Context / Overview
KIOLBASSA / ANIOL House and Farm
by
Allen & Regina Kosub
November, 2017
Context
In December of 1854, immigrants from Upper Silesia in Prussian Poland began arriving in Texas. In Bexar County, approximately twenty Silesian families created the village of Saint Hedwig eighteen miles east of San Antonio. Today, recognized as one of the earliest Polish settlements in the U. S. it is located on FM 1346, in far eastern Bexar County.
Overview
Valentine Aniol, one of the founding settlers of Saint Hedwig, Texas, in 1856, purchased from C. G. Napier an undivided interest in two hundred acres of land near the center of the John Springer Survey or Survey #31.
After the Civil War, on December 16, 1865, Valentine Aniol purchased one hundred acres of land from Willis and Mary Watkins in the western portion of the Springer Survey. In 1874, Valentine sold his undivided interest in the original two-hundred-acre tract and purchased an additional one hundred acres of land, from C. K. Rhodes in the western part of the Springer Survey adjacent to his 1865 purchase. The Aniol farm was comprised of these two hundred acres.
The farm was located at the well-travelled junction of the Old Sutherland (Sulphur) Springs and Mount Olive Roads. The community of Mount Olive (now a ghost town) was approximately two miles south of the farm. In 1894, the San Antonio and Gulf Shore Railroad laid its tracks adjacent to the farm and created Saunders Station (flag station) immediately to the west.
In 1892, Valentine Aniol conveyed the property to his daughter Julia Aniol Rakowicz and her husband John Rakowicz with the stipulation, “to furnish to the said Valentine Aniol a room on the premises including support, medical attention and clothing during her (sic) natural life.” In 1896, the property came into the Kiolbassa family when it was purchased by Ignatz Kiolbassa from John and Julia Aniol Rakowicz.
Record of Ownership
Presently, the Felix Kiolbassa house resides on a fifteen-acre tract owned by Clarence R and Barbara Jean Kiolbassa. The tract is a subdivision of an original tract comprised of two hundred acres.
The record of division and ownership of the remaining fifteen (15) acre portion of the original tract, where the Kiolbassa/Aniol House now stands, is summarized below.
Deed transfers of this property beginning in 1857 to 1892:
1857 P. J. Willis and Brother to C. K. Rhodes
1865 (100 acres) Willis and Mary Watkins to Valentine Aniol
1874 (100 acres) C. K. Rhodes to Valentine Aniol
1892 (200 acres) Valentine Aniol to John & Julia Aniol Rakowicz (daughter)
In 1896, the property came into the Kiolbassa family when it was purchased by Ignatz Kiolbassa from John and Julia Aniol Rakowicz
Deed transfers of this property beginning in 1896 to 2007:
1896 John & Julia Rakowicz to Ignatz Kiolbassa
1898 Ignatz Kiolbassa to Felix Kiolbassa (his son)
1963 Estate of Felix Kiolbassa to 7 sons by partition of property
John Kiolbassa Tract 1 96 acres
Ignatz Kiolbassa Tract 2 32 acres
Joseph Kiolbassa Tract 3 32 acres
Anton Kiolbassa Tract 4 8 acres
Hubert Kiolbassa Tract 5 8 acres
Gilbert Kiolbassa Tract 6 8 acres
Steve F. Kiolbassa Tract 7 8 acres
In 1930, John Kiolbassa, son on Felix and Agnes Michalski Kiolbassa, married Mary Woitena.
1972 Estate of John to Mary(widow) Kiolbassa Tract 1 96 acres
1979 Mary Kiolbassa to:
Alois Kiolbassa son 17 acres
Lilian Kiolbassa daughter 15 acres
Irene Zigmond daughter 15 acres
August J. Kiolbassa son 30 acres
Herman J. Kiolbassa son died in 1970 these are his children:
Jerome Kiolbassa 5 acres
Gregory Kiolbassa 5 acres
Karen Kiolbassa (Ledwig) 5 acres
In 1956, August J. Kiolbassa married Eugenia Rose Padalecki, Clarence and Kenneth are their sons.
2007 August J. & Eugenia to Clarence R and Barbara Jean Kiolbassa 15 acres (south ½ of August J.’s 30 acres). The house is located on Clarence and Barbara Jean’s (the current owner’s) property.
August J. to Kenneth B. Kiolbassa 15 acres (north ½ of August J.’s 30 acres)
Significance
During the 19th century, the farm provided subsistence and income for its owners.
The activities of the farm for 1879 were recorded in the 1880 Federal Agricultural Census and stated that the land and buildings were valued at $2,000.00, livestock was valued at an additional $450.00 and farm equipment for $250.00.
The farm was composed of fifty acres of tillable land, one hundred acres of pastures, meadows, vineyards or orchards and fifty acres of woodlands.
In 1879, $120 was spent on buildings. The total value of farm production was $650.00.
The farm had five horses, two mules, fifteen milk cows and twelve calves. In 1879, twenty cattle were sold and four slaughtered. The farm had six swine. The farm produced three hundred pounds of butter and four hundred dozen eggs.
On twenty acres of land, two hundred bushels of Indian corn were produced, on ten acres of land, forty-five bushels of wheat were produced, on ten acres of land, five bales of cotton were produced and on one acre of land, twenty bushels of potatoes were produced.
An orchard of 1,000 peach trees on ten acres of land produced 125 bushels of fruit valued at $475.00. Four cords of wood were produced valued at $20.00.
During the 20th century the farm continued to produce income for the Kiolbassa family from production of row crops such as corn, cotton, sorghum and peanuts. Cattle, poultry and swine were also produced on the farm.
The Kiolbassa Family of St. Hedwig, Texas:
Peter and Antonia Kaczmarczyk Kiolbassa immigrated to Texas from Silesia in 1855. They traveled with their six children: Ignatz (1839-1920), Paulina (1841-1899), Francisca (1843-1897), Josepha 1846-?), Carl (1848-?), and Constantina (1851-1888). They first settled in DeWitt County.
In 1857, their daughter Paulina married John Richter of Stockdale.
In 1863, their daughter Francisca married Anton Kosub of St. Hedwig.
In 1872 their daughter Constantina married Peter Kosub of St. Hedwig.
In late 1870, Peter, a widower, and his son Ignatz (Civil War veteran) moved to St. Hedwig. On December 5, 1870, Ignatz purchased 120 acres from Herman Bower in the John Isham survey. This property, across the road from his brother-in-law, Anton Kosub would become the Ignatz Kiolbassa homestead and farm.