Ancestry – It's All About Family

Wanda Lea Armstrong

As I explore my husband Mark’s side of the family, I’m beginning with his mother, Wanda Lea Armstrong.

Wanda was born September 19, 1931 in Meeker Oklahoma. Meeker was established in 1903 and is at the intersection of Highway 18 and US highway 62. But why does the federal census through the years say South Wichita township and not Meeker? The best I can figure out is the township is a 6 mile x 6 mile grid square of land established during the original land surveys of the Oklahoma Territory and the town of Meeker is within the northern portion of the grid square. So they lived within the township but not specifically Meeker, but the township shares the same zip code and relies on the town for mail delivery.

Wanda was the second born and second daughter of Joseph “Jack” Armstrong and Cleo Vergie Gallaway. her sister Willie Marie was fifteen months older. I have no pictures of Wanda or her sister when they were children but I have found the typical newspaper articles telling of family gatherings with the Armstrong family and friends. They had some nice bonding time together because the next sibling doesn’t arrive until 6-1/2 years later.

In April of 1937, Wanda’s brother Johnny was born. In 1943, another brother, Charles, was born. Finally in 1948, her sister Kathryn was born. What a span! Willie Marie got married in 1948 and Wanda was in her senior year of high school by the time their last sibling was born.

In my opinion, Wanda was a very pretty girl and I think her fellow students thought so too! An article from the Chandler News in 1946, says Wanda, as a Freshman, was crowned “Basketball Queen”. Four contestants were nominated by the pep squad and basketball team. Votes were a penny a piece. Wanda won and she was escorted to her throne and received her crown from the basketball captain Earl Welker.

*Wanda (sophomore) on left dark curly hair*

Wanda also played basketball and was a member and treasurer of the Future Homemakers of Oklahoma Club.

I don’t know when or where Wanda met her future husband, Cletus Harold Benson, Jr. but maybe she caught his eye at the diner where she worked.

Harold, as he was known, was born and raised in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a short 13 miles south of Meeker located in Pottawatomie County. Harold was the son of Opal Dean Menser and Cletus Harold Benson and his story will come at another time.

Wanda and Harold were married in February of 1949 when Wanda was a senior in high school and Harold was in the Air Force and stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Once Wanda finished high school, she joined Harold in San Antonio Texas, about a 7-1/2 hour drive by today’s highways from Meeker. The newspaper documented one visit by Wanda in December of 1949.

After Harold’s discharge from the Air Force, they moved to Berkeley, California and were living with Harold’s mother Opal, his step-father George Shelton, and Harold’s brother Ronald who was 18. Wanda was also 18 and working as a car hop at a drive-in restaurant. According to the census, Opal was the manager and cashier, and Ronald worked at the soda fountain. George and Harold worked for a “steam railway company”, most likely Southern Pacific Railroad where George was a Machinist Inspector and Harold an Apprentice Pipefitter.

There seems to be a bit of travel between the two states because by September of 1950, Wanda and Harold were living in Meeker Oklahoma where their daughter, Linda Darlene was born in December. Then living in California in December of 1951, and back in Meeker in July of 1952.

*Visiting from California in December 1951. Mrs. Curtis is Harold’s aunt*

*Living again in Meeker in July of 1952*

There are no city directories later than 1935 for Shawnee, Oklahoma and none for Meeker, so I’ve continued to rely on newspaper articles. In a 1952 article for a bridal shower, Wanda was one of the hostesses of the event held in Meeker. The bride was employed by the Bank of Meeker and since Wanda worked for various banks in California when they moved there permanently, I’m going to guess she worked with the bride, Miss Wanda Bolt.

The newspaper trail runs cold, but first this newspaper article. Wanda, along with some friends and family members, laced up their sneakers and played a charity basketball game against the Sparks (Oklahoma) Ladies team with proceeds to be given to the Polio Foundation. This was a fun article to find!

There is a blank space of two years before their son, Mark Aaron (my husband), is born in Berkeley California in March of 1958 while they are living in Oakland.

In 1960, Wanda’s younger brother, Charles, 17 years old, moved out to California to live with them.

The family lived in Napa for about a year when Harold bought a Shell Service Station in January of 1961. Wanda got a job at the new Calistoga branch of the Bank of America in April of that year.

By November of 1961, Harold gave up the service station business and sold his “vendee, equipment, and stock-in-trade” to Shell Oil Company. His address in the Notice of Intended Sale I found is listed as 3115 Suter Street in Oakland California. Either by then, or shortly afterwards, Wanda filed for divorce.

