Bialykamien

A small town in Zloczow County, on the left bank of the river Bug, about 1.5 miles to the north west of Zloczow and about one mile to the South of Oleska. The major part consists of 140 Austrian morgs, 57 morgs meadows and gardens, 29 morgs of pastures, 1228 morgs of forests. The smaller settlement consists of 178 Austrian morgs of arable land, 100 morgs of meadows and gardens, 81 morgs of pasture and 1 morg of forest. The small town lies at the point where three soil types converge. Dominated in the South by the fertile valleys of Zloczow. With the heavy clay soils to very deep humus which is difficult to cultivate. From the West and North is the beginning of sandy soils stretching through Buskow, Kamionce Strumilow, Mostom and Cieszanowo proceeding to the Lublin province and in the North to Brodom. Also to the east, the city stands at the foot of the mountains, which act as a watershed for the rivers flowing into the Black and Baltic Seas. For this reason the soil here is very varied this tends to be more stony and sandy rather than fertile. The population is made up of 420 Catholics, 1090 Greek Orthodox and 1634 Israelites, totaling 3144. Both parishes are in the town. There is a 3-class school for boys, a lending office with capitol of 2552 zlotys. The Roman Catholic parish encompasses the following villages: Belzec, Czeremosznia, Poczapy, Skwarzawa, Usznia and Zulice. The parish has 2190 Catholics and 1950 Israelites. Jerzy Wiszniowiecki, the Kiev castellan, and his wife Teodora nee Szpan Czaplic founded the parish in 1613. It was extended by Jeremy Wiszniowiecki and his wife Gryzelda Konstancya nee Zamojska in 1640 and belongs to the Zloczow deanery. The village of Czeremosznia with its 260 dwellers belongs to the Greek Orthodox parish and the whole parish has 1350 members.

On the nearby hill there are the remains of an ancient building of unknown origin and era. Beneath lie a beautiful garden and the ruins of the former fortified castle in which the wife of Prince Radziwill, Mrs. Kochanku, Lord of Nieswiezu and Olyce and Wilno voivoda, lived. The couple did not live together. The Princess lived in Bialykamien and died there. Not so long ago there were still people living here who remembered her. King Michal Wiszniowiecki was born in Bialykamien. In days gone by there was a sugar factory here but it has now been converted into a distillery. The owners of the largest domain are Bogusz Felix and Schneider’s heirs.

Source: Slownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego - Warsaw [1880, vol. 1, pp.198-99]