Polish immigrants settle Leelanau, Milwaukee

This is an excerpt from “Faith and Family,” 150 Years of History and Tales of the Ed & Irene (Lamie) Fleis Family in Leelanau County, by Ruth Ann Smith.

At the age of nineteen, Tomasz sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Bristol, a 37-foot-wide by 304-foot-long vessel. It had three masts and one funnel, as ships at that time were transitioning from wind power to steam. Among the few belongs Tomasz carried on this journey in 1873 was his treasured violin. According to the ship’s passenger list, he departed from Hamburg on March 1, then sailed to Liverpool and on to Ireland. On April 8, the Bristol docked in New York City.

Tomasz traveled alone. He was the only Fleis family member listed on the manifest. From there, he might have traveled through the Eric Canal as most immigrants to Wisconsin did at th time, and then by steamship across the Great Lakes to Milwaukee on Lake Michigan.

Tomasz was to be met by family members. I can vividly imagine as soon as the steamship was sighted that news would have quickly spread to those awaiting the new immigrants. They would have dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the shore to welcome those on board, with hands waving high and prayers on their lips. As the passengers slowly disembarked, Tomasz scanned the faces below, while they turn looked up at those walking down the plank, studying the faces, one by one.

I expect everyone from his family was there to greet him: Ignatz and Dora, Marianna and her husband, Adam, Frank and his wife, Florence, John, and some of the Pleva and Brzezinski boys. “Those boys would have been looking for him, too,” Don Pleva explained.

Imagine the scene when they recognized Tomasz carrying his treasured violin. “Tomasz! Tomasz!” They would have cried out, and when he reached them, they would have embrace like never before. It was heartwarming to be united again in America! A Polish priest was also at the dock in Milwaukee to greet the new immigrants and help them with the process of assimilation.

One more brother, Jozef, would follow in 1875. Tomasz’s youngest sister, Anna, would be the last Fleis family to emigrate. Although she wanted to come at the same time as the others she was kept from doing so because the family did not want to leave heir aged parents alone on the farm.

Anna finally settled in Isador in 1901.

Tomasz was pleased to hear that his brothers had a place for him to stay. The Francis Kugacz boarding house on Grove Street had been their temporary home since arrival. There was a family connection through the marriages of his older brother, Ignatz and Frank.

The Fleis boys were fortunate that Mr. Kugacz (their landlord) was a carpenter and a baker. He established the first “baker shop” on the same street as his boarding house. Jobs were scarce with the influx of Polish immigrants. Mr. Kugacz was good to the Fleis boys and gave them jobs. They all saved money to realize a dream common to many Poles: to become landowners.

My great-grandmother. Jozefina Kelinski, daughter of John and Susanna (Wojdanowski) Kelinski, was born on December 31, 1885, also in West Prussia, Germany/ Poland. She and her twin brother, John Jr., born Jan. 1, 1856, were the sixth and seventh of eight in the family.

Their other siblings were Anna, Anthony, Felix and Constantine. Laurentius and Ludwig died as infants. Jozefina’s parents were elderly when they boarded the ship Donau with her.

John was 65 and Susanna was 62. Jozefina was 19 years old. It is unclear when Jozefina’s older brothers and sisters emigrated to America, except for Constantine. A family record shows that “Anna married Aloise Petrowski, Anthony married Rose Gersch. Feliz married Gertrude, and later his sister, Mary Kawa, and Constantine married Frances Koplin. They all lived in Leelanau or Grand Traverse County.”

John Jr. wasn’t listed, but his residence was Centerville, Leelanau County.

John, Susanna, and Jozefina department from Bremen and sailed via Southampton to New York City, where they arrived on June 5, 1875. Soon, they too docked in Milwaukee and met up with her borther Constantine, who had emigrated earlier. They settled briefly in a boarding house with him.