A Biographical Sketch of Hedwig Suchomski

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     Hedwig Myslinski was born on October 15, 1855 in the village of
Lubiewo, in what is now the powiat [county] of Swiecie, near Bydgoszcz,
Kujawy-Pomorze province, Poland. At that time, the village was in the Prussian
province of West Prussia [Westpreussen]. She was the fifth of seven children,
the second of two daughters of Philipp Myslinski, a tailor, and his wife,
Elisabeth, nee Schwanke. Hedwig was baptized a Roman Catholic in
the parish church of Byslaw, Przemienienia Panskiego [Transfiguration
church], a few miles from Lubiewo. On the same page of the Byslaw
parish baptismal register, there is a record for a Hedwig Kuffel, from
the village of Sucha. This child eventually married Hedwig's brother,
John [1]. Hedwig's mother's surname is recorded variously in the parish
records as: Schwanke, Szwanc and Schwanz [2], [3].

     From 1841 to 1853, Philipp and his family lived in the village of
Gostycyn. Four of his children were born there [4]. From 1855 to 1873 
they lived in Lubiewo. In the summer of 1873, Philipp, his wife Elisabeth,
and a son Piotr died in the Little Cholera epidemic that hit Poland. In
Lubiewo seventy people died that summer from cholera, about ten percent
of the village's population. The Myslinskis were among the first to perish.
Hedwig was orphaned at seventeen [5], [6], [7]. 

     In November, 1873, Hedwig married John Suchomski [8]. In 1874, their
first son, Tomasz, died [9], [10].

     In 1880, the Suchomskis moved to Chicago. In June, 1880,
Hedwig's sister, Anna Urban, and her family were living in an adjacent
apartment [11]. The Urbans had arrived in America before 1876. Hedwig's
brother, John Myslinski, had already lived in Chicago since 1869 [12].

     On Christmas Eve, 1886, the Suchomski's daughter, Antonina, died
[13]. In 1888, a son, Peter, died. In 1900, Hedwig said that she was the
mother of fourteen children, nine living. She also could read and write
English, but could not speak it. Her children's occupations varied from
picture frame gilder to shoemaker to packer in a bakery [14].

     In that same year, Hedwig joined the Society of the Holy Mother of
Czestochowa, No. 53, Polish Roman Catholic Union of America (a
Catholic fraternal insurance organization) [15]. In 1917, the Society
stated that among its benefits: "....in the event of the death of a mem-
ber, the Society pays the heirs of the deceased [within] six months $75.
for funeral costs. For the funeral of a member not owing dues, the
Society reserves a Mass for the repose of her soul, and the
[members] appear together at the liturgy; it hires two carriages or one
automobile; and it also purchases flowers worth $10" [16]. Joseph John
Parot [17] described this same society as the Polish Women's Association of
Our Lady of Czestochowa, founded to provide parish ladies with the oppor-
tunity to promote "friendship, unity and sisterly love" and to
propagate "the Christian and national spirit."

     On June 25, 1925, her husband's birthday, Hedwig died of stomach
cancer. She was buried in St. Adalbert cemetery, Niles, IL [18].

Footnotes:

     [1]  Microfilm # 0502967. Poland. Bydgoszcz. Byslaw (Tuchola) -
Church Records. Salt Lake City, UT: Family History Library.
     [2]  Ibid.
     [3]  Microfilm # 0072032. Poland. Bydgoszcz. Gostycyn (Tuchola) -
Church Records. Salt Lake City: UT: Family History Library.
     [4]  Ibid.
     [5]  Microfilm # 0529605. Poland. Bydgoszcz. Lubiewo (Swiecie) -
Church Records. Salt Lake City, UT: Family History Library.
     [6]  Ibid.
     [7]  Rosemary A. Chorzempa. Polish Roots. Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1993; p. 56. 
     [8]  Microfilm # 1569312, item 4, p. 169. Poland. Bydgoszcz.
Lubiewo (Swiecie) - Church Records. Salt Lake City, UT: Family History
Library.
     [9]  Microfilm # 0529604. Poland. Bydgoszcz. Lubiewo (Swiecie) -
Church Records. Salt Lake City, UT: Family History Library.
     [10]  National Archives Microfilm Roll # 196. 1880 U.S. Census,
Chicago, Cook County, IL, E.D. 148, sht. 68. Chicago, IL: National
Archives - Great Lakes Region.
     [11]  Ibid.
     [12]  Microfilm # 1577900, item 4, vol. 1a, p. 124. Illinois.
Cook County. Chicago - Church Records (St. Stanislaus Kostka).
Salt Lake City, UT: Family History Library.
     [13]  Microfilm # 1578080, item 3, p. 132. Illinois. Cook County.
Chicago - Church Records (St. Stanislaus Kostka). Salt Lake City, UT:
Family History Library.
     [14]  National Archives Microfilm Roll # 267, op. cit., E.D. 528, sht.
14; and E.D. 527, sht. 4.
     [15]  File for Claim # 16009 (1925), Polish Roman Catholic Union of
America Insurance Records. Chicago, IL: Polish Museum of America
Library.
     [16]  St. Stanislaus Kostka (Chicago, IL) 50-Year Jubilee Book, 1917,
p. 166 (in Polish). Ref. 277.731 S786 c. 1. Chicago, IL: Polish Museum
of America Library.
     [17]  Joseph John Parot. Polish Catholics in Chicago, 1850-1920.
DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1981; p. 224.
     [18]  Death Certificate # 17981 (1925), Chicago, Cook County, IL.
Chicago, IL: County Clerk's Office.