Matthew (Mathias) Pecarski

Mathias Piekarski - One of the first Polish Immigrants into the Madawaska Valley. Mathias married Katarzyna Catherine Frekoouski Libera in Poland in 1856. 9 Children are known to this union. Hieronomus/died an infant - Marcianne Mary Margaret - Laurent born in Poland. Joseph - Vincent - Margaret - Pawel - Anthony and John born in Ontario, Canada. Mathias - Catharine and 2 children: Marianne and Laurent immigrated to Canada in 1859. They left their homeland, Wielle, Poland. Immigration began when they left Hamburg, Germany on 15 May 1859 on the Ship: Elbe - arriving in Quebec, Canada in July 1859. Mathias had the opportunity in Canada to own 100 acres - any man over the age of eighteen. 60 families were peasants from occupied Poland - 167 polish people living along the Opeongo in Ontario, Canada. Our Lady of Angels Catholic Chapel - Saint Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church - hardworking - faithful - illiterate and poor. Our ancestors were land hungry peasants - shaped by the places and spaces of the Madawaska Valley. Mathias first cleared his land and built a shanty for his family - logs were cut and stumps removed for crops and livestock. In 1869 Mathias perchased the old Kurszynski place - Lots 223 - 224 RBN. Mathias Piekarski was a true Kashubian immigrant.