I am a collector of family history - pictures, stories, facts - whatever I can get my hands on. I share that at It's All About Family. I started Thoughts From the Passenger Seat because I have a lot on my mind! It started riding on the back of my husband's motorcycle and on business appointments but I don't do much of either anymore but the thoughts are still there.
I enjoy writing and I hope you find something that you connect with on either of my blogs.
Thoughtsfromthepassengerseat.blog - Thoughts From the Passenger Seat
NancyB422.com - It’s All About Family
I am working on the next sibling, Charles, in the Posluszny family stories but it’s going really slow! A lot of facts, no stories, and a few grandchildren with not much information of their own. I got spoiled working on my previous stories, digging up still living family, and I’m hoping to have one for Charles by the time I’m done.
His wife Maria’s maiden name is Straub, same as Charles’ mother and I’m working to find out if she is connected through Caroline’s line or through the Straub line that Joseph’s wife Anna comes from.
In case you’ve forgotten who Charles is, he’s the one with the crazy hair.
Frank Posluszny was one of my grand-uncles and the 8th born child of my great-grandparents, Caroline Straub and Joseph Posluszny. He was the fifth to survive to adulthood.
He was born on September 1, 1889, in Wildenthal. I like finding the birth records for confirmation.
Franciscus Posłuszny’sbirth record
He immigrated to the United States in 1905, according to the 1910 census. There is a Hamburg Passenger list dated 1907 for a Frank Posluszny who matches age and departure village; however, without locating a ship manifest from Ellis Island, I can’t confirm which date is fact.
He followed his brother John to New Jersey where he met and married Josephine Huth on August 1, 1909, in Newark, New Jersey. Josephine was born was born on December 24, 1892 according to her citizenship paperwork. He was 20 and she was 17 when they got married. In the photo below, Frank’s brother Charles is standing left, stepdad John Bonk 3rd from left, Caroline, his mother, seated left, and Mary, his sister, seated right.
Frank and Josephine Posluszny’s wedding party
In 1910, Frank and Josephine were living in Newark on Belmont Avenue, and in the next three years welcome Josephine, Frank, and Stephania. According to the census, Frank was working as a hatmaker in a hat factory. There are several others on his street working there, and they could have been at the Thimble Hat Company in Orange, or the Hudson Hat Company in Newark. There were 5 hat forming mills and over 20 hat manufacturers in the Newark area in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Frank and Josephine remain in the Newark / Irvington area, a few blocks away from his brother John and family up until 1927.
Searching through city directories for 1927 and 1929, I found Josephine listed in Newark, but no mention of Frank. I found a record of employment for her as a Hatter/Finisher for Snyder & Co at 133 W. 21st Street in New York in 1928 which I would like would be quite a trek every day in 1927.
In the 1930 census, Josephine is in Newark on 19th street with Josephine, 18, Frank Jr., 17, and Stephania, 16. Everyone can read and write, but none of the children have been in school since September 1, 1929, and all three of them have jobs. Where’s Frank? I found Frank as a resident at Cedar Grove. Also known as Essex County Hospital for the Insane. He must have been admitted between 1927 and 1929. As I’ve written, there were mental health issues in the Posluszny Family.
In the 1940 census, Josephine had moved again. She is living with her son, Frank, and with Stephania, now known as Mildred, her husband, and their daughter, Mildred. Josephine is listed as “widowed”. But I know that is not true. Frank is still on the census records of Cedar Grove.
Let’s talk about the children now –
Josephine, born in 1911, was the oldest child of Frank and Josephine. She was known as “Tootsie” because she liked to eat tootsie rolls! It found it surprising that we had two “Tootsie”s in the family!
She married George Rittersbacher in 1939. They did not have any children. George, unfortunately, died on the dance floor at his niece Mildred’s wedding reception in 1962. Josephine lived in Irvington, New Jersey, until her passing in 1987.
Frank Jr., was born in 1912, and enlisted as a private in the Army in 1942. I don’t know what he did or where he served. He moved out to California at some time in his life and was living in Laguna Woods when he died in 2010. It doesn’t appear he ever married or had children, and I can’t find any obituary or records.
Frank Poslushny (Post) 1942Riverside National Cemetery
Stephania, born in 1913, was married in 1936 in Pennsylvania to Hugh Christian McNicol. He was 29 and a chauffeur. Stephania was 23 and a hosiery worker. She signed the marriage license, Steffie Elsie Poslushny. She seemed to be trying out new names! In 1938, they were living in Newark on 19th Street and she is now “Mildred S”.
