THE ORIGIN OF THE VILLAGE

This chapter is based on the book by Father Wawrzyniec Puchalski who was the vicar of Laka parish  (1875-1893) and had access  to church archives (volume I-IV) kept in the parish as well as in the  Curia of  Przemyśl. The other book on which this chapter is based was “Korona Polska “ (Polish Crown”)  by Niesiecki. While describing  the history of Laka village Puchalski mentions the  neighboring villages which used to belong to Laka parish: Palikówka, Lukawiec, Perliczka and others. These villages constituted one geographic unit characterized by  the same kind of soils and shape of the earth’s surface – a vast plain. The book by W. Puchalski, written over a hundred years ago,  today seems somewhat stylistically archaic, yet the descriptions are vivid and  they show quite a lot of literary skill. Let us quote the first passage describing the vast flat area of the region. „North-East of  Rzeszów some centuries ago emerged a village which was then its peer. How different are the two places  today! Rzeszów grew, turned into a big city, became the capital of the area, the village stayed as it had ever been. It seems that the same thatched roof still cover the peasants’ houses. It seems that the same crane is used in the same well to quench the thirst of its people, the same broad-branched sycamore trees, the same weeping willows, the same thorny acacias grant their shade to children playing in scorching sun. Everything is as it used to be. Which place is better of today, though? The village or the capital?”. The author sympathizes with the peasants; he wishes the village had been more civilized during the past five hundred years. “Everything is as it used to be in the past. As if the village turned into one big skansen, a relic of the past”.

Until 1340 this territory had belonged to  Red Russia and it was very scarcely populated. It was King  Kazimierz the Great who having  conquered Russia, incorporated this area into Poland. Under his rule (1333-1370) he brought  the settlers from Masurian District to populate this territory.  By his order numerous families arrived from afar, on foot and by carts. They were not very enthusiastic to do so, yet they had to obey  their king’s command. On the other hand,  they were somewhat encouraged by local fertile soils, which they lacked back home. Puchalski, quoting the oldest birth certificates, writes that with the arrival of Masurian people the following family names  appeared in church records: Bartman, Bojda, Chmiel, Chodorowski, Ciucia, Czaplinski, Dudek, Gawel, Klek, Kokoszka, Korczak, Lech, Lecznar, Michno, Magierski, Niespial, Nowak, Ostrowski, Orzech, Palczowski, Potyrala, Pukala, Purczek, Rys, Sowa, Stachyra, Szuberla, Wielgosz, Wiercioch, Sierzega, Wolos, Zawadzki. Out of 32 family names registered  in the  neighborhood in the years  1862-1900,   14 were ascribed to Masurian people. These data are based on a detailed study of birth entries kept in the Communal Office in Krasne. The newcomers did vast  pioneering work. They cut down trees, preparing building material and firewood and the thus obtained land, they turned into fertile fields. With passing time their living conditions became better and better, even more so that they did not have to pay any taxes since at that time villein service was unknown.   The joy of the settlers did not last  long because of frequent “visits” of various  hordes, Turks and Tartars, who  many-a-time turned their fertile fields and plentiful  houses into dust. In  1354 the king’s ownership was replaced with a private one. At first the area was owned by the Rzeszowski family, then  by the  Pileckis, Kostkas, Opalinskis, Lubomirskis, Sanguszkas, Morskis and , finally,  by the Potockis. In  1409  Jan Feliks Rzeszowski, the owner of the land founded the first church in Laka and since that time everything that Puchalski writes about  is based on registers kept in  local church. The Charter of Foundation  of 1409 states that the owner of the land and the founder  of the church gave a vast portion of land for  church administration and decided to lay the peasants of Laka, Stobierna and  Palikówka under tribute of one unit of  rye and one unit of oat from every 5600  square meters of land. Moreover, the above charter of 1409 stated that besides the rye and the oat the peasants of Palikówka were obliged to pay the so called river levy to  the vicar. This was  in return for his consent to  catch fish and to raft corn on the Wisłok river. Later, Mikołaj Pilecki added an  amendment to the charter of  foundation  giving the vicar the  right to obtain one tenth of  rye from the mill in Palikówka. Puchalski acknowledges the year 1409 as the year of documented origin of Laka, the same year must be assumed as the date of origin of Palikówka since that same deed specified the tributes due from the peasants of Palikówka. Therefore, the year 1409 must be assumed as the date of origin of Palikówka as well. In practical terms, the village had already existed in second half of the 14th century.

