A family archive · a shared memory

The Kępiński Family across the decades

The story of a family rooted in one village for over a hundred years — from the return from America to the birth of the grandchildren. Explore the archive and join the family community that keeps on building it.

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I The history of the place

Our Little Homeland

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Huta Głodowska — a small village in the Dobrzyń Land, one of the thirty-six villages of the Lipno commune. For centuries children were born here, families worked, joys and sorrows were lived through. It was here that the Kępiński family spent their whole lives — and it is from here that our story comes.

The name "Huta" (ironworks) itself hides a deep history. In the 17th century, when German settlers came to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, they set up places among the Polish forests for smelting metal and glass. The forest gave firewood, the sandy ground supplied quartz, and the ore was taken from bog iron. That is how Huta Głodowska came to be — beside a lush forest, on the edge of the Dobrzyń Land.

In 1827 the village had only 8 houses and 83 inhabitants. By 1939 — just before the outbreak of the Second World War — 241 people lived here. The village was full of life: over the decades more families arrived, more homesteads were built, and the inhabitants formed a true community.

HUTA GŁODOWSKA N
In 1827 the village had only 8 houses and 83 inhabitants. The manor farm covered 675 morgens — including 415 morgens of arable land and 114 morgens of forest.
1827 First mention in the Geographical Dictionary
241 Inhabitants before the Second World War
45 Families in the 1950s
176 Inhabitants today
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II Grandparents and beginnings

America and the return home

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Franciszek Kępiński, son of Józef and Franciszka née Marcinkowska, was born in 1889 in Mysłakowo. The year 1911 changed the fate of the whole family: Franciszek sailed to the United States, leaving his wife Waleria at home — pregnant at the time.

In America he came to his wife's sisters — three of them already lived across the ocean. When Waleria learned that her husband was "looking at other women", she decided to cross the ocean herself, disregarding the fact that she was a young woman with a small child. Their stay in the States together lasted ten years. In America Waleria gave birth to four children: Stasiek, Stasia, Helena and Henio.

In 1921, on the way back to Poland, tragedy did not spare the family — the youngest, Henio, fell ill and died. After returning to the country, with the dollars they had earned, they decided to buy a farm of their own.

Fearing thieves, they decided to buy the farm of their dreams as quickly as possible. They chose to buy in winter, when snow lay on the fields — and one could not really judge what the land looked like.

Family memories

On 16 January 1922, at the notarial office of Józef Mańkowski in Lipno, Franciszek and Waleria Kępiński bought a farm of nearly 16 hectares. The price: 3 million 150 thousand marks — the currency of a time when the Polish złoty did not yet exist.

ok. 1922 Huta Głodowska
Franciszek and Waleria Kępiński — founders of the family
Notarial deed no. 277 16 January 1922 — purchase of a farm of 15 ha 87 a 96 m² in Huta Głodowa for 3,150,000 marks. Notarial deed no. 277. The sellers were the spouses Emil and Róża Barc.
III 1939 — 1945

The time of Trial

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1 September 1939

When Germany attacked Poland, a new "owner" came to the farm of Waleria and Franciszek Kępiński. He declared that from that day everything on the farm became his property. For Franciszek it was a shock that deepened his asthma.

One of the neighbours — and about 50% of the village were Germans at that time — accused Franciszek of belonging to an armed organisation and of keeping undeclared weapons. The Germans dragged the sick man out of his bed (in December!) and led him to a meadow, where they beat him so badly that his whole body was black and blue.

Sixteen-year-old Janek saw it all. He wanted to take the rifle hidden in the old willow and kill the tormentors — he was stopped by the knowledge that it could mean the deportation of the entire family to a concentration camp.

Before his death Franciszek gave his son Janek a gold ring with the monogram K.F., which he had worn for years after returning from America. Jan wore that ring for decades.