In addition to their daughter, Mildred, Mildred (Stephania) and Hugh had a son, Bobby, born in 1942.
Frank and Josephine’s daughter and grandchildren abt. 1942
Hugh was a truck driver for a brewery in Orange until he and Mildred moved down to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1982. He died in 1997 at the age of 89. Mildred (Stephania) died in 2009 at the age of 95. Their daughter Mildred, who also lived in Florida, married and had 2 daughters. Mildred passed away in Florida at the age of 70 in 2006. From Mildred’s obituary, I did some sleuthing and sent an email to a woman I thought might be her daughter. Turns out I was right! Debbie, Frank and Josephine’s great-granddaughter, responded to my email, and we exchanged some information, and she confirmed that Josephine and Frank were her great-grandparents by the pictures I sent. She in turn shared information and pictures with me.
My new cousin, Debbie, who was born in 1963, knew both Josephine, whom they called Grossy because they couldn’t pronounce Grandmother in German, and Frank, who was called PopPop. What this means is after all those years, he was released from the institution!
Eventually Josephine and Frank owned this home at 225 Sunset Avenue in Newark. I recognized the address from Judy Behme’s wedding invitation list. It was a home with four apartments – upstairs and downstairs on the left and right. First, in the 1950 census, Josephine lived there with Frank Jr, in one apartment, Mildred and Hugh lived in another with their two children and the other two apartments were rented out. Josephine is now listed as “separated”.
225 Sunset Avenue Newark 1925
Frank came home from the institution sometime after 1950 and here they are with their granddaughter Mildred McNicol at her 1962 wedding.
Josephine, Frank, and Mildred Poslushny
I asked Debbie about his being institutionalized. She knew that he had been, and unfortunately, he was committed again when Debbie was older. “Things went south when he taught me to roll his cigarettes for him” when she was 13 years old in 1976. She remembered him as “kind but quiet”.
Josephine died in 1990 at the age of 98 in Florida. When I asked Debbie about this she told me that “Grossy” moved down to Florida after her daughter Josephine Rittersbacher passed away in 1987. Grossy lived with Debbie and her family and “then they sent her down to Stephanie and Hugh McNicol to continue the care”. After that, she was admitted to a nursing home where she passed away.
But what became of Frank? I’m not sure. Debbie remembers “someone on this side” buried in Potter’s field and it might be Frank. She doesn’t remember any ceremony or funeral or even a funeral card. I have found a listing in New Jersey death records for a Frank Post’s death in July of 1979 at the age of 89 which would match my Frank. I hope I will be able to get a definitive answer soon.
I’m happy to have untangled the life of another one of Caroline’s children and like John’s, had a few surprises and produced more family!
She died in the early morning hours of April 2, 1927. Alone in her hospital room while her husband and five children slept in their nearby apartment.
She knew something was wrong the previous afternoon. She sent her 12 year old son for the midwife and then went to the hospital.
“She’ll be fine” is what they told her husband when he left the hospital that evening, only to be alerted by the grocer with the neighborhood telephone.
Her obituary said, “She was very well and favorably known to a large circle of friends among the Polish residents of the town”. Small comfort for her family.
She was buried in St. Thomas Cemetery in Southington on April 4th. Her husband carved a wooden cross for her grave and mourned her death until his in 1935.
Years later, her son, Edward, who, at her request, stayed home from school that day, had a headstone made for his mother.
St. Thomas Cemetery, Southington CT, Section 12
Her husband was never the same. Two of the younger children went to an uncle in Massachusetts and the youngest, to his godmother in town. When he and his older sons found a permanent place to live in Wallingford, he brought everyone back together. But how many months had gone by suddenly without a mother and then a father?
I try to imagine what their lives, and ours, would have been like if she lived long enough to watch her children grow up and to know her grandchildren. Would we call her Babcia? Would she teach us to speak Polish? Would we tease her about being so short and would my boy cousins rest their arms on the top of her head trying to be funny. Who would be her favorite child? Who would be her favorite grandchild?
Reflections on the anniversary of my father’s passing
Friday, March 28th, marked the 15th anniversary of my dad’s death in 2010. In February of that year, after a month of turmoil for us all, he was finally settled into the nursing home after leaving his assisted living with a short stay in the hospital. He’d begun attending the events and, as always, enjoyed the music. My sister Gail said she’d had a nice visit with him, taking him for a walk around the grounds and spending time sitting and talking outside.
