Day 5 - Karchowice

Today we went to Karchowice to visit with another cousin, Zbigniew Pilarczyk and his family.  Karchowice is about 120 kilometers from Krakow.  It had been 7 years since I last visited them.  Fortunately, in those 7 years a majore tollroad was constructed, cutting the trip from 3 hours of backroad driving to an hour and a half of easy driving on a really nice highway.  Also during zthose years, one of his daughters married and he has an adorable grandson. Last time, I didn't know much Polish at all and he seemed interested in that I was some kind of American cousin, but not so much in his genealogy.  So, I actually wondered whether it was worth the time and effort to visit him again.  Am I glad we went!

This time was very different.  He explained how he was related to people in the family tree, he had available copies of various vital records which he allowed me to photograph, and said he knew several people from Krepa, our family village, from weddings and funerals he has attended.  His daughter said that weddings are quite the affairs, lasting several days and lots of drinking. His uncle lives in Krepa, so I hope to have a chance to meet him when we're there in about a week.  

His son-in-law recently graduated with a degree in architecture and is a Frank Lloyd Wright fan.  They hope to visit Chicago to see the wonderful buildings we have. 

This just goes to show that we should never give up searching.  You never know when people will open up and help put some leaves on the family tree.