Pilch Family

The Pilch Family into which I was born has its roots in Zagórze Podkarpacie, a region not far from the city of Rzeszów, in southeastern Poland. At the time of my great-grandparents and grandparents, Poland was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. My grandfather's birth certificate lists Austria as his country of birth, but he was born in the village of Zagórze Podkarpacie, adjacent to Manasterz. This region is near the border of Ukraine. Larger cities in the area include
Rzeszów, Łańcut, Przeworsk, and Jarosław.

Feliks Pilch (my great grandfather) of Zagórze lived up in the mountains. He married the widow Zofia (?maiden name unknown) Skura of Kaṅczuga (Zagórze Przeborskie) and moved down to a home near the Skura family. From her previous marriage to Skura (first name unknown), she had three children: Leon, Franek, and Marcin. Leon moved to America and raised a family of twelve children, but Franek and Marcin remained. Their family homes still exist close to Feliks Pilch's home. I have not yet found the dates for these people.

Feliks Pilch and Zofia Skura had three children of their own:
    1. Wiktoria,
    2. Jakób,
    3. Wacław, my grandfather (Polish: Dziadek).

1. Wiktoria Pilch (born 1880, died March 24, 1962) remained in Zagórze, Poland. She married Feliks Potoczny (born 1877, died Dec. 29th, 1948) who became the first wójt of Zagórze. (Wójt is the head of a village). I stumbled on the grave in the parish cemetery in Manasterz in July, 2000, and took a picture of the tombstone. Wiktoria was taller than Feliks who suffered from spinal problems (another trait that runs in the family). As the sister of my grandfather, she is my aunt (Polish: Ciotka).

They had seven children:
1. Jan Potoczny (John - born March 13, 1906 - died October 2, 1949). He married (name?; she was of the nobility). Their children included Maria Potoczna Morawska and Danuta Potoczna Fudali from Rączyna.

    2. Józefa (Josepha) Potoczna (died November, 1989) married Józef Zawada (born 1898 - died June 23, 1970). A daughter, Maria Zawada (born: July 20, 1928 - died: May 23, 2006) married Tadeusz Kukułka (born: March 29, 1924 ; died: November 9, 1984). Their daughter, Ewa Wiktoria Kukułka married Andrzej Bułdys, the current Sołtys of Zagórze. Corrections and amplification of the information which I obtained from many discussions with my father, John J. Pilch, Sr., were given to me via e-mail and in a person visit with Ewa with the help of her daughter, Sabina.   ewabuldys@interia.pl

    3. Alojzy Potoczny (Aloysius) married Ida. They lived in Switzerland. Their children: Grażyna Potoczna Mielonka; and Wiesław Potoczny. Alojzy died in January, 1977. (Best friend was Hopf).
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    4. Janina (Joanna) Potoczna (born: September 24, 1921 - died December 21, 1934).

5. Stanisław (Stanislaus) Potoczny born: April 12, 1912. He joined the Franciscan Order (Polish: Bernardyni) perhaps in 1929 or 1930. He was given the name Serafin, though family tended to call him Stasiek. He attended the gimnazjum (elementary school) in Lwów, but in 1929, his fifth grade class was moved with the entire school to Sokal (now Ukraine). He was ordained a priest on June 19, 1938 and studied art at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków while residing at the Bernardine Church there. After the War, he ministered to Poles in the U.K. (at least from 1967 -- if not earlier -- to 1974) until his heart attack. He returned then to Poland and died on April 30, 1984. He is buried in Przeworsk (East of Rzeszow) in the Franciscan section of the town cemetery which I visited in December, 2003.

6. Felicja (Felicia) Potoczna married Eugeniusz (Gienek) Kielar. After the War, he became a Fire Chief in Rzeszów where they lived until death. "Fela" died in December, 2003, the very month I visited the Friary in Przeworsk searching for my family roots through the confrères of Fr. Serafin Stanisław. .

7. Maria Potoczna (born: July 7, 1924 - died Aug. 27, 2001) married Kazimierz Basiak (born: 1914), still alive in 2008 (age 91 years). Their children are: Andrzej, Ala (Aleksandra), Eugeniusz, Małgorzata, and Jan (born March 27, 1950 - died September 4, 1985).

2. Jakób Pilch, born in 1886 (died 1944) came to America and married Agatha (born in 1888; died Dec 13, 1943) The lived at 73 James Street, Amsterdam, NY, and worked for Mohawk Carpet Mills. They had no children. They are buried in St. Stanislaus Cemetery Section A-w #171 Jakób was my father's god-father (baptized Oct. 13, 1912, Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish, Brooklyn, NY). .

3. Wacław Pilch (my grandfather) was born on Feb. 2, 1888, and died on April 17, 1951). He came to America in 1906, met and married Karolina Staszowska of Rzeszów Błażowa, Poland (born December, 1888 and died in October, 1918) at Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish, January, 1910. The registry of the ship on which Karolina came to America lists Przewrotne as her home village and indicates that she was sponsored by or lived with someone in Massachusetts.

(Karolina's sister [name?] married Julius Butkowski and lived in Cheektowaga, N.Y.)

