When Ceil was given a family history writing assignment in grade school, she interviewed her father Frank J.
Wendt. He took a brown canvas pouch imprinted with F. Missler from the top dresser drawer and removed three small pieces of
paper written in German. They were the birth certificates that her great grandfather Franz Wendt and his sons Franz and Adolph
used for their passage to America. She was hooked on genealogy!
Her father's untimely death several months later cloaked her family history in mystery.
She was determined to continue her research and find out where the documents came from. At that time she was perplexed that
the certificates were in German yet the family was Polish. Ceil is now a Certified Genealogist who has documented her ancestry
back to the 1690s. She has done on-site research in Poland and now understands how a Polish family once carried documentation
written in German. Each of her grandparents comes from a different region of Poland. The Wendts from of Mühlbanz, Dirschau,Westpreußen,
Przytulski from Kuczbork, Żuromin, Russian Poland , Wojtkowiak from Rogalinek, Poznań, and Zdziebko from Galicia-
Zarzecze, Dębowiec, Jasło- to be exact.
Arcadia Publishing recently released Ceil’s books Detroit’s Polonia, Detroit's
Mt. Elliott Cemetery, and Detroit's Mt. Olivet Cemetery. She has a forthcoming book, Sto Lat - A Modern Guide to Polish
Genealogy.
Ceil
is a Westsider. Born at Crittenton General Hospital, she joined brothers Frank and Tom, and sister Karen
at 10399 Orangelawn near Wyoming and West Chicago. Sister Margo would arrive in 1957. Her parents, Elisabeth Przytulska and
Frank Wendt wed at Assumption, BVM on Lovett.
Ceil’s grandfather Franz built the Wendt home in the parish at 1506 Scotten
, and Elisabeth’s parents Cecilia Wojtkowiak and Antony Przytulski raised their family on 28thSt near Devereaux
until the Edsel Ford expressway made its way through the neighbor. The families have earlier ties to St. Albertus, St. Casimir,
and St. Francis Assisi.
Her parents’
history is rooted at Assumption, BVM. Frank and Betty received a bi-lingual education at the school. Betty
took the streetcar to St. Josephat’s high school and graduated in 1928. Frank attend Northwestern High School and went
on to study at University of Detroit Law School. Frank was a president of the Westside Merchants League, and the Native Born
Detroiters. When asked about hobbies, he said they were in this order: his family, fishing, and bowling. At the time of his
death in 1964 he was an assistant Corporation Council for the city of Detroit.
Epiphany Parish (1924 - 1989) is Ceil’s home parish. She was surrounded by extended family as
she grew up. Her grandparents and aunts and uncles had homes within a few blocks of the church. Ceil would ride her bike
over to Beechdale were her grandmother would serve coffee- with cream and sugar- to the grandchildren! Cecilia once took Ceil
up to the attic and showed her the high button shoes of baby Bernard who died in 1921. After graduating from Epiphany Ceil
attended Immaculata High School. She received her Bachelor and Master degrees from Michigan State University. http://epiphanyparish.blogspot.com
At the
recent rosary for her uncle Tony Przytulski, Jr. held at Sajewski Funeral Home on Warren Ave., Ceil marveled at the legacy
of her grandparents. Tony Sr. was born out of wedlock and carried his mother’s surname while his siblings were known
by Ewald. Yet, 96 years after his marriage to Cecilia Wojtkowiak the room was full of Przytulski descendants. Tony Jr. and
wife Leocadia (Stachurski) Przytulski have five sons, 14 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. The room was overflowing
with Tony and Cecilia’s grandchildren, great grandchildren and gg grandchildren. Betty Przytulski Wendt was there with
her five children and their spouses. Geraldine Przytulski Cannon was there with her sons Joe and Dan. Virginia (Przytulski)
and Albert DiNatale sons Bert, Dean, and Deano attended. Genevieve (Przytulski) and Bruno Benedetti’s daughter Jackie
was there with her McEachran clan.
Tony was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery alongside his wife Lottie.
Not far away are the graves of other family members. Ceil’s father Frank, her grandparents Tony and
Celia Przytulski, great aunt and uncle Richard and Katherine (Wojtkowiak) Topolewski. Lillian (Ewald) Lesinski,
who lived to be 102, is buried here, too. It was at great aunt Lillie’s funeral that Ceil made a pledge to finish the
research they had started back in the 1970s. That was the moment she knew Polish Genealogy would be her next career.
It was great growing up on Detroit’s Westside where the biggest childhood worry was getting home before the street
lights came on. Ceil now resides in Rochester Hills with her husband Jim and their chocolate lab Chance- and in keeping with
the family tradition- a subdivision or two away from her sister Margo and family.
