Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of A. Marcinkowski

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Descendants of A. Marcinkowski

Generation No. 2

2. JOSEPH² MARCINKOWSKI (A.¹) was born March 17, 1872 in Poland or Russia ^7,⁸, and died December 08, 1924 in Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan?⁹. He married FRONEY SANKEY¹⁰ Abt. 1894 in USA ¹¹. She was born January 1875 in Pennsylvania¹¹, and died Unknown.

Notes for JOSEPH MARCINKOWSKI:
Joseph had several children, including one named Magdelena. (Their baptisms are on record at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Wakefield, Michigan.) Joseph changed his last name to Martinkowski and/or Martinkoski. He was a laborer in an iron mine. This is documented on an employment roster which hangs in the Wakefield Museum.

More About JOSEPH MARCINKOWSKI:
Burial: December 11, 1924, Wakefield, Michigan ¹²

Marriage Notes for JOSEPH MARCINKOWSKI and FRONEY SANKEY:
1900 Census, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., MI (v22 ED70 sheet2 Line7):
Marcinkoski, Joseph b. 3/1873 age 27 b. Poland emigrated 1892? 8 years? naturalized; carpenter
wife      Froney? Franny? b. 1/1875 age 25 b. Pennsylvania to Polish parents; married 6 years, 2 chld.
son      Harry b. 11/1896 WI age 3
dau      Lucy b. 4/1897 MI age 3
mother-in-law Sankey, Josie b. 3/1832 age 68 widowed, 3 children, all living, b. Poland, emigrated 1870, 30 years ago

(Note: it makes little sense that the children were born 5 months apart, something is wrong here.)

1910 Census, Township of Wakefield, Gogebic Co., MI (ED86 sheet5B line66):
Martinkoski, Joseph, age 38 b. Russia Polish, parents b. Russia Polish; emigrated 1890, Naturalized; speaks English; Blacksmith in a shop; can read & write
wife      ???, age 37 b. Wisconsin, parents b. Russia Polish ; married 17 years, 6 children all living; speaks English, can read & write
son      Harry, age 15 WI, in school
dau      Lucy, age 13 MI, in school
dau      Agnes, age 8 MI, in school
dau      Helen?, age 6 MI, in school
son      A_t___, maybe Anton?, age 3 MI
dau      Magdalene, age 1 and 0/12 MI

More About JOSEPH MARCINKOWSKI and FRONEY SANKEY:
Marriage: Abt. 1894, USA ¹³

Children of JOSEPH MARCINKOWSKI and FRONEY SANKEY are:

	i.		HARRY³ MARTINKOSKI, b. November 1896, Wisconsin¹³; d. Unknown.
	ii.		LUCY MARTINKOSKI, b. April 1897, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan¹³; d. Unknown.
	iii.		AGNES MARTINKOSKI, b. Private.
	iv.		HELEN MARTINKOSKI, b. Private.
	v.		ANTON MARTINKOSKI, b. Private.
	vi.		MAGDALENE MARTINKOSKI, b. Private.

3. STANISLAW² MARCINKOWSKI (A.¹)¹⁴ was born April 04, 1874 in Poland or Russia ^15,¹⁶, and died November 01, 1914 in Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan ^17,^18,¹⁹. He married SOPHIE SZCZEPECKA²⁰ January 16, 1900 in Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan ²¹, daughter of WAWRZYN SZCZEPECKI and MARYA CIESLINSKA. She was born March 16, 1882 in Bieganowo or Glebokie or Kruszwica, Powiat Mogilno, Poland^21,^22,^23,²⁴, and died July 28, 1955 in Cudahy, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin ^25,^26,²⁷.

Notes for STANISLAW MARCINKOWSKI:
Sam was the business agent for Fitger Brewery of Duluth, Minnesota, for the entire area of Gogebic County, Upper Michigan. He was a respected businessman who lived in Wakefield for most of the prior 20 years. He was robbed and killed on his way home after collecting receipts for the brewery, at about 6:30 PM on a dark wintry Sunday evening (All Saint's Day, November 1, 1914.) The murderer(s) (there were probably 2 or more) attacked him and dragged him 50 feet into the elder swamp. The scene bore the marks of a terrific struggle. Sam was overpowered and killed, perhaps by suffocation. His mouth was stuffed with moss, earth, and sticks. The murderers escaped with $600.

