In
the fall of 2005, I received an email from a Nalepinski living in Milwaukee. He
shared a letter with me that was written by his grandfather, explaining how the
Nalepinski family came to Chicago. This letter makes the connection that
Milwaukee records could not and proves (somewhat) the connections of the two
families. The text from the letter is below:
“
Your grandfather, Vincent Nalepinski was born 1857 in Posen Poland.
Her mother’s maiden name was Sirwinski [actually Czerwinski]. She had
four sisters and one brother. The bother went to Canada and settled in Alberta,
Canada. Working on a ranch for a Scotish [sic] family, he later married their
daughter and had two children - daughters. Your grandfather [Vincent Nalepinski]
was 17 years old when he left Poland. He went to Canada to join his uncle
Sirwinski. He did not like it so he came to Chicago to join the rest of the
clan. He had four bothers and two sisters.
Their
father had a cooper shop in Poland. They made whiskey barrels. The brothers were
Tom, Vincent, Leo, Stanley and Tony. The two Sisters were Dicker and Swetlick.
Tom, the oldest brought the whole family to this country. Tom had a saloon in
Chicago. Wincent, Leo, and Ton settled in Milwaukee. Stanley died at an early
age - - he was a motorman for the streetcar company. His family settled in South
Bend, Indiana.
All
the boys came to this country before they were 18 years old. They did not want
to server in the German army.
In
Canada, with a name like Sir Winski, they thought they had a title.
Tony
Nalepinski is buried at Calvary Cemetery at 60th and Blairmount (sp?)
Mike
Nalepinski lives in Chicago. He wrote this letter. “