SETTLEMENT AND VILLEIN SERVICE

The settlers brought to this area received one feud of land ( about 300 000 square meters) to cultivate. The area of land given differed among particular settlers. The differences resulted from the quality of soil; the worse soil, the bigger the  area, sometimes it was up to  400 000 square meters. The measurement itself was not accurate, since ropes were the only measuring tools and when wet they are longer than when dry. The newcomers started their work by cutting down trees   and bushes in order to obtain timber essential as building material. Having cleared the land, they ploughed it with primitive ploughs, using horses and oxen as beasts of draught.  The most popular crops at that time were rye and oats. As time went by,  families became more numerous, hence there was more labor force, more forests were cut down, bigger area was turned into fields. The settlers, having cleared their land, could begin work on adjacent area, thus obtaining more fields for cultivation, yet they could only work on their landowner’s land. At the beginning, the settlers did not have to pay any levies for their landowner, since it was in his interest to turn forests into fertile fields. Until 1868, the land cultivated by one family could not be divided; it could only be sold or inherited as one plot but only with the landowner’s consent. Moreover, the landowner held pre-emption right.  As there were more people, new families emerged; the previously undivided land had to be finally divided. As a result of these land divisions, the following social structure appeared: peasants working on undivided  land, peasants working on half-land (c.a. 150 000 square meters) or quarter land peasants (c.a. 75 000 square meters) as well as people dealing with craft and working directly for the landowner. The poorest social group  were village tenants who worked as farm hands  for other peasants or directly for the “good” landowner who, depending on his good will or caprice, could give them a piece of land, mostly somewhere on the edge of the village, where they could build  a shed (buda), so those peasants were referred to as the “budniks”.  On the basis of birth certificates of 1862-1875 we managed to point to members of every social group: serves – the richest peasants (serves) , the half-landers, the craftsmen and the tenants. Only that one  register specified social groups, later the term “farmer” was used. The  serves were: Szymon Berna,  Franciszek Domino,  Mateusz Cyrnek,  Onufry Klek,  Andrzej Gawel,  Wojciech Wisz,  Bartlomiej Gawel,  Wojciech Gawel. The craftsmen: Walenty Grzesik, Mateusz Gawel, Sebastian Kogut, Krzysztof Gawel, Sebastian Kunysz, Wojciech Kopec ,Jan Orlo, Wojciech Pachorek, Franciszek Panek ,Jakub Mendrala, Wawrzyniec Swieboda, Michal Zabek and  Maciej Nowak. The only mentioned tenant was Walenty Bytnar,  the Shepherd. It took me a lot of thinking to find out where he took the sheep from since he did not own any land. I finally managed to solve the puzzle: Walenty Bytnar came from  Albigowa, the grange where sheep was kept. The fact that only one  tenant was mentioned in the records may be due to  the unpopularity of  poor people, who were not frequently asked to witness weddings,  baptisms or any other legal acts. In the 15^th century all of the inhabitants of the  village, the landowners or the  landless,  had to work and pay tributes (contributions) to the manorial estate. That  was the beginning of villein service. At first, until mid 1500s,  this  service  was paid in money and in kind: crops, poultry, eggs, cheese, etc. Later this kind of  contribution  was replaced by  work done  for the manor estate owner as well as by a  rent. At the beginning the contributions were  not very troublesome. They amounted to  one full working day (from sunrise to sunset)  a week. Yet, as W. Stys (who should not be confused with my brother ) writes: ”In the neighboring village of Czarna already in 1567 peasants had to work three full days a week  on the manor estate field”.  So it can be said that the amount of working time given as contribution  differed among manor estates. Professor W. Stys says that in the 17th century the contributions  given by peasants amounted to 2 or 3 days a week but at  the same time some peasants were freed  of this obligation – the lucky ones were   more important manor servants such foresters, tallymen, probably also village leaders (wójt). The „good”   estate owner could free older tenants of their obligation to pay contributions. With time, the manor increased the contributions due from  rich peasants up to four days a week, (they had to bring  four oxen to work with them); “middle class” peasants  were obliged to work three days  a week and bring their horse to help them, poorer peasants and craftsmen had to work “on foot”  for one to three days a week. Besides the work done for the estate, the owners introduced   an annual contribution  for the so called „higher purposes”. This contribution amounted to 4 days of work a year  as well as some units of grain. The tenants who did not own any land had to do one day’s work every two weeks for the manor, absolutely free of charge. Additionally,  they had to  spin hemp or linen thread . They had to deliver a dozen of ells a year. Contemporary people will not find it easy to understand how difficult it was to spin linen or hemp. Well, one ell was 4400 m of  thread, thus 12 ells equal 52,8 km. How many days must one sit and  manually spin, wetting plant fibers with saliva, then twisting   the thread ! In 1775 r. Maria Theresa issued a deed forbidding manor estate owners to increase the contribution  imposed on their people. Evidently, the rulers were finally informed that noblemen had increased the tributes due and  made it completely impossible for the peasants to work on their own fields. Probably the noblemen did not obey this deed anyway, since in 1782  the emperor Joseph II issued another deed which restricted the tribute to three days a week as well as  it allowed the peasants to get married regardless of  the estate  owner’s consent. Subsequent deeds issued by the same ruler in 1784 and 1786 abolished annual contributions imposed on peasants. This important act was issued on April 2, 1787. It introduced the regulation which allowed the peasants to inherit the land they owned, therefore giving them the right of ownership of the  land they had been working on. These contributions were called “meszne”. Originally they were paid in kind, then in work and money.  Vicars, who wanted to gain permanent workforce,  part of land located near the village for housing for landless peasantry. These people were not subdued to the estate owners and could be hired to work for the vicar. The above description   of parish economy was given by professor W. Stys. 

