:: C R E A T I V E G E N E ::

Long before I was born a Thanksgiving Day tradition was started in Detroit. That tradition was a parade. The first parade was put together in 1924 and there has been one on the streets of Detroit every year since except for 1943 and 1944 when it was suspended because of a materials shortage due to WWII.

In the early years, the Thanksgiving Day parade was sponsored by Detroit's J. L. Hudson department store. It was first broadcast on radio in 1931 and on television it's been carried nationally since 1959. Every year there are common elements... floats, marching bands, clowns, and Santa Claus. And each year there are changes to  the floats and marching bands. Big balloons and paper mache heads were added also.

J.L. Hudson sponsored the parade until 1979 when it was handed over to the Detroit Renaissance Foundation. They then handed it over to the Michigan Thanksgiving Parade Foundation in 1983. It is put on every year with help from many generous corporate sponsors and more than 4,000 volunteers. The warehouse where the floats and costumes are stored gives tours throughout the year.

The parade route has changed a few times over the years. I believe it has always had Woodward Avenue as a part of its route. I know that some of my grand aunts and uncles attended the parade because I've see their photographs of the parade in family photo albums. I believe many of my cousins have attended the parade in person too.  I went to the parade for the first time on Thanksgiving of 1973 and didn't attend in person again until this year, 2011. But I've watched it on TV every year as far back as I can remember.

As a child, I used to look forward to watching the Thanksgiving parade on TV. At the end of the parade Santa Claus was greeted by the mayor of the city and presented with "the key to the hearts of the children of Detroit". This marked the official beginning of the Christmas season, my favorite time of the year! Children all throughout the city and the metro Detroit area knew that starting then you had to "be nice" or Santa wouldn't bring you what you wanted for Christmas.

When I was a child, you never saw Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving! Not on houses, not in stores, and there was no Christmas music played on the radio yet either.

I can remember my mom cooking in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning and popping into the living room (the only room in the house that had a television) to check on the parade. I still remember the smell of her sauteing onions, celery, and green peppers for the stuffing... what a wonderful scent! Mom would play up my excitement with questions like, "Any sign of Santa yet?", "Did you count the marching bands? How many so far?", or my favorite comment, "Let me know when you see Santa. I don't want to miss him!" And sure enough, when I called out to her to announce Santa, she'd come running. We'd always judge how good a Santa he was, if he looked real or fake, and if he had a friendly face.

My dad and brothers weren't into the parade or Santa. I don't remember them ever watching the parade with me or being a part of my parade experience.

Just about the time the parade was over (about 11am), mom would pop the turkey in the oven. She'd have stuffed it with her traditional sage stuffing, using a recipe from her Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Then she'd take a break from the work in the kitchen and we'd look through the 3" thick stack of sale ads that always came in the Thanksgiving Day edition of the Detroit News (which we had home delivered). Oh how I loved looking at all the toys in those ads!

In the afternoon I'd "help" my mom in the kitchen. I didn't do much, really, but she'd find something for my little hands to work at. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of turkey, stuffing, gravy (made from scratch, of course) with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, and cranberries in the form of canned Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. After smelling that turkey cooking all afternoon we all came to the table with our mouths watering. Mom was a really good cook and the food was always fantastic. For dessert she always made pumpkin chiffon pies with made-from-scratch whipped cream in the shape of snowflakes on the top. Oh man, my mouth is watering just thinking about those dinners!

Sadly, I have no pictures to share with you from my first visit to the parade in 1973. I know I took some photos but I have no idea what happened to them. I do, however, have a few photos to share with you from this year's "America's Thanksgiving Parade" as it is now known. I only stayed for half the parade but when I got home I turned on the TV and watched the second half. I think mom would have loved this year's Santa. I think he looks great! What do you think?

The crowd cheered as the parade began.

The first balloon this year was a new one, Kermit the Frog.

Lots of clowns!

Horses are always a crowd favorite.

These uni-cyclists got lots of oohs and ahhs.

Local marching band.

More happy clown faces.

It wouldn't be an all-American parade without Uncle Sam.

New float this year, from Art Van Furniture. The biggest ever!

Here he is, the jolly ole man himself!

As the seasons change for us, once again I find myself in that transition stage. I'm thinking less about the beach and more about my genealogy. My photography goes year 'round but even with that I'm less inspired to take pictures when it's cold and gray outside. This summer was wonderful. I'm sorry for all the folks who had severe weather. For us it was a hot, dry summer... perfect for beach-going and I did plenty of that.

The last couple weeks aided my transition into fall. I got several good beach days in, took lots of beach, boating, and sunset pictures, and toured the tall ships that came into port. The tall ships remind me of history and with that my genealogy comes to mind (not that I had any ancestors on the Nina or the Pinta ;-) . A special treat for me was having The King and his Angel visit for a couple days. They toured the tall ships with me making the event all the more fun.

I'm always envious of the genealogy bloggers who are able to attend the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree in June. It would be so fun to meet all the folks I follow online. But that's not likely to happen for me in the foreseeable future. California is a long way from Michigan. That's why it was such a treat to meet The King, Randy Seaver, and his lovely wife Angel Linda. I was thrilled that they would come up and see me and allow me to show them a little bit of Pure Michigan.

Those of you who have met Randy know what a kind soul he is. Gentleman, scholar, friend... Oh and genealogy expert and blogger extraordinaire too. He's quick to smile, has a twinkle in his eye, and is patient and caring. What a lucky lady Linda is to have him for her husband. Of course Randy is fortunate too. Linda is an angel. She's funny, very intelligent, outgoing, and very compassionate. She's a strong, independent woman who manages to find the good in everyone and everything. She is my role model. Now that I've met her I feel I've been touched by an angel.

