Descendants of Jan Szczepanik (the Polish Edison) of Tarnow

aspg15

12 May 2015 / #1

Reading through various articles and items about Jan Szczepanik, I learned he was born in 1872 in Rudniki, a small village near Mosciska (now in the Ukraine). On Nov. 8, 1902 he married Wanda Dzikowska (1879 - 1942), the daughter of Dr. Zygmunt Dzikowski, in Tarnow. Jan and Wanda had five children....Andrzej (1904 - 1909) who drowned in a well, Zbigniew (1906-1969), Bogdan (1908-1978), Boguslaw (1912-1942) murdered by the Gestapo during WWII and Maria (1914-2005) who may have been married to Louis Panek.

I have not been able to confirm these dates nor have I been able to learn if other then Andrzej, if the other children married and the names of their descendants. Did they remain in Poland or did any immigrate to the U.S.?

Polonius3 980 | 12276

13 May 2015 / #2

SZCZEPANIK: hypocoristic (pet) form of Szczepan, one of two versions of Stephen in Polish, the other being Stefan. It could have originated as a patronymic nicc whose English equivalent would havr been Stephenson.

DZIKOWSKI: root-wrod dziki (wild, savage); probably originated as a toponymic nick for someone form Dzików or Dzikowo (Wildton, Savageville).

PANEK: diminutive of pan (lord, gentleman); it could have emerged as a patronymic meaning the lord's son or could have been used sarcastfcially for a commoner putting on airs.