There was a fireman named Fred Thompson who worked at the mine at the end of the street. On his way home that evening he heard a commotion in the bushes, but later stated that he heard no outcries and "thought nothing of it." On his way to work the next morning he examined the area of the swamp where the noises came from the previous night. He found the body at the murder scene, and called in the authorities.

The murder happened in an area known by the English-speaking community as Hunkytown, short for Bohunk, or Hungarian. The inhabitants were darker-skinned eastern Europeans, who worked as laborers and support for the iron mines. The murder site was on the east side of Cemetery Road, between the railroad tracks (which are now gone) and the cemetery, 400 feet from his home.

No one was ever convicted of the crime, despite a substantial award offer of almost $1,000. Due to the terrible nature of the injuries, people have speculated that the murderers had some reason to hate Sam. Perhaps the murderers were Serbians; they and the Polish were at war in Europe, and the two communities lived side by side, uneasily, in Wakefield. Or, perhaps it was a random opportunist who saw Sam collecting payments in the taverns and boarding houses.

The community was shocked and frightened by the brutal murder. It was a significant event in the history of the upper peninsula of Michigan. Even in 1998 many people in Wakefield knew of the murder, a story passed on to them by their grandparents.

Sam's funeral was one of the most lavish ever held in Wakefield. His body lay in state in the Catholic church (then St. Mary's, now Immaculate Conception.) Then, the entire community walked on foot more than a mile from the church to the cemetery, a brass band leading a procession of pallbearers and well-wishers that stretched for blocks. His gravestone is the largest and most elaborate one in the Catholic side of the old section of the cemetery.

A photograph of that funeral procession is owned by the Wakefield Museum (Historical Society.) It is also on the back and front cover of the book listed in the index.

In this photograph you can see that the landscape was entirely denuded of trees, grass, and all plant life. All available timber was needed for building mines and houses. As the community later prospered, they replanted, so that today (1998) it is hard to believe that the destruction of the landscape ever happened.

Sam's funeral and gravestone were probably financed in part by contributions from the Polish National Alliance (precise name of the society is unknown.) Most of the men in the Polish community were members. It functioned as a support system for the community, and as a form of insurance policy. The society met every Sunday afternoon.

Although the miners were poorly paid and often had trouble feeding their families, the city and school system were wealthy from the profits of the iron mines. They were able to build an elaborate high school with its own foundry and machine shops, and an ornate community center with a 2,000 seat theater, leather seating in the community social rooms, and stained glass windows. By 1970 all the iron mines were gone, and the town has struggled with unemployment and low wages. Still, the great natural beauty of the area attracts campers, skiers, and hunters.

(It appears he never completely converted to the Martinkoski spelling, as Marcinkowski is on his gravestone; however, his children did, and so did his brother Joseph.)

Notes from his gravestone, translated from the original Polish wording:
Here rests my husband and our father, in holy remembrance
He was born on the 4th April 1874
He died on the 1st November 1914
He requests a prayer to our Lord

More About STANISLAW MARCINKOWSKI:
Age at Death (Facts Pg): 40 (murdered)
Burial: Unknown, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan ²⁸
Emigration 1: 1891, Poland to USA ²⁹
Emigration 2: Abt. 1894, Poland
Religion: Roman Catholic

Notes for SOPHIE SZCZEPECKA:
First name may be Sophia, but her gravestone and death certificate state Sophie. Death certificate inaccurately spells her married name as Olejneczak.

(Celia Payne stated that the city she was from is called Posnine. However, that spelling is probably incorrect; there is a significant city and its province, both named Poznan, in Poland. We will use the latter spelling.)

Sophie was one of five sisters. Stanislaw Marcinkowski met them while traveling in Poland. After he emigrated to America he wrote them a letter, in which he stated that he would marry whichever one of the sisters would come to America to marry him. Sophie agreed to go. The other four sisters, a brother, and their mother later followed: Bessie, Helen, Wanda, Josie, Louis (who arrived shortly after Sophie), and mother ("matka") Marya. Sophie and Wanda, and perhaps all the others, lived out their lives in America without ever learning how to speak English.

