Jaminy Parish and Area History

This information was collected by Iwona Dakiniewicz for Jay Orbik from various publications of the Sztabin Cultural Society.

Parish History


 1.   Jaminy Parish belonged to the Grodno  deanery, Vilno diocese,  until 1795.  After 16 March  1799 it belonged to the Wigry diocese,  from 30  June 1818 to the Augustow diocese, called  Sejnenska, from 28 Oct 1925 to 25 March 1992 to the Lomza diocese, and presently Jaminy belongs to the Elk diocese .

2.  Originally, several  villages  of  Jaminy parish   belonged   to the Dolistwo parish: Those  villages  were Kopytkowo , Polkowo, and Jasionowo.

3. After the third partition in 1795 the Prussians nominated a new pastor in Jaminy - Wojciech Merchielewicz.

4. According to a Prussian document dated 21 July  1796, King Stanislaw August gave the Jaminy parish church two gardens, four morgs of land, and permission to cut trees. 

5. Pastors of Jaminy Parish: 1804 - Karol Michniewicz, 1819 - Melchior Klein Zmudzin, 1826 - Maciej Pulaski, (in 1828, comparing to other parishes, Jaminy had the lowest profits due to a very bad economic situation. The priest's house  was simple; only two rooms covered  by straw). 1831 -  Tadeusz Borczak  (he was in prison 1831-1833, at that time the priest administrator was Jan Kossakowski). In 1831 the parishioners built a new  priest' s house with 4 rooms including a kitchen and wooden floors. 1834  - Romuald  Truszkowski, 1841 - Jan  Bacewicz, 1844  - Wincenty Andruszkiewicz  (after a fire, the church from Augustow, built in 1788, was  moved to Jaminy during  his service,
circa 1849). 1850-  Jozef  Myszkiewicz. In 1852 or  1854  - organs for 12 voices were built. Later pastors were: Marcin Bartoszewicz,  Jan  Falkowski,  Szymon Tumoss, Jozef Bacewicz, Wawrzyniec Wlostowski (1888-1924) , Jozef   Grodzki (1925-1936), Stanislaw Dabrowski  (1936-1945).

6. Radical Patriotic Priest in Jaminy. The greatest patriotic priest in the region during the turbulent times surrounding the Insurrection of 1863 was Jan Falkowski, who was born in 1828. Before he became a priest in Jaminy, he served in Augustow as a vicar and was was recognized by the Russian authorities as being very harmful for public life and peace. He was made a prisoner in Dynenburg on 24 June 1861. Then the Governor of the Polish  Kingdom decided to send him to Russia. He returned in 1866 and  since  that  year he and served in Jaminy parish until 1873. The next information came from 1892 when Jan Falkowski  had no position. A document from this time stated he had to pay a fine of 25 rubles because he confessed somebody in church  in Prostyn  village  without permission .

7. Local Parish Contributors to the Church. In 1873, thanks to Mateusz  Polkowski and Karol  Witkowski, the church was covered by a new  roof.  Three new bells  were put on the right bell tower. There were four alters;  one main alter and  three more on the sides on sides . The main one was made by excellent carpenters. There were tabernacles, and two paintings, one of The Holy Trinity  and one of the Mother  of  God Szkaplerzna. On  the side alters were paintings of St Mateusz, St Ann, and St Lauenty with  golden frames. 

Polkowo and Sztabin Region


1.  The Jacwieza  land  was colonized   in 1590-98  by the Chreptowicze family and as a result, several settlements on islands were formed by  the Biebrza and Lebiedzianka rivers. For a long time they were surrounded by royal forests.  The first manor houses were established in Przekop (now Krasnybor ), Janowek , Cisow, Liebiedzin Ksiezy,  and  later in Jastrzebna, Balinka, and Kobyla Szyja in Ostrow. Originally the settlers were mainly of Russian origin with Polish additions which  finally polonized this population.  The next period  of colonization in this region was in the mid 18th century  and the beginning of the19th century. The villages became industrial. Huta Sztabinska became a factory village with  200 inhabitants consisting of workers and  their families.