One can't spend time with Randy without talking at least a bit about genealogy. We did that and I truly enjoyed it. It's so nice to spend time with a kindred soul. It got me thinking about my family history and how nice it will be to get back into my research and writing. Mother Nature's autumn color show will be here in just a few weeks and I'll be out there photographing all the lovely colors as much as I can. And then it will be time to focus on my genealogy and family history as the leaves fall from the trees once again.

OK summer, I guess I'm ready to let you go for this year. I'm looking forward to next year's beach weather already! But in the mean time, I'll be dusting off the genealogy books and getting back to writing. I've been inspired by The King and his Angel.

Burn out. I'll admit it, I've been suffering from blogger burnout. It's not that I haven't been doing anything genealogy related over the past few months, it's just that I haven't felt like writing about it. But I'm back in the saddle at the computer and ready to ride write again!
I've made a discovery recently that has me rethinking all of my genealogy research since day one. I'm not going to go into that discovery right now but I'll probably write it up at some point. Anyway, as a result I've spent some time at my local Family History Center reviewing films again over the past summer. I expect to be doing more of that in the weeks to come.
I went to a family reunion last month. It was a very small reunion (< 30 people) but a reunion none the less. It was the second get-together this branch of my family has had, the first I was able to attend. It came on the heels of the death of one of my cousins who died suddenly at the age of 58. It was an emotional time.
I'm closing down my web design business. I hope to be finished with it by the end of the calendar year. It's a lot of work and it's required my focus and attention for a couple months now. I'll be glad when that's over.
And, (drum roll please) I've saved the best news for last. I'm finally doing something I've been wanting to do for several years now. I'm collaborating on a website/blog with my friend Ceil Jensen. Together, we are creating a web site for the parish of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Detroit. Ceil and I both have family roots in this parish which was closed in 1989. The church/school, rectory, and nun's residence have been torn down and all that's left of this much beloved Polish parish is memories and memorabilia. So we're going to roll up our sleeves and combine our memories and memorabilia and put it out on the internet for others to learn about, remember, and enjoy. We'll put up what we've got, hopefully other interested parties will find our site and contribute what information they've got about the parish too. We'll use Blogger, Google Docs, and Picasa Web Albums to create our site (totally FREE ;-). When we've got everything uploaded our "blogging" will be done and it will become a more or less permanent web site for years to come.

I've started the site with Part 1 of the history of the parish which was translated from Polish to English by our good friend and fellow blogging buddy, Steve Danko. Many thanks Steve! I wouldn't know how to begin this site without this basic information. His efforts too have become a part of our collaboration. I love the idea of  working together to create a resource that will be greater than what any of us could have done individually. It's is a great way to create an online archive of information and images about this church and the Polish community that loved and supported it. I hope it will inspire other genealogists and bloggers to think about doing the same thing for a church, school, or organization from their family's past. If you don't know where to start just watch us and see how we do it. Let the archive begin!

Oh yes, and I've created a Face Book page for the parish too!



Assumption BVM Church, Detroit, Michigan

Promote Your Page Too

---

The summer flew by, then September flew by, and here we are with October being only a couple days away. You know what's special about October, don't you? It's Polish Heritage Month! Every year in October I try to do something here on Creative Gene to honor my Polish heritage. This October I've decided to feature one of the Polish Roman Catholic churches of metro-Detroit each day of the month. I'll start with the Detroit churches in the order the parishes were founded followed by the Polish Catholic churches in Hamtramck, Wyandotte, and Dearborn. The focus will be on the historic churches in these cities, not the newer parishes in the farther out suburbs.

At one time, there were 24 active Polish Roman Catholic parishes in the city of Detroit, 3 in Hamtramck, 3 in Wyandotte, and one in Dearborn. These are parishes that observed Polish customs, said Mass in the Polish language, and had schools to teach their children the Polish language and Polish history along with the English language and American history. These Polish parishes were the cornerstones of life for the newly arrived Polish immigrants. They were the hubs of the wheels that made up Detroit's Polish neighborhoods.

Over the years the Polish immigrants of the late 1800s and early 1900s lived in those neighborhoods and built those churches. They married in those churches, had children who were baptized in those churches, and when they died they were buried from those churches. Not only do the churches represent their spiritual lives but their social and economic lives as well. And because of that, their records provide a rich source of documentation for the genealogy researcher.

In the 1940s, the city of Detroit began construction of a number of expressways that divided up the city and often times parishes. Several Polish neighborhoods had entire blocks and even streets raised to make way for the concrete paving. Sometimes the Polish homeowners in the effected neighborhoods bought other homes nearby but out of the the way of the expressways, but as time went by more and more moved out of the city of Detroit altogether and into the expanding suburbs. Racial tension in the city in 1943 accelerated that exodus (known as "white flight"). The 1940s proved to be the beginning of the decline for Detroit's inner city parishes.

Fast forward to 2010. At this point, 11 of those 24 Polish churches in the city of Detroit have been closed. One of the three in Wyandotte has also. Another 3 (at least) have let go of their Polish heritage in response to a change in the ethnic makeup of their neighborhood. Some of the old church buildings were torn down and some were sold. The parish communities were merged with other nearby Catholic church parishes by the Archdiocese of Detroit. Sadly, there is very little information about the history of these churches and parishes available on the internet. Some of the churches that are still open have web sites, but not all. And there is little or no information available about most of the closed churches.

I don't have the time or resources to do a thorough history on all of the Polish churches but I have put together a summary of information on each of them. I've also included the websites and Face Book pages I've been able to find for the parishes. If you know of more online information about any one of these Polish Catholic churches please leave a comment for the benefit of other readers.

This series will start October 1st.