It was a Sunday, when I received the call from the nursing home to tell me he had passed away. He was sitting in bed eating breakfast when someone walked by, and when they walked by again, he was slumped over. Just like that. Gail and I contacted the funeral home then headed there and sat with him for a while. It was Palm Sunday and the home left a frond in his room that I took and have in a box with my parents personal belongings.
After my mother died, my father carried on. He was 63 and still working in the facilities department at Gaylord Hospital in town. He really loved that job! He was such a people person, he was an awesome painter and wall-paperer, my sister Gail worked there, and the Farms Country Club was next door so he’d look for golf balls during lunch or hit some balls.
He loved “his girls”, his grandkids, golfing, and riding his bike. During my 8 years in California, he visited both with my sisters and by himself and I never had to entertain him. He’d take off for the day on my bike or head to the golf course in town.
I won’t go through the litany of health ailments starting with his 1996 knee replacement, but they were enough to slow him down and significant enough that he was not able to live on his own after 2000. After that, it felt like from late January until April, he, and we, were dealing with one health issue or another.
paternal grandfather Charles JakielaAntonia Jakiela with John
What do I think about? I think that he didn’t want to leave his girls alone. I think that he wanted to be with us, to be our dad for as long as he could even if that meant fighting through whatever pain he had. I may sound crazy, but I think after 22 years and 51 weeks my mother said, “Honey, they’re going to be fine, come home” and with that, he went home.
Tuesday, with the assistance of Beloved Companions, we ushered our dog, Wally, over the Rainbow Bridge. His health was failing over the last two months and Mark and I decided (finally) that it was time to let him go.
Let me tell you the story of Wally…
It was May 2012, and our 14 year old cat, Chuckie Finster Benson passed away. I’m not even a fan of dogs, but I started looking at adoption and shelter sites, and commenting or sharing their pictures. People started asking me when I was going to get a dog. There was no turning back!
One afternoon, July 27th to be exact, I took a trip to the Meriden Humane Society and said, “I want to look at small dogs”. A worker brought me outside to the dogs in their cages. I took pictures of 5 or 6 dogs all eager and excited to see me and show off how fetching they were. Except for one. A black and brown and white chihuahua / terrier mix. He just would not look me in the eye!
Wally at the animal shelterWally showing his other side
I went home and showed Mark, Cody, and Emily the pictures. Guess which dog they wanted to visit? Wally!
We picked a day for everyone to visit. They brought Wally out on a leash and we all hovered over him, petting and admiring him.
Wally giving the best performance of his lifePick me! Pick me!
The deal was done! We had ourselves a dog. The shelter didn’t know his actual age but put it at 2 or 3 years old. His back story was – he was “found” by a woman in Wallingford who brought him to the Meriden shelter claiming that the Wallingford one was closed. So they named him Wally. It’s not a nickname for my town that I will EVER use, but it worked him.
We brought Wally home a few days later. It’s not quite the level of bringing home a baby, but still pretty scary!
He immediately latched onto Mark as his favorite person. He had a lot of love for my daughter in law Emily, and my niece Jessie. He merely tolerated me because he would probably sense I was not totally comfortable around dogs (childhood trauma from neighborhood German Shepard) but we managed to co-exist.
He didn’t tolerate affection. Scratch his head a few times, but watch for the lip curl, followed by the growl! Always watch his face! He was happy to curl up next to you in a chair, but don’t try to move! He’s be growling if you tried to shift position. The running joke over the years when people came to visit was “don’t pet the dog!” Or, “just ignore him”. You just didn’t know his expiration period for petting.
It was a great situation for us because our business’s office was the room over our garage. Wally would come to work with us and hang out in his bed, eating treats in abundance and having his play yard nearby. Of course, there was always time for play inside too!
Wally at Work
A friend who owns an animal rescue farm in Bethany can communicate with animals and as a fund raiser will meet with owners and their pets. Of course, we brought Wally to visit her! We learned his original owner was short like me and was very cruel. She thought he would be a “pocketbook pet” that she could carry around – but she got that wrong! Wally “told” Kathleen that he felt like part of the family at Christmas. He showed her people’s legs and food, and wrapping paper. It only made us love him more. But, alas, he told her I tried too hard! I just wanted him to love me!
We were blessed that our brother in law owns a dog kennel and in the early years he would go there when we traveled. He got such great care there! But as he got older, we had a dog sitter come and stay with him. I did enjoy having someone stay in my home while we were away.