By 1962, Linda was 11 years old and Mark was four years old. Wanda worked for Wells Fargo Bank and Mark remembers living in Oakland during this time period. It was while Wanda worked at the bank that she met Paul Reinhart a mechanic and partner at Big 3 Tire and Brake in Oakland. On the weekends, he raced his corvette with the Sports Car Club of America.

They began dating and one year after meeting, they were married in Reno, Nevada on February 9, 1963.

The new family moved to San Leandro when Mark began school. Wanda continued to work in banking and spent many years working for Ford Credit in Pleasanton.

The family continued to visit Oklahoma and now Iowa was included in the travels to visit with Paul’s parents.

*Mr. And Mrs. Reinhart visiting the family in California*

In 1972, Paul and Wanda purchased a small cabin in Twain Harte, a town in the foothills of the Sierras as a weekend getaway. They enjoyed their time there and purchased a larger home a few streets away. Paul and Mark could ride motorcycles through the woods right out of their garage and the canal carrying water for the Tuolumne Water district ran right above their home. It was a great place to walk. They moved there full time around 1993.

*Wanda and Paul at the Cabin in Twain Harte*

I met Wanda in 1987 when I moved to California to live with Mark. Imagine hearing that someone your son met on vacation was moving across the country to live with him! Luckily, we liked each other. We spent many weekends in Twain Harte rocking in the two chairs in her room, talking and watching television. She was a good grandmother to our son, hovering over him feeding him whatever he wanted. She enjoyed shopping and many weekends we would all “head down the hill” to wander through the department stores and the used book store.

She was diagnosed with cancer in March of 1996 and passed away in October of that year in Twain Harte at the age of 64. A memorial service was held for her in Meeker, Oklahoma on July 1, 1998 (28 years ago as I write this) and her ashes were interred with her parents at the New Salem Cemetery located just outside Meeker. The majority of Armstrong and Gallaway family members are buried there.

Just like my mother, she left us too early.

The Mikula Boys

I wrote about the Mikula Family in April of 2024, and at the end, I said I would tell you about Walter and Stanley, the two oldest boys in the family.

Quick recap, Aniela Liro Mikula was my grandmother Antonia’s older sister. Aniela and her husband, Josef, immigrated to the United States in 1903. Walter was born in 1903, and Stanley in 1904, about 18 months apart.

The Mikula children and the Jakiela children were not similar in age at all. My Uncle Steve was born in 1913, and Uncle Eddie in 1915, and they were the two oldest. The other three Jakiela siblings were born in 1920, 1922, and 1924. So even before Helen was born in 1920, three Mikula boys had died, as well as Aniela. I still marvel that my grandfather and Uncle Steve were able to lean on Josef to take Helen and Walter when their mother died in 1927, and again in 1935 when my grandfather died. The stories from Auntie Helen and Uncle Eddie were invaluable to my research and I’m so thankful that I had those conversations with them.

My Auntie Helen told me that the Mikula brothers lived with their family in Wallingford for a while, but they were “trouble” and her brother Steve told them to leave.

*John, Walter Mikula, Walter Jakiela* *– after 1935, location unknown.*

While searching Newspapers.com, I uncovered several newspaper articles recounting charges against Walter of drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with Stanley. The most egregious charge was against both of them in September 1934 for drunkenness and assaulting their 54-year-old father and 19-year-old sister, Kazmiera. Just terrible! I found additional articles for Walter’s drunken escapades after that incident.

A copy of Walter’s 1942 Draft Card has six addresses written and crossed out. Two of those addresses are locations in Waterbury, Connecticut. Another Auntie Helen story was that Walter worked for the New Haven railroad and coming back from a wedding he was driving and killed someone. The family attached his wages so he quit his job and took jobs they “couldn’t keep track of”.

Well, karma took care of that. The last article I found was for a car accident that occurred on Route 7 in Georgetown, Connecticut, on August 17, 1946. A man by the name of Walter J. Mikula, age 43, a resident of Bridgeport, died instantly in a car accident when the car went out of control and crashed into a tree. The driver sustained injuries. Take note, the accident occurred at 7:30 am. A subsequent article in the Record-Journal in October said the driver was criminally liable for Walter’s death.

I took the information from the articles, put on my Nancy Drew sleuthing cap, and tracked down where the death certificate would possibly be located. I’d forgotten there was even a Georgetown Connecticut! I made a call to the Wilton town clerk’s office and they had it there. $20 and I had it within the week.

A sad ending for a sad life.

