census; he would have been about 11 years old in 1920.


According to her tombstone at St. John's Cemetery in Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska, Anna CHLEBINSKI died in 1929.  My uncle Edward, the youngest of the Chlebinski children, would have been about 13 years old at the time of his mother's death.


The 1930 census lists the widowed Leopold living at 2867 Frederick Street in Omaha.  Daughters Elizabeth and Cecilia, and son Edward were enumerated with him.   Son Joseph was living in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois at the time; daughter Genevieve was enumerated with her husband Stanley FONFARA; son Leo would have been about 18 years old, I have not found him in the 1930 census yet.


I knew that Leopold married again after the death of his first wife, but I had no information about this marriage or about his second wife.  The Omaha City Directory started listing spouse's names in 1931.  In 1934 Leopold was listed in the directory -- no spouse was listed; sons Edward and Joseph each had separate listings at the same address as Leopold.  In 1935 Leopold and spouse Agnes were listed; sons Edward, Joseph and Leo were each listed separately, all at the same address as Leopold. 

Based on these entries I surmised that Leopold married Agnes in 1934 or 1935.  Leopold was not listed in the Omaha Genealogical Society's online Douglas County marriage index.  I searched the Find A Grave entries for St. John's Cemetery to see if Agnes was also buried there, but did not find her.  An expanded Find A Grave search to include all CHLEBINSKIs buried in Nebraska found an entry for an Agnes MICEK CHLEBINSKI at St. Bonaventure Cemetery in Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska.  Bit by bit I pieced together information that circumstantially linked the Columbus Agnes to Leopold's second wife.  I had an Agnes MATYA in my family file who had married a Bartholomew MICEK in Platte County in 1898.  Find A Grave showed that Bartholomew died in 1925; the widowed Agnes MICEK and three of her children were in the 1930 census, living in Columbus, Nebraska.

The W. Dale Clark library in downtown Omaha has copies of the Platte County Marriage extract books that were published by the Nebraska State Genealogical Society.  I pulled the books for 1934 and 1935; Leopold CHLEBINSKI was in the 1934 index.  The marriage record named Mrs. Agnes MICEK as the bride and showed that her maiden name was MATYJA.  Coincidentally, Agnes is my second cousin twice removed.  Her grandmother, Anna GALUS MATYJA, was a sister of my great great grandfather, Jan GALUS.


Leopold and Agnes were enumerated in the 1940 U.S. census, living in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska.  Joseph and Edward were enumerated in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.


Leopold died in 1954 and is buried at St. John's Cemetery, Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska.  Agnes CHLEBINSKI was listed in the 1954 Omaha City Directory as the widow of Leopold.  She was not listed in the 1955 directory.  According to her tombstone in St. Bonaventure Cemetery in Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska, Agnes died in 1957.



More information about Agnes and the MATYJA / MATYA family.

---

Children of Leopold and his first wife Anna: 



Sources / Resources