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Home : Message Boards : General Surnames Message Forum :
Re: BIELECKI Family
Posted By: Dan Bielecki
Date: 1/23/01
In Response To: BIELECKI Family (C. Colwell Bielecki )
Hi. I am Danny Michael Bielecki.
I am not from Grand Rapids but I can help. My Bielecki line is by way of the Chicago Bielecki`s. Currently I reside in Arizona. Chicago is where Bielecki`s came to settle once in America. Mostly because of work, the need to disapear into the masses and to blend in. From there we migrated to the rest of the Americas.
I have firsthand knowlage, documented and researched a lot of the Bielecki family history. Where we come from. How and why we are in America and why most are concentrated in the Midwest such as Illinois, Iowa, Michigan etc. Some information has been guarded by my family members and passed from generation to generation....all thru our lives. It is all we have left now.
I can dispell some myths right off and verify other facts such as:
Family motto. Our family moto as recorded is "Deo Gloria". It translates to be "Glory to God". The meaning and history is unknown as to why this motto was chosen. It has always been our motto since first recording. It has never changed.
Our name has never been changed to Bielecki from something else. That is a myth. A common Bielecki tale is that it is a form of BIELASQUE, BIELESQUA or something similar sounding and was changed as we entered America at Elis Island. All that is False. Our name has never been changed. It was refused due to pride of said name, dispite the dangers it raised by not doing so...since those of Bielecki name left by that time were seeking political refuge by the US government at the time. Some, such as my Grandfather, did change their first names, and adopt "american names" or nicknames. This was done to blend it and be more american. He retained his true legal name all his life but most knew him just as "Walter".
Stories of "changes" to Bielecki are somewhat true, but it was not to our surname. From about the 1200`s, up until the 1400`s we were of a ruling class of people in what is now the Slovic countries. During that time it was mostly a larger land called Ruthinia and took up most of what is now Romania, Poland, ect....After the 1400`s we were offically changed by way of seal to that of a nobility class.
Based on the history of actual "image-bearing" (the image of a seal thruout the land, such as on buildings, border markers, shields, tunics and Church records) the actual Class is beleived to be that of a Dukeship or Baronship. Either of those two classes had the ways and means of bearing our seal over such a widespread area. To do so would have cost a great amount of money to "enforce" the seal and protect the people, land and crops. The amount would be that of a Duke or Baron. Our seal is still very common thruout the land although it is viewed as decor now.
Yes there is a family crest. Yes it is official. Yes I can describe it. I have an official blazon of it from which to do from.
Yes and No... we are/were not a Monarchy. Although heirship was still by blood such as in a Monarchy. Power was officially passed from one to another by way of being named. Much like the Ceasers did. This was done by way of deeds and trusts. These documents were transfered to the new person. One could for example pass over the firstborn, in favor of the second or third born. This was done to avoid some of the pitfalls of a true-Monarchy such as what happend in England when Queen Elizibeth took power. She was all that was left of the bloodline at the time dispite being a female. This then end Kings and began England`s queens.
The oldest known of us on record was named KORAB who was the first who followed the procedures in place at the time to officially be reconized by the world, by registering his seal in the 1200s. It is unknown if the seal was a ring or token worn around the neck. Both forms of seals were popular at that time.
As to WHY our class was changed in the 1400s...that is not documented, only the change is.... from ruling to nobility. To signify this change, an item on the official seal was changed at that time from a gold-watchman-like tower to a black mast, but without a crossbeam or sail. All the other items in the seal remaind the same. Only a color and tower item was changed.
These changes indicated a removal of ruling (gold)..but not all of it. The seal is red-backgrounded with gold forefront items. Retaining gold in the seal indicates we still were very powerful and respected as a Class of People, equal to the ruling class, perhaps. It added the color black now (nobility) by way of the mast. This indicated that we still very lofty but reported to a higher class, a ruling class. That is why the Duke/Baronship is beleived to be the position held.
The seal`s image is associated with "guarding" or "watching" of the region. It is beleived that the Bielecki seal was linked to a type of police force or legion which patrolled the region. This would account for the vast image-bearing of the seal far and wide. It accounts for the strengh and power. A Duke or Baron class would be of the proper level of power for that. Common men would make up the squad, with a Bielecki family member as commander. All would wear the tunic but only the commander would be marked differently, such as with a helm with our seal`s Ark upon its crest. (Descriptions of our helm-crest was taken from documents discovered in France in the 1970s when a hidden room was discovered in a church being remodeled. The room contain documents that never made their way to Wales for historic recording. A French monk sealed up the room. The WHY was to hide the contents and information from the Spanish Inquision. A document found within explained the monk`s actions.)
A tower on the a seal indicates fortitude and strength. A mast, much the same thing but a lesser degree. The colors gold to black is a change in Class.
So based on the seal changes, there was a change to the Bielecki`s. World events may have dwarfed our recording of that time in our history.....at that time was the discovery of the Americas in 1492. The seal change is around the 1480s. It is from this official recorded change... that it is beleived... that the stories of our "name" being changed, come from.
Do we have a castle? Yes. Some of which is still standing but is no longer able to be lived in. Most was destroyed by WWII bombing, what was left has rotted. I had the good fortune of seeing pictures of it a few years ago when a Bielecki visited it after "the Wall" came down back in the 90`s. The pictures and some local histroy is all that is left now. Enemies of the State did their job well when instructed to wipe us out off the face of the earth. Not much remains once we fled...except our bloodlines and Bielecki name.
Heirlooms. Only one official one. When the castle was fled from at the turn of the 20th century... it was done so very quickly. Only the clothes on the backs were taken along with a carved image of the family crest, and the seal. The official seal disapeared without ever reaching the Americas. It is presumed to have been destroyed or lost at somepoint during the world wars. Only the carved image (from above the Common Room Fireplace) excaped out to America.
As a boy I asked my great-aunt to show it to me. She did once, along with how it arrived into her keep. There is confussion as to who had or has it now. Its whereabouts are unknown to us at this time since the story is that it was sold off at at a garage-sale by mistake after her death by somone who was assisting and did not understand its importance to the family. The buyer could not be located and it is not known if he/she/them were Bielecki or not.
It doesnt really matter... since the seal is offically on file... other then its our only heirloom. To return it to the family would be a great event for all Bielecki`s if it is still intact. It is the only know heirloom of our past.
I requested a blazon document a few years back so I would always have its image for my own sons. My sons are Christopher Michael, Benjamin Daniel and Nigel Mathew Bielecki. As of 1989 our bloodline was updated and recorded when I officially requested a copy of the blazon for myself. They are all old enough to understand being teens now, and have been instructed to report their heirs, come time to do so.
If you would like, I can describe the seal to you as the blazon does, to give you an idea as to what the entire seal, blazon and crest looks like. Just let me know! After all....
It is all we have now, other then that which we have made ourselves.
Hope this all helps !
.db.
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