The Kępiński family's war losses

Based on the commission's report of 9 July 1945

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Death of the farm's owner Franciszek Kępiński, beaten by the Germans, died on Christmas Day 1939
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Five years' use of 16.29 ha of land Taken over by the German who settled on the farm
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Horses, poultry, crops Three horses, 20 head of poultry and the grain stores confiscated by the new "owner"
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The destroyed oil mill The oil mill building completely destroyed — losses estimated at 10,000 złoty
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Felling of the forest A large number of trees cut down unlawfully by the occupier

After the liberation — a new beginning

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Jan in the army — 1945–1948 He served in the Border Protection Troops (WOP). He was promoted to corporal and commanded a squad.
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11 November 1948 — the wedding Jan Kępiński married Tekla Ziemińska. They rode to the church in Czarne in the family's old carriage.
IV Everyday life, work, tradition

Life in the countryside

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Running a farm in the first years after the war was not easy. The soil was poor, the meadows waterlogged, and until 1963 there was no electricity in Huta Głodowska. Even so the family managed — with fortitude and hard work.

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Cattle and dairy

The farm kept two or three cows. The milk was separated in a special centrifuge, and once a week butter was churned from the cream. Mother carried the butter to the market in Lipno — seven kilometres on foot, a basket on her arm.

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Horses and the carriage

There were always two beautiful black horses with gleaming leather harness. The old family carriage, its seats upholstered in burgundy velour, served for weddings, church fairs and trips to town. It has survived to this day.

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Work in the fields

Potatoes were dug with a hoe — about a hectare was planted, so the harvest took two weeks. In spring and autumn water flooded the fields. I remember helping to pull rotten tubers out of the mud — father and mother worked from dawn.

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No electricity until 1963

For the first years after the war the village had no power. Paraffin lamps gave light, water was carried from the well in buckets, laundry was boiled in a great cauldron over wood. Every machine was driven by human or horse power.

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Bread and butter

Bread was baked in our own oven — a large round loaf that lasted a whole week. For breakfast, before going out to the fields, we cooked zacierki (dough drop soup) — because there always had to be something to spread on the bread. "And of course it had to be baked first."

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Fuel and warmth

The coal stove was fired with wood and peat. The peat was dug from the nearby bogs — father cut it himself and I dried it in little heaps. The winters could be very harsh; we slept under a thick eiderdown in an unheated bedroom.

1963 The year of electrification

"The arrival of electricity changed everyday village life completely. With the current came radios and television sets — and all the social contact that for years had rested on neighbourly visits slowly began to fade away."

V Traditions, neighbours, shared moments

The village community

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In the 1950s whole generations of young families lived in Huta Głodowska. Without electricity, without television — social life rested on neighbourhood, mutual visits and shared prayer.

On every Sunday of Lent the Lenten lamentations (gorzkie żale) were sung in one family's house after another. By the light of a paraffin lamp the Kępiński, Maciejewski, Zaborowski and Pokrywiński families sat together — and each housewife prepared doughnuts, pancakes or yeast cake.

For carnival, "whip-round balls" were organised — in someone's house, to an accordion and a drum, people danced into the small hours. A chocolate waltz played at midnight, orangeade in bottles, doughnuts baked by the hundred — that was the village carnival.

  • Lenten lamentations on the Sundays of Lent — singing together in one house after another
  • Whip-round balls at carnival — everyone chipped in for the band and the shopping
  • House parties at the Zaborowskis' — open to the whole village, with accordion and drum
  • The church fair at Skępe (8 September) — going by carriage, a great feast day
  • New Year's Eve in Czarne — the way through the forest with a paraffin lantern
  • Christenings, first communions, weddings — the whole neighbourhood gathered
Winter
December–February
Pressing oil in the oil mill, weaving baskets and straw mats, evening visits to neighbours, felling trees and chopping firewood.
Spring
March–May
Planting potatoes and tobacco, working the fields, Lenten lamentations before Easter, markets in Lipno.
Summer
June–August
Harvest with sickle and scythe, threshing, grazing the cattle, drying hay in the meadows, picking fruit for the drying house.
Autumn
September–November
Digging potatoes with a hoe (up to two weeks!), the tobacco harvest, slaughtering the pig, preparing for winter, village dances.