As long as I'm taking the melancholy trip down memory lane I may as well make a few other stops while I'm at it. When I recently visited my grandparent's neighborhood on Detroit's west side, I also stopped to photograph the property where their first house stood, where their second (and only other) house stood, where the kindergarten/public school stood, and where their church once stood. Yes, each and every one of those building is gone now...

When my grandparents first bought the little neighborhood bakery, before it expanded to become a "baking company", there was a small apartment above the bakery. That's where they lived initially and where my mother was born. Mom was their second child and after she came along things got a little crowded in the apartment. So when a small house went up for sale kitty-corner (southwest) and one house (to the south) down from the bakery (and directly across from Sill School) they bought it. That would have been late 1918 or some time in 1919. This is the vacant property where that house once stood.

Then, in 1920, my grandparents sponsored two of my grandmother's sisters, Mary and Helen, to come to America from Poland. The little house was a tight fit for everyone and when my grandmother got pregnant again, well, it very quickly became too small. So at that point my grandparents bought a bigger house that came up for sale on the same street as the bakery just a few houses north of it. The two sisters stayed in the smaller house and my grandparents and the kids moved to the bigger house in 1921. Mary married in 1922 and moved a few blocks away. Helen married in 1924 and she and her husband lived in that little house for several hears. If I close my eyes and try really hard I can picture Helen and her children there in that house...
The larger house that my grandparents moved to wasn't all that large but it did have a second story and was big enough for the family of five. This is the house I remember visiting my grandmother at when I was a child. Here is the vacant property where that house once stood, between the garbage cans to the right of the house that's still standing...

If I close my eyes and try really hard I can picture the house and the family sitting out on the porch on a warm Sunday afternoon...
My mom went to Sill School for kindergarten. It was the Detroit Public School just across the street (to the south) from the bakery and (to the east) from my grandparent's first house. It's a large vacant lot now with a small playground on it.
But I can remember the school in all it's glory!

After kindergarten my mom attended Assumption parish school for grades 1-8. Assumption BVM Church, on Lovett Street, was the church the family attended. Mom had lots of happy memories from her years at Assumption. After she graduated from high school she sang in the choir at Assumption and was in their Young Ladies Sodality too. She was married at Assumption in 1944. My grandfather's funeral Mass was at Assumption in 1956 and so was my Grandmother's in 1970. The Archdiocese of Detroit closed Assumption parish in 1989. The church, school, rectory, and nun's residence have since been torn down. There is a new church standing there now, a Baptist church...
The heartbeat of their old west side Detroit Polish neighborhood was Assumption Church (parish founded in 1911, church/school built in 1912). It was a much larger and grander building than the Baptist church, and the other parish buildings were right next door. If I close my eyes and try really hard I can imagine it in its glory days...
Oh how it pains me to see this once lovely neighborhood in such decrepit, shabby condition. I can't go down there very often for that reason. The sadness overwhelms me and sometimes makes me angry. I know that things can't always stay the same but when I think of the churches and villages in Europe that were built centuries ago and are still standing I know that this neighborhood could still be charming and vital too. It hasn't even been a hundred years since my grandparents first came to America! Heck, the city of Detroit is just over 300 years old!

All these other sites in my grandparent's neighborhood make me melancholy too.

Sometimes looking back makes me happy. I love to remember my mom and my dad, my brothers when they still lived at home with us, my high school years, holding my kids when they were babies, visiting my grandmother and plunking away on her piano, Christmas, Easter, and summer vacations. But looking back isn't always pretty. Sometimes it's littered with trash, it has crumbling walls and broken windows, and it's hard to imagine the glory days.
We recently took a drive to visit the neighborhood where my grandparents used to live on the west side of Detroit. I don't go there often because it's dilapidated, dirty, and dangerous. Some neighborhoods in the city are still pretty well intact. This isn't one of them. In this neighborhood there are more empty lots than houses on every block. Most of the houses that are still standing, aren't occupied.
The streets are empty. No children play outside. Rusted out old jalopies outnumber cars that actually run. The sidewalks are cracked and uneven. The overgrown grass has made them much narrower than they were intended to be. There are all kinds of "old"... the pretty, quaint, old of European villages, the charming old of the well maintained historic buildings at Greenfield Village, the character old of a countryside barn that could stand a coat of paint. And then there's the old, ugly neighborhoods of Detroit that aren't quaint, and have no charm or character. They haven't aged well. They're grey and scraggly even on the sunniest day. They are sad and depressing. They leave you cold.
The lawns haven't been tended in decades. They're strewn with carelessly discarded items that nobody wants. It's a dumping ground for things nobody cares about, on property nobody cares about, by people who don't give a damn what kind of slum they live in. There's a story here and it's one of neglect, apathy, and hopelessness.
The alleys that once provided access to garages and carriage houses are now overgrown, littered, and broken. The gleeming cars of the Roaring Twenties with running boards and enough chrome to blind you couldn't make it down them anymore. They no longer serve a purpose. They are just a catch-all wasteland.
When you look in the front door of a building you see that the inside is just as abused and neglected as the outside. Entrance ways that once welcomed family, friends, and neighbors, are now cluttered with shards of glass, rotting boards, and refuse. They are stark and forlorn.
The insides were long ago stripped of anything salvageable and what's left has been vandalized for no good reason whatsoever. The electical wiring has been ripped from the ceilings and walls and sold as scrap metal to support someone's drug habit. The walls are barely standing, the paint that's left is pealing, the windows that aren't broken are boarded up. There are no rats inside because there is no food to lure them. It's barren.
The ceilings are fallen in. The pipes that once carried fresh, clean, water throughout the structure were long ago sold as scrap metal too. When you look at this kind of devestation you wonder what was going on in the minds of those who destroyed it. And then you think, "No, I don't want to know".
Gaping holes in the floor prohibit you from wandering beyond the doorway. It isn't safe to walk through this place. At one time this was a viable, thriving business, then a church for lost souls, then a chop shop for car thieves, and now it's just another abandoned building in various stages of decay. Oh the stories these walls could tell if only they had a voice! But they have no voice. They are silent sentinels that may not be standing much longer.
At one time these big, once-beautiful windows looked out on a bustling neighborhood full of houses occupied by recent Polish immigrants who worked from sunup to sundown to get ahead, worshiped in the neighborhood Catholic Church every Sunday and holy day, cared for their children, and struggled to learn a new language and become good citizens of America. They swept their porches and sidewalks daily and when their neighbors were feeling poorly they swept their's too. They had pride and hard work was their way of life.
At one time this was the private office of a very successfull businessman. That was before it became a pastor's study. And before it fell into the hands of crooks. Looking at this office, it's very hard to picture those glory days. But they happened. They were real. Now this is.

