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Short Polish<->English translations [1043]
It's really difficult to decipher and I'm not sure of certain things. Perhaps others will fill in the blanks. The handwriting is hard to read, the sentences are long and complicated and the language is old-fashioned. The translation will be very clumsy, I'm afraid.
In Krasne [?] on 25th November 1819 (?) in the afternoon (?). Wojciech Daniłowicz aged 35 (??), a farmer, assisted by his mother Katarzyna (maiden name Hołubowicz(?)) and Maryanna Krasińska/Krusińska (?) appeared in front of the civil clerks of Gmina Wigierska (?) Office in Powiat Dombrowski (original spelling) in Augustów Voivodoship. (Krusińska) showed a record from the Wigry Church confirming she was 28 (?) and lived with her parents Jan Krusiński (?) {...............?}. Parties stated that they wanted to get married confirming that banns of marriage done in front of our office on the 14th and 21st November.
I find it hard to decipher the rest of the entry but as I understand it, the couple were married then assisted by witnesses (?)Szymon (?) Jaroszewski, aged 50, Jan Jaroszewski(?), aged 47 Franciszek Daniłowicz, aged 54(?) and Dominik Daniłowicz, aged 44. The act was read to the people involved as they were illiterate.
As far as I can tell, nothing in the record says they were of Jewish origin. So basically that part of your family was Christian about 200 years ago.
What makes you think they were Jewish?
I know who were Anusim but I doubt Jews were forced to convert to Christianity in Poland. One of the reasons why there were so many Jews in Poland was that they were free to practice their religion. There were conversions of course. For example, if they wanted to marry a Christian. There were also frankists - the followers of Jacob Frank. In 1759 Jacob Frank and about two thousand of his followers were baptised. I think there were more conversions like that among them, although from what I have read they didn't exactly treat Christianity as the bishops would have wanted. The last frankist was baptised around 1820 so as you can see we're talking about the time period your church records come from.
As for the graves, well, they're not in Poland, are they?
I don't know how it works in the US but here you need to make a payment every 20 years at the cementary. Also it's up to the family to maintain the grave in a good condition. The quality of stone used for the tombstone also varies so some get worn out earlier. As for your greatgrandfather's grave, it's about 100 years old so it's been through tens of summers and winters that might have influenced its condition. If it bothers you, why don't you visit and take care of it. I mean, even if he had donated to Free Poland Fund, that was over 100 years ago ... All the people involved are long dead and they can't take care of his grave.
As for your cousin, I don't know how likely she is to be Jewish or not, but I don't think making comments about her father's looks will win her heart :)
