Mention My Name in Cheboygan, MI

Roots run deep.

Relationships do also.

Humans need both, for sure.

"Mention my name in Cheboygan
It's the greatest little townin the world
Just tell themyou're an old friendof mine
And every door in town will have a big welcome sign
So mention my name in Cheboygan
And if you ever get in a jam
Just mention my name, I said mention my name
But pleae don't tell them where I am," sing the Everly Brothers, but with an S in Sheboygan.

Mushlock, Wichlacz, Blaskowski, Robytek, Stempky, and more.

They'll all be there in the Knights of Columbus Hall in Cheboygan this Thursday. 

Some will relish the North through Sunday, in fact.

My family pedigree takes me back to John Wichlacz who married Mary Muchlock (Musielak) in 1907.  Six years later she tragically died.  In 1914, John married Clara Muchlock, my grandmother, and Mary's younger sister.

I met and knew her as I grew up and visited the farm 20 miles south of Mackinaw Island, MI.

Marriage to in-laws was a usual practice in Poland and here at that time especially when children were growing up, according to Cecile Wendt Jensen who helped me trek my heritage and family tree online at the Orchard Lake Schools where she co-leads the Polonica Americana Research Instittue (PARI).

She used the Poznam Project devleoped by Lukasz Bielecki and valounteers around the world to locate the ancestral villages of the Musielak and Wichlacz families.  My descendents resided in German Poland, according to records online.

Both families prayed at the same parish church of Saint John the Baptist in Rozdrazew, Poland.  Microfilm shows this in Latin, Polish and German volumes from 1736 through 1912.  The local Family History Center there notes this information.

PARI is funded in part by the Michigan Humanities Council.  That money helped me track my journey that I should have made decades ago. 

But, better late than not at all, no?
I bet Wendt Jensen could help others trace their roots and relationships by calling her at (248) 683-0323.

I'll take this data to our family re-union when we party hearty, attend Mass and break bread Thursday.

Roots.

Relationships.

They're all we got.