Sophie spoke the version of Polish called "Low Polish". I know this because this is what her daughter Celia spoke. In the 1980s I introduced a friend's visiting mother to Celia, and they spoke at length in Polish. After they left, Grandma Celia told me that she had been a bit embarrassed because "the lady spoke High Polish, and I speak Low Polish." Even so many miles and so many years away, this still mattered to her.

According to Max Oleszak's history book, his mother Josie (Josephine) was born in Rzadkwin, Kreis Strzelno, Poland, in the province of Poznan. This was Sophie's sister, and it may have been Sophie's birthplace as well.

Sophie died at Milwaukee County Emergency Hospital. She is buried alongside her second husband, Jacob.

1920 Census, Wakefield Twp., Gogebic Co., MI on Section 16-17 Road, March 1 (v30 ED110 sh38 line1):
Olciniczak, Jacob, age 36 b. Poland, immigrated 1912, naturalization petitioned; pitman in an iron mine
wife      Sophie, age 28 b. Poland, immigrated 1900
stepson      Martinkoski,      Felix, age 19 b. MI; switchman in an iron mine
stepson                  Theodore, age 16 b. MI
stepson                  Albin, age 13 b. MI
stepdaughter            Celia, age 12 b. MI
stepdaughter            Stella, age 5 b. MI
son      Olciniczak, Casmo, age 2 and 3/12 b. MI
Living next door to the Oleszaks, Sophie's sister. Also, on the same road as Jacob's brother Joseph.

More About SOPHIE SZCZEPECKA:
Age at Death (Facts Pg): 73
Burial: 1955, Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Cudahy, Wisconsin ³⁰
Cause of Death: Generalized and coronary arteriosclerosis, and diabetes mellitus
Emigration: Bef. January 1900, Poznan, Poland ^31,³²
Religion: Roman Catholic

Marriage Notes for STANISLAW MARCINKOWSKI and SOPHIE SZCZEPECKA:
They were married in Wakefield, Michigan, by Father J. Kraker; he was 25, and she was 18. The family briefly lived in Crosby, Minnesota, from 1910 to 1913.

There is no S. Marcinkowski or Marcinkoski shown in the 1900 Census for Michigan. Family not found in Marenisco, Wakefield, Ironwood, or Watersmeet census of Gogebic Co. (manual search.)

1910 Census, Wakefield Township, Gogebic Co. MI (ED86 p. 2B line 65):
Martinkoski, Samuel, age 36 b. Russia Polish; parents b. Russia Polish; emigrated 1891, Naturalized; speaks English; Journeyman? in an Iron Mine; can read and write; owns his home free of mortgage
wife      Sophie, age 28 b. Germany German; emigrated 1900; parents b. Germany German; speaks German; married 10 years, 6 children, 4 living; can read and write
son      Felix, age 8 b. MI, speaks English, attends school
son      Edward age 6 b. MI, speaks English, attends school
son      Alvin age 3 b. MI
dau      Celia, age 2 b. MI

More About STANISLAW MARCINKOWSKI and SOPHIE SZCZEPECKA:
Marriage: January 16, 1900, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan ³³

Children of STANISLAW MARCINKOWSKI and SOPHIE SZCZEPECKA are:

FELIX S.³ MARTINKOSKI³⁴, b. 1901, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan ^35,^36,³⁷; d. April 29, 1956, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Veteran's Hospital)³⁸; m. CARRIE, Private; b. Private.

Notes for FELIX S. MARTINKOSKI:
In his later years he was known as Curley Martin.

More About FELIX S. MARTINKOSKI:
AKA (Facts Page): Felix Martin ³⁹
Burial: Unknown, St. John's Cemetery, Jackson, Jackson Co., Michigan ⁴⁰

More About FELIX MARTINKOSKI and CARRIE:
Private-Begin: Private

4.	ii.	THADDEUS S. MARTINKOSKI, b. October 04, 1903, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan; d. March 23, 1990, Cudahy, Wisconsin.
5.	iii.	ALBIN MARTINKOSKI, b. February 25, 1907, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan; d. August 1986, Cudahy, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin.
6.	iv.	CELIA MARTINKOSKI, b. January 21, 1908, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan; d. August 16, 1999, South Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin.
7.	v.	STELLA MARTINKOSKI, b. December 30, 1914, Wakefield, Gogebic Co., Michigan; d. January 28, 1988, Fruitport, Muskegon Co., Michigan.

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