Stanley appeared to get his life together. In 1936, He married Godaline Kowalski. They had a son, Edward, born in 1938, and a son, Ronald, born in 1942. Stanley worked for American Steel and Wire Company for many years, and they lived in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Stanley died at the VA Hospital in Rutland, Vermont, on January 19, 1964, at the age of 59. He had been confined there since September 1963. There is no record that he was a veteran of any war, so I’m not sure why he would have been there.

Early in my research journey, I sent out a lot of letters to names and addresses I found online. People, churches, cemeteries, anyone I could think of. I even dragged my sister and our kids up to the Palmer Library to go through their historical information.

One letter in 2000 to Stanley Mikula somehow made it to Godaline who was now 94 and in a nursing home. She wrote back and we exchanged a few letters but unfortunately, I never went to visit her.

*Stanley, Frank, Walt* – *photo from Godaline*

Godaline passed away in 2006.

This is the end of the line for the family of Aniela and Joseph Mikula but I continue to try and connect to the DNA matches and will keep shaking those family trees!

More On The Mikula Family

Back in April of 2024, I wrote about the Mikula Family and my family’s connection to them. Aniela, the mother, was my grandmother Antonia Jakiela’s sister. Their maiden name was Liro.

I promised more about the sons, Walter and Stanley, but it’s taken a couple of years to get back to them. Which could be a good thing, because new search methods and new information continue to turn up. I’m going to share updates about the family members, but will still do a separate story on the sons.

Aniela, their mother, died in May of 1919 at the age of 48, from Tuberculosis of the bone, which caused gangrene of the spine. I didn’t give that much thought until I started on their story. Tuberculosis of the Bone is considered a serious extrapulmonary infection where the mycobacterium tuberculosis spreads from the lungs or lymph nodes to the bones and joints via the lymph nodes. The spine is the most frequent site and is called Pott’s Disease.

After Aniela died in 1919, Joseph married Anna Cerak, likely to help raise the younger children. My Auntie Helen remembers her as being very nice. Anna died in 1934. Joseph moved to Worcester and lived with Stanley and his wife until he died in 1945 at the age of 66.

This is the only picture of Joseph Mikula I have. When my grandfather, Charles Jakiela, died in May of 1935, my dad John and my uncle Walt went to Thorndike for the summer. John had turned 11 and Walt was turning 13 that year.

*Uncle Joe Mikula with Walt and John Jakiela*

Catherine, born in 1907, third born, and first daughter, was hospitalized for at least four years at the Hampshire County Sanatorium with tuberculosis, where she died in September of 1934. She was an inmate there in the 1930 federal census. Her obituary listed her father and two sisters, Genevieve in Vermont and Kazimiera in Palmer, and two brothers, Walter and Stanley. My Auntie Helen remembered Catherine from the time she spent in Palmer after her mother, Antonina died in 1927. Catherine would have been 27 years old and they, my aunt and uncle Walt, who were 7 and 5 years old at time, called her Aunt Catherine because she was so much older than them.

Bronislaw, born in 1909, the fourth born and third son, was listed in the 1910 federal census, but that was all I could find. Recently, I found a Palmer, Mass. death record for “Bronislaw M??l??R”, Father: Joseph, Mother: Allen Lera. It shows that Bronislaw died in July of 1910, at 18 months old, of gastroenteritis, which can be caused by contaminated food or water.

Genevieve, born in 1911, was the fifth born and second daughter and was the child with the longest life. She married George Blakey in 1930 and moved to Vermont, where he was a farmer. They had five children, 3 girls and 2 boys, between the ages of 12 and 14 months when he died at the age of 34 in 1943 after being in the hospital for 2 weeks “for treatment after a long period of ill health”. Genevieve continued to live in Underhill, Vermont, raising her children, and she died in 1983 at the age of 71 from breast cancer. Those five children produced 20 grandchildren.

Zofia, born in 1913, was the seventh born and third daughter. I have found Zofia in the Palmer birth records. I also have a copy of her baptism certificate. But that’s it. She’s not in the 1920 census, and there’s no mention of her in any family obituaries. I don’t know that I’ll ever find out what happened to her. She would have been about 14 years old when my aunt and uncle were living with them in 1927. My aunt said a daughter was called Tootie and she didn’t like her step mother at all. I wonder if Tootie was Zofia.

Kazimiera, born in 1915, was the eighth born and fourth daughter. I originally found Kazimiera in the 1920 census at 5 years old and in the 1930 census at 15, but nothing after that. When I found Joseph’s obituary online and saw the name “Mary Opielowski” I thought who else could it be but her? It was her.

