My Great-Grandfather.

The photo on the left is of the headstone for the graves of my grandmother's parents - Ludwik & Veronica Szymanski. They are buried in St. Stanislaus cemetery in Buffalo NY.

I have no idea when this particular headstone was placed there; I am reasonably certain that it was not put there in 1961 when my great-grandmother died. I don't believe there would have been money available at that time (I could be wrong, of course).
The words Ojciec and Matka are the Polish words for Father and Mother, so I'm assuming the headstone was placed there by one or more of their children and not their grandchildren.

The stone is impressive. I'm sure it cost a great deal of money. Unfortunately, there is an error in the date of Ludwik's birth. The year is given as 1873, but that's not correct. It's understandable why that date was put on the stone. After all, it's the date given as his birth year on his death certificate. This would not be the first time a death certificate had a mistake on it. It's more common than one might think.

My genealogical resource shows that the actual year of his birth is either 1866 or 1867.

In the 1910 Federal census, his age is given as 44. The 1915 New York State census lists his age as 48 and in 1920 he said he was 53 years old. You do the math.
I have a copy of his application for U.S. citizenship from August, 1894 where he gives his date of birth as August 21, 1866.

To further complicate the matter, when he arrived in New York aboard the SS Eider on March, 15, 1887, he gave his age as 23.

His death certificate gives his parents names as Michael Szymanski and Apollonia Grat......the marriage record for the couple gives their marriage date as 1860 (when Michael was 24 and Apollonia was 23). It's seems reasonable to me that it would be more likely that Ludwik was born when his mother was 29.

There are marriage, baptism and death records, for the Catholic parish in Poland where the family lived, available on microfilm from the LDS. One day, I'll order the microfilm and see for myself when he was baptized. I'm sure it'll be closer to 1867 than the 1873 date engraved on his tombstone.

One more thing. Veronika's death certificate gives her date of birth as January 27, 1877. The same census records that show Ludwik was born in 1867 and not 1873 show Veronika was born in 1880 and not 1877.

Berlusconi as Go-between.

As expected, the Russians have rejected U.S. proposals regarding the missile defense shield in Poland.
Hoping to relieve the fears of the Russians, the U.S. had proposed allowing the Russians access to the missile sites. The U.S. plan would also include video monitoring of activities at the sites.
The Kremlin said it would wait until Obama takes office to resolve the issue.
The Kremlin wants to use Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as a go-between who, it's suggested, can ease tensions between the two countries.
I suppose that Berlusconi would be acceptable to Obama....after all, we know from his having picked Joe Biden as his VP, Obama likes to hang with guys who make strange, inappropriate gaffes. It was Biden, you'll remember, who said of Obama,
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."
Berlusconi has pretty much the same opinion of Obama,
"I don't see problems for Medvedev to establish good relations with Obama, who is also handsome, young and suntanned," Berlusconi said recently.
I can see Obama and Medvedev sitting around a table, laughing and slapping their foreheads as Biden and Berlusconi come up with their hilarious one liners.
I doubt the Poles will be laughing.

Links:
Russia rejects U.S. missile proposals
Italy offers mediation in Russia/US missiles spat
Berlusconi Go-Between with U.S.
Silvio Berlusconi hails 'handsome and suntanned' Barack Obama
Raw Data: List of Biden Gaffes
Silvio Berlusconi: 10 memorable gaffes

Separated at Birth?

Over the past few days, I've written posts on Russian president Dimitry Medvedev and his announcement that he will deploy Iskander-M missiles in the Kaliningrad region bordering Poland. This is an important issue and we need to know how Obama will react to the Russians when he takes office in January.
I've been surfing the Internet daily trying to keep up-to-date on this situation and I've read accounts on Russian web sites and I've located an official web site for Kaliningrad.

On a less serious note, take a look at the photo above........at first glance, you might suppose that the two halves are of the same person.
Wrong.
The man on the left is Georgy Boos, the governor of Kaliningrad.
The man on the right is Jersey City Councilman Steven Lipski. After an night of too much booze,Lipski urinated on a crowd of revelers from a second story balcony of a nightclub in Washington D.C..
Lipski was just doing what politicians have always done to the electorate. Boos and Medvedev will have their turn with Obama soon enough.

Councilman vows to quit alcohol after public urination bust
www.gov.kaliningrad.ru
The Iskander Factor

Will Obama abandon Poland?

Wednesday,Russian President Dimitry Medvedev warned that he would deploy missiles in western Kaliningrad should the United States continue it's planned Defense Shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Poland expects the incoming Obama administration to go ahead with the plan.

Kevin Dougherty wrote in Stars & Stripes,
"Poles surveyed prior to the U.S. election showed strong support for McCain, the highest in Europe at 38 percent, according to Dobrowolski. He attributed McCain’s popularity in Poland to the Republican nominee’s tough stance toward Russia."

The European Union expressed "strong concern" over Russia's plan to place the missiles near Poland's border.

Which path will Obama take?
Will he protect eastern Europe or will he acquiesce to Russia's demands?

Russia to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad.

Not long ago, Joe Biden predicted that within six months of taking office, President Obama would face a major foreign-policy test. It looks as if the Russians have decided to begin the testing earlier than that.
Bob Foresman, deputy chairman of Renaissance Capital, Russia's biggest investment bank, had said that Russia will be "less assertive'' in international affairs following an Obama victory. "The whole world'' wanted Obama to win, he said. "Relations will have to soften.''
With Wednesday's announcement from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that his country will deploy short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region bordering Poland and Lithuania, Mr. Foresman's view turns out to be naive.
Medvedev is about to "roll" the messiah.
Referring to the situation in Georgia, Medvedev said,
"We will not back down in the Caucasus."
Should Obama give in to the Russians (which he will), it will only embolden our enemies through out the world.
More problems to come from Iraq, Iran and the Middle East;
More terrorist attacks in Philippines.
These international crises will make it harder for Obama to achieve his Socialist agenda in the U.S. and his kool aid drinking zombies will abandon him before the mid term elections in 2010.

Links:
Russia to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad
Russia Should Talk to, Not Test, Obama, Officials Say
Russia to deploy missiles
Medvedev orders missiles deployed as world hails Obama