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The White Eagle is the national symbol of Poland. Poland indirectly assisted the United States during the Revolutionary War. Both Germany and Russia were distracted from helping a fellow monarchy, England, by events occuring in the relatively democratic state of Poland. The vultures were waiting to pick Poland's bones. Poland had once been the most powerful country in Europe, but it fell to the Russian and German monarchies in 1792. At its height, Poland's borders reached from just outside Moscow to within a few miles of Berlin. What a sad fate for a once powerful nation! As a result, the bald eagle became the symbol of the new nation, the U.S., and the Polish Eagle was divided between Germany and Russia.
ALONG WITH THEIR VARIOUS BRANCHES"
The SCHULTZ and BILICKI Families immigrated from Russian Poland, and the ZMICH and ADAMSKA families came from German Poland. Each sought peace and freedom in a new world. All of the families were of the Catholic faith. They most likely emigrated during the latter part of the 1870s or early 1880s, a difficult time in Poland, when many others came to the U.S.
Our ancestors had the courage to leave the world they knew and loved so well to face the unknown in the United States. They must have arrived destitute, speaking only Polish. For this reason, they settled in an area that was predominantly Polish. It was not necessary for them to learn to speak English, because their entire neighborhood spoke Polish. They could shop, or seek any services in their native language. It would be two generations before two daughters, KATHERINE MARY and MARIE VICTORIA SCHULTZ, would once again strike out for the unknown and leave Chicago.
JOSEPH (AKA JOZEF) ADAMSKI and his wife, MARY (SOBKA), arrived in the U.S. with their daughter, APOLONIA, in 1883. They came directly to Chicago. They were very strong Roman Catholics.
CHARLES SCHULTZ owned a boarding house at 8366 Bond Ave. in 1900. He lived there with his wife, EVA BILICKI SCHULTZ, and his children, LASISLAUS (later changed his name to WILLIAM), born December 21, 1883, ROBERT, born Jan. 1891, MICHAEL, born March 1893 and STELLA, born in June of 1896. CHARLES and EVA most likely came together from Russian Poland, although this is not certain. All of their children were born in Chicago, Illinois. CHARLES and EVA were devout Catholics. CHARLES was said to have died in the 1920s. The German name, SCHULTZ, translates into sheriff, or overseer.
EVA BILICKI (pronounced Bee Leets Kee) was the wife of CHARLES SCHULTZ. She was born in Russian Poland. EVA is not shown in the list of deaths for Chicago during the period 1871 to 1916, so she must have died after 1916. EVA BILICKI likely traveled with her family from Poland. Her son, MARION BILICKI, would have been with her. BILICKI may have been a married name, not her maiden name. She was LADISLAUS "WILLIAM'S" step mother and mother of his brothers and sister. EVA'S son, MARION (AKA MARJAN) BILICKI, lived with the SCHULTZ family in 1900 and was 13 years old at the time.
APOLONIA ADAMSKA was born in German Poland on July 25, 1866, the daughter of JOSEPH (AKA JOZEF) ADAMSKI and MARY SOBKA. In Polish, the "ska" ending meant that the person was female and the "ski" ending meant that the person was male. She came to the U.S. and Chicago with her parents in 1883 at the age of 16. APOLONIA married JOSEPH (AKA JOZEF) ZMICH, also born in German Poland. The Polish name, APOLONIA, translates into "Pearl" in English. Their daughter, MARY VERONICA, was born in Chicago on September 8, 1887. APOLONIA was 20 years old at the time, having been in the U.S. for only four years. APOLONIA died in Chicago on February 2, 1915 at the age of 48, and was buried at St Adalbert's Cemetery. Prior to his death, JOSEPH (AKA JOZEF) lived with his daughter, MARY. MARY'S daughter, MARIE, remembered him as being rather scary to her as a small child. He could not speak English, or very little, and used to tease her and sometimes try to trip her with his cane. She thought later in her life that it was just his way of dealing with his grandchildren and may have even been meant to be friendly. MARIE also remembered her grandfather, JOSEPH ZMICH, having Polish style handlebar mustache. JOSEPH ZMICH is said to have died between 1935 and 1934. He was very much alive in 1935, according to BERNICE ZMICH, wife of EDWARD ZMICH, son of SIMON.