According to W. Puchalski things looked a bit different. He claims that once villein service was abolished, the landlords received  reparations from the authorities, however they were not equivalent to  the contributions that they used to receive, therefore the estates lost a lot  of income. Puchalski quotes the number of peasants working for the parish. In Laka there were six  peasants who owned ca. 150 000 square meters and they had to work for the manor estte for 676 days a year. Seventeen „budniks” cultivated ca.56 000 square meters and they had  work for 832  days a year as well as spin 96 ells of  thread. In Terliczka there was a hamlet where three peasants owned ca. 75 000 square meters and had to work for 340 days a year and to spin  26 ells. To sum up, peasants worked for the vicar for 2 – 3 days a week and each of them had to deliver 12-16 ells of thread. The ‘budniks” worked one day a week and made 6 ells. From Puchalski’s description   we cannot be sure that the vicar paid them for their work as it was said by W. Stys. I think that the fact that the vicar allotted them some land to own encouraged them to work for the parish. It should be noted that only some of the peasants from Laka and Terliczki worked for the parish and were not subdued to the manor estate owner.

THE PEOPLE

 The first entry dates back to 1638, when bishop Alembek  noted his remarks after his visits at the parish of  Laka. In his notes we can read that the number of inhabitants of Palikówka amounted to 240 souls. This number was estimated based on the number of people accepting Holy Communion. F. Magrys states that during the Lent the organist walked around the village and made a list of people willing to go to Easter Confession and the ones who had not paid their contribution were in big trouble. If we assume that besides the 240 souls there were also children,  who were too young to go to the Confession,  as well as people  of other religions  the population of the village amounted to three hundred. Józef Półcwiartek states that Palikówka of 1713 was a middle sized village, with 34 houses, an inn and  a  mill, but the number of its inhabitants was unknown. Geographic Dictionary vol. VII  of 1886 says that in Palikówka  there were 157 houses and  802 inhabitants, including 377 men and 425 women. 790 out of them were Roman Catholics and 12 Jews. Moreover,  the Dictionary states  that in eastern part of the village there was a  grange called „Gawina”, which included 6 houses inhabited by 84 people,  69 out of whom were of  Roman Catholic faith  and 15 of Jewish persuasion. If we sum up this data, we will receive 163 houses and  886 inhabitants, 859  out of whom were Catholics and 27 – Jewish. According to cadastral surveys of 1849, in Palikówka there were 192 houses. Let us try to analyze this data. In 1638 according to the bishop, and to my mind,  there were 300 inhabitants and about 35 houses. According to professor Półćwiartek, after 75 years in Palikówka were 34 houses ( he did not state  the number of inhabitants). Geographic Dictionary of  1886 specifies 163 houses and  886 inhabitants, cadastral surveys of 1849 contain 192 houses. While comparing  the data from the Dictionary and from the surveys one may notice some discrepancies relating to the number  of houses: in  1849 there  were 192  and 37  years later , in 1886, only 163. However,  it must be noted that the Dictionary is a  vast work, consisting of 15 thick volumes. Volume One was published in 1880 and the last one in 1900. The description of Palikówka  is found in volume VII  published in 1886. The entries are arranged alphabetically, therefore the data must have been collected much earlier in order to be later processed. It must have been quite difficult and time-consuming to gather all that information considering the state of communication at that time. We should assume that data on Palikówka appertain to the beginning of the 19th century and they supercede the cadastral survey. To sum up, throughout  the 17^th century up to mid 1700s, there were about 35 houses  in Palikówka   inhabited by 300 people. At the