Invitation to the IV Szparaga Family Reunion

Dear Sirs,

I have a great honour to invite you to take part in the IV SZPARAGA Family Reunion, which takes place on 22nd June, 2003 in Boniewo and Lubraniec (Włocławek district). The reunion begins with a mass for the intention of our ancestors and the close ones in the church in Boniewo at noon. Right after the mass the prayer is said if front of the cross outside the church where the first cemetery was built. Right there, in 1817, Kazimierz Szparaga, our first ancestor known by name, was buried there. In 1824 the cemetery was moved to its present place. I would like to encourage all of you to visit this place before the mass begins for many of our ancestors’ graves are there (60 of them had the Szparaga name at the moment of their death). The further part of the reunion is held in Lubraniec. Before lunch in the local restaurant, the picture of the whole family is taken in front of the mansion.

Those who want to stay overnight (from Saturday to Sunday and/or Sunday/Monday) may stay at the mansion in Lubraniec, a dormitory at present, paying PLN 20 a night. I hope that there will be a possibility to organise a nice meeting at about 5 o’clock p.m. in the park and that most of us, not only staying there overnight, would like to come.

I would like to encourage you to come with your whole families. The cost of a supper is around PLN 35, so please let me know about your arrival and your plans concerning room booking in advance, so I could help you in that matter.

My intention is to organise that reunion annually the first Sunday after the school breaks up for the summer at the end of June. The schedule of this meeting should stay the same for the following meetings. I am convinced that most of you like that idea so there should not be a great problem for gathering together once a year and spending this short time for the sake of the family and our ancestors. This is my intention to do it.

I would also like to bring forward another down-to-earth problem, the finances. The number of our family is growing every year and sending the information and invitation to you all becomes a serious and costly business for me. Therefore, I invite you to our annual reunion informing that I am bringing to an end sending invitations. Every year though, I will be waiting for your taking part confirmation in order to book places.

There has been a great improvement in the Szparaga family tree reconstruction since last year. Thanks to many people we have managed to create a family tree of all living today in Poland branches of the Szparaga Family. Only few persons were not recorded as there were problems with contacting them. The genealogy consists of 680 members living at present in Poland, among whom 490 members have the Szparaga name. Those of our family that live abroad consist of three lines in the United States and one from Ukraine. According to my knowledge, judging by the amount of emigrants to America in the period of 1900-1920, there should be two hundred members of our lineage bearing the Szparaga or Sparaga names.

The descent known today is created on the basis of male lineage as the bearers of the name. I think it is about time to bring all the members together, also those who feel associated with the family through blood bonds, even those who do not have the Szparaga name. It is necessary to mention that all the bearers of the Szparaga name in the family genealogy and those who belong to our community and do not bear the name should feel welcomed to express the desire to be included voluntary in the lineage (also the one built by Sławek in the Internet). Those who wish to be mentioned are asked to send their family trees together with all the necessary data.

Many of you suggest that there is a need for creating the body of our family. I find it as one of the major aspects of this year reunion. The major question is who should be appointed the family member. As far as I am concerned the right to be a member should go for every person that has the Szparaga blood, their spouses and their children; adopted or foster ones as well. I would suggest appointing the Szparaga Family Assembly. The eldest member of the reunion should be appointed the head of the Family through open voting. The youth is encouraged to establish The Szparaga Family Youth Committee. The authorities should be chosen to work between reunions.

The Body should be entitled to:

- activate actions of the family as a community

- do further research in order to create the whole history of the family

- encourage family members to closer relations with family members in every region of the country or abroad, i.e. meetings, helping and supporting each other.

- aim at uniting members of our Family living abroad with our community

- seek and create possibilities for supporting the education of the youth as a factor improving the welfare of the Family members

- give grounds to holiday youth exchange among families living both in Poland and abroad. The aims of such exchange are integration, learning languages and the language of ancestors learning

What I have written is only a voice in discussion that I would like to begin and ask about your views. I am convinced that together we can come to many interesting conclusions leading to the further development of the Szparaga Family.

The world in which we live is still changing. The interpersonal bonds are becoming unimportant. What is the role of a single person? Is the return to family and tradition a great need of a lost contemporary man? Is it not the truth that the knowledge about our history, ancestors explains the truths about ourselves? We do not want to live by coincidence. Our desire is to know our place and time, to be a part of a bigger community. We wish to be a part of something imperishable.

I would only ask you to carry on the family matters as I may not be able to reach all of our family members. Please pass the news onto other members.

Looking forward to meeting with you,

Jacek Szparaga