Circ is about a 2 hour drive out of Krakow through the Carpathian Mountains. It is really lovely country.
Yeah, what is with the big stork in the nest on a pole? It is in the front yard of the school there. As you can see we did find one gravestone with Petriscak. Born in 1914, and died at 39 years of age. I had no idea who he might be. As we walked around the village a bit (I shot some short videos, see below) I realized I was in front of some kind of municipal building. There was activity in there, kids rehearsing something - turned out to be a rehearsal for a mother's day program that the Roma kids were participating in. They were very excited about us. Had no idea where Los Angeles was, but had heard of America. Martin went into the Mayor's office and found a young woman named Lucia who worked as a social worker with the Roma population. She spoke English. Her father was the local priest (Greek catholic) and a history buff. He had only lived there 9 years but wrote a history book about Circ and actually started his own little museum. She said he was willing to talk to us. When she went into her office to pick up her jacket, she brought out a colleague named Lydia. She told us that when Lydia heard we were looking for Petriscaks, Lydia stated that was her maiden name!! We ended up meeting with Lucia's father who had ledgers he had found in the church in 2007. He was able to find my great-grandfather's name in those ledgers as early as 1886. After looking at his artifacts in his little museum, we went to meet with Lydia's mother and aunt.
Imagine this sweet woman standing in her front yard as we come to meet her. She greeted me with a smile and kiss and welcoming me into her home where her older sister was waiting for us. This woman handed me a photo. I recognized my grandmother immediately. She confirmed that the woman's name was Maria Havrilla. The photo shows my grandparents with my two older cousins sitting between them. The back of the photo says January 1950. I asked her where it came from and she told me it was a photo taken in America and sent to her by my grandfather with whom she maintained a correspondence. My grandfather was her uncle, the older brother of the man buried up in the cemetery. It was a moment of tears and happiness. Never in a million years could I have imagined that I would find family. I was welcomed home with so much love and pleasure. I still don't have everyone's names, but I do have a Facebook friendship with my cousin Lydia and I know we will be communicating. They told me I have another cousin in town - a man in his 80's who is the son of my grandfather's older sister. What an amazing experience!!
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