Immigrant built Konkol's Corners shrine

By ADELINE M. SOPA
Special to The Gazette

The red brick shrine located at the intersection of County Trunk B and County Trunk K in Portage County, a few miles west of Amherst, has long been admired by the motorists who pass by.

Portage County, in the center of the state of Wisconsin with the city of Stevens Point as its county seat, is generally recognized as the location of the oldest Polish rural settlement of the state and among the oldest in the United States.

The first Polish family arrived in the fall of 1857. Historians relate that by 1864, more than 40 Polish families had joined them. Most of these families had their origin in the Kaszuby region of what was then West Prussia, just to the west of Gdansk (German: Danzig).

For many years, three of the four corners of the intersection were home to members of the John and Malwina (Gostomska) Konkol family, hence the name - Konkol's Corners. In recent years, one of the corners is no longer occupied by a family member. However, its identity lingers. The fourth corner is still an open field.

The Konkols had arrived in the port of New York on May 1, 1883, with their children, John (Marianna Jach) and Martha (Felix Jasztrembski). They had lived in the village of Klukowa huta in the Kartuzy district, just to the west of Gdansk. Their parish church was in nearby Stezyca. With them were Malwina's parents, Peter and Julianna (Holk) Gostomski and their daughters, Pauline (August Literski) and Elizabeth (Sister M. Hipolita). The Stezyca parish was the origin of nearly 100 families and individuals who immigrated to Portage County. Included in this number were John's brother Joseph and Julianna (Patoka) Konkol; Malwina's brother, Anton and Marianna (Lasinska) Gostomski, and her sister, Vincent and Frances (Gostomska) Migel.

The couple purchased a farm the next year where their other nine children, Joseph (Augustina Stolz), Alex (Barbara Glodowski), Leo (Agnes Kinowski), Anton (Agatha Trzebiatowski), Elizabeth (John Makowski), Johanna (Joseph Sopa), Peter (Dorothy Trzebiatowski) and Ben (Frances Rinka) were born.

John was a bee keeper and an accomplished carpenter, as well as a farmer. One of his projects were hand-carved wooden shoes which he and his sons wore. Malwina was a licensed mid-wife and delivered many of the babies in the area for many years. When their son, Anton, married in 1912, and he took over operation of the farm, John and Malwina moved across the road into their new retirement home.

The exact construction date of the shrine is not known. However, it is possible that John built the shrine at this time. The red-pressed brick, probably from the W.E. Langenberg brick yard, used in the shrine is identical to that used in the new farmhouse built by his son, Joseph, and completed in 1912. John's Aug. 18, 1943, obituary noted that he had built the shrine about 30 years before. He and his wife could easily view the shrine from the windows of their new home.

Members of Anton's family tell that their father had related that their grandfather had built the shrine in thanksgiving for blessings received - a safe voyage to America and a successful life in his new country.

Malwina died on June 10, 1922, at the age of 67 years. John continued to live in their home until the late 1930s. He died Aug. 17, 1943, at 90 years old. They are buried in the nearby St. Mary of Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery at Fancher. John and Malwina were among the founders of the parish, formed in 1884.

Religious shrines and crosses are very common along Polish roadsides and are usually at a cross road. In 1985, this writer traveled in the Kaszuby region in which the Konkols had lived and discovered an almost identical shrine in the village of Podjazy where John had been born on Feb. 4, 1853. His family had moved to nearby Klukowa huta when he was a young boy.

There are 14 roadside shrines and crosses located throughout central Wisconsin. The older residents relate that there were many more.

Perhaps, they were erected to remind themselves or passersby that their faith was more than a Sunday visit to church, but an integral part of their daily lives. This writer's father always respectfully tipped his hat whenever we passed the shrine and murmured a brief prayer, "Niech bendzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus. Na wiek i wiekow, Amen." ("Praise be to Jesus Christ. For century to centuries.")

The Konkol shrine has a seasonal motif - the Easter and Christmas seasons are recognized with appropriate furnishings. Descendants still own the farm and provided excellent care of the shrine.

Since this was written, the Konkol's Corner's shrine was badly damaged on Oct. 26, 2003, when the driver of a car lost control and struck the shrine. Community concern and support indicate that the shrine will be restored. It is considered by most to be a historical landmark in the area.

Editor's note: Adeline Sopa is a great-granddaughter of John Konkol and now lives in Green Bay.