Not long after the birth of Joseph (Sept 5, 1918), Karolina died in the flu epidemic (October, 1918)

When my father, John, was six years old, the family lived on 23rd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues (Brooklyn, NY), near Genia Młynarska Falencka. This was the year Karolina died. After her death, my grandfather hired nannies. This did not turn out to be successful. One nearly burned the house died after she fell asleep smoking a cigarette. Another nearly drowned the infant, Joseph, while bathing him. So the boys were placed in an orphanage on Atlantic Avenue. From there, they were sent to Poland In July, 1920, grandfather Waclaw sent the four sons to his sister Wiktoria in Poland to look after and raise them. The boys traveled by ship to Liverpool, UK, and then on a smaller ship across the North Sea to Danzig (Gdańsk), Poland. They must have traveled by train from there to Zagórze, a good six to eight hour ride today, perhaps longer then. Quite likely, a government official (like a social worker?) escorted the young boys. He also regularly visited Wiktoria to check on their living conditions My father, John, and Wiktoria's son, Serafin Stanisław, were born in the same year (1912). They must have bonded well because my father selected Stanisław (after St. Stanislaus Kostka) as his confirmation name (he was likely confirmed in Poland). My middle brother was also named Stanisław (Stanley). Since the four boys knew no Polish, a public school teacher was hired to tutor them (Jerendowna). When she discovered they were "cursing" in English (probably just using less than elegant language), they received a spanking.

When Jakób and Wacław came to America, that marked the end of Pilch presence in Zagórze. The Pilch ancestors are buried in Pantalowice. The grave markers have been eroded so only the general location is known. The parish here, Immaculate Mother of God (Niepokalanej Bogarodzicy), is where the residents of Zagórze came for instruction, Mass, and all liturgical and parish functions. It is well over ten miles from Zagórze. This may have been the Pastor who suggested that my father go to the gimnazjum in Chyrów (see below).

In 1922, my grandfather Waclaw visited Poland and married Wanda Potoczna (distant cousins to Wiktoria's husband, Feliks Potoczny). Wanda was the daughter of Katarzyna and Józef Potoczny, the second wójt of Manasterz. Their children were:
    Kazimierz (who attended gimnazjum in Jarosław, which Joseph Pilch also attended)
    Wanda (Wacław's wife)
    Władyslawa (Władzia) who married a man named Dziad, and
    Emilja ("Milka," Emily) who married Władysław Puć. They had five children, the eldest daughter was Kazimiera. Also Zbigniew Puć whose first wife, Janina died in an auto accident leaving four children.
    Ewa Bułdys (see above) added these names to the one's my father gave me:
    Stanisław
    Mieczysław
    Józka

On March 6, 1922, Wanda returned with Waclaw to America on the ship America, departing from Bremen, Germany. They had no children. After their marriage, Waclaw's four sons moved from Wiktoria's modest home to live with Wanda's family, the Potoczny's, but still in Zagórze.

It was in 1923 that my father was sent to a Jesuit school in Chyrów (at that time Poland, now Chyriv, Ukraine: more precisely it is Bąkowice pod Chyrowem). The address was Konwikt św. Józefa, Chyrów, wojewódzstwo Lwowskie. A postcard forwarded from the school to him in 1930 was addressed to my father in c/o Józef Potoczny, Zagórze, near Manasterz, by way of Przeworsk. As indicated just above, this is where the boys lived after 1922 when grandfather Wacŀaw married Wanda Potoczna. The local pastor at St. Catherine's church in Manasterz (not clear whether his name is Mroczka or Piechucki, or both of these are his name and surname) recommended that my father attend this prestigious school. Its enrollment was about 550 students, and dad loved it. ( My father said the parish was named Our Lady of Consolation, but it was St. Catherine's.)

Concerning the school and its location, my father said seventy-five percent of the population of Chyrów was Jewish. Three fifths of the students were externs, that is, day students. Among the teachers that he remembered are Wojtuń for gardening, art, engineering; Józef Navratil (Czech) for music. Dad took piano lessons. He had Tarczyński for gymnastics. Dad always wanted to play the violin but his father didn't agree. So my dad traded the Waterman fountain pen Dziadzia sent him for a trumpet. My dad's great thrill was to play the hejnał as a wake up for the boys on "surprise" holidays from school. I still have his trumpet and have played it.

Charles Pilch (born July 23, 1910, died March 8, 1990) married Anna Krasoń.

They had four children:
    1. Dorothea Pilch Fedoryszyn;
    2. Charles Pilch, Jr.,
    2. Dolores Pilch Alberghini, and
    4. Loretta Pilch Kmech

John Pilch, Sr (my father, born September 21, 1912, died October 10, 1995) married Anna Mary Wypych on September 1, 1935 at Our Lady of Częstochowa Parish, Brooklyn, NY. Anna Mary Wypych was born July 24, 1917 and died October 21, 1969.

They had three children:
    1. John J. Pilch, Jr., (myself)
    2. Stanley Richard Pilch, and
    3. Stephen Paul Pilch.

Edward Pilch (born January 25, 1916) married Maryanne Żółtowski (born 1918; married: February, 1937).

They had two children:
1. Carolyn Pilch Petrucci (born April 10,1940; died March, 2005), and
2. Florence Pilch Callahan

For further information about Edward Pilch, contact Christine Callahan Grimm, daughter of Florence: SEAGRIMM77@OPTONLINE.NET

Joseph Pilch (born in Brooklyn, NY: September 5, 1918, died in Chicago, IL: October 21, 1992) never married. He spent most of his life in the military (The Royal Air Force -- Polish Division; then the U.S. Air Force).

The Pilch Family in Poland