Wally at the Holiday Pet Lodge
Wally had the run of our back yard. Although it’s not fenced in, he never made a run for it. Only once when he was young and chasing a squirrel. But after that, he never even went in the front yard. Most of the neighbors had fences so we benefited from them. His “friend” Enzo, lived on the other side of one of the fences. And they would run back and forth barking like crazy and then Wally would suddenly stop and walk away like he couldn’t be bothered. He was so funny to watch.
Wally in his back yard adventures
Wally stopped going up the stairs to our bedroom a year or so ago after he tumbled down them. They are steep and they probably looked like Mt. Everest to him! He was content to sleep in one of his two beds. He managed the few stairs from the yard to the back door but 6 months ago, we built a ramp for him to get up and down. He gave up his walks through the backyard and did his business on the gravel.
In his last few months, he slept more throughout the day but continued to eat heartily, poop and pee, and stand directly behind us when we were in the kitchen. He still had his 2 beds (one in the front living room, one in the family room), and he’d be in one at night and the other when we came downstairs in the morning.
Wally in his last few months
It became obvious a few weeks ago that he was not doing well, but how do you make that decision?! Why, oh why couldn’t he do it for us? We called Beloved Companions in New Britain CT and they arranged for a mobile veterinarian to come to our home to guide Wally over the Rainbow Bridge.
On Tuesday, March 5th, Dr. Melissa with Co-Pilot Veterinary Care arrived and we knew we couldn’t be in better hands than hers. She was kind and respectful, and explained the process to us. For those who know Wally, my husband put a blanket over Wally to pick him up so she could administer the sedative. When he was groggy, we put him in his (3rd) bed in the sun at the sliding door where he would stand when he heard our cars pull in the driveway. I sat by his head and petted him throughout the process. After his final shot, it was five minutes or so before he passed.
Melissa took him back with her to Beloved Companions for his cremation and we picked him up the next day.
Wally’s cremains and footprint
Wally was never an active dog in his time here. He’d run around outside but he didn’t play with toys and even my husband could only play with him so long before he’d give the lip curl and give a “grrrr”, like he’s saying “ok done!”. But he’s gone. I have more time in the morning since I’m no longer, replacing pee pads and making breakfast, but it’s because he’s gone.
There is something that kept my spirit up in the last two months…. Remember my friend who communicated with him shortly after we got him? I have a cousin of a cousin who is also intuitive who lives in a house at the rescue farm and she has taught him how to communicate as well.
In January, I was attending a psychic/wellness event at my cousin’s studio and Craig was there. As we talked, he asked me out of nowhere, if I still had my dog. He had never met Wally and has never been to my home. During our conversation, he told me Wally knew he could be an ass, and he knew he was loved. Wally said he was going to come back and he would be MY dog, loving me the way he loved Mark all these years. He said his original owner would hit him (in the face), and she got rid of him because he wasn’t the “pocketbook pet” she got him for. Craig said he had some time before he departed (but I knew it would be sooner). I carried those words with me through the final month and they gave me peace.
After Wally passed, I contacted Craig to thank him for his words when we met. His response was: “glad to help. He says he’s okay. Wagging his tail. He understands the decision you made. Was fine with it, he was ready”. “He keeps talking about getting butt scratches.” In our first conversation, Wally told him the type of dog he would be when he came back but Craig didn’t want to tell me. He said it will happen and I will just know this is my dog. When I know, you’ll know!
Graphite Portrait by Bill Fellah of Fellah Fine Art
I always return to this picture because it is the only picture of Caroline and all her children. Her LIVING children.
As I’ve searched the parish records for birth records, I’ve encountered additional children of Caroline and Joseph. Upon examination of the 1910 Federal Census, she lists 14 children born with eight living! Here they are:
*Phillip – born on March 1, 1879. Died on May 1, 1883 of smallpox
John – born on March 5, 1880. Died on February 1, 1942
*Francis – born March/April 1881. Died August 23, 1881, of Dysentery
*Maria – born on March 18, 1883. Died on May 15, 1883 of smallpox
Joseph – born on August 9, 1884. Died on November 9, 1974
Konrad – born on May 3, 1886. Died on December 28, 1944
Charles – born on September 18, 1887. Died on April 30, 1952
Francis – born on September 1, 1889. Date of death unknown
*Stanislaus – born on August 14, 1891. Died on August 14, 1891, at birth
Mary – born on January 21, 1893. Died on Mary 1, 1995
Elizabeth – born on September 24, 1896. Date of death unknown
*Baby Girl Bonk – born June 28, 1899. Died on June 28, 1899, at birth
Walter Bonk – born on August 29, 1903. Died on August 3, 1998
I’m missing the 14th birth, but I’m still reviewing the records. Caroline and Joseph were married in 1876 so I checked 9 months from their wedding to 9 months before Phillip was born with no success. Next up will be the gaps between the other births!
