Przecław

Przeclaw, in 1556 mentioned as Przeczslaw, a small town in Mielec powiat, on a sandy plain, 204 meters above sea level, on the left bank of the Wisloka,* by the highway from Debica to Mielec. On the other side of the river, the track of the Debica-Baranów railway (a branch of the Karl Ludwig line) passes through the grounds of the village of Tuszyma. The town is made of wood, poorly constructed, and has a brick parish church, a 2-class people's school, a post office, and a gmina loan society with 963 zl. in capital. On the grounds of the major estate stands the manor, transformed from a defensive castle, on a precipice washed by water, as well as a still and two windmills. To the south lies the suburb called Podzamcze, to the north Wenecya, and farther south on the highway to Debica is the village Podole, west of which is Wólka Podolska and the settlement Podzamcze, and west of the town is Wylów. To the north it borders on the village of Kielków. To the east this settlement is shaded by a pine forest, called Przeclawski bór.

There are markets in Przeclaw every Thursday. The settlement has 158 houses and 1,026 inhabitants (490 men, 536 women), 718 Roman Catholic, 9 Greek Catholic, and 299 Jewish. On the grounds of the major estate (property of Count Mieczyslaw Rej) are 6 houses and 135 Roman Catholic inhabitants; it has 834 mórgs of farmland, 76 of meadows and gardens, 82 of pastures, and 1,566 of woods (see Dobrynin). The minor estate has 672 mórgs of farmland, 77 of meadows and gardens, 150 of pastures, and 14 of woods. The soil of the river basin is fertile clay, but farther west it is sandy.

Przeclaw Ligeza is supposed to have founded this settlement in the 13th century and settled it with German colonists. In the tax register of Sandomierz province for 1566 (quoted in Pawinski, Malopolska, 500) we read: "Przeczslaw, the small town of the noble Mikolaj Ligenza, heir to Bobrek and Przeclaw. There are 40 houses in this town, of which several are abandoned; they do not have farmland, only several gardens, on which houses and gardens they pay rent in various ways. The total of this rent comes to 12 grzywnas and 4 groszy. There are no other rents. The baths pay 1½ grzywnas, the mills 2, one is held by the heir, the other is on the Wisloka, the third, near the castle, is of little worth; navigation on the Wisloka brings 1½ grzywnas. The soltys has 2 lans and every 7th grosz from the rents. The castle and grounds of the nobility (praedium) are good, there are three small ponds, meadows, etc. There are 45 peasants who live outside the town, 5 on full lans pay a grzywna apiece, three on ¾ lans pay 3 fertons each, 22 on half lans pay one-half grzywna each, 7 on quarter lans pay 1 ferton each. Others have small bits of farmland on which they pay according to their size. The total of these rents comes to 33½ grzywnas. Two half-lan sections are abandoned. In addition the peasants give 70 measures (cherotos) of oats, 296 eggs, 57 capons, and 53 cheeses."

In 1581 the settlement on the outskirts of town belonged to the castellan of Ropczyce (ibid., p. 248) and at that time it had 33 peasants on 11¼ lans, 5 tenants with cattle, 4 without cattle, and the town itself (ibid., p. 269) paid 8 zl. in a double municipal tax. There were 19 craftsmen in it, 7 settlers (inquilini), 4 distilleries (ollae cremati), as well as 1 vendor, 1 barber, 1 pauper, and 2 lans of town farmland.

The parish church, date of erection unknown, was originally of wood and called "The Assumption of the Blessed Mother" (Dlugosz, Liber beneficiorum, II, 295). Till 1454 there were two pastors (rectores) there, from which a great many disputes arose. Thus on 25 May 1454, after the death of pastor Grzegorz, the Bishop and Cardinal Zbigniew Olegnicki, at the request of Stanislaw Ligeza, Malogoszcz castellan and patron of this church, and Adam, the one pastor, decided that thenceforth there would be one pastor there and three mansioners, who would sing devotions of the Blessed Mother daily. In this document, given in Liber Beneficiorum (II, 297) there is an interesting point regarding the collection of all bequests, gifts, and incomes from burials in a special box in the sacristy under lock and key of the squire and the pastor. The administration of the fund was to remain under the control of the squire. Dlugosz says that the tithe from the town was appraised at 5 grzywnas and every mansioner had his own house to live in. Stanislaw Ligeza was to administer this troubled fund, because from the deposit made by the late pastor Grzegorz "he had usurped and appropriated no small sum."

In the 17th century Przeclaw produced Jan Przeclawczyk (Preklaides), theologian and philosopher of the University of Kraków around 1630. After the Ligezas, the Kropka-Przeclawskis owned Przeclaw, and then the Wielopolskis. Parish registers from 1601 are preserved in the parish office. The parish belongs to Tarnów diocese, Radomysl deanery, and includes: Blonie, Podole, Korzeniów, Tuszyma, Bialybór, Wylów, Kadziolki, Laczki, Meciszów, Bobrowa, and Ruda. - Mac.

Source: Slownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego - Warsaw [1888, vol. 9, pg. 129]

Translated by William F. Hoffman. Used with permission.

This translation first appeared in the Winter 1999 issue of "Bulletin of the Polish Genealogical Society of America".