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Szymarek-Ladewski Books

Polish Marriage Applicants, St. Joseph County, Indiana, 1905 to 1915

 

Authors: Genevieve “Gene” Szymarek & G. “Lucky” Ladewski

(Click of photo for enlargement)

Transcribed: Jim Piechorowski 2008

 

(verbage revised 12/01/2007)

Gene and Lucky co-authored / compiled this work from marriage license applications housed in the St. Joseph County Archives.  Copies of the original documents are also available on microfilm in St. Joseph County Public Library’s Local & Family History Services. With the permission of the surviving family and the knowledge and consent of the publisher, Heritage Books, we have transcribed the first of three genealogical works developed by the sisters. Our purpose was not to copy every entry verbatim, but to provide the user with a path to the additional detail contained in the actual book.

 

This book and the others that the sisters wrote are available at the St. Joseph County Public Library and the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Library for independent study, or personal copies may be obtained by contacting:

 

Customer Service
Heritage Books, Inc.
65 East Main Street
Westminster, MD 21157-5026
[email protected]

Phone: 800-876-6103 or 410-876-6101
Fax: 410-871-2674
[email protected]

 

Biography of Genevieve Gene Szymarek

 

Much has been written of G. “Lucky” in the introduction to the Ladewski Papers.

 

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce the user to her sister and collaborator Genevieve Gene Szymarek.

 

Gene joined the world in 1922, the second of three daughters and a son born to the marriage of Frank & Hattie Rose (Laskowski) Stachowiak.  She was educated locally and served in the Second World War as a cryptographer in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It was there that she met and married John F. Szymarek at St. Mary’s of the Holy Rosary PNCC, October 2, 1948.

 

In 1967, Gene began to develop a family history of the Stachowiak family (without the benefit of the online resources we have today) and struggled with the primitive and for the most part disjointed, misspelled, and often incorrect immigrant records of St. Joseph County.

 

Gene joined the South Bend Area Genealogical Society and found herself to be the only person researching Polish families. She was told that obtaining information from Poland would be near impossible, a statement she and her sister would disprove over time. Gene would later join and become Vice President of the Polish Genealogy of Chicago (now PGSA), contributing to the good work of this eminent voice in Polish genealogy in the United States.

 

Gene and her sister collaborated on three volumes of Polish genealogy in St. Joseph County:

 God called Gene home in June of 1993 and we all lost a champion and friend.

 

Transcribed Books

 

 

Project started: Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Project updated: Sunday, June 01, 2008 03:07:49 PM

Return To: Saint Joseph County, Indiana INGenWeb Site