The way home from the New Year's Eve dance in Czarne led through the forest. I prepared a paraffin lantern for my parents. When the fire sirens sounded at midnight, I went out in front of the house — I wanted at least to hear them.

Wiesław Kępiński, memories
✦ A hundred years in a dozen moments

The Timeline

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1889
Franciszek Kępiński, son of Józef and Franciszka née Marcinkowska, is born in Mysłakowo.
1911
Franciszek sails for America. His wife Waleria stays in Poland, expecting a child. Soon — despite the hardship and the distance — she will follow him across the ocean.
1921
The return to Poland. Ten years in the States — Waleria gave birth to four children. They come back with dollars, to buy a piece of land of their own.
1922
16 January — the farm in Huta Głodowska is bought for 3,150,000 marks. 15 ha 87 a. It will be the family home for over a hundred years.
1923
Jan Kępiński is born — son of Franciszek and Waleria, the future master of the family home.
1939
1 September — the war breaks out. The Germans seize the farm. Beaten by his tormentors, Franciszek dies on Christmas Day. Janek is sixteen.
1945–48
Jan serves in the Border Protection Troops (WOP). He is promoted to corporal. A soldier's notebook with songs written in his own hand.
1948
11 November — Jan Kępiński marries Tekla Ziemińska. They ride to the church in Czarne in the old carriage with its burgundy velour.
1949
Wiesław Kępiński is born — the author of this story, who will keep the memory of the family's Huta alive all his life.
1952
Ryszard Kępiński is born. The family grows. In 1956 the youngest brother — Benedykt — will come into the world.
1963
Electricity reaches Huta Głodowska. The end of paraffin lamps. The end of hand-cranked washing machines. A new chapter.
1977
Wiesław marries Danuta. A year earlier he had bought his first Syrena — the car he had dreamed of.
1978–81
The children of Wiesław and Danuta are born: Marcin (1978), Justyna (1981) and Joanna.
2005
Jan Kępiński passes away after 82 years of life. Wiesław retires. A farmer — but above all a father and an example.
2006–17
The grandchildren are born: Mateusz, Mikołaj, Olek, Adaś, Jagódka, Marcelinka — this story is dedicated to them.
2022
19 January, Wielgie. Wiesław Kępiński finishes writing this book — "out of longing for the atmosphere of my childhood and extraordinary respect for the hard-working people among whom I have always lived."
VI The family tree

Our Family

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Each generation left something behind — children, houses, values, memories. From Franciszek and Waleria, who crossed the ocean and bought a piece of Polish soil, to the grandchildren who today carry the names of their ancestors.

Generation I — The founders
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Franciszek Kępiński
1889 — 1939
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Waleria Kępińska
née Dąbrowska
Generation II — Children of Franciszek and Waleria
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Stasia
b. in America
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Stasiu
b. in America · New York
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Helena
b. in America
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Jan Kępiński
1923 — 2005
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Zosia Pokrywińska
1926 — 2015
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Bronia Małkiewicz
1929 — 2015
Generation III — Children of Jan and Tekla
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Wiesław Kępiński
b. 1949 · The author
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Ryszard Kępiński
b. 1952
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Benedykt Kępiński
b. 1956
Generation IV — Children of Wiesław and Danuta
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Marcin Kępiński
b. 4 Sept 1978
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Justyna Kuchcińska
b. 28 Feb 1981
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Joanna Łukaszczyk

The grandchildren — this story is for them

🌟 Mateusz b. 2006
⭐ Mikołaj b. 2006
🌟 Olek b. 2011
⭐ Adaś b. 2011
🌸 Jagódka b. 2014
🌸 Marcelinka b. 2017
What the archive holds

More than a book

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The family story told in many ways — to read, to watch and to listen to.

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The whole story of the family and Huta Głodowska — to read online and to hear as an audiobook.

Photo galleries

Photographs and documents from over a hundred years — from America to the present day.

Ancestors & tree

Generations of the family since 1796, reconstructed from archives, registers and gravestones.

Recordings & films

The voices and images of the family — memories recorded straight from the browser, and films.

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Current posts, memories and news — written by the whole family.

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