Uncovering lost family legacies
August 29th, 2024
Margaret Ostrowski, author of Lost Legacies: Learning from Ancestral Stories for Inspiration and Policy-Making Today (DC Books $21.95) gave a speech presentation at the Paragraphe Book Store, Montreal on June 9, 2024, delving into the author’s personal journey of uncovering and documenting their family’s immigrant history, particularly focusing on their paternal grandmother’s story. It highlights the connections between the author’s family and the prominent Canadian poet Louis Dudek, exploring the hardships faced by Polish immigrants, the historical context of Poland, and the family’s contributions to Canadian society. The author also emphasizes the importance of preserving and recognizing lost legacies, such as the financial support provided by their grandmother for Dudek’s education, which significantly impacted his career.
Read her speech below:
As this occasion celebrates the 50th Anniversary of DC Books (the D standing for Dudek), my book fits into the program well as my father and Louis Dudek were step-brothers and I and my family were very well acquainted with Vincent Dudek, Louis’s father, who married my grandmother, Joanna Pietkiewicz in approximately 1935. Louis Dudek and I were both born of fathers who came from the Russian Partition of Poland, both Western Slavs of Polish heritage.
Some years ago, in a judging capacity on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, I was very moved by the 100’s of immigration stories that I made decisions on. Over time and also suddenly, I realized that I knew next to nothing about where my parents came from – other than it was Poland. Their stories had been lost.
I then set about researching the basic particulars of their families coming to Canada. I chose my paternal grandmother’s story to focus on and I had some help from a short autobiography written by my father in his later years.
I wanted to make this story different – not just name of the ship that brought them over and particulars of their early life here but about the ship and the trip. I found a fascinating report written in 1911 of the conditions in steam ships – steerage class – a US commissioned report in which an investigator disguised herself as an emigrant and rode on twelve different ships in steerage class and wrote a fulsome report which I quoted from extensively in my book. She wrote that she lived “in disorder and in the surroundings that offended every sense. Only the fresh breeze from the sea overcame the sickening odors. The vile language of the men, the screams of the women defending themselves, the crying of children, wretched because of their surroundings, and practically every sound that reached the ear, irritated beyond endurance. Everything was dirty, sticky and disagreeable to the touch. Every impression was offensive….”
- I wanted to find out all about Poland from its inception – the story of my ancestry – the founding, the people, the culture, the politics. Not being a historian, I wandered all over more than a thousand years of historical pieces about Poland and selected what resonated with me. I was astounded with many of my findings: There was no Poland on the map for 123 years – 1795 to about 1919 – Poland had been divided up by the German Empire, the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That’s why Vincent Dudek and my father were from the Russian Partition – under a government that education was only taught in Russian and that everything Polish was outdated and bad; polish literature was regarded as subversive. Vincent Dudek read hidden books in Polish in his attic.
- I wrote about the agricultural folwarks there that my father was born on.
- I describe the magnificence of Old Poland – Poland in the 15 and 1600’s hundreds when the Polish-Lithuanian Empire was the largest in western Europe. the illustrious King Sobieski who was hailed as the savior of the western European civilization and Christianity in Europe (defeating the Ottoman Turks).
- I researched the festivals, traditions, the music – the Polish composers including Chopin, the scientists – including Nicolaus Copernicus, Marie Sklodowska Curie, the Polish mathematicians who cracked the German Engima code at the end of WW II, the artists. Lots to be proud of.
Halifax was not easy for my grandparents and family after landing – I have first hand quotes from my father of the Halifax explosion in 1917 in which Joanna was injured and my father’s teacher was killed by a shattered window in the classroom. The death of 3 children, the leaving grandfather to look for better lands in Argentina and his following death, the settling of my mother and her three children in Timmins – her grocery store – her marriage to Joseph Pluto, one of the Polish founders of the gold that was developed into the Siscoe Gold Mine in Val D’or – and the Supreme Court of Canada decision that the three illiterate Polish foreigners were the true finders of the Siscoe gold and that they had been cheated in surrendering various shareholdings. But Joseph Pluto had died of silicosis before the decision was rendered and had sold his shares for a greatly devalued price. But Joanna had a prospering store and had developed some houses in Timmins. She was an enterprising woman.
Sometime there after she was introduced to Vincent Dudek in Montreal by a mutual friend. She and Vincent were both born in the Russian Partition of Poland. In Louis’s autobiography, he describes his family’s financial situation during his teen years:
Money pressures at home nearly made me drop out of high school before finishing, but advice from a YMCA counsellor sent me back to school and I completed the course— Grade Thirteen, at that time equivalent to first year of college. I then went to work in a warehouse, on St. Helen Street, in the old part of Montreal, an area of brick, dust, and grime, devoted to tight-fisted business operations.