beginning of the 19^th century the village developed and the number of its inhabitants increased. At he end of last century there were 200 houses more and the population increased to ca. 950 people. The following people lived in houses marked on the map by numbers 1to 193. I attempted to find out the addresses of all the people. I based my search on church records and birth certificates form the years 1862-1900 This attempt was successful with  the exception of  five  houses: 82, 103, 149, 169 i 183 but these were Jewish households. There were 27 Jews and they had to live somewhere, yet they were not registered in church records. The numbers of houses and their inhabitants in 1862-1900 were as follows: 1. Garczynski, Nowak 25. Zydor,, Szuberla Drozd, Król, Rejman 26. Bojda, Kuzniar, Kilian 2. Mendrala, Kogut, Rejman 27. Gawel 3. Ciba, Rejman, Kogut, Mendrala 28. Kunysz, Swieboda, Drozd, Cyrnek 4. Swieboda, Sierzega, Pudlo 29. Tasior, Musial, Cyrnek 5. Czapkowski 30. Lomper, Kaminski 6. Wawrzkowicz 31. Gonek, Gawel, Cyrnek 7. Chudecki, Ciba 32. Welc, Lomper 8. Stepien, Jakubowski, Orzech, Dec 33. Ciba, Panek, Swieboda 9. Wilk, Zabek 34. Kogut, Gawel 10. Swieboda 35. Kogut, Drozd, Cyrnek 11. Wilk, Gawel, Dudek, Tasior 36. Cyrnek, Ciasnocha 12. Pachorek, Bialek, Rejman 37. Czapkowski 13. Barnat 38. Halak 14. Orlos 39. Kaminski, Lech, Gawel, Kunysz 15. Rudecki, 40. Tasior, Gawel 16. Palczowski 41. Pasierb 17. Dudek, Rejman 42. Jakubowski, Lech 18. Klek 43. Gawel, Gunia 19. Gawel, Kopec, Ciasnocha 44. Gawel 20. Pukala, Swieboda, Gawel 45. Porada, Chmiel 21. Kopec 46. Barszcz 22. Kopec 47. Wilk 23. Golonka, Ruszel 48. Kopec, Cyrnek 24. Gawel 49. Kopec, Wilk 50. Stepien 91. Gawel, Ciba 51. Sierzega, Komenda, Sliz 92. Wawrzkowicz, Furman 52. Stepien 93. Orlos 53. Kon 94. Gebska 54. Gawel 95. Ataman 55. Gawel, Ciasnocha, Kubala 96. Gac, Rzasa, Kuzniar 56. Panek, Gunia 97. Pachorek 57. Panek 98. Gawel 58. Swieboda, Gawel 99. Kopec, Kon, Pietraszek, Cyrnek 59. Rzasa 100. Trad, Barloga, glab, Buk 60. Gawel, Pelc, Panek 101. Cyrnek 61. Gawel 102. Beres, Cyrnek, Kon, Gawel 62. Gawel, Kopec 103. 63. Gawel, Michno, Wladyka 104. Jablonska 64. Gawel 105. Kulbida 65. Rejman 106. Wiercioch 66. Pasierb, Wladyka, 107. Panek 67. Gawel 108. Pudlo, Gawel 68. Gawel, Kon 109. Zydor, Mikosz 69. Cyrnek, Mendrala, Kon 110. Kopec, Gawel, Turek 70. Rejman, Halak, Gancarz, Wawrzkowicz 111. Pachorek, Peszko 71. Ziólko, Sierzega 112. Zabek 72. Zydor, Wiecek 113. Ciasnocha 73. Wawrzkowicz 114. Gunia, Kania, Michalek 74. Tomasik, Wisz 115. Ciasnocha, Zydor, Ciba 75. Panek 116. Palczowski, Kopec 76. Palczowski, Michno 117. Kawalec, Kopec 77. Nowak, Mendrala 118. Kopec, Gawel 78. Palczowski, Pachorek 119. Kunysz 79. Rzasa, Mendrala, Michalek 120. Gawel, Panek, Beres 80. Stys, Pietraszek 121. Mendrala, Pudlo, Ciba 81. Gawel, Nowak, Stepien 122. Gawel 82. 123. Kopec 83. Jablonska 124. Kopec 84. Bielawski, Lech, Wisz 125. Kopec 85. Wisz, Stasinski 126. Wolos, Guzek, Gawel, Gancarz 86. Kon 127. Gunia, Panek 87. Kon, Pieklo 128. Nosek 88. Wisz, Stys 129. Gebski, Kurdziel 89. Jakubowski, Stepien 130. Ciasnocha, Pachorek 90. Gunia, Lech, Ciba 131. Lech, Panek 133. Bomba, Kogut, Cyrnek 132. Lech, Palczowski, Gawel 134. Pachorek, Dociek, Wisz 163. Rejman 135. Bomba 164. Gawel 136. Nowak, Pietraszek 165. Nowak 137. Wawrzkowicz 166. Gawel, Pachorek 138. Dudek 167. Rzasa 139. Golonka 168. Gawel, Wilk 140. Ruszel 169. 141. Kilian 170. Kogut 142. Wisz 171. Wawrzkowicz 143. Panek 172. Cyrnek, Gawel 144. Swieboda, Kopec 173. Kunysz 145. Puc, Swieboda 174. Biba, Barszczowski, Jeczalik 146. Swieboda 175. Michno 147. Barszcz, Rzasa 176. Gawel 148. Kopec, Wiecek 177. Pietraszek 149. 178. Panek 150. Tomaka, Stepien, Chmiel, Rzasa 179. Gawel 151. Ciba 180. Pudlo, Swieboda 152. Ciasnocha 181. Pietraszek, Jadwisiak 153. Ciasnocha 182. Orlos 154. 183. 155. Misiewicz, Tasior, Barnat 184. Cyrnek 156. Domino, Nowak 185. Swieboda 157. Panek, Tabian 186. Pietraszek 158. Wiecek 187. Kuzniar 159. Noworol 188. Lech 160. Nowak, Wilk, Gawel 189. Wisz, Gawel 161. Kupiszewski 190. Panek 162. Michno, Ciba, Pasierb 191. Kuzniar 192. Kuzniar

