Aloysius "A.P." Peter Kukowski

Aloysius P. Kukowski was born June 14, 1872, at Winona, Minnesota. He was never known by his first name; he was A. P. to most folks and Ollie to his brothers and sisters. When A. P. was three years old, his family moved to Dodge, Wisconsin. When he was about nine, his father broke his hip when a team of horses ran away withhim. Like many people of the times, A. P.'s father did not seek medical help, and as a result, he was very lame and couldn't do much work the rest of his life. A. P. took over the farming and did what he could, but being so young, it wasn't easy. There was little time for school; A. P. said he only went to school about two hundred days in all. But though he was largely self-educated, he became a very good businessman. During his early years, he worked in the sawmills in Winona besides doing the farming.

When A. P. was 22, he married Frances Pelowski, who was 21, at Pine Creek, Wisconsin, on January 16, 1894. In 1895, they and their first child, Dominic, born December 30, 1894, moved to a farm two miles south of Leo, Minnesota, where A. P. had relatives. There he had a large building built and with $75 started a grocery/general store. According to the Stanislawski papers, this was the first general store in Barto Township. A. P. and Frances had to travel about 50 miles to Stephen, Minnesota, twice a month to get their supply of groceries with horses and a wagon. There were no roads in those days and they'd get stuck and have to unload the groceries to a dry place. It was a real hardship, and according to her daughter, Frances shed many a tear. They lived on this farm for about two years before moving to the Leo community near the Leo church, where they built another building and opened another grocery/general store. In the ensuing years three children were born: Frank on October 8, 1898; Emily (Volesky) April 11, 1904; and Della (Bump) June 30, 1904.

According to the Stanislawski papers, A. P. sold the Leo store to John Stanislawski and moved into Greenbush after the railroad came there. In Greenbush around 1905, A. P. built a fine, large building called the Kukowski Block. Here, he sold clothes, housewares, oils, and machinery. This building also housed a separate tavern called the Stockholm Saloon, which was run by another person. During the night on December 27, 1907, the store caught fire and burned along with several nearby buildings. A. P. 's daughter, Emily Kukowski Volesky, remembered the fire :

"It was 27 below that night, and they had no water to fight the blaze. My mother had Della and me in a feather bed outside, watching the fire. I can remember the fire, I was five years old. I do not remember this, but they said I went back into the burning building and almost burned to death. Uncle John Kukowski got me out of the building and almost lost his life."

The Kukowskis lost everything in the fire. In the spring of 1908, they moved to Beach, North Dakota, where A. P. bought some land. It was wild country with grass three feet high. There they built a bam for the livestock and slept in one end of it until a two-room house was completed. During the early years, they raised registered Belgian horses.

Volesky says:

"My mother cooked outside for over a month on an old black range. My Dad farmed with oxen first and then with horses. The crops were very good from 1908 until 1915, after that it was very dry. It was a real upward struggle."

On November 27, 1913, Frances passed away, and on February 8, 1915, A. P. married Martha Slominski at Minto, North Dakota. To this union two children were born: Leone (Jereszek) on November 6,1918, and Bill on July 25,1922. A. P. farmed around 2000 acres with ten grain binders, some pulled by horses, and some by They would cut up to 160 acres of wheat one day.

On March 20, 1920, in a big blizzard, over six hundred head of sheep were lost. They were piled in snow banks five and six feet high. In the fall of that year, A. P. bought a half-section of land three miles northwest of Georgetown, Minnesota, and the family farmed there for about three years. The crops and prices were very poor, and A. P. let the farm go and returned to Beach. After about two years, they again returned to Georgetown, where they bought another farm, this time concentrating on dairying and livestock feeding. In 1948, A. P. and Martha retired to Fargo, North Dakota. About 1955,at the age of 83, A. P. passed away, leaving his wife, three sons (Dominic, Frank, and William) and three daughters (Emily Volesky, Leone Jereszek, and Della Bump). Son Frank died on December 29, 1958; Dominic on January 31, 1981; Della on September 1, 1983; Bill on March 28, 1986; and Emily on May 4, 1986. Leone, the only surviving child, lives in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Submitted by Eunice Korczak. This is largely based on a family history article entitled Life History of my Dad. Aloysius P Kukowski written by his daughter. Emily Kukowski Volesky. Thank you to Kukowski, who generously shared the information.