Ugly.
Very, very sad.

Walking away from this building, this neighborhood, doesn't end the sadness. It says with you and haunts you.

This isn't just any old abandoned building in Detroit. It was originally a modern, successful, baking company owned by my grandparents who contracted with an architect to build this particular section of the building so they could expand their operation. The older section of the facility has been gone (decay? fire? vandalism?) for many years. This is all that's left standing. And I suspect it won't be standing much longer.

I have photos of the baking company in its hey day. And I have a sketch of what it was to become back when my grandfather planned to expand it even more. They were grand plans! This was once a wonderful place full of the smells of freshly baked bread, cinnamon rolls, and pastries. It was all lit up in the wee hours of the morning as my grandfather and his staff prepared their baked goods fresh every day. Even on the coldest of winter nights the ovens kept the place toasty-warm. It was a happy place, a meticulously clean place, a place where neighbors would meet and catch up with each other's lives as they stood in line to buy their bread and baked goods. It provided the most amazing cakes for all the First Holy Communion parties, weddings, birthdays, and graduation parties in the neighborhood. It provided rich desserts, babkas, sweet breads, and paczki, for every holiday dinner table. And when times got tough, during the Great Depression, it provided sustenance to those who could afford nothing more than day-old bread for their dinner table.

But I'll save those photos and stories for another time when I'm not feeling so melancholy. I just couldn't do them justice this day.

The Historical Society of Michigan is presenting it's local history conference next weekend in Dearborn, Michigan.

The 52nd annual Michigan in Perspective: the Local History Conference will be held March 19-20, 2010 at The Dearborn Inn. The conference was organized by the Michigan in Perspective Planning Committee and the lead sponsor and conference administrator is the Historical Society of Michigan. Other major sponsors include the Detroit Historical Society, Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Salt Company as well as the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research.

There will be sessions on: Ethnic Detroit, Photojournalism Resources in Detroit, Women in Michigan History, Oral History, Genealogy, Historic Preservation, Michigan's Aviation and Maritime History, the Underground Railway in Detroit, and Revolutionary Detroit. Whew! Something for everyone!

Check out the brochure for more details.

For those with ties to Michigan, here are some books you might want to put on your Christmas list or buy for someone who loves Michigan history. Looks like some great reading for genealogists and family historians!

LANSING – The Library of Michigan has announced the list of the 2010 Michigan Notable Books – 20 books highlighting Michigan people, places, and events.

“This year’s selections prove that persevering through economic and personal hardship is nothing new for Michiganians, and that this enduring and independent spirit has a long, rich history in the Great Lakes State,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan.

Short stories of despairing people moving toward salvation; a biography of the state’s first geologist, who discovered many of Michigan’s natural treasures; and a children’s book that tells the story of a slave family’s flight to freedom are among this year’s most notable Michigan books.

“This year’s Michigan Notable Books bring to life the Michigan experience through vivid storytelling that creates portraits of the people and places that make Michigan great,” said State Librarian Nancy Robertson. “Addressing Michigan’s natural beauty, its innovative leaders or the faith of its people, these books celebrate Michigan as a place and a people that even in the most trying of times find transformation. The Library of Michigan is delighted to honor these 20 books as the 2010 Michigan Notable Books.”

Each year the Michigan Notable Books (MNB) list features 20 books published in the previous calendar year that are about, or set in, Michigan or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a Michigan author. Selections include nonfiction and fiction books that appeal to a variety of audiences and cover a range of topics and issues close to the hearts of Michigan residents.

Michigan Notable Books is a statewide program that began as part of the 1991 Michigan Week celebration, geared to pay tribute and draw attention to the many people, places and things that make Michigan life unique. In that regard, MNB successfully highlights Michigan books and writers focusing on the Great Lakes State. Each title on the 2010 list gives readers insight into what it means to make your home in Michigan and proves some of the greatest stories are indeed found in the Great Lakes region.

This year’s Michigan Notable Book selection committee includes representatives from the Library of Michigan; Borders Inc.; Cooley Law School; The Detroit News; Detroit Public Library; Grand Valley State University; Lansing City Pulse; Michigan Center for the Book; Michigan Historical Center; Schuler Books & Music; and the Traverse City Record Eagle.

The Library of Michigan museum store will carry the 2010 Michigan Notable Books and the books will also be available at the Michigan e-store at http://apps.michigan.gov/MichiganeStore/public/Home.aspx. Many books are also available at Amazon.com.

For more information about the MNB program, call 517 373-1300, visit www.michigan.gov/notablebooks or e-mail michigannotablebooks@michigan.gov.

The 2010 Michigan Notable Books are:

American Salvage: Stories by Bonnie Jo Campbell. Wayne State University Press.
In these stories about cold, lonely, working-class Michigan life, Campbell creates a world where salvation counterbalances loss and despair, and she leaves the reader with a sense of hope and belief things will get better. Campbell’s daring stories and exceptional writing create an image of rural Michigan that lingers and cannot be forgotten.

Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family’s Secret by Steve Luxenberg. Hyperion.
The fear of mental illness hits deep into the psyche, and that terror brings about this fascinating book of research into family genealogy, personal history and secrets long held. It all started when Detroit native Steve Luxenberg began to discover some discrepancies in his mother’s stories about her family as she neared the end of her life. A complex blend of genealogy research, cultural mores and a long-past Detroit are brought alive. Despite the secrets, Luxenberg’s love of his family is clear, and while not all is discovered, much is, and his story becomes a story that belongs to all of us.

The Art Student’s War: A Novel by Brad Leithauser. Alfred A. Knopf.
The vividly depicted city of Detroit takes a lead role in this historical coming-of-age novel set in World War II. A talented art student, Bianca Paradiso volunteers to draw portraits of wounded soldiers at the local hospital. As turmoil engulfs her Italian family, Bianca struggles in both her relationship with one of her sketch subjects and her budding romance with the son of a local drug store titan.

Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing by Arnie Bernstein. University of Michigan Press.
On May 18, 1927, an explosion rocked the small town of Bath, in Clinton County, when dynamite planted by Andrew Kehoe detonated in the basement of the local school. In this dramatic history of the horrific tragedy that claimed more than 40 lives (most of them schoolchildren), including Kehoe and his wife, the author skillfully explores the origins and events leading up to the tragedy, the terrible destruction at the school and Kehoe’s farm, and how the stunned community struggled to cope in the immediate aftermath.

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt.
The remarkable story of Henry Ford’s failed attempt to transform the rugged Brazilian Amazon rainforest into both a factory and a model American-style town, complete with golf courses and ice cream shops. Fordlandia represents a fascinating dichotomy matching the Amazon rainforest, with its complex natural environment and rugged conditions, against the automobile industrialist who had perfected the assembly line.

Have a Little Faith: A True Story of a Last Request by Mitch Albom. Hyperion.
Mitch Albom offers a story about his eight-year journey between two worlds, two men and two faiths. After Albom’s hometown rabbi asked him to deliver his eulogy, Albom tried to learn more about the man and found himself thrown back to a world of faith he’d left years ago. By examining his faith, Albom also connected with a Detroit pastor, a former convict preaching to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof. Ten percent of the profits from this book will go to charity, including The Hole in the Roof Foundation, which helps refurbish places of worship that aid the homeless.

Isadore’s Secret: Sin, Murder and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town by Mardi Link. University of Michigan Press.
An astonishing story of a nun who was murdered in Isadore nearly 100 years ago. Years after the nun’s disappearance, her bones were found, but only when local law enforcement found out about this murder as gossip spread through the town was anything done to find out who killed the nun, Sister Janina. A compelling story and a well-researched and carefully written account of the events that affected Isadore and its Catholic Polish population so greatly.

January’s Sparrow by Patricia Polacco. Philomel.
In January 1874 in Marshall, slave takers came to take the Crosswhites back to Kentucky. This is the story of how the Crosswhites came to Marshall, why they stayed there and what happened on that day the whole town rose up to save the Crosswhites from the slave takers. This is Polacco’s second time on the Michigan Notable Books list (An Orange for Frankie).

The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit: Stories by Michael Zadoorian. Wayne State University Press.
Interesting and quirky characters abound in this engaging collection of short stories set in and around Detroit. Divided in sections appropriately named West Side, East Side and Downtown, the collection portrays common themes relevant to the region and the city, including hardship, racial tension and hope.

Michigan’s Columbus: The Life of Douglass Houghton by Steve Lehto. Momentum Books.
This well-researched and readable biography details the extraordinary – and tragically short – life of one of the most important figures in Michigan history. Having earlier accompanied Henry Rowe Schoolcraft on his expeditions through the Lake Superior region and the upper Mississippi valley, Houghton was the state’s first geologist, from 1837 until his death at age 36 in 1845. His 1841 annual report detailed the rich copper deposits found in the Keweenaw Peninsula, and, by suggesting they could be mined successfully and profitably, helped foster Michigan’s subsequent mining boom. This is Lehto’s second time on the Michigan Notable Books list (Death’s Door: The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder).

Nothing But a Smile: A Novel by Steve Amick. Pantheon Books.
Steve Amick gives the reader a remarkable portrait of postwar America. When Wink Dutton is discharged from the army in 1944, he has little to his name besides his Purple Heart. His prospects change unexpectedly, however, when he meets the beautiful Sal Chesterton. The story plays out against wartime struggles, the Chicago underworld of the 1940s and 1950s, HUAC and the Red Scare and the postwar migration of Americans from the cities to the suburbs. This is Amick’s second time on the Michigan Notable Books list (The Lake, The River & the Other Lake).

Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer by Paul Taylor. Kent State University Press.
A comprehensive biography of General Sherman’s right-hand man, Orlando M. Poe, who served in the Civil War, commanded the 2nd Michigan Infantry and led brigades at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg. This influential man was much praised for his bravery and service. He went on to lead an illustrious career as the supervisor for the design and construction of numerous Great Lakes lighthouses and then designed and constructed the largest shipping lock in the world at Sault Ste. Marie.

Our People, Our Journey: The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians by James M. McClurken. Michigan State University Press.
Utilizing compelling photographs of the families that constitute it, this important and well-researched history of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians traces the tribe’s migration into Michigan’s Grand River Valley, its later settlement on reservations in Mason, Muskegon and Oceana counties, the difficult relationship between the tribe and the U.S. government and successful efforts to maintain the tribe’s unique cultural identity through the present day.