2.  Jaminy  Forest. The villages settled down by the Biebrza River formed separate  leases in the 17th century. From  1713 this land belonged  to Jerzy Stanislaw Sapieha who died in 1732 ,  then to  Sapieha's  widow Teodora from the family Soltan. She died in 1774.   They continued to populate the villages : Jaziewo,  Mogielnica, Jaglowo, Jaminy Czarniewo,  Czarny Las, Lipowo, and Wrotki.  The amount of  population increased during the18th century because the  grounds were  extended.  Jaminy   forest  was colonized  mainly by people from Goniadz and the Brzozowka  river.  The Parish of Jaminy belonged to Debowo administrative commune until 1864. 

3.  The village of Polkowo was originally called Polikow and Polikowo. It was the only  village to  survive the Swedish flood in  Krasnybor Forest  because it was hidden among swamps, described in an old document as "in flore".

4.  The  Biebrza  River was called  a  "river port for water trade ".  There were grain storage and harbors. Ships carried grain to Gdansk.  Farmers delivered grain by via the Netta River or by horses. The biggest horse breeding  was in Horodnianka (349 horses in  1780).

5.  Travels.  In the middle of the 19th century, the trip from Warsaw to Augustow took 22  hours.  Then from  Augustow to Sztabin  it took four hours by carriage.  Even though it was not a far distance, the road was very difficult as it was covered  by forest  and  swamps .  There was  the  " Green Inn"  on the  way where travelers  rested.

6. In 1566 King Zygmunt August wrote a letter to Adam Chreptowicz's grandmother Ludmila Juriewna Holowczynska  (her husband was Jerzy Chreptowicz ) with a request for the delivery of wood to the royal castle in Warsaw. In 1590 a letter was written by the main forest man, Piotr Wiesiolowski accusing  Adam Chreptowicz  of illegal wood production.

7.   On 23  June   1582 a letter was written by Marcin Dulski , the starosta of Augustow and Rajgrod counties. It was a kind of permission given to Marek Konoz  and  his  wife  Elzbieta to form   fields  on  island   Polikow and to settle down on   the area of five wlok  (with   detailed   description   and  borders).  Marek Konoz's heirs had received another  privilege from King Jan Kazimierz in  1661, but  they had to pay taxes.  The Konoz  family reproduced and there were five families in 1664 ,  six  in 1689,  and 20  households in 1781. The inhabitants of this area, called "Polkowianie",  grew in increasing amounts and extended the marked borders of the given land . Other  royal families couldn't agree for such privileged  rights and manifested against them. The first conflict was in 1777  when the widow of Andrzej Karwowski, the renter of  Tajno land,  imposed different duties for Polkowianie families i.e.  work,  taxes  etc. The Polkowianie: Mateusz  & Marianna Kawalek Konoz, Wawrzyniec & Konstancja Pomian Odojowie-Czerwinscy,  Antoni  Krukowski,  Franciszek Litwinik , Benedykt Chata, Omanowscy, and others took  legally action against that widow .

8.   The Chreptowicz family  were  the owners of the Krasnybor lands from the 16th to the18th centuries, under the Odrowaz  coat of  arms.  The oldest family chronicle writer,  Joachim Chreptowicz wrote that their family  was the owner from the time of Duke Witold.   They leased Bohurun by the Horyn  river, Lipsk and Krasnybor. He also wrote that all the  Chreptowicz families from the other neighboring lands were from the same family and shared the same coat of  arms and they used the same nick-name - "LITAWOR". This was the name used by their enemies, the Teutonic Knights, who  called them using name of their country, Lithuania. The progenitor of this family clan was Wyszegierd  who during  union in 1413 took from the crown houses the name Odrowaz. The first Chreptowicz which was documented was Jakub Chreptowicz who lived in the 15th century.  King Zygmunt I gave the first privileges to that land in 1528, to Bogdan  Chreptowicz, son of  Marcin,  Bogdan' s uncle was Bazyli, who was Bogdan's son. That  Bogdan had a brother Daniel, a son of  Jakub.

