Peckwas, Edward Alan
(May 1, 1942 - Jun. 25, 1993)
GenealogistStudents of Polish genealogy are familiar with William F. Hoffman, author of Polish Surnames: 0rigins and Meanings, who said that Peckwas was the "Americanized form of Przekwas," which means very sour in Polish. He also referred to 794 citizens in Poland who owned the Przekwas name in 1990.
The story of people who change their last name because it is almost impossible for English - speaking people to pronounce is typical of the United States. Przekwas, however, was not hard to pronounce. Spell? Yes. In the days when names were written the letter "e" was often mistaken for "c." Although the name was often misspelled, the first Przekwas got off a steamship at New York in 1886. By 1900 there were 20 Przekwas names in the U.S. census, including four families in Chicago. Exactly how many others changed the spelling of their last name is unknown.
In the case of Edward Peckwas, it was his father, Edward Przekwas, whose last name was spelled Pezekwas, Przekwasz, and Przcswas in Chicago, who changed the family name to Peckwas. Born May 1, 1942, in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, the son of a freight clerk on the B. and O. Railroad attended the Five Holy Martyrs elementary school, staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of Blessed Kunegunda, and Thomas Kelly High School.
When he was a student at Hannibal - LaGrange College at Hannibal, Missouri, he set out to trace his own ancestry in the library of the four - year liberal arts college. He was told by a librarian that there weren't any books on the subject in the English language. He waited until he finished his college education to devote more time to genealogy.
In 1963, after receiving his second college diploma from Northern Illinois University in business management, Peckwas found Herbarz Polski, ten books on family coat of arms by Kasper Niesiecki, S.J., who lived in Poland from 1682 to 1744, and other books published after his death, in the library of the Polish Museum in Chicago. As he found time and help, he translated what he found in Niesiecki's works, one name at a time, and asked Chester Grabowski, who in the prime of life had started a weekly Polish newspaper in the English language at Clifton, New Jersey, whether he would publish a column once a month on Polish heraldry in The Post Eagle, It wasn't often enough for the spunky editor.
For the first time in the history of the Polish journalism, Grabowski set out to prove that Poland had more heroes than any other country on earth and wasn't recognized for them. His readers were delighted. "The Post Eagle takes its hat off to Edward Peckwas," Grabowski wrote in 1971, "especially in view of the fact that certain elements in this country are endeavoring to smear our Polish name." In February of 1970, Peckwas established Heraldry Unlimited in Chicago to sell hand painted family crests on wooden wall plaques, stationary, cuff links, rings, pendants, and other things. Within two months of opening the shop, the editor of The Post Eagle received the shield of the Grabowski clan during a testimonial banquet in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Soon afterwards I ordered three of them with the Pinkowski coat of arms, hand painted in Ireland, and at one time or other they hung on walls in five different states. Research has yet to confirm that the crest fits the one with the knighthoods in the Pienkowski family. For the record, according to Peckwas, 700,000 Polish families are entitled to heraldic crests.
Back at 4485 South Archer Avenue, where he and his wife, Jane, started the business, Edward Peckwas got calls every day from people tracing their Polish roots. Almost daily he visited the library in the Polish Museum in Chicago, where Sabina Logisz worked under two curators, Miecislaus Haiman and Father Donald Bilinski, and one day she popped the question: Why didn't the Polish genealogists form a society?
As a result Peckwas called a meeting in 1973 of people interested in their family histories and organized the Polish Genealogical Society of America, He was the first president and editor of a quarterly magazine until illness forced him to retire in 1992. Hoffman took his place as editor of Rodziny (Families).
Child care was another business he pursued with his wife. They owned and operated three nursery schools and employed as many as 23 persons to staff them. He lobbied for legislation in Washington, D.C., and Springfield, Illinois, for rights of children. The Polish community of Chicago lost an emerging leader when he died on June 25, 1993.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)
Edward Alan Peckwas
Genealogical researcher, author, general contractor
Born May 1, 1942, Chicago (IL), U.S.; son of Edward Przekwas and Yarmilla (Hrebik); married Jane (Bingmann); children: Kimberly, Dawn, Amanda.
Education: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Hannibal - LaGrange College (MO), 1962; Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, 1968.
Career: treasurer, PCIS, 1969-70, president, Heraldry Unlimited, Inc., 1970-74, Early Education Unlimited, Inc., 1974 -, Ed Peckwas Construction Company, 1979 -, Chicago.
Author: Collection of Articles on Polish Heraldry, 1978; Register of Vital Records of R.C. Parishes from Bug River, 1984; A Historical Bibliography of Polish Towns, Villages & Regions, 1990; editor, Polish Genealogical Society Newsletter, 1979 -.
Member of: president, Polish Genealogical Society; board directors member, Polish Museum of America (advisor, 1974-84); Polish Roman Catholic Union of America (local president); board directors member, National Child Care Association; president, The Child Care Association of Illinois.
Honors: Commander Cross - Polonia Restituta, Polish Government in Exile, London (United Kingdom), 1985; listed in: Who's Who in Genealogy & Heraldry, Who's Who in the Midwest.
Language: English.
Hobbies: genealogy, chess, sailing.
Office: Polish Genealogical Society, 984 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation,
New York, NY, 1996.