Kazimiera and her husband, Edward, were married sometime in the early 1930s because the 1940 census says Edward, 26, and “Kay”, 24, were living in the same home as in 1935. I haven’t found any marriage records, but one might pop up. Kazimiera gave birth to a son, David, in 1941.

Kazimiera committed suicide in 1956, leaving behind her husband, son, sister Genevieve, and her brother Stanley. Walter was not listed in the obituary.

*Kazimiera’s obituary (transcribed here)*

Her husband Edward died in 1981, and their son David died in 2001; it appears he never married, but they both remained in Thorndike, Massachusetts.

Antoni, born in 1917, the eighth born and fourth son, died in August of 1918 when he fell down a well. He was 18 months old.

This was not the only tragedy that summer. Mieczyslaw, born in 1918, the ninth born and fifth son, the baby of the family, died one month after Antoni from infant cholera when he was six months old. Cholera, “a disease of poverty”.

Next up – Walter and Stanley

Antoni Jakiela

My great uncle Antoni Jakiela was born in Lubatowa, Poland. Lubatowa is located in southeastern Poland, and from 1772 to 1918 was part of Austrian Galicia. Antoni is my grandfather Charles Jakiela’s younger brother.

Antoni was born on January 17, 1893, to Ignacy and Catherine Murdzek. Charles was three years old when he was born. Their sister Agnieszka was born a year later.

Their mother died in June of 1894, the same year Agnieszka was born. Trying to raise three young children, Ignacy, at only 39, quickly remarried. On October 11, 1894, he married Victoria Borek. There is no record of any children from that marriage, but I continue to scour records.

When his brother Charles left for the United States in 1906 at the age of 16, Antoni was 13.

Both brothers served in World War 1. Charles served for the United States from Southington, Connecticut, through Camp Devens at Ayer, Massachusetts, as part of the 301 Trench Mortar Battery and the 302 Field Artillery.

Antoni served in World War 1 with the Polish Legion based on this picture that has been in the family for many years. I shared the picture with a few Polish Heritage/Genealogy groups on Facebook and was told that it is a uniform for the Polish Legion based on the “maciejówka” cap and the zig-zag design on his collar. The one silver star on the collar is for the rank of lance corporal. The Polish Legion fought alongside Austria-Hungary troops against Russia. The cap was part of traditional folk attire in many regions of Poland and became part of the Polish Legion uniform. After Poland won its independence in 1918, the cap was thought to look too much like the German WW1 garrison hat, so the Polish army moved to a peaked 4 cornered cap.

This is a 12×14 canvas portrait. Portions of the canvas are still attached to the wooden frame but one corner is secured with a nail. There is a piece of cardboard on the back attached to the frame, and two nails with a heavy string between them for hanging.

How and when was it sent to the United States? Was it received when Charles and his family were still living in Southington after the war? If so, where did it hang in their home? Charles died in May of 1935, and the children, ranging in age from 22 to 10, remained in their Wallingford home until Steve married Bertha Liedke in 1937. The family moved to Ward Street and finally to the Liedke family home. At some point, the portrait ended up in the back of the garage. When I began my ancestry work on the family, my cousin passed the portrait on to me.

The next information I found for Antoni was his marriage to Lucia Dereniovoska (sp) on March 2, 1923. I haven’t been able to find any birth records for Lucia in the Lubatowa area with any similar spelling.

*Antoni Jakiela and Lucia Dereniovoska marriage on March 2, 1923*

This marriage record gives me both of their birth dates, and the #70 house number tells me Antoni is still living in the house his family lived in when he was born in 1893. The bottom of the form, in blue writing, says “husband died 23 January 1961, Lubatowa”. I don’t have any information on Lucia’s death.

An amazing treasure that provided information on Antoni and his family was found while cleaning out my Auntie Helen’s apartment after she passed away in February of 2015. It was a letter from Antoni to Steve, Helen’s oldest brother. The information and questions in the letter indicate that there had been little communication between them. The letter was dated January 19, 1947, almost 12 years after their father and Antoni’s brother Charles had passed away. Of course, the letter was in Polish, and evidently, “old style” Polish, which was difficult for a fluent speaker to translate!

I don’t know if anyone ever responded to Antoni, but without this letter, I never would have known of their three children and their ages.

Antoni was 68 years old when he passed away in January 1961. I don’t know if life got any better in the town of Lubatowa. I hope so.

The Caregiver

The Week 2 topic for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “A Record That Adds Color”.

In 1912, my grandmother, Julianna Ingram Posluszny was 24 years old with a husband, a daughter Antoinette, born in January 1909, and a son, Conrad, born in November 1910.

