Many stories of Polish community in Toledo overlap. The Spychalski story touches many other names: Wieczorek, Kolasinski, Dzikowski, a man named John Czechan, Fr. Felix Motulewski, as well as two rather famous men: Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones, mayor of Toledo and Theodore Roosevelt. It was probably one of the more difficult and emotionally complicated stories for me to figure out. But it’s one well worth telling because priests tended to be unquestioned in these communities and the trauma in this story had to loom large in the life of Frances Dzikowski Spychalski. This is a long story. It is not an easy read.

Frances Dzikowski, the girl discussed in the story about Fr. Simon Wieczorek and his struggle with the Ameryka newspaper and Fr. Nicodemus Kolasinski, married Stanislaus Spychalski in St. Anthony’s church on 24 February 1896. Stanislaus was 22 year old, Frances was 16 years old. Stanislaus was a carpenter who arrived from Poznan in the US in November 1892 per his Declaration of Intention to Become a Citizen. By this time, Fr. Kolasinski had left St. Anthony’s parish and Fr. Felix Motulewski took his place as the pastor of the parish.

On 30 July 1896, Frances gave birth to twins, two boys baptized Hieronim (Jerome) and Alois (Aloysius). The children were born early in the morning about 7am and per reports in the Ameryka, were born sickly. Frances’ husband and her father, Jan, went with three others (who were named godparents), a Jan Nitz, a Miss Drucinska, and a Mrs. Tonalski to the St. Anthony rectory to have the infants baptized. The Spychalskis were living very close to the church, at 1450 Nebraska, not a block away from the church. Several times, after the group knocked at the rectory door, they were told that Fr. Motulewski was not at home. Finally, around 9pm that evening, Fr. Motulewski was available.

Fr. Motulewski asked the grandfather, Jan Dzikowski, who the godparents were for each child. Jan Nitz and Mrs. Tonalska for the first (there is no indication which child was born first), and the grandfather, Jan, as well as Miss Drucinska, were the godparents for the second child.

The arrangement of a grandfather to be a godfather to his grandchild angered Fr. Motulewski and he refused the baptism. A heated discussion seemed to have occurred as Ameryka reported that Jan Nitz told the priest that “in the old country and even in this parish, grandparents were accepted as godparents when they were twins.”

Fr. Motulewski held his ground and asked the group to go ask Leopold Cilkowski to be the godfather. Jan Dzikowski refused and explained that it was already late in the evening and that did not know Cilkowski. (Leopold Cilkowski did live on the same block per an 1896 Toledo City Directory and likely would have been known as he was listed as an undertaker in the directory.) Fr. Motulewski staunchly refused, a heated argument occurred, and the four who were asking to have the twins baptized went on to St. Hedwig’s to see if the children could be baptized.

The group stated in Ameryka that they could not waken Fr. Wieczorek at St. Hedwig. They then proceeded to St. Mary’s and arrived there about 11:20 pm.

Fr. Schnitzler at St. Mary’s accommodated the group, was accepting of a grandfather acting as godfather to his grandchild. The children were baptized and the priest issued the certificates of baptism and instructed the group to bring the certificates to the parish priest of St. Anthony.

The Ameryka reported that the father of the children, Stanislaus went to Fr. Motulewski with the certificates and that Fr. Motulewski pushed Stanislaus out of his office and hit Stanislaus. At the next Sunday’s Mass, it was also reported that Fr. Motulewski ordered the parish to exclude the family from all church societies. The baptism for the twins is recorded in St. Anthony’s parish baptismal records for 1896. However, Fr. Motulewski was not kind in his record: “Gemini baptizati in Ecclesia B.M.N. in oppido Toledo. Nati ex fornicatione ab ultraque parte brevi tempone post matrimoniuim contractus.” Fr. Motulewski was stating that the couple conceived the children before marriage but that they were baptized legitimately in another parish. He seemed to be stating he refused to baptize the children himself because they did not marry until after the children were conceived. Not a kind act for priest to document for posterity.

Sadly, the Spychalski twins did not survive their first year. The twins died on 8 August 1896. With these deaths, there was dissention between Mrs. Spychalski and Fr. Motulewski. Per the Ameryka on 15 September 1896, he refused to bury the children. There was a disagreement over two broken windows in the rectory and Fr. Motulewski blamed Mrs. Spychalski for the damaged windows. Police were called to report the broken windows and disagreement; the family telegraphed the Bishop in Cleveland who responded by informing by return telegraph that Fr. Motulewski must bury the children. The Ameryka reported that Fr. Motulewski then pretended to be sick and asked Fr. Hannin, the pastor of St. Patrick’s parish, to bury the children.

A quick bit of research into the burial of these children indicated neither parish, St. Patrick’s or St. Anthony’s had recorded the burial. However, there is a burial record for the children at Calvary Cemetery. They were buried 11 August. Interestingly, the burial record does indicate Leopold Cilkowski as the undertaker.