Pandora’s Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway by Jeff Alexander. Michigan State University Press.
A powerfully and thoughtfully written story of the impact the opening of the Great Lakes has had on the environment, water conditions and quality of life in the Great Lakes states. The high cost of tolerating dumping deep-sea ballast and exotic species into the lakes is carefully detailed and the personal cost is well displayed. This is a well-researched book that indeed gives one hope among the ruins. This is Alexander’s second time on the Michigan Notable Books list (The Muskegon: The Majesty and Tragedy of Michigan’s Rarest River).

Roses and Revolutions: The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall edited by Melba Joyce Boyd. Wayne State University Press.
This beautifully edited anthology pulls together Dudley Randall’s major works in one volume. Long-time Detroit resident Randall was the founder of Broadside Press, which published many well-known Black poets. He was one of the foremost voices in African-American literature during the 20th century and was very influential in his mentoring activities. The poems and the short stories show the changes in civil rights and historical events during his 80 years of life, and depict a man who had a deep love for people.

Season of Water and Ice by Donald Lystra, Switch Grass Books/Northern Illinois University.

Donald Lystra creates a touching coming-of-age story set in rural northern Michigan in 1957. Bookish loner Danny DeWitt befriends Amber Dwyer, a pregnant teenager who has been abandoned by her boyfriend and rejected by her family and community. Seasons of Water and Ice explores the themes of independence and obligation, courage and surrender, and love and sexuality. The book will appeal to both adult and young adult readers.

Stitches: A Memoir by David Small. W. W. Norton.
Socrates says that an unexamined life is a life not worth living. David Small’s heartbreaking story reveals a well-examined life, bringing to light a troubled family and its impact on him as a child, from living in an extremely quiet and depressing environment with angry undertones, to undergoing extremely traumatic throat surgery and waking up unable to speak. A remarkably illustrated story of a child who found refuge in books and in drawing, and, in the end, became his own man.

Travelin’ Man: On the Road and Behind the Scenes with Bob Seger by Tom Weschler. Wayne State University Press.
Following Bob Seger’s career from the late 1960s, through such highlights as Beautiful Loser, Live Bullet and Night Moves, and culminating in his 2004 induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, readers will eagerly turn the page in this behind-the-scenes photographic look at one of Michigan’s music icons.

Up the Rouge!: Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River by Joel Thurtell. Photographs by Patricia Beck. Wayne State University Press.
This is a beautifully photographed story of a journey up Detroit’s Rouge River to investigate whether cleanup efforts are paying off. Two Detroit Free Press journalists undertake a very difficult five-day trip up the river, which involved not just peacefully canoeing but also avoiding getting dunked in a very contaminated river and dragging their canoe over debris and rubbish tossed in the river. Photos show an astonishing number of boats simply abandoned in the river, along with random cars, washing machines and other detritus of civilization.

When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball by Seth Davis. Times Books.
Thirty years ago, college basketball was not the sport we know today. Not many games were televised nationally, and the NCAA tournament was not the cultural phenomenon it is today. Two exceptional players, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird, almost single-handedly changed everything. Although they played each other only once, in the 1979 NCAA finals, that meeting launched an epic rivalry, transformed the NCAA tournament into the multibillion-dollar event it is today and laid the groundwork for the resurgence of the NBA. Seth Davis’ well-written book explores Bird and Johnson, the 1979 NCAA tournament, and the impact these great players had on the game.

From the Michigan.gov web site.

Poem: "St Joseph's" by
© Doug Tanoury 2003
All Rights Reserved
Reprinted here with permission
Read Doug Tanoury's poetry here.

A documentary on the Polar Bears of WWI will air this Sunday, November 8 at 3pm on Detroit's public television station. The "Polar Bears" were a group of Michigan WWI soldiers who fought against the Russians in frigid conditions near the arctic circle. The movie was filmed last January in Michigan's upper peninsula where frigid conditions resembled those experienced in Russia during WWI.

You can read more about the movie making and the actors involved in the project here. The documentary, Voices of a Never Ending Dawn, has it's own web site here.

Years ago, as legend has it, a castle was to be built in Melsztyn, near Wojnicz. Stones for the foundation had to be located and suitable ones were found in the Holy Cross Mountains (Gór Świętokrzyskie). Transporting the stones from the mountains to Melsztyn was a monumental task. So a request was made to the witches on Bald Mountain (Łysej Górze) in order to achieve this. When all of the conditions were discussed and agreed upon a contract was written up on buffalo skin. It went like this: "We the witches of Bald Mountain commit to the transfer of quartz stones by our brethren of devils, headed by the chieftain Boruta, to the area where a castle will be constructed at Melsztyn . In return for delivering the stones we will receive the rights to take from the fields of the Dunajec Valley all the wicker we need to make the brooms we need for our flights. If even one stone doesn't make it to the construction site, we will not claim payment for those previously delivered. The deadline for implementation is one year from the date this contract is signed." The agreement was signed and sealed in the autumn and the plan was executed.

So the transportation of the foundation stones began. It was hard work that only took place at night and during the new moon. Despite this, construction of the castle at Melsztyn made progress. The owner of Melsztyn brought in stones for the walls. He had previously placed signs directing which way to go so that none would get lost. The devil force transported the foundation stones through the air in a straight line from the Holy Cross Mountains to Melsztyn. The route ran 2 km west of the marketplace at Wojnicz.

One night there was a horrible noise, like a hurricane, and following that the great stench of sulfur and tar. The residents of Wojnicz and the surrounding areas would not venture far from their homes. They were afraid and didn't like the terrible odor.

In mid-September of the following year the days were hot and you could feel a storm approaching. Lightning streaked all across the eastern sky. It was a rare phenomenon indeed for a storm to approach from the east! Hurricane winds sprang up and that night no one in Wojnicz slept. The sound of loud rolling thunder along with almost constant lightning made the villagers very fearful. Around midnight they heard a terrible roar but there was no lightning. Then suddenly everything became quiet. The clouds parted and the stars were shining once again. The terrible smell was no more. The merchants and craftsmen of Wojnicz immediately left for the fair in Krakow to buy more goods. The castle gates opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and the last of the carts and carriages left the city.