Most important families

Having analyzed the details of people  living at particular addresses, based on birth certificates of 1862-1900, it was fairly easy to determine which were the most frequently met names in the village. Below are the names and the numbers of houses at which members of those families used to live: the Gawels in  40 houses, the Kopecs - 15, the Cyrneks - 11, the Paneks - 10, the Swiebodas - 9, the Rejmans - 7, the Mendralas - 6, the Wiszs and  the Pietraszeks - 5, the Gunias, the Koguts, the Kuzniars, the Stepiens, the Michnos - 4, the Dudeks and the  Nowaks - 3. So  the most numerous families in Palikówka were the Gaweł family, then the Kopecs, the Cyrneks, the Paneks, the Swieboda, the Rejmans, the Mendralas and  other slightly less  numerous families were the Wiszs, the Pietraszeks, the  Gunias,  the Koguts, the  Kuzniars, the Stepiens, the Michnos, the Dudeks and the  Nowaks. In Palikówka there were  many identical surnames and first names which caused a lot of confusion. Therefore, names of residence were added to most populate surnames for instance: Gawel of  Kont, Gawel of  Budy, Kopec of Górki, Swieboda of  Blacha, Swieboda of Ogród, etc. In order to distinguish women of the same name and surname her husband’s first  name was used: Mrs. Walek Gaweł, Mrs. Marcin Gaweł, Mrs. Tomasz Gaweł, Mrs. Kazimierz Gaweł, Mrs. Wojtek Duda. Mrs. Walek Duda, Mrs. Teofil Swieboda,  Mrs. Józef Swiebida, Józefowa, Mrs. Kazimierz Kopeć, Mrs. Michał Kopeć,Mrs. Józef Panek, Mrs. Jędrzej Panek, Mrs. Marcin Panek. The above were merely a few examples. In many houses the surname Stepień occurred.  It is quite interesting that people by that name were called Stolarz (carpenter), and their wives were: Stolarka Blazkowa, Stolarka Wickowa, Stolarka Jedrzejowa, itd. Peoples’ names were also slightly changed depending on their wealth or good looks. Here are some examples of those diminutives: - Jan, Janek, Jasio, Jonek, Jonaszek; - Maria, Marysia, Maryska, Maryna; - Katarzyna, Kaisa, Kaska, Kasaka; - Aniela, Anielcia, Janielka; - Agnieszka, Jagusia, Jaga. Many of  the surnames of people living in the village in the previous century do not occur in contemporary Palikówka, for instance: Ataman, Barszcz, Beres, Bielawski, Bomba, Ciba, Dociek, Domino, Gorczynski, Gebski, Jakubowski, Kawalec, Kulbida, Kupiszewski, Kubala, Misiewicz, Mikosz, Nocek, Noworol, Palczowski, Pelc, Pieklo, Pudlo, Stasinski, Ruszel, Tomasik, Trad, Wladyka, Wolos, Ziólko, Zydor.