LADISLAUS "WILLIAM" SCHULTZ was to be the father of ROBERT WILLIAM, WILLIAM JR., KATHERINE, MARIE and ELMER SCHULTZ. He was born LASDISLAUS SCHULTZ on December 21, 1883, but later changed his name to WILLIAM though, according to one of our family documents, LADISLAUS continued to be used in the Catholic Church. He died on December 27, 1951 at the age of 67. As a young man, LADISLAUS "WILLIAM" studied for the priesthood, but he married MARY ZMICH instead. He is said to have spoken a dozen languages, and at one time, ran for alderman of the City of Chicago. He was also an alcoholic who became violent and abusive when drinking. Because of this, his children left the home as soon as they were able. NAT GOOD, grandson of LADISLAUS "WILLIAM", can remember seeing him in his coffin wearing gloves, because his fingers had been chewed up by rats after his death. He had two dogs tied up in his apartment, but otherwise, he died alone. It was the noise of the starving, tied-up dogs that caught the attention of his closest neighbors. His actual time of death was certainly closter to his birthday, December 21st. His life had a sad and lonely end.
LADISLAUS "WILLIAM" SCHULTZ had two brothers, ROBERT and MICHAEL, and one stepbrother, MARION BILICKI. MICHAEL SCHULTZ was a Lt. in the U.S. Army in World War I. Grandnephew, NAT GOOD, remembers his mom, KATHERINE SCHULTZ, telling him how MICHAEL SCHULTZ had been gassed in the battle of the Argonne Forest in France. Halfbrothers, MARION BILICKI and ROBERT SCHULTZ, married RATKOWSKI sisters. MARION BILICKI married JOSEPHA (JOZEFA) RATKOWSKI and ROBERT SCHULTZ married VICTORIA (WIKTORJA) RATKOWSKI. These sisters were cousins to LADISLAUS -- children of APOLONIA ZMICH'S sister MARYANNA ADAMSKA and JAN RATKOWSKI.
MARY ZMICH was born in Chicago on September 8, 1887. Her birth was recorded and she was baptized at Saint Stanislaus Kosta's Church, (founded in 1867), on September 11th, 1887. Saint Stanislaus Church is huge, covering more than a city block! she had two brothers, SIMON, whose wife was KATIE, and STANLEY, whose wife was JOSEPHINE, as well as a sister, ROSIE. MARY was unable to control LADISLAUS "WILLIAM" during his drunken binges, but she would never have considered leaving him! ZMICH is a Polish Ukrainian name, and means "happy, smiling person." If you look at her picture, you can see that she certainly lived up to her maiden name. She was very much loved by her children, just as her husband was feared by them. MARY ZMICH SCHULTZ died in Chicago on May 4, 1935, in a diabetic coma at the age of 49. She was a member of St. Stephen's Parish, and was buried in a Catholic Cemetery, St. Adalbert's, just as her husband, LADISLAUS "WILLIAM", would be 16 years later in 1951.
KATHERINE MARY SCHULTZ received her middle name from her mother, and gave it to her daughter, MARY KAY, who would die at the age of nine. She gave her name of KATHERINE in the form of KAY to both MARY KAY and to her last daughter, KAY ANNETTE. EDWARD JESCHKE, father of MARY KAY, always called KATHERINE 'KAY', which leads her son, NAT, to believe that KATHERINE was known as "KAY" during her younger days.
MARIE'S middle name, VICTORIA, is found in both the SCHULTZ and ZMICH families. It is also evident that MARIE and MARY are closely related names.
KATHERINE and MARIE both spoke of a family album that would have many old pictures. Now one knows what happened to this album, but if it could be found the pictures would be priceless to all of us. If it can be found, we would like to have copies made for everyone. Let us hope it has not been lost forever!
ST. Adalbert's Cemetery is the final resting place for all of our Polish ancestors in Chicago. It is a Catholic cemetery. If the interment records are available, many of our relatives could yet be found!
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