Below is the story of the Konozas from Polkowo. I found this on a website run by Mimi Kanoza. I have the actual case records she mentions below and will put them up as soon as I have them translated. These records show that Konozas were the original owners of the land and they as well as my relatives Polkowskis, Liwinskis, and Chatas and many other villagers of Polkowo challenged new taxes imposed by Anna Rostkowka, widow of General Antoni Rostkowski, owner of the nearby Tayno Estate.

THE STORY OF POLKOWO

from http://www.geocities.com/mkonoz/polkowo.html

Mimi Kanoza -Webmaster



June 23, 1582 -- POLKOWO FOUNDED...Augustow, Poland (Suwalki Province) County official issues decree from city of Rajgrod (northwest of Polkowo) granting peasants Mark and Elizabeth Konoza the right to settle on the hillock of Polikow (later referred to as the village of Polkowo) near the river Bierza (current day Biebrza National Park) May 3, 1585 -- Queen Anna issues a decree from Warsaw confirming the land grant

1587 -- Boundaries of Polkowo are determined to be 5 wlok (approximately 150 acres)

September 13, 1639 -- Rajgrod court lowers rent for land from 50zl to 10zl

1661 -- Land grant reaffirmed by King Kazimierz

1664 -- Decendents thrived and multiplied consisting of five families.

1777 -- An armed conflict arose when a landlord of the royal estates chose to impose on the citizens of Polkowo demands for labor, additional payments and higher rents; these citizens initiated a lawsuit (litigants included Mateusz and Marianna Kawalkow Konoza) in the royal court which took several years to resolve; allegations were that the landlord conducted raids of the village, taking oxen, horses and personal possessions; they were also accused of assaults

1778 -- The court sent a special commission to investigate, which found for the villagers and relieved them of additional requirements; an appeal suspended the ruling

1781 -- A subsequent commission again held for the villagers, but their lease payments were increased to 200 zl; "Polkowianie" (the people of Polkowo) now consist of 20 hamlets In the late eighteenth century the villages of Polkowo, Kopytkowo and Jasionowo, were collectively referred to as Bojary

(information courtesy of Ken Kanoza of 2205 Liberty St., Erie, PA 16502, by way of his cousin Edward Kanoza in the USA from Stanislaw Kanoza near Polkowo, Poland--interestingly his grandfather's name was spelled Konoza; this data is from a text translation of the book of Polish archives, The History of Settlement from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries, done by Maciej (Mitch) Drobniewski, who is Stanislaw Kanoza's daughter's son)