Re: significance of Chmielewski
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In reply to:
significade of Chmielewski
4/01/01
My family came from around Baranowicze, in estern Poland,in what is now Belarus. I was able to visit my cousin there in 1993 and learned some facts about the Chmielewski family.
Chmiel is the Polish word for "hops", the plant that is used to make beer. the "ski" is added to signify landed gentry, so one could loosely translate the name as " lord of the hops" or even "hopper", if you like.
I was told that the Chmielewski family came from further south, probably from around the Ukraine, and came with horses and wagons and their belongings in the 13th century and settled in and around the area of Nowogrudek ( spelling?), not far from Baranowicze. I was told that there were no other peoples living there at that time. The Chmielewski clan built up large farms or "mayontek" and some even had large artificial lakes in which they raised fish. These lands were later confiscated by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution and the ponds were drained and the fish taken and the lands split up and given to the peasants.