*Julianna, Konrad and Antoinette (late 1909)*

Her cousin, Mary Kukulska Juszczak came to the United States with Julianna’s sister, Marianna in 1907. Mary’s daughter Mary was born in 1910. Sadly, some time in the same year, Mary’s husband died in a work accident at the sugar refinery. But the following year she met and married Michael Zupko.

It was in April of 1912 that Mary gave birth to a son Michael Zupko. The only record to be found is their headstone with the year, 1912.

Suddenly Julianna found herself as little Mary’s guardian. Her stepfather didn’t want to take care of her and asked my grandmother with a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a baby on the way to take her. How could she refuse? She now had 3 children under the age of 4.

Her son, Louis, was born in February of 1913. She and her husband, Konrad, hung in there as long as they could but in 1914 they realized they had to give Mary up for adoption.

Fortunately, Herman and Elizabeth Fauth, German Methodists who had recently lost a daughter, heard of Mary through their church and petitioned to adopt her. Mary never had to go to an orphanage.

The adoption was final in October of 1914. My grandparents would go on to have a daughter Julia in 1917, and my mother Elizabeth in 1922.

What a loving thing my grandmother did! Two children of her own and one on the way, and she takes in, I’m sure without hesitation, another 2 year old. She was always a very giving person but this information helped me see her in such a different light.

I wrote about this in January of 2020 when I was contacted by Mary’s granddaughter and 2 years later when “who died when” was determined by an ancestry relative.

Engram Family Part 4 – Jacob Jr.

We are now at the end of the Engram Family stories, and I’ve saved my grandfather for last. His relationship with my grandmother is included here.

As I mentioned in my post about his father, Jacob Sr., Jacob Jr. made sure his father was cared for throughout his life. I think the same applies to his relationship with his sisters.

On December 16, 1934, Jacob, at the age of 39, married Anna Marie Winner of Vleigh Road, Queens, NY. She was the 24-year-old daughter of Henry and Joanna Winner. She had a brother who was six years older. They lived on a farm, which was close to Jacob’s farm in Queens in the 1930 census. Her father and brother were farmers, and in their household were three male boarders who worked on the farm, and a 44-year-old woman who was listed as a servant.

*Jacob, Anna, Henry, and Joanna December 16, 1934*

In the 1940 census, Jacob and Anna were renting at 136 Catskill Avenue in Yonkers, and Jacob was a partner with his childhood friend, Morris (Mo) Sherman, at Sherman Chevrolet, at 561 Central Park, Yonkers, NY.. In addition to the dealership, they owned a parking lot directly across from the main entrance to Yonkers Raceway, which now includes Empire City Casino. During racing season, they took turns working the lot with the help of a crew of his sister Elizabeth’s relatives.

Jacob and Anna’s daughter Joanne was born on March 11, 1945. She has the same birthday as my husband. This was 10 years into their marriage, and Jacob was approaching 50 years old.

When Joanne was 7, Jacob and Mo sold the dealership, but became partners in the business of second mortgages and, of course, the parking lot. Joanne says, “he was an ‘at-home’ Dad for most of my life…”

Jacob’s education ended at 7th grade, but he was born with a love for reading, history, and travel. Every day, he went out for the Daily News and the Daily Mirror, and the local Yonkers paper was delivered to the house. On weekends, he picked up the New York Times. Multiple magazines were delivered to the house each month. He loved reading biographies of famous men, plus subjects related to history.

The love of reading, the books, magazines, and newspapers are identical to my mother and to our house growing up!

He loved to travel. I found a ship manifest from his return passage to the United States from Havana, Cuba, in April of 1928. One of his favorite locations was Florida. Joanne says that when she was very young, they spent parts of winter in Miami, visiting Aunt Joan (formerly Hannah). When Joanne was nine, the family traveled on the Queen Mary out of New York and spent seven weeks traveling through France and into Germany to visit her mother’s relative in northern Germany. After she graduated from high school, they traveled back to Europe, visiting England and the northern countries.

Travel didn’t have to be something grand, though. Jacob found enjoyment in “going for a ride”. It could be an evening ride through the back roads of Westchester, or weekend trips “out on the island” (Long Island), sometimes to New Jersey or up the coast to Connecticut and beyond.

Unfortunately, drinking was a problem in their home, on a “cyclical basis”. He drank, and her mother would join him. He would go from very quiet to loud and angry. This was something Joanne talked about in our correspondence: of her being the sober one in the house and seeing and hearing a lot of “not for children” content growing up. Perhaps his drinking led to his estrangement from his sister Kitty in the early 1950s.

