Joe Dudzinski

     The "Joe" you asked about was the son of John (Jan) and Mary Dudzinski. This "Joe Dudzinski" was a first cousin of Florian (Fred).  Their mothers were sisters.

         

     This Joe's mother (Mary Dudzinski) was the person who took in and raised Florian (Charles' father), after she found him alone in his house with no mother.  This Mary had twelve children of her own, (all younger than Florian), three born in Poland and nine born in Wisconsin.  All twelve were younger than Florian (Fred).

     This Joe Dudzinski was born in Wisconsin sometime after his mother had come from Poland to Wisconsin and joined his father, John (Jan).  When Florian (Fred) arrived with Mary (Dudzinski) he was eleven and expected to earn money to pay back his passageway, he did not have time to socialize with his much younger cousins, including Joe, who was probably much younger than Florian.

     Early in our marriage Charlie took me to a farm somewhere south of Princeton and introduced me to the farmer who lived there, Nick Bartol.  He was a man related to (a son or grandson) of the Mary that had raised Florian in Poland.  I don't remember much about it as I didn't know much about the relations of Fred (Florian) then.

     I did not think of Joe Dugenske until I talked with Helen Mirr who thought I meant Joseph Dugenske who lived on Hwy 49 to Berlin.  That Joe was Charlie's uncle, a brother of his mother, the son of Valentine Dugenske.

     Joe Dudzinski and Joseph Dugenske were both descendants of Sebastian Dudzinski and Katarzyna Jakubowska who lived in Poland.  Joseph Dugenske was the son of Valentine.  When Valentine crossed the ocean to come to United States, the captain of the ocean-going ship mis-spelled his name.  That (mis-spelled) name was given to the United States man who accepted the whole boat load as the captain had listed them without correcting any mis-spelling.

     The problem of confusion of names is because in those days when people were coming from different countries names were often misspelled and never corrected, i.e.  Dudzinski became "Dugenske".