Joseph Posluszny, born August 9, 1884, was my grand-uncle. He was the fourth child of Joseph and Caroline (Straub) Posluszny. Like his brother John, he was born in Lipnica, part of the district of Dzikowiec in southeast Poland. I’ve found a discrepancy in his date of birth in his WWI enlistment record but his birth record from the Lipnica archives shows he was born in 1884.
Joseph’s birth record – August 9 birth, 10th baptism, house number 248
Birth records list their father’s occupation as Colonista, which indicates they were German settlers who migrated to the region in the 18th century as part of a colonization effort by the Austrian Empire. With that migration came land, and family stories say they had a farm.
At 17, he departed for the United States on November 24, 1901, and arrived in New York Harbor on December 1st. His ship, Pennsylvania, departed from Hamburg, Germany, with stops at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, and Plymouth, England, before arriving at its final destination of New York harbor. He was in Zwischendeck, better known as Steerage. Two weeks door to door, I wonder what he was thinking as he traveled. There is no person on his manifest page coming from Wildenthal so it appears he traveled alone.
He was heading to his brother, John Posluszny, who immigrated in 1900. The address for John on the manifest says 57 Jefferson Street in Yonkers. Although there isn’t a census listing for John in 1900, which I mentioned in my story about him, I found their uncle, Michael Straub, his wife Elizabeth, son Michael, and son John at that address.
Ship’s manifest from Joseph’s arrival Line 23
Joseph settled in as a hatter, just like his siblings, and continued to live on Jefferson Street at number 41 in the 1905 census.
His future wife, Anna Straub, was born in Wildenthal (now Dzikowicz) on December 25, 1887, to Joannes Straub and his wife Elizabetha. Elizabetha’s maiden name, and married name, were Straub, so there may be a familial connection to Joseph’s mother.
Anna’s birth record – December 25 birth, 26th baptism, house number 19
Anna departed Hamburg Germany on the Blücher and arrived in the United States on December 17, 1902. She headed to the home of her sister, Eva Straub, in Brooklyn, NY, with $12 in her pocket.
Ship’s manifest from Anna’s arrival Line 25
There’s no New York census record for Anna in 1905. But, they met, and Joseph and Anna were married on February 11, 1906, in St. Stanislaus Koskta Roman Catholic Church, Greenpoint (Brooklyn), NY. The church was only 2 years old when they were married.
St. Stanislaus, BrooklynSt. Stanislaus, present dayAnna and Joseph 1906Wedding party – brother, Charles is floor left, and John floor right. Brother, Konrad (other records say brother, Frank) standing second left. Back right, Ann’s brother, Adam Straub and wife, Margaret. Seated right, Anna’s brother, Lawrence Straub, wife Josie, top left. Unsure if Julianna is woman 3rd from left.
Joseph and Anna’s first child, a daughter Margaret, was born on December 1, 1906, in Yonkers, New York. Margaret is the baby in the front row of the Posluzny Family photo, held by Anna, and Joseph is standing at her right side.
Joseph and Anna moved to Newark, where he worked as a finisher in a hat shop. According to the 1910 Federal Census for New Jersey, Eva, her husband Walter Ingram, and Anna and Eva’s sister Lizzie, 18, lived with them.
The 1920 Federal Census finds them living in Norwalk, Connecticut, in a home they own. Joseph is working as a hatter in a factory. I talked about their hatter profession last year. Joseph worked for the Hat Corporation of America in Norwalk until he retired.
1930 is the first time Joseph is listed as Joseph POST, not POSLUSZNY or POSLUSHNY. Joseph and his brother Charles, who also ended up in Norwalk, were the only two who used Post exclusively as their last name. Aunt Judy said that she wished her father, Konrad, had done the same because she got tired of it being mispronounced. I always used it in response to someone talking about my maiden name Jakiela. I’d say, “You think that’s bad? My mother’s maiden name was Posluszny!”
They had 3 more children: Charles in 1910, Ann in 1915, Joseph in 1917, and Elizabeth in 1922.