But because it was cyclical, for most of the year she was able to see another side of Jacob. She saw what a generous, quiet man he was, who loved to read the papers, tend to his flowers, and visit historical sites. A man who was as comfortable with bums in the Bowery as he was in First Class on the Queen Mary.

Jacob suffered a heart attack in 1966 when he was 71 years old and became ill in late 1973. Joanne was living in Pennsylvania, and by the time she came home, he was in the hospital, where he died on January 24, 1974.

Twenty-seven years later, my cousin Judy received an email from Joanne in response to a card Judy sent to Joanne’s (now deceased) mother informing her that our Aunt Tootsie was in a nursing home. Ann Engram must have been on Aunt Tootsie’s Christmas Card list. As they say, “the rest is history!”

Thoughts From France

While I work on the final post for the Engram Family which will be my grandfather, Jacob Jr., I wanted to share something I received from my new second cousin, Brian.

This is a letter from my grandfather Jacob, Jr to his sister, Brian’s grandmother, Tess. He is in France at the end of World War I. The war ended on November 11, 1918 and now he is writing on November 18, 1918. He talks of writing letters every week, sometimes two and three, but not receiving any letters. He thought he’d receive more. He says they’re told they’ll be home soon, but things keep changing, and he hopes it will be soon. I’ve roughly transcribed the letter but it’s fun reading the original.

*Letter from Jacob Jr, to sister Tess November 28, 1918*

Brian is the grandson of Barbara Theresa Engram Murphy, oldest child of Jacob Sr, and Katherine (Duy) Engram. Since his mother, Irene, was also the oldest of her family and cousins and lived in the same home for many years, she was the keeper of the family memories.

A few years ago, Brian shared many photos with my Aunt Joanne and me. A lot of them are from the Murphy side, but there were also many Engram family photos and newspaper clippings.

Brian is visiting Connecticut from his home in Florida is going through the family photo bin and I am planning on meeting with him to sort through it and help put names to faces if I can!

My Veterans

In honor of Veterans Day, I’m sharing the story I wrote in June of 2024 for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. It’s called, The Effects of War. There are links within that story that share the details of their time served.

Beginning with World War I, there was my biological maternal grandfather, Jacob Engram and my paternal grandfather, Charles Jakiela.

My Great Uncle Bronislaw Liro went back to Poland before World War I broke out, fought for the Austrian Army, was captured, and escaped from Siberia.

World War II saw my Uncle Connie and my dad enlist in the Army Air Force and my Uncle Walt and Uncle Mal in the Navy. My Uncle Walt lived through the horror of Pearl Harbor 3 weeks fresh out of Navy radio school.

While cleaning out my aunt’s home, I found a letter from my Great Uncle Antoni written in 1947 describing the aftermath of World War II.

My father in law Harold served in the Korean War as a cook, his brother Ronald as an infantry tank driver, and my step father in law Paul was in the motor pool.

It’s an honor to have these brave men in my family.

Engram Girls Part 2

Two more sisters in this episode…

Elizabeth

I mentioned in my previous story that on June 6, 1917 at 19 years old, Elizabeth married Barney Michkind who was 24 years old. This was only a year after her mother passed away and she is still living at the family Pelham Parkway home. But then, in the 1920 federal census, she is listed as living with her sisters on West 128th Street in Manhattan and Single. Hmmm.

I did a little digging on Barney and found a military record. He enlisted in the military on July 11, 1916 and mustered on July 11, 1917. Remarks on this particular form say:
AWOL August 16/17 to Aug 23/17 incl (something) Aug 28/17. Sent to 10 day confinement at hard labor and forfeit pay for like period. Served overseas for June 30/18 to March 13/19.

So, it seems, they got married and he was leaving.

The next record for Elizabeth is the 1925 New York State census in Bronx New York. She is listed as a wife to Albert Klein, an electrician, and they have a daughter Adeline, who was born in 1922. She gave birth to a son, Robert in 1927.

The 1930 Federal Census tells me they are living in Queens with her brother Jacob, and Albert is working for Jacob on his farm.

In the 1940 Federal Census they are now living in Yonkers, New York and Albert is working as an electrician for an oil burner installation company. Adeline is 17 and Robert is 12. The census also tells me that they were there in 1935 because in the city column it says “same house”.

It makes my curious for the reasons why they left the Bronx where Albert was working as an electrician and move to Queens to a farm for Albert to work as an assistant to his brother in law and then move again to Yonkers and back to his electrician job.