Shortly after the burial, Fr. Motulewski placed criminal charges against Mrs. Spychalski for the broken windows. He claimed she threw a brick through the glass out of anger of his refusal to baptize her children. Mrs. Spychalski later brought a civil lawsuit against Fr. Motulewski for $3,000 for the hard and damage she suffered from her arrest.

The Spychalski family would go on to have additional children, including a set of quadruplets that was national news. During this time, Fr. Motulewski passed away from Bright’s disease and Fr. A. J. Suplicki would become pastor at St. Anthony’s. While it seemed the family’s dissention with the parish priest was resolved, more tension arose for the family.

In 1902, Mrs. Spychalski gave birth to a son, Roman. The following year, in January 1903, she gave birth to her quadruplets who were named Samuel Jones, Theodore Roosevelt, Dorothy, and Helen. The two sons were named after the mayor of Toledo, Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones and Teddy Roosevelt, president of the United States. Each had reached out to the family to congratulate the parents and provide gifts. Roosevelt provided the family with a letter and an autographed photo of himself, Jones provided the family with a cow for milk. The children’s birth and baptism were of national interest–newspapers throughout Ohio and in the country carried news pieces on the family. The children were baptized January 11 in St. Anthony’s parish by Fr. Suplicki.

The press seemed fascinated with Frances Spychalski–the fact she carried two multiple pregnancies was newsworthy. In several newspapers, she was compared to Josephine Ormsby who carried and delivered two sets of twins, a set of triplets, and a set of quadruplets. The Ormsby quadruplets were born in Chicago in1901. While Josephine may have scored a little higher in the ability to carry pregnancies of multiple children, neither Josephine or Frances seemed to have happy domestic lives. Josephine’s husband deserted her and she pursued a divorce from him.

Both the Ormsby family and Spychalski family struggled to support their children. The Ormsby children were put on display in museums, until a child welfare agency shut the activity down. The Spychalski family had fundraisers, one at the Burt Theatre in Toledo and one arranged with the Keiper Furniture Company to exhibit the children at their retail store. The Akron Beacon Journal reported on 09 March 1903 that “There will be a three hours’ exhibition of the children and a special plate glass box will be provided for them to avert danger of draft and contagion and to protect them from too curious spectators.”

Unfortunately, only one of the quadruplets survived. Helen survived and lived a a long life, passing in 1999. The boys each passed away in the summer of 1903, Dorothy passed away in 1904.

The family had five other children following the birth of the quadruplets. Two of these five children survived to adulthood: Hedwig, born in 1906 and died in 1996. Chester, born in 1911 and died in 1975. Roman, who was born in 1902 died in 1975. The Spychalski family experienced the loss of eight children: a set of twins, three of the quadruplets, and three other children.

Frances’ husband, Stanislaus seemed to have had difficulty being a father with all of this tumult: Frances having two pregnancies carrying multiple babies, the dissention with their parish priests, and the deaths of their children. In March 1906, Stanislaus was arrested for drunkness as he attempted to turn the family out of the home at night.

Frances was an interpreter for the courts and was well-known through the legal community for her work. On Monday 4 June 1917, she told her husband she was leaving to attend a trial. A few years previously, Mrs. Spychalski had met a recent Polish immigrant, John Czechan. Czechan, according to his Declaration of Intention to Become a Citizen, arrived in the US in March 1913 and that he was residing on Montrose St. at the time of his filing the declaration.

By 1917, Czechan was living in Detroit but it seems as if he and Mrs. Spychalski maintained some communication with each other. About 10:45 am on 4 June 1917, the Toledo Bee reported that she and Czechan entered the United States Hotel on Ottawa St.

The Wiarus, a Polish newspaper that was published in Winona, Minnesota, reported on 14 June 1917 that the owner of the hotel, Mrs. Helen Levan, heard four revolver shots and called the police. Police broke into the room occupied by Frances and Czechan. Czechan was dead, he committed suicide with a shot to the head. Frances was shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the left arm. Czechan pressured her to leave her husband and family, Frances refused. So Czechan shot her and then himself. Stanislaus told the police that Czechan had been trying to persuade his wife to leave for several years.

Frances died before midnight on 4 June 1917. She was quietly buried in Calvary Cemetery on 8 June 1917. Czechan was buried in Forest Cemetery with no known relatives. It’s likely he arrived here alone, very few records of his life in the US exist other than his Declaration of Intention to Become a Citizen, the few newspaper articles on his death, and burial record with Forest Cemetery.

Stanislaus did not pursue his citizenship until after Frances’ death. It seemed as if he remained close to the Dzikowski family as Frances’ father, John, signed the affidavit on Stanislaus’ petition that stated the information Stanislaus provided was true. Stanislaus became a citizen in January 1921. He died 24 December 1938 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery.

This family’s story is probably one of the hardest I’ve read. It’s not just one incident in Frances’ life that was traumatic, it seemed it was a lifetime of trauma.