Joseph, Margaret (back) Charles, Joseph, Anna and Ann (seated) abt. 1919Joe Post abt 1940Joe, Betty, Margaret, Ann and Charlie (back) abt. 1945
I didn’t know Joseph and Anna and their family. The ages of their children fell in line with my mother’s family and my mother and their youngest daughter, also named Elizabeth, were both born in 1922.
Interestingly, Joseph, Jr., was born in Wallingford in 1917 and in my early searches I found Joseph his father in the 1915 town directory as a farmer in Yalesville. I never knew if it was really him, and that was the only year. I don’t know why there was the break in location or occupation. Sometime between the 1910 census and 1920 census, his mother and step father came to Wallingford, possibly at the same time from New Jersey.
The next generation, Joe and Anna’s grandchildren, were people I have met in the past. Ann married Walter (Wally) Regan and they had eight children. Margaret married Paul Wupperfeld and they had four children. Charles and his wife Mayre, were childless, Joseph Jr, and his wife, Dorothy had 2 children, and Elizabeth and her husband, Courtland (Court), had four children. The Regans and the Wupperfelds attended the Fourth of July picnics at Pickerel Lake, hosted by two aunts and uncles. Joseph and Anna possibly were there as well. In my head, I hear Aunt Judy calling them “the Fairfield Posts”, and “Uncle Joe”. We also attended a party at Crystal Lake in Ellington hosted by one of the Wupperfeld children when I was about 10 or 11. I have a connection with one of Joe and Anna’s great-grandchildren, Jennie, through Ancestry and her family tree contains at least 25 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. Like my relative through John Posluszny, I appreciate that connection to the past.
Joseph died at 90 years old on November 9, 1974, in Norwalk. Eleven months later, Anna died on October 20, 1975, at 87 years old.
When my father was cleaning out the paint store he worked at, and eventually owned, he discovered a cross stitch sampler among the remnants in the attic.
Cross stitch sampler from 1817Cross Stitch Sampler information transcribed
He had it stored between pieces of cardboard, and he must have left it with me after he moved from our home somewhere around 1998. We must have talked about it before then, but Ancestry was new to me and the information wasn’t as abundant as it is now, so I wasn’t able to find much information. Or else, I didn’t really try that hard!
In 2017, I made inquiries to 2 antique stores I found online who worked with samplers. After sending pictures, one wanted me to send it to them to appraise and both were not thrilled with the condition of it and said it would sell better if it was mounted and framed which could cost in the area of $1,500. Since my father was a picture framer, I was not shocked by that cost. So, I dropped the idea and continued to hang on to it.
Present day 2025, I was organizing my ancestry notebooks and pictures and came across the sampler again beneath old photo albums.
I recalled a conversation, maybe on an Ancestry forum, when I was told “Chatham” was not the one in Massachusetts as we originally thought, but it was an early town in Middlesex County, Connecticut and now part of present day Portland Connecticut.
So I contacted the Portland Historical Society and offered them the sampler and they happily agreed to accept it! They are open the 2nd Sunday of every month and today is that day. If they are open after this “big storm”, I’ll bring it there today.
Let me tell you about Fanny Hall the 12 year old cross stitcher.
Fanny was born in Chatham, Connecticut on April 27, 1802 to Samuel Hall and Ruth Bates Hall. A record says “Middletown Upper Houses:577”. Fanny was one of 10 children born to Samuel and Ruth.
From Middletown Upper Houses by Charles Collard Adams, M.A., published 1908
Fanny married James Wells White of Chatham on January 20, 1825. Of note, her sister Hannah, born October 29, 1803 married Wanton Ransom of Hartford on that same day.
Hall Family marriages in the Chatham Vital Records
Fanny and James’ married life was short lived. Fanny died on November 8, 1825 in Portland Connecticut at the age of 20. I ran across an article in the National Library of Medicine about an article written by Dr. Thomas Miner concerning an epidemic in 1823 in Middletown of “Typhus Syncopalis”, Sinking Typhus, or New England Spotted Fever. Perhaps that is how she died?
The abstract: “In 1825 Dr. Thomas Miner wrote about an epidemic that occurred in Middletown, Connecticut in 1823. He called this disease “Typhus syncopalis,” sinking typhus, or New England spotted fever. Differences in the understanding of disease processes in the early 19th century preclude a definitive modern equivalent fortyphus syncopalis. In addition, there are disagreements among Dr. Miners’ contemporaries with regard to fever classification systems. Examination of the symptoms and physical findings as described by Dr. Miner suggest the presence of encephalitis or meningitis as well as a syndrome resembling a shock-like state. Based on symptom comparisons, this paper suggests that typhus syncopalis was likely meningococcemia caused by Neisseria meningiditis”.
