Nikolaiken 1893
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Who lived here?

Nikolaiken is the birthplace of Lena's mother, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents!

Joseph Lewandowski and Regina Kwelowna gave birth to Anton Lewandowski on October 11, 1798. This is the earliest record I have found thus far, for our Lewandowski family in Nikolaiken. Anton lived in Nikolaiken his entire life, marrying Eva Barkowna on October 24, 1826. Anton and Eva gave birth to 10 children over 19 years! Their second child, John, would become Lena's grandfather.

John Lewandowski (Lena's maternal grandfather) lived in Nikolaiken his whole life until immigrating to the United States in 1883. He married Anna Pawlikowski in the Catholic Church in Schonwiese on February 12, 1862. They had 4 children: son Franz born on December 3, 1862, daughter Rosalia Lewandowski (Lena's mother) born on  March 18, 1865, daughter Antonie born on May 2, 1868, and daughter Apolonia born in 1872. Birth and baptism records have been found and confirmed for Franz, Rosalia, and Antonie. Apolonia's birth record has not yet been found. The family emigrated to the United States in late 1883. It is unknown if the Lewandowski family was acquainted with either the Zielinski or Lingnowski families, who lived in another nearby village (Ellerbruch), but attended the same Catholic Church in Schonweise.

 
1770           1780           1790           1800           1810           1820           1830           1840           1850           1860           1870           1880           1890  
|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|-------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
|------------|------------|------------|------------|----------Anton Lewandowski---------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|-------------|--------John Lewandowski-----------|------------|------------|
|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|-------------|------------|------------|-------Rosa Lewandowski------------|

... about Nikolaiken

The first documented evidence of a village in what is now known as Mikolajki Pomorskie was in the year 1250. At that time the town was known as Niclausdorf. The town has also been known as Nicoloyen, Nickelsdorf, Mikolayki, and Niklaskirchen. Nikolaiken was the German name. Today the village is known as Mikolajki Pomorskie. It is in the county of Stuhm. Historically it was in the German province of Westpreussen. Today it is in the Polish province of Pomorskie.

In the early 1700's, the village was almost completely abandoned due to a cholera epidemic. At that time, there was a Catholic Church in Nikolaiken, but it was destroyed several times during wars in the area. At the time of our ancestors, the Catholic parish for this village was in Schonweise, 6 km away. All of the children named above were baptized at the Catholic church in Schonweise. Today, once again, there is a Catholic Church in Nikolaiken. It was built in 1896 and consecrated in 1903, several years after our ancestors had left Poland.

In 1868, Nikolaiken consisted of 161 buildings, 101 houses, and 843 inhabitants. Of these inhabitants, 726 were Catholic and 113 were Protestant. The village belonged to Prussia (Germany) from 1772 until the end of World War II in 1945, when it once again became part of Poland. Nikolaiken was on the Gdansk-Warsaw rail line and had a train station in the late 1800's, which would have made it convenient for the family when departing for America!

Nikolaiken Photos

Railroad Station - date unknown	Catholic Church - date unknown	Nikolaiken school - date unknwon

Nikolaiken Today


Mikolajki Pomorskie today. Population in 2010 was 1,415.
(click map to go to larger Google map)