Toporzysko Information with Translation from Slownik Geograficzny

After finishing the translation for Wysoka, Poland, I moved on to the Slownik Geograficzny entry for the neighboring village of Toporzysko, Poland. My namesake grandfather, Jan Rys, came from the village of Toporzysko, Poland.

As with Wysoka, it is in the same area of the Beskid Mountain range which is part of the Polish Carpathian Mountains. (See preceding Wysoka article.) My grandfather, Jan Rys, was also a member of the highland clan called the “Babiagórcy highlanders”.

Torporzysko is located in Małopolskie province, then in Suski County (powiat), also known as Sucha Beskidzka County and more locally in the Jordanow district (gmina), made up of five villages Letownia, Naprawa, Osielec, Torporzysko and Wysoka.

Toporzysko is located just northwest from Wysoka. (See maps from preceding Wysoka translation) In the year 2000 my wife, Judy, and I visited the village and found my grandfather’s birthplace and we were able to buy the large skeleton key to the original house, at the address of 129 Toporzysko Poland, where he was born in 1857. The old original house is used for farm implement and grain storage and is the house in the photograph. A new farm house was constructed down the hill from the original house.

There is only a small amount of information on the internet about Toporzysko, Poland. A county website provides information about the county (gmina). The only interesting reference I found on the website is that there is a horse riding center in Toporzysko which organizes a series of horse-riding competitions. Mountain tourist biking and hiking trails run through this village. There are references to the ancient “amber trail/road” which ran through this area’s mountain passes. The “Amber Road” ran from the shores of the Baltic Sea, source of amber, to ancient Greece and Rome.

The mechanics for making a “training wheels” translation were explained in the previous training article on Wysoka, Poland. Again, to start the Polish words are entered into a WORD document with enough space underneath them (double space) to write the corresponding English words. In the translation, I added some additional explanatory information in parentheses.

Slownik Geograficzny Entry for

Toporzysko, Poland in the Jordanow District (gmina)

(Polish words are on top and English in bold italics below)

Toporzysko, wś, pow. myślenicki, ciągnie się długą

Toporzysko, a village, in the district of Myslenice, stretching for a distance along a

ulicą rozrzuconych chat nad potokiem (lew. dopl. Skawy),

street with scattered cottages (huts) near the stream (left tributary of the Skawa river),

przy drodze z Jordanowa (5..3 klm.) do Podwilka na

on the road from Jordanow (5.3 kilometers) to Podwilk (a village to the SW) on

granicy węgierskiej./ Druga droga przez te górską wioskę prowadzi

the Hungarian border./ Another road on the other side of the mountain leads the way

do Sydziny. / Par, w Jordanowie./

to Sidzina (southwest of Toporzysko)./ Toporzysko belongs to Jordanow Parish./

Wraz z obszarem dworskim ma wieś 186 dm.

Within the landed estate, the manorial-court has in the village 186 homes

i 1082 mk.; 1075 rz.-kat. a 7 izrael./

and 1082 inhabitants; 1075 are Roman Catholic and 7 inhabitants are Jewish./

Obszar więk. ma karczmę, tartak, cegielnię i fol,;

The landed estate has a tavern (public house), sawmill, brick-kiln and manor farm,;

składa się z 293 mr. roli,

it is composed of 293 morgs (In Galicia 1 morg = 1.422 acres) of fields,

34 łąk, 3 ogr., 14 past., 495 lasu,

34 morgs of meadows, 3 morgs of gardens, 14 morgs in pasturelan, 495 in forest,

7 stawu, 1 mr. 1446 s. parcel budowl.;

7 morgs in ponds, 1 morg 1446 sazen (saien, sqien) of building parcels;

pos. mn. ma 1623 roli, 67 łąk,

The lesser estate has 1623 morgs of fields, 67 morgs of meadow,

331 past. i 125 mr. lasu./

331 morgs of pastureland and 125 morgs in forest./

Gleba górska, owsiana klimat ostry, lasy świerkowe. /

It has a mountainous soil for oats, a rough climate, and woods of red fir trees./

W. r. 1581 należała do par. w Łętowni;

In the year 1581 the village (Toporzysko) belonged to the parish in Letowni;

miala 35 pólłanków km.,

It had 35 peasant half lans, (lan is a fullsized farm)

3 zagr. z rolą, 1 zagr. bez roli,

3 zagroda (small farmstead with courtyard) with fields, 1 zagroda without fields,

8 komor. z bydł., 5 komór. bez bydła,

8 komorik (tenant farmer) with cattle, 5 komorik without cattle,

rzemieślnika, ćwierć łanu pustego,

an artisan, and a quarter of the lans are desserted,

1 łan sołtysi (Pawiński, Małop., 46)./

1 village administrator according to (Pawinski, Malopolskie, p. 46)./

W ostatnich czasach posiadała ją rodzina Wilkoszewskich./

Most recently it (Toprozysko) was owned by the Wilkoszewski family./

Source: Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego, Vol XII, page 402, Warsaw 1892.