James went on to marry Margaret B. Lewis on December 24, 1827 and they had four children. Their first child was a daughter, born in 1829, whom they named Fanny Hall White.
Back to the original Fanny Hall! Both Fanny’s father, Samuel, and her mother, Ruth Bates were from families of early settlers in New England. Very briefly, I had traced Ruth Bates Hall’s family back to an early 1600s voyage to “The New World”.
Samuel’s earliest recorded ancestor and Fanny’s 5x great grandfather, John Hall, was one of the earliest settlers in Middletown. He was born on June 5, 1584 (my father’s birthday!), in Canterbury England. He died on May 26, 1673 and is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Middletown Connecticut.
Samuel was born in November of 1777 to Joel and Hannah Ranney Hall in Chatham, Connecticut and lived there throughout his life until his death in October of 1849. He and family members are buried in Trinity Cemetery in Portland with other family members.
Hall Family StoneHall Family Stone
This was an interesting search for Fanny Hall and her ancestors. I look forward to handing off her 208 year old sampler to the Portland Historical Society where it belongs.
If you’re interested, here is a link to the history of Portland Connecticut. Like my hometown of Wallingford, it broke off into the different towns we know of today.
January 31st. 38 years ago, on January 31st, 1987, my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. Glioblastoma Multiform. It was not a question of IF she would die, but WHEN. It was so invasive throughout her brain, there was nothing they could do for her.
I’ve written about our journey with her illness here and here. Boy, did it suck. Her decline was so rapid, it was like she let out a sigh of relief from getting found out. I felt so fecking helpless. Maybe that’s why I always cajole my family members with a “you’re fine, you’re fine!” Like I can will their pain or illness out of them because I couldn’t do it for her.
So many years later, I see myself standing at the copier at work hearing my name as I’m paged for a phone call. I hear Gail saying, “I’ll always think of this when I pay my taxes”. I see me sitting with my sisters in the hospital cafeteria discussing what she’ll wear for her funeral. Weeks later, trying to force her to eat because the visiting nurse said when she stops, the end will only be a few weeks (it was). I went out that afternoon for the St. Patricks Day parade in New Haven and tied.one.on. We knew it wouldn’t be long.
She died 8 weeks after her diagnosis. Every year between January 31st and April 4th, I remember what it felt like to see her slip away.
I told you about John Posluszny’s death and burial here but I thought you might enjoy hearing about his life and family.
John was born in March 1880 and was the eldest of the children of Caroline Straub and Joseph Posluszny.
He arrived in the United States in 1899 at the age of 19 and spent most of his life in the Newark, New Jersey area. I have no ship manifest for his arrival, but used the year recorded on the federal census reports.
Both the 1905 New York State census and the Yonkers city directory lists John living in Yonkers on Washington Street as a boarder in a household and working as a hatter (the family occupation).
Something puzzles me though. Jumping ahead a few years, the 1910 Federal Census lists a son John, 7 years old, which means he was born about 1903 and in the United States. The 1905 census doesn’t include a child or a wife but you’ll see further down this post, a marriage license says his first wife died. The Posluszny Family portrait was taken about 1907 based on the appearance of young John (front row left) and young Walter (front row right). I think the picture of John and his son and the picture of the four brothers was taken at about the same time.
John Posluszny and his son John abt. 4 years oldPosluszny Family abt. July 1907Posluszny brothers abt. July 1907(?)
He married Stefania Mariasz in March in 1908. She immigrated in December of 1907 with her sister Karolina and they were heading to their cousin, Johann Straub on Jefferson Street in Yonkers. Johann Straub and Jefferson Street are names that have popped up regularly for Posluszny family members when they arrived in the United States. The marriage license says John was married before and his wife had died. I have no record for that and no birth record for John Jr.
John and Stefania’s marriage license 1908
There is another mystery – “they” had a daughter Martha, who was born in Austria in 1907 and came to the United States in February of 1909! I’m not sure who her parents really were. Martha arrived with John Posluszny’s cousin Katarzyna Burek, but I don’t recognize that name. Is it possible that Stefania had her out of wedlock in 1907? Illegitimate children were not uncommon according to the birth records I’ve been poring over.