The road was bumpy and there were some puddles after the rain. But the earth quickly absorbed the excess water because it had been parched for a long time. The storm had been loud and strong but relatively little rain had actually fallen. The horses snorted and the coachmen and passengers of the carriages rode along singing merrily. They traveled through Piaski, Wolica, Podlesie and Śniadki approaching Biadolin. They went by the shrines of Sts. Peter and Paul along the right side of the road. Next they approached the bridge over the river Piotrówka and that's when the trouble began. The horses stood rooted to the ground and neither encouragement nor threatening motions could coax them to move on. They heard moaning sounds and began to smell a terrible stench once again. The hair on everyone's heads stood on end. There was no choice but to return to Wojnicz and notify the mayor who was a man of uncommon strength and courage. He was also compassionate to all and quick to offer his assistance to anyone in need.

The people of Wojnicz had known about the transportation of the castle stone to Melsztyn by the devils for quite some time. They immediately suspected that some sort of diabolical accident had occurred in connection with the hurricane during the transporting of the stones.

Once the mayor was awakened he immediate got dressed. The blacksmith brought along his strong chains and accompanied the mayor to the place indicated by the merchant travelers. Taking all precautions, they discovered that the storm caused the devil and his cargo of stone to be dropped near the shrines of Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Stanislaus. One of the largest stones fell near the shrine of St. Stanislaus. It was buried deeply in the ground but the tip could still be seen. Two more fell on the hill behind the Piotrówka River where the devil who was transporting them had tried his best to hang on to them. All in all, the devil had made a pretty good effort. The one thing the devil did not want to have happen was to be seen by those in hell. He'd wanted to prove something but he had failed.

The devil was bewildered and didn't know what fate awaited him. The mayor and blacksmith put him in chains and into the carriage and brought him to Wojnicz. Then they locked the devil up in a hallway where he went to sleep. After a while the devil awoke, broke the chains, and escaped. Later in the day the mayor got curious and went to check on the devil. But there was nothing there, only the chains covered in tar.

The three stones lost in the field near Biadolin were the last ones needed to complete the castle at Melsztyn. The Lord of Melsztyn was very upset that the castle could not be completed. The new moon came again but no more transporting was done. Days passed and nothing happened. But eventually something had to happen. The three stones were missing but that could be remedied with stone from elsewhere. In his heart the Lord of Melsztyn felt that the contract with the witches was broken. He completed his castle and the witches of Bald Mountain did not gain their rights to the Dunajec Valley.




Meanwhile, the devil who'd escaped from the mayor was out wandering around. He was afraid to go back to hell. Strange things could be seen happening all around him. Some trees fell and the grass became slanted appearing weak and sick. The witches doggedly sought the devil and eventually did catch him. They sentenced him to be punished for scarring the hill behind the Piotrowka River at Biadolin. But what of his fear of going back to hell? Well, he continued walking around the hill in various forms. He was seen as an old man, a gentleman, a wolf, and even a black cat. People would flee from the images of him. Finally, in Krakow, when life had gotten somewhat back to normal, it was decided to put an end to these horrors. There was a statue of Mother Mary with Child on a stone pillar. This column was placed with the other figures at the shrines of Sts Adalbert and Stanislaus, east of St. Margaret's, west of St. Joseph and from the north St. Tekla. Lime trees were planted in the area as well. The two stones that never arrived at the castle Melsztyn were left at the east and west sides of the religious statues and to this day you can still see them. But the devil roamed the area no more.

Sources:
Legends of Wojnicz
Wikipedia

The 3 photos included are from Wikipedia. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and / or modify this image under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 or later, as published by The Free Software Foundation.

Legends of Wojnicz Series:
War Waged Against the Naughty Wives of Wojnicz
Legend of the Stingy Heir
Legend of the White Horse
Legend of the Devil's Transport

In the town of Wojnicz, there was a castle surrounded by a water-filled moat and a drawbridge. A gentleman reveler, having had his fill of beer and wine, headed in the direction of his manor house in the village of Wielka Wieś riding his gray horse. He'd spent the whole day at the inn playing and drinking. The sun was getting low behind the mountains to the southwest. Dusk was falling and with it came a thick fog. The gentleman had to leave the town before sunset because that's when they would close the town's gates. Lying just beyond the gates of the city was the outer village of Zamoście which had a brewery, a nearby inn, and a Jew (only Jews could serve alcoholic beverages in Poland in the days of old). He imbibed more at the inn and got to the state where he was feeling so good he had to rely on his horse to find the way home.

A view of Wielka Wies. Arrow points to Manor House.
The road ran by a narrow marsh. Along the way bats flew from the forest, frogs croaked in the swamp, and the sounds of wild beasts could be heard in the distance. Almost immediately in front of the manor house, a howling devil wolf appeared. The horse reared and threw the drunken gentleman off its back such that his leg became entangled with his lance. His leg broke and he would undoubtedly have died, torn apart by the devil wolf, if the housekeepers had not heard the commotion.
Close up of Manor House
Barking dogs awoke everyone in the manor house and the servants came running. Their first sight was a horse with no rider. Then they discovered the drunken gentleman with his broken leg and immediately brought him inside the manor house. A healer was sent for and when he arrived he began treatment right away. The gentleman's recovery took a long time. While he was convalescing, he vowed that if he made a full recovery he would build a shrine to St. George, the patron saint of knights (it's believed that the gentleman probably was a knight). After that, the gentleman's recovery went along more quickly.

