JOSEPHINE GARBACZYK

Jozefa was born 1876 in Glinik Polski, (near Jaslo). Galicia to Marcin Garbacik and Theresa Grochowska. But we have not found her birth record yet.

2016 NOTE: When Rebecca and I visited in 2012, we enjoyed a lovely time with our Kapala cousins, who now live on the farm where Josephine was born — possibly.

Carolyn hired Genealogica Polonia to locate the Birth records and other info. of Wojciech Garbacik and Lena Skora — as listed on her marriage and death certificates. Unfortunately, there was no HELEN!!!! Therefore, I believe that they were her adoptive parents. AND, according to info from Aunt Gladys, her biological parents were Marek Garbacik and Theresa Grochowski! And this does seem to be the case — we still don’t have a birth record — but the DNA links point us along this line. Also, half-first cousin once removed, Michael Moraniec (Teresa Biedron’s grandson) said that his understanding was that the two wives of Big Joe Moraniec, Josephine Garbaczyk and Theresa Biedron wer half-sisters. And that is indeed what we know today. 

Great-grandmother Josephine, like her daughter Helen Moraniec and granddaughter, Priscilla Lasecki, and great granddaughter, Carolyn Kieber, and Great great granddaughter, Rebecca Grady, and great, great, great granddaughter, Adaline Fecteau) belonged to Haplogroup H, the largest female lineage in Europe.  41% of native Europeans are members of this tribe. In the Seven Daughters of Eve, by Bryan Sykes, he names the progenitor of this Haplogroup, Helena. How perfect!! And, as I was once told by Spencer Wells, a prominent geneticist and Director of the Human Genographic Project, our foremother was a very very popular woman!

Hank Klauke said this about her father, Marcin Garbacik who was the 2nd husband of Theresa Grochowska: When she was young, her father was killed in an unusual accident. While working in a distillery, he fell into a hot vat of whiskey and drowned.

We don’t know much about her parents, especially her father Marcin. He was the first or second husband of Theresa Grochowska. Josephine, b. abt. 1873 is the eldest. This birthdate is somewhat approximate. Her death says she is about 31 years of age when she died and her birth date “not known.”

Her brother, Antoni Garbaczyk (most likely named after his grandfather!) was born four years after, 1877. Sometime during the next six years, Marcin died, because the next birth is their half sister, Teresa Biedron  b. 1883, whose father is Bartolomiej Biedron, Theresa Grochowska’s second or third husband. This Teresa would become Big Joe Moraniec’s 2nd wife two months after Josefine died. Josephines’ other half siblings, Jan Biedron, b. 1885 and Maryann Biedron b. 1887 complete what we know of this family.

At about 16 years old, on 24 Jan 1892 she married Jozef Moraniec in St. Francis RC Church, Detroit.

Joseph and Jozefa Moraniec

The witnesses were Florian Wozny and Valenty Dziedziak. The priest who married Jozefine and Big Joe was Rev. Romuald Byzewski, the first pastor of St Francis d’Assisi parish on 4500 Wesson Street on Detroit’s west side.

As was typical, Josephine began having children right away. Mary Moraniec was born in May 1893, and quickly followed by Jack in 1894, Helen in 1896, Lucy in 1898,  Sophie in 1900, Alec in 1903, an infant who died the same year in 1905, and Hedy born in 1906. All in all, she gave birth to 8 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood.

In March of 1907, Josephine became very ill with pneumonia. The story that the Kiebers and Klaukes grew up with was that she told her husband Jozef to marry the “maid” to help care for the children. The “maid” was, in fact, her half-sister  Teresa Biedron. Within two months of Josefine’s death, Teresa and Big Joe married on 4 June 1907.

At 31 years of age, Jozefine died 2 Apr 1907.  Her husband and all of her children were present.

Sadly, she was buried the next day, without a marker, in Holy Cross Cemetery in Detroit (in grave 65, lot 209, section G). Somewhere in that big grassy field, lay my great-grandmother.

Here is a copy of what Aunt Gladys memories about her maternal grandparent’s family. Marek Garbaczyk was Theresa Grochowski’s first or second husband. Theresa emigrated to Detroit in 1910. We presume her last husband, Bartolomiej, was dead by then.

The following story about Big Joe’s parents is not true, because his mother, Katherine Lipa died after giving birth to daughter, Maria in 1872. His father, Max Moraniec died in 1904 from asthma. Big Joe was 23 when he and Josphine married in 1892 and in his thirties with six children when his dad died in Poland.