In a poem he wrote ten years later about his view of working life and working men, Louis expressed the view that they should be celebrated more than millionaires. That said, he regarded his work in the warehouse as a “dead end” but had no hope of an alternative. Then came life-changing support from my grandmother Joanna who was newly married to Vincent: “suddenly my father was able to send me to college, I think by persuading his wife, since he had remarried, to help finance my education; and I registered as a sophomore at McGill University.”
Louis started writing for the campus newspaper, The McGill Daily, and saw his articles reprinted in other college papers in Canada. He became very entrenched in college life, and the groundwork was laid for his lengthy career as a celebrated Canadian poet, academic and publisher.
I was able to contact a long-time friend and colleague of Louis, Michael Gnarowski, who referred me to a Tribute Anthology entitled Eternal Conversations: Remembering Louis Dudek. Therein is an article by his wife Aileen Collins who referred to him as a brilliant and provocative teacher. She shared that hundreds of Louis’s students at McGill University had talked and written about their powerful and stimulating experiences in Louis’s classes. She said that like many other children of immigrants from disadvantaged homelands, such as my family, Louis believed strongly that education had a transformative power, and he applied this in his life. About his start in higher education, she wrote the following:
Dudek recalls by sheer luck he was able to leave the menial job in a warehouse where he had worked since completing Grade 13 at the High School of Montreal, and to register at McGill University. “For me, a new life began in the university, a life without parental supervision, a life of freedom and exploration.” In later years, he often contemplated this twist of fate that had made possible his subsequent career in teaching and his accomplishments as a poet, professor, publisher, critic, and man of letters.
That “twist of fate,” surprisingly unacknowledged, was the funding made available through the kind generosity of my grandmother who provided financial support not only for her own children but also for her new stepson.
Reading from my book: Vincent Dudek was very much part of our Ostrowski family and I recall many wonderful meals at their home in Barrie when I was a child, as well dinners at our home. My sister Mary remembered him as a soft-spoken, kind gentleman. During some of our family moves, we would temporarily live at their cabin resort. My brothers Henry, John and Paul each spent summers living there and helping out with the resort business—mowing lawns and working in the small store.
Paul recalls working for at least three summers there when he was in his teens and has very pleasant memories. He told me that Mr. Dudek would order supplies for the store and was very good with the customers and cabin patrons, many of whom were return visitors. Mr. Dudek would often read the newspaper on the porch. Mary remembered that he had an extensive collection of tools and looked after the repairs to the resort cabins. As my step-grandfather, Mr. Dudek was always gentle, kind and welcoming. He and my grandmother were very happy together.
Vincent died suddenly in 1959 from a heart attack; my father was there and drove him to the hospital but he could not be saved. Paul had noticed that for a few days before Vincent passed away, he was complaining of chest pains and holding his hand over his heart. Our family attended Vincent’s funeral, as we recall, in Barrie, Ontario and I remember meeting some of the young cousins.
Joanna’s generosity in financing the university education of Louis Dudek deserves recognition and gratitude – a recognition that had been lost. She was a woman of dignity and her accomplishments reflected intelligence, resourcefulness, kindness and an ability to fit into a new culture where she not only survived but also thrived. She has served as a role model for me and her other grandchildren.
This was only one of the lost legacies that I refer to in my book and what I have spoken of here is only a fraction of what the book covers. I hope you find my book an interesting read that has meaning for you.
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For her book, Lost Legacies, Margaret Ostrowski won a Gold Award from The Non-Fiction Authors Association in 2025. Here is the reviewer feedback:
- Lost Legacies: Learning from Ancestral Stories for Inspiration and Policy-Making Today by Margaret V. Ostrowski does an outstanding job telling the story of her family’s Polish Catholic struggles and successes and weaving in the stories of other immigrant groups in Canada primarily. These stories are applicable to the fuller migration story worldwide, which is complex and makes for compelling reading. Kudos to Margaret V. Ostrowski for this work. Well done.
- This book is best approached with open curiosity. The author conveys a vibrant fascination with not just the history but the culture, knowledge, and social connections of her ancestors. She has done extensive research, weaving her findings into richly detailed stories of The Old World which provide insight into her family’s immigration experience.
- Let me start out by saying we are all dependents of immigrants. Be that as it may, this country of ours is a virtual pot of couture, tradition, beliefs, and heritage. Each country had come to our shores seeking freedom, a new way of life, and a place to grow and pass down to their generations. The author has given us a bit of insight into the various cultures that encompass this land of ours and the idea that hopefully that dream will one day become real for all. A book that gives a person a better understanding of those who share our land and should be on everyone’s Christmas list.
- However, the book is relevant beyond one family’s history. The author expands her lens to examine how Canadian immigration policies have affected its development. The last 20% of the book directly addresses the challenges facing current immigration policy, positing that the stories she has presented may hold the key for building a thriving, multi-cultural society in the years to come.
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