By the 1910 census, we find John and his family in Newark New Jersey. This census assumes that Stefania gave birth to both John and Martha (2 children born, 2 children living). They were renters and shared their home with Stefania’s sisters Karolina and Julia. Julia is listed as being married for 8 years and immigrated in 1903 with a final destination of her husband Josef Dosedla. I don’t know what happened to him but by 1914, she was married to Jacob Vervliet in New Jersey.
John and Stefania had a son, Stanley born in August of 1918, nine years after Martha and 15 years after John.
Stanley Posluszny born 1918 – approx. 1921
In 1920, John, Stefania, Martha (13), and Stanley (1-1/2) are living in Irvington, a town in Essex County, New Jersey. John and Martha are both naturalized citizens and John is still working as a hatter. The sister in laws have moved on and so has the oldest son John. I found him living in Wallingford Connecticut with his grandparents, Caroline and Jon Bonk and working at Wallingford Silversmith.
By 1930, John is a restaurant owner and also owns a multi-family home at 617 18th Avenue in Newark. His restaurant / saloon was at 672 South 19th Street which appears to be the same building, with the entrance around the corner. I took the 2007 pictures from Google Maps because in 2023, the building is in a terrible state of disrepair!
617 18th Avenue Newark 2007672 South 19th Street Newark 2007
Martha was married at 22 in 1928 to Leslie Theobald, a police officer for Newark. They had a daughter, Dolores and they were divorced in 1941. Their daughter, Dolores married Theodore Kozlowsky in 1951 and they had three children. I’m still researching to add them to the family tree.
Divorce notice for Martha and Leslie – note the item underneath. Dr. Gilbreth is the mother of the real “Cheaper by the Dozen” family!
I have not been able to find any information on John Jr. after the 1920 census in Wallingford. There are some possible leads but nothing that confirms to me that’s my John.
Stanley was easier to find possibly because he was born in the late 1910s. He graduated from West Side High School in Newark and then from Northeastern University in Boston with a bachelor’s in science degree. He would later become a dentist. But first up was World War II.
He registered in 1940 while he was a student at Northeastern. On the form, he spelled his last name “Poslushny” unlike our “Posluszny”. This picture is signed “Stan Post” which some of the male family members adopted permanently but Stanley did not.
He enlisted in the Marines in March of 1942. This was only a month after his father died as a result of a car accident. In November of that year, he completed pre-flight training and was sent to the Naval Reserve aviation base in Squantum, Massachusetts which was in the city of Quincy.
From there he headed to Pensacola Florida where he was commissioned a second Lieutenant in the Marines Corps Reserve after completing the flight training course. He was designated a naval aviator and assigned to the Navy Air Operational Training Center in San Diego California.
From Newark Evening News 1943From Meriden Record 1943
I was surprised to find this article for the same event in my local Connecticut newspaper archives and wondered why. Then I realized his sister Martha, and probably her daughter Dolores were living in Wallingford! 105 Ward Street a multi-family home and part of Steinke’s Market. The original market was owned by Joseph Laçz and his wife Elizabeth Posluszny (John’s sister). It was then purchased by Mary Posluszny Biega and her husband and at some point purchased (?) by their daughter Mary and her husband Otto Steinke. Whew. Remember, this was shortly after Martha and her husband Leslie Theobald were divorced in New Jersey. Family taking care of family again.
In 1945 Stanley was flying in the Pacific Theater and this event was recorded in the Newark Evening News.
Stanley J. Posluszny during WWII
The military rolls for Stanley show him stationed from Virginia to San Francisco and ending out his career as a captain.
Stanley J. Posluszny WWII
He ended up back in the New Jersey/New York area and I believe he was married, had three sons, and was then divorced. I don’t know when he continued his schooling to become a dentist. Interesting note – his aunt Mary Posluszny Biega also had a son, Stanley G. and he became a dentist here in Connecticut.
He headed out to Arizona in 1955, was married in 1959, and had a daughter. I found her name on Ancestry in 2012. We have corresponded and discovered immediately that we were family. We became a DNA match a few years ago and since we have shared matches, I have new names to check on.
Stanley passed away in 1984 when she was only 21, not unlike he and his father. She told me that her father hated the cold and hated funerals and wanted to be cremated but her Italian-born mother refused and had him buried. How ironic that the same thing happened to father and son.
Obituary and headstone for Stanley J. Posluszny
I hope you enjoyed this biography of John Posluszny and his family!
It's All About Family 