9. Culture: The common people wore special clothes on Sundays;  women used  big scarves on their heads. These were very colorful, mostly  green and red.  Girls  used fresh  flowers for their heads as decorations. Men wore simple, dark uniforms, light-gray short coats, with dark tape on the collars, two  rows of  buttons,  and field-caps on their heads. The annual church fair was always crowded ;  parishioners attended by foot or carriage-horses. A few  musicians played, inns  weren't  full as the common people had no money for such expenses . They lived very
simple and  modestly;  potatoes and milk was their basic  meal (from 1820-30 from diary of the landlord Brzostowski).

10. Jewish influence: By the mid 19th century there were many Jews in the area who were mainly salesmen and traders selling vodka, herrings, meat,  wheat, coffee, tea, and suger.

11. Local Production: Karol Brzostowski was the founder of first factory in the area, a glass works in Huta Sztabinska, and next an iron works and production of local ore. People produced cauldrons, pots, spoons, forks, candlesticks, cemetery crosses and other things necessary for farm households. There was a local  brewery (light and dark beer), production of rum and sweet vodkas, which were delivered by Karol Brzostowski to Lomza, Ostroleka, and Warsaw  by  river, and to Kowno, Suwalki, and Grodno by horse. Karol Brzostowski established the first telegraph in the Polish Kingdom. He  was a very humane and active landlord he fought against three bad habits: alcoholism,  laziness,  theft.   He  fined  66  zlotys to an inn-keepers who sold vodka to drunken clients. Karol  Brzostowski died in 1852  but  his son appeared to be a very bad manager and in 1870 he was moved  out for abuses.

12. In WWI, German soldiers came to the Augustow area in 1916.  They controlled all the local businesses. The farmers had to give them part  of their harvest: cows, horses, milk, and potatoes. In 1918, 130 young men entered the first  Polish military organization, POW.   Next  to a newly formed Suwalski Regiment. All of them fought on  the Bolshevik front during the Polish-Soviet War. On 28 Aug  1920, the 2nd and 7th Ulan Regiments came to Sztabin. It was a great day  for  the local inhabitants  -  a sign of freedom .

13. There is a gravestone in the Jaminy forest -  a memorial  to local inhabitants killed by German soldiers on 22 June, 1944.

14. Occupations  in  Jaminy  parish


15.  Property descriptions in Jaminy  parish in 1891:

Polkowo :

Jaminy:

Kopytkowo :

Czarniewo:

 Jasionow:

Jaziewo:

Klonowo :

Lipowo:

 Mogielnice:

Wrotki:

Debowo :

Budy :

 Czarny Las:

16. Population  in 1911: Polkowo - 202  men and 201 women, Jaminy- 195  men and 195   women.

17. In 1934  the total amount of  parishioners were  2,500.  The parish library contained 178  items .  Some people emigrated to France in those  times.

 
REFERENCES

1. Ks.  Edward  Anuszkiewicz, Historia  przynaleznosci administracyjnej i osadnictwa.

2. Czeslaw Przypych,  Folklor  XIX  i  XX  wieku.

3. Ks  Witold  Jemielity,   Historia  kosciola.

4. Grzegorz  Ryzewski, Sztabin: The history of the Sztabin community from  the oldest until the present time. 

5. Witold Lewoc,  Ziemia  Augustowska  w  Powstaniu Listopadowym.

6. Nasz  Sztabinski Dom  - miesiecznik  ( 1999-2005)

7. Ks. Brzostowski. A short history of the Brzostowski family.

8.  Chapter 6 of  Jaminy and the Royal Land of Jastrzebna,  Balinka, and Hruskie.

9. Annex  VI of Jaminy and the Royal Land of Jastrzebna,  Balinka, and Hruskie -  King  Stanislaw   August's law and  regulations  from 1582  -  1781 for the Polkowo land area .

10. Annex   VII of Jaminy and the Royal Land of Jastrzebna,  Balinka, and Hruskie- a description of Jaminy in 1784  by the priest Nagrodzki.

11. Index  of all memorials, monuments, cemeteries, gravestones in the Sztabin area, ref  heroes from the Insurrection of 1863 ,  WWI, battles from 1918-1939,  WWII,  the time shortly after the war -  mainly of those captured and taken to Syberian  camps. 


See more history of Polkowo