{"id":186,"date":"2026-07-29T01:08:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/?p=186"},"modified":"2026-07-29T01:15:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:15:01","slug":"joseph-plenzler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmcmanus.biz\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Plenzler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joseph, my great-grandfather, was born to Joseph Plenzler and Mary Lisiecka  <\/strong>on 21 February 1855, the second son and fourth child in a family of ten children. The village where the Plenzler family lived, Wiorek, is in the area of Pozna\u0144.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Joseph married Eva Dauer in G\u0142uszy\u0144 on 8 November 1879 in St. Jakub the Apostle Church. This is the oldest preserved church in the Poznan Archdiocese, built between 1250 and 1280. Artifacts that are in this church that would have been in existence when Joseph and Eva married in 1879 include the main altar (which is estimated to be over 300 years old), sculptures of St. Casimir and St. Florian, and a baroque baptismal font. The church was not plastered in its interior until the 20th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Joseph Plenzler and Eva Dauer, Marriage 1879 in G\u0142uszy\u0144 <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wiorek was a small village\u2014and it seems it produced many descendants. There are Toledo families that may be able to tied their ancestry to one or more of these surnames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A memoir of Wiorek, written by Leokadia \u0106wikli\u0144ska Ptak (1915 \u2013 2009)<\/a>, a resident, recalls families with many of these named, plus additional ones that are scattered throughout my mother\u2019s paternal family tree: Plenzler, Remlein, Kujawa, Harke. Falkenstein, and others. In her memoir, Leokadia stated that when she was a child, the village only consisted of about 25 houses at the time as well as a shop and a village guesthouse. The village likely had not lost a lot of population between the late 1800s and the time of Leokadia\u2019s birth. Today, it only is home to about 735 people and is about 8.5 miles from the city of Pozna\u0144.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiorek was a small village\u2014and it seems it produced many descendants. There are Toledo families that may be able to tied their ancestry to one or more of these surnames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region was settled by the Dutch. Dutch first appeared in the Eastern Prussia region about 1527. Known as Ol\u0119ders, they were often involved in clearing land or farming. The Dutch were completely assimilated into the local populations by the mid-1800s, but that also meant that Wiorek had a slightly different status than neighboring villages. Wiorek was settled in 1754 by the Dutch. The inhabitants of this new village were \u201crented\u201d immediately (they were employed in nearby estates by nobility) via an agreement in 1783.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A document housed in the Primary School of Czapury\u2019s archives details the duties of the Dutch inhabitants in Wiorek to the presbytery (in this context, a home, a rectory, where Roman Catholic priests resided). This document specified payment dates and the amounts of liabilities of the workers. A resident, J\u00f3zef Blensier, was an innkeeper who was instructed to maintain stock of alcoholic beverages (beer and vodka) for the benefit of the  G\u0142uszy\u0144 presbytery and the Church was to receive an income from each 16 liters of alcohol that was sold. What is interesting and relevant to Joseph Plenzler in this history is in this document is a list of names who were party to this contract document. Several of these family names are tied to Joseph\u2019s family. Adalbert Lisiecki is Joseph\u2019s maternal grandfather. Eva Dauer (Joseph\u2019s wife) was related to the Aumillers, her mother was Marianna Aumiller. Several of these surnames are still found in the Toledo, Ohio area as well\u2014Aumiller, Demel, Falkenstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Names that were listed as having witnessed this contract were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n