Letter to Shelby Luffman

                                        W 2014 South Lawson Drive

                                        Green Lake, WI 54941

                                       

Shelby Luffman

8333 Southgate Commons Drive

Charlotte, NC 28277

Dear Shelby Luffman,

     I received your letter.  You and I are not distant cousins, but you and my late husband, Charles Shikoski, were.

     Charles was the eldest grandchild of Valentine and Apolonia (Wozniak) Dugenske.  He was the son of Mary Dugenske, Valentine's eldest daughter, and Fred Shikoski.  His mother died (shortly after Charles' birth) from "child-bed fever."  At the time Apolonia was nursing her son, Theodore (Ted).  She took Charlie and nursed both of them.  Later Charlie's father, Fred Shikoski, married Maggie, Valentine's second oldest daughter.  Maggie and Fred raised Charlie as their own.

     I remember Maggie telling me about Henry Wozniak.  He was a good dancer and she loved to dance with him.  She said that though he was her uncle, yet he was only two years older than she.  I knew there was a John Wozniak living in Princeton, but I don't remember meeting him.  He is listed as Charlie's baptismal sponsor.

     Maggie also told me that her mother, Apolonia, was born in Poland.  After her birth her mother, Katarzyna, was "an ailing female."  She had her "monthly" all the time.  Anton and Katarzyna wanted to come to America like many of their friends and relatives, but they were afraid Katarzyna would not survive the ocean voyage.  She made a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine in Poland where she received a miraculous healing, after which they came to America.

     If Katarzyna came in 1882 as you stated in your letter, then Henry must have been born within a year or two of their coming.  According to the genealogy I have Apolonia was born in Poland in 1864.  Apolonia gave birth in 1884.  She must have been a lot older than her brothers and sisters.  Do you have any dates for them?

     Some years back, I don't know how many, I attended a Wozniak family reunion in Fond du Lac.  Were you there?  Maggie received an invitation which is why we knew about the reunion.  She didn't go but Charlie and I did.  Charlie knew some of those present but I knew very few.  It was organized by a Wozniak from Texas and a Wozniak from West Bend, Wis.  Someone had a picture of the Anton Wozniak children.  Do you know of such a picture?  Most of the children were quite young, but one girl was noticeably older than the others.  Someone pointed them out to me and named the smaller ones, calling one of the smaller ones "Apolonia."  Remembering what Maggie told me, I questioned that.  I asked who the larger girl was and told they didn't know, "Probably a baby sitter."  I question if anybody from that era would include a "baby sitter" in a family picture.

     I am not familiar with the internet.  I was told my then son-in-law put the family genealogy on it.  My daughter has since divorced him, and I understand he is going to marry someone else this spring.  I doubt if he has any more information than what you discovered on the internet, or that he would continue adding anything.  Others seem to know about it, though they haven't spoken of it for years.

     I have a lot of information to be added to what I have printed, but it is scattered and I have trouble finding time to organize it.

     Did you know that the youngest child of Valentine and Apolonia is still alive?  Agnes (Dugenske) Rubel is in an assisted living apartment in Chicago.  She is up into her nineties.

     I had a copy of your letter made to give to my daughter.  It is possible that she might contact you through the internet.

                                        Best wishes,

                                        Harriet Shikoski