Continuing with the legends of Wojnicz, Poland, next we have two legends concerning the area of the Zamoście estate.

According to one legend, at the site of today's village there used to be three small settlements: Upper Zamoście II, Skrzynki, and Lower Zamoście I. The residents of this area were referred to as Trójnik. The area was ravaged by the Swedes in 1665-1660, and after the war with the Swedes a new city emerged. It was named Wojnicz. The echoes of this legend remain until today as is evidenced by these names of Wojnicz's suburbs.

Another legend tells of a stingy estate owner and it goes like this. Those that lived long ago in Wojnicz reported that the owner of the Zamoście estate was a very stingy man. He never did anything to help anyone and never shared what he had with others. Servants and local residents were very fearful of robbers, known as the Madeja. Robbery was severely punished back in those days. Some who were caught were even punished/tortured on the "Madejowe bed". But not the owner of the Zamoście estate. Even though he was known to put things in his grain to make it heavier so that when he sold it at market it would bring in more money, he was never punished. He never changed his cunning and stingy ways and eventually he died.

The "Madejowe bed"

After his death, every night at midnight in barns and graineries in the area of the Zamoście estate, the doors would open and then close with a big bang. People would check to see if thieves were responsible but no one encountered any. Dogs calmly walked around the area not at all alarmed. Time went by, years passed.

One moonlit night a watchman went to work guarding some cattle. He saw a white figure of a man standing nearby. Frightened, he retreated a ways and from afar he asked, "Who's there?" He heard a voice respond, "I am a former owner. I've repent now for 70 years for my stingy ways. Oh if only someone would take pity and order 7 masses. Then my penance would end. Otherwise, I will still suffer for 70 more years." Then the figure disappeared into the moonlight.

The watchman went totally gray with fear. In the morning he told his master about his night time adventure. The masses were ordered at the church of St. Lawrence in Wojnicz and from that moment on the night-knocking in the area of the Zamoście estate ceased.

Sources:
Legends of Wojnicz
Madejowe Bed
"Deluge" Invasion of Poland by the Swedes

Photo 1: Swedish King Charles X Gustav in skirmish with Polish Tartars near Warsaw 1656 by Johann Phillip Lemke (1631 - 1711). In the public domain.
Photo 2: Poland, Zywiec - Museum of Torture - torture bed (so called Madejowe Bed). This file may be copied and distributed, and to make derivative works provided that an appropriate information about the author and provided to distribute a file under the same license, or under a similar license or compatible with CC-BY-SA. Contributor who supplied the photo was "Merlin".

Legends of Wojnicz Series:
War Waged Against the Naughty Wives of Wojnicz
Legend of the Stingy Heir
Legend of the White Horse
Legend of the Devil's Transport

October means many things to many people. To me it means National Family History Month, Polish American Heritage Month, and Halloween. In honor of all three, I'm going to take this opportunity to share with you some legends of the town of Wojnicz, Poland. Wojnicz is the ancestral village of one branch of my family (Mizera). It's in southern Poland, west southwest of the city of Tarnów along the road (E40) to Kraków. I've written about Wojnicz before, a number of times.

A Tribute to My Maternal Ancestors, Part I
A Tribute to My Maternal Ancestors, Part II (History of Wojnicz)
Snapshot 1908, Galician Partition of Poland (includes YouTube video)
Recipient of a Random Act of Kindness
The Good Earth, Poland

This time around I'm going to tell a series of tales of Wojnicz. These legends go back a long way and have entertained and educated many over the hundreds of years they've existed. Wojnicz is a very old town and the first of the legends takes us back to the years 1015-1018 and a war waged against the "naughty" women of the town...

The best known of Wojnicz's legends tells of the fight between the naughty wives of Wojnicz and their husbands. This "old wives" war may have given the town it's name. The fight of the unfaithful wives was alleged to have occurred in the eleventh century during the rein of Bolesław the Bold. In 1015, Bolesław went to Kiev to restore the throne to Ruthenian Prince Svyatopolk Vladimirovich (Bolesław's son in law) who was dethroned by his brother Yaroslav. After Bolesław returned to Poland, Svyatopolk's brother dethroned him again. So Bolesław went back to Kiev in 1018 with his Polish knights and this time stayed a longer time.

While they were gone, as the legend goes, the knight's wives took lovers. When the knights learned of this, they began to arbitrarily leave Bolesław's army in Kiev and rushed home to punish their adulterous wives. When Bolesław returned home, he punished both his wife (this would have been his 4th wife, Oda, who he was married to from 1018 until his death in 1025) and the knights who left him in Kiev.

Feeling threatened, the errant wives and the men they dallied with escaped into the castle 3 kilometers from the city. Armed with swords, spears, bows and axes, they desperately defended themselves from Bolesław and the knight's attacks. Many of them were dishonored, many wounded. Those who were killed were buried on a hill behind town. In the end, the women's defense was broken. The vindictive husbands severely punished their unfaithful wives. Many of them were killed in a cruel manor. The mountain on which the men and women defended themselves was named "Maiden's Mountain" in memory of those events. It is said that the castle warriors of the Tarnowski family along with Bolesław, decided to found a city on the spot to commemorate that extraordinary war and they called it Wojnicz ("Wojna" means "war" in Polish).

Sources: Legends of Wojnicz
Bolesław I Chrobry

Photo 1: Portrait of Bolesław the Brave done by Jan Matejko. Image from Wikipedia, is in the Public Domain.
Photo 2: Bolesław the Brave Entering Conquered Kiev by Jan Matejko. Image from Wikipedia, is in the Public Domain.

Legends of Wojnicz Series:
War Waged Against the Naughty Wives of Wojnicz
Legend of the Stingy Heir
Legend of the White Horse
Legend of the Devil's Transport