THE STORY OF POLKOWO

See More History of Jaminy Parish and Region

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 Biebrza (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 to10zl.

1661 -- Land grant reaffirmed by King Kazimierz 

1664 -- Descendants 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)   

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