This is an excerpt from “Faith, Family & Music”, 150 Years of History and Tales of the Ed & Irene (Lamie) Fleis Family in Leelanau County by Ruth Anne (Fleis) Smith My great-grandfather, Tomasz Fleis, carried his treasurer violin — an Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1640 — on his back when he emigrated to the United States from West Prussia, Germany/Poland, settling in Isadore, Michigan, in 1875.
The old country-folk tunes Tomasz played on his violin were passed down to younger generations, beginning with his son, Thomas, my grandfather, then to his son, Edward (Ed), my father.
As a young boy, Ed loved occasions whenever his grandfather or father played violin. He was 10 years old when allowed to borrow the cherished instrument for one full year at Holy Rosary School, where a nun gave him lessons in fifth grade. He considered it an honor to play violin for mass at church and school functions.
Ed advanced on his own. He had the gift of learning old tunes by ear instead of notes. As a young man, he joined other musicians in the Polish community. They entertained at special events held at homes with attached dance halls or a granary for dancing.
Ed met his sweetheart, my mother, Irene, when she was dancing and he was playing violin with his fellow musicians at Centerville Township hall.(At some point, Thomas had decided to part with his treasured violin and gave it to his son.)
At approximately 30 years of age, Ed established a band called “Isadore Sodbusters” with his uncle, Steve Pleva, and Stanley Mikowski. His band entertained at various dance halls through Leelanau County until the early 1960s.
Meanwhile, my siblings and I learned the dancing steps of old country-folk tunes while my father played violin at home.
On occasion, Ed would pick up the violin and play along with one of four family bands. At Cedar’s Polka Fest during various years, he played a few tunes with one of the bands, lighting family, friends, and the Cedar community.
After Ed’s death in 2011, the treasured violin was up for grabs for all 12 of his children. My name was on the second golf ball drawn from a hat. I reached for the violin, I am humbled as a fourth-generation descent to have the treasured violin that originally belong to my greatgrandfather Tomasz — mostly because my father loved it dearly, and enjoyed playing the violin until the age of 86.
Tomasz and Jozefina (Kelinski) Fleis
My great-grandfather, Tomasz, son of Thomas and Marianna (Ana Brueger) Fleis, was born on April 8, 1854, in West Prussia, Germany. He was the sixth of seven children.
“The area in north-central Poland where they lived, now known as the village of Minikowo, was ruled by Prussia,” stated Paul Brzezinski, a cousin of my father’s in a “Leelanau Enterprise” article (2000). “The Prussian authorities were heavyhanded. Polish citizens were forbidden to teach their native language or practice their religion, which made life intolerable. “
The article continues, “Therefore, many older Polish citizens convinced their adult children to leave the homeland to seek the freedom to practice their faith and culture in the United States of America.” During the 1860s and ‘70s, Tomasz, all of his brothers and oldest sister immigrated to America. (They did not all leave at the same time.) It must have been heartbreaking for my greatgreat- grandparents to bid farewell to their children, knowing they might never see one another again.
The final destination for some was Wisconsin, where there was a substantial Polish population, particularly Milwaukee. Tomasz’s oldest brother, Ignatz, had married Dora Kugacz in Poland in 1863. When they came to America is unknown, but the 1880s federal census shows they registered their residency as Milwaukee. The youngest brother, Jozef, came to America in 1875 and married Eva Goetzler in Lake St. Francis, Wisconsin, in 1879, where they made their home.
Many came to Michigan. So many, in fact, that the Fleis family was the largest single family to homestead in Leelanau County’s Centerville Township hall. Tomasz’s brother Frank arrived in America in 1865; he married Florence Kugacz in 1870 in Milwaukee and then settled in the small village of Isadore, Michigan. His brother John came to America in 1868 and married Kathryn Zinny in 1876 in Isadore. His oldest sister, Marianna, married Adam Cerkowski in Poland in 1868, sailed to America in 1873, and settled near Isadore the next year.
My cousin, Don Pleva of Traverse City, Michigan learned from his father, Adam, the background of the Polish relatives. In his family notes, Uncle Adam told his son, “The Brzezinski, Fleis and Pleva families were just a few of many to emigrate from the Poznan area of Poland to northern Michigan. The town of Lobzenica, in Poland, was their nearest mailing address. To the southwest of Lobzenica was a small lake with two small village, Bugovo and Kunovo. The Plevas came from Bugavo and the Brzezinskis came from Kunovo. The Fleis family was in between in Minikowo. All three families were united in their homeland where they came from. It was the same in Milwaukee, where, one by one, they either stayed there or came to Isadore. My great-aunt Michaeline (Brzezinski) Pleva said that the three families settled in the same proximity to each other in Leelanau County as they had when living in Poland.
To be continued…