Elizabeth’s father, Jacob Sr., 79 years old, is living with them. The census says he has no job but says “OT” which stands for other work. Joanne wrote, “my grandpa was employed as a groundskeeper at Woodlawn Cemetery, on the border of Bronx and Westchester. I know he lived with my Aunt Betty and Uncle Al at the end of his life…I’d say thru the influence of my dad.” Woodlawn Cemetery by today’s travel is 2.1 miles and 10 minutes from 61 Kettell Avenue Yonkers via Yonkers Avenue. Jacob Sr died in 1944 at the age of 84. His story will come later.

A funny thing happened when Elizabeth and Albert’s family wanted to throw them a 25th wedding anniversary. They had to confess, they were not married! What?! Which begs the question – did Elizabeth ever get a divorce?

I contacted an individual who had Barney in his family tree but didn’t have his marriage to Elizabeth listed. I gave him a copy of their marriage license and he directed me to a court document he found in a search using the name “Elizabeth Mishkind”. It’s filed under “divorce and civil case records” and dated April 9, 1918. Elizabeth is the plaintiff and “in re” the defendant. AI tells me “its use for the defendant indicates that the proceeding was likely uncontested or did not have a formally adversarial (opposing) party. So basically, an uncontested divorce. This person also told me that Barney was a featherweight boxer, competing under the name Barney Williams in his youth. He was married two more times after Elizabeth, in 1922 and in 1937.

Elizabeth and Albert did make their marriage official in 1947, 25 years after the birth of their daughter Adeline! I hope they had that 25th anniversary party.

*Elizabeth, Hannah/Joan, and Louise 1940s Florida*

They all moved again prior to the 1950 federal census but they stayed in Yonkers. By now, both Elizabeth and Albert were 50. He was a trouble shooter for an oil company, likely still an electrician and she was now a nurses aide at a hospital.

*Adeline in her 1940 high school graduation picture*

Their daughter, Adeline, married Frank Rinaldi in January of 1943 and they had a son Frank Jr, 5, and a daughter, Elizabeth, 3, in 1950 and are living with her parents in 1950. He served in the Navy during World War II.

Their son, Robert, married Constance Olsen in Yonkers in May of 1951. The 1950 census for both has them working at a restaurant. She as a waitress, he as a chef so that’s likely where they met. I don’t have any additional information for them.

Unfortunately, in August of 1969, Robert passed away. His obituary says it was after an extended illness, and he died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, so I’m going to assume it was cancer. Cancer has definitely visited the Engram / Duy family more than I’ve seen in any other part of my family. By this time, 18 years later, he is divorced from Constance, but he does have two children. He served in World War II, lived in Florida for 10 years as a chef in Pompano and Miami, and had returned to Yonkers in recent years.

Elizabeth and Albert continued to live in Yonkers New York. Unfortunately, Elizabeth suffered mental health issues and “spent many years in various state mental institutions” according to my Aunt Joanne.

*Anna Winner Engram, Joanne (5), Jacob Jr., Hannah/Joan, and Elizabeth Engram Klein 1950 Florida*

Albert Klein passed away in October of 1974 after a long illness and he was residing at Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York. He was 75 years old.

Six months later in May of 1975, Elizabeth passed away following a brief illness. Her obituary says “she had lived in Yonkers hospitals until her husband Albert died last year.” Aunt Joanne shared this with me, “Aunt Betty died from choking on a bone (while she fought off her son-in-law who was trying to help her.)”. What a sad and tragic way for her life to end.

By this time, her sister Katherine (Kitty) was the only sibling living as is her daughter Adeline. Elizabeth also has five grandchildren (although I only have 4), and three great grandchildren! I wonder if they are as interested in their ancestors as I am?

Hannah

Hannah was the youngest of the siblings, born in 1906 and was 10 years old when her mother passed away. She lived with her sisters in the city and went to school. I told you in the Engram Family Part 2, Hannah, now know as Johannah, and later, Joan, was married to Anton Zeiss Jr. when she was 20 years old in 1927. They were living in Pennsauken, New Jersey in the 1930 federal census. Unfortunately, by August 22, 1934, they were divorced in Bronx County.

In the 1940 federal census, she is living at 58 West 56th Street in New York and is working in “magazine makeup” for American Legion Magazine which I think means she was involved in the set up and publishing of the magazine. She was 33 years old and one of 8 lodgers.

However, in September of 1944, she’s in Florida getting married to George G. Woods. They got married 8 days after the death of her father Jacob in Yonkers, New York. But less than 4 years later, Hannah and George are divorced.

Hannah remained in Florida, and is living alone in the 1950 federal census. She is 43 years old and a secretary at a printing company.

In the early 1950s, Hannah was diagnosed with colon cancer. She had a colostomy and Aunt Joanne said it changed her life forever.

*Early 1950s – Anna Engram, Joanne, Jacob Jr, Hannah (around the time of her surgery), and Elizabeth*

She died in December of 1967 but it’s unknown whether she died of cancer or another cause. I can’t find any death record or newspaper notice. At the time of her death she left behind Jacob Jr., Katherine, and Elizabeth. She had no children with her first or second husband.

To catch up on the early stories – Jacob Engram and His Family , Engram Family Part 2, Engram Girls Part 1

Engram Girls Part 1

I published the beginning and the continuation of the Engram Family lives after their mother Katherine Duy died in 1916. I’m going to carry on the story, starting with the sisters.

Theresa

Theresa, George and their two daughters Irene and Rita continued to live at 59 Earley Street on City Island in the Bronx according to the 1940 federal census. They appeared to live a happy life from the family pictures I’ve seen.

Sadly in 1948, Theresa passed away at 58 years old from breast cancer like her mother. Her daughter Irene was 21 years old and Rita was 17.

That same year on November 25th, Irene married James Callahan.

They would continue to live on City Island and raise their daughter and three sons, where she was a physical education teacher for many years. She passed away on January 2, 2000. James passed away in 2021 in Stamford, Connecticut. Her grandson Brian provided the pictures you see in this section.

*Irene and James Callahan, date unknown*

Rita lived with her father, George, until her marriage to Grattan Kyle in 1951. He was also a City Island kid involved in his family’s real estate company. They moved to Florida, and although they got divorced in 1974, she remained in Florida until he died in 1983. Rita returned to City Island, where she lived until her death on December 28, 2006. She left behind three daughters, one son, and five grandchildren.

A few years ago, Irene’s son, Brian, was in contact with my Aunt Joanne, and shared over 150 photos with us. Most were Theresa and George and their friends, but there were also significant photos of the Engram family. We have since reconnected, and he has shared additional Engram family pictures.

Katherine and Louise

I wrote in my previous post about Katherine and Louise playing basketball but not finding much information after January 1923. Cousin Brian sent this wonderful picture via text. It’s from January 1924 and the caption talks about the team being the champions of New York meeting the London Shamrocks in the opening international game. From the surrounding snippets of articles it appears this is taking place in Canada. I searched again for information on the team but came away with nothing.

Katherine

Katherine, born Catherine Elisabeth Juliana, never married. She is one of the children with no first name listed on her birth certificate and in one of her letters you’ll read below, said he had to go to the church for the record. I don’t think she knew she had that many names and was surprised to find the Engram spelling as she was told their school principal changed it! I do know it was originally Ingram.

Through her career as a secretary, she worked for Engelhart Chemical Company in New Jersey as well as for the former Belcano Cosmetic Company and supposedly for Charles Lindbergh that I mentioned previously. I can’t locate her or Louise past the 1930 Federal Census, but as the informant for Louise’s death in 1961 they were living in Jersey City, New Jersey.

She provided the most detailed family information in her letters to her niece Irene in two letters in 1980 when she was 82 years old. The letters were transcribed and emailed to me by my Aunt Joanne.

Katherine’s Letters 1 and Katherine’s Letters 2

The picture above was taken when Jacob and his family moved to Scarsdale, New York. Katherine and Jacob had a rocky relationship and parted ways in 1950 or 1951. Like his father, he was an alcoholic and alienated some relatives with his behavior.

Katherine outlived all of her siblings, living until 98 years old at her death in September of 1996. Prior to her death, she lived in Hopewell Junction, New York, with Adeline Klein Rinaldi, her sister Elizabeth’s daughter.

Louise

Louise also spent her life in the secretarial field. Like Katherine, she never married and at the time of her death in 1961, she was the office manager for Penn-Boeck and Co. in Jersey City.

I’ve talked about mental health in my Posluszny side of the family and I found it in the Engram family as well.

*Elizabeth, Hannah/Joan, and Louise – Miami in the 1940s*

Louise committed suicide in July of 1961 while at her and Katherine’s summer place. She ingested Hammond Weed Killer (arsenic). She was brought to Monroe County General Hospital in East Stroudsburg Pennsylvania but was dead on arrival. She was 59 years old. That makes me sad.

This post was getting pretty long and I still have Elizabeth and Hannah to go so I’m going to end this here. Part 2 of the Engram Sisters coming soon!