Today, like that day 84 years ago, was a Sunday morning.
My uncle, Walter Jakiela, was fresh out of radio school and soaking in the sun of Pearl Harbor, 5,000 miles from his home in Wallingford, Connecticut.
Little did he know what awaited him that day…
I wrote his story as a part of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks back in May of 2024. You can read about his experience in Day of Infamy.
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.
It was a little startling back in January of 2020 to realize the man and family I thought of as my mother’s father and his paternal line, was not correct.
I’ve written about my grandfather, Jacob Engram, Jr., but I thought I’d do some more research and put together a timeline of the whole family. It is going to be long!
My great grandfather was Jacob Sebastian Ingram. He was born, according to his death certificate on July 7, 1859 in Padew Naraodowa which is a village in Mielec County in south-eastern Poland. At the time of his birth it was in Galicia which was part of Austria due to all the dividing up of Poland.
His birth year ranges from 1859 to 1862. The 1862 dates are reflected on the Ellis Island manifest and census records, so I continue to search a variety of dates for a definitive birth year. Unfortunately the years prior to 1863 are not part of the Geneteka collection. <sigh>.
Even his parents are a mystery. His father’s name is consistently “Sebastian”, however his marriage license lists his mother as Louise (maiden name) Burghardt and his death certificate as Katherine Burghardt. Geneteka records list only Sebastian Ingram and Elzbieta Burghardt in a search. I “know” them because they are the parents of my great-grandfather Ludwig Ingram. Recent information I found said he had a brother John, a brother Frantz (sp), and a sister Juliana.
Jacob left Europe at 24 years old on May 30, 1886 via Hamburg Germany and arrived in New York on June 14th. He traveled in Steerage (“zwischendeck”) aboard the Rhaetia. Records don’t indicate where he was going but wherever he went, he’d be looking for a job as a “schmied” or blacksmith.
At the time of his arrival, Castle Garden, or what we know as Castle Clinton National Monument was the main immigration station for the Port of New York. I was there in June of 2025, and wandered through wondering if any of my ancestors experienced walking through these doors.
Seven years later, on July 23, 1893, Jacob married Katherine Duy. He was 31 years old and she was 28.
Katherine was born on August 9, 1965 in Padew as well. Katherine was the 6th born to Johann Jacob Duy and Maria Teresa (maiden name) Duy. According to the 1910 Federal census, she arrived in the United States in 1893 when she was 28 years old. A quick look at a census record for her sister, Barbara, born in 1869, shows she immigrated in 1893, so it could be possible they came together. But that would mean she arrived in the US and almost immediately married Jacob. The 1915 New York State census lists her arrival year as 1887, when she was 22. Another question mark!
Family stories say she had a “withered” arm. The few photos of her don’t show both arms so it’s not known which one or how damaged it was.
Other family members who immigrated included her parents Johann and Theresa and Philip born in 1875 who immigrated with them in 1904. On arrival, they moved to West Springfield Massachusetts. Wilhelm (b. 1867) immigrated and lived in Greenwich Connecticut. Barbara, mentioned above, immigrated in 1893 and lived in Astoria New York. Margaretha (b. 1872) immigrated and lived in South Hadley Massachusetts. One son, Jacob (b. 1858) remained in Austria.
More than nine months, but less than a year later, Jacob and Katherine’s first child, a daughter, Barbara, was born on April 27, 1894. Barbara was known as Theresa or Tess and the only indication her name was Barbara is this birth record. Her death certificate says Theresa B.
14 months later, on July 11, 1895, Katherine gave birth to Jacob Jr. This is the first time I see the spelling of their last name to be ENGRAM and that’s what it remained moving forward.
13 months later on August 19, 1896, Katherine gives birth to her second son, Louis.
Another year, another baby! Second daughter Katherine is born on March 2, 1898. Jacob and Katherine have four children under the age of 4. Whew! Notice these last 2 birth records do not have a first name – maybe they were still deciding.
Dare I say it? Another daughter, Elizabeth was born on November 1, 1899. I don’t have a copy of her birth record, but I trust the family member who has the information in her family tree. This is Jacob and Katherine’s fifth child and 3rd daughter.
On April 19, 1900, Louis died from Acute Meningitis at 3 years and 9 months old. This left Jacob Jr and three sisters.
In 1901, daughter Louise is born. Her name is either a tribute to Louis or to Jacob’s mother Louise (if that was her name!).
Memories written by Jacob and Katherine’s daughter Katherine in 1980, mention a brother who died in infancy. The gap between Louise and Hannah would likely be when it happened but there is not record found to confirm the birth or death.
After a space of five years, the last daughter Hannah is born on July 9, 1906.
When Jacob and Katherine got married, Jacob was living at 306 W. 69th Street in New York and Katherine was living at 233 W. 80th Street.
1893-1894: After they were married, they continued to live at 306 W. 69th Street and Jacob was still working as a blacksmith. They were living here when Barbara was born.
Per google, the Upper West Side of New York City was a growing, but not yet completely developed, residential neighborhood. 306 West 69th Street and 233 West 80th Street would have been a walk-up tenement or a brownstone rowhouse, likely housing recent immigrants and working-class families who were moving to the area from more crowded parts of the city.
1895: They are now living in Westchester and he is a farmer. You’ll see Westchester was a town in Westchester County New York. In 1895 it was transferred to the City and County of New York, in 1898, it and other areas formed the Borough of the Bronx, and finally in January 1914, the Bronx was split off from New York County and it became Bronx County. This will the area where Jacob continues to farm.
1896-1900: They are living at Ferris Lane but it alternatives between simply Westchester and Union Port, New York City. Union Port appears to have been a village or neighborhood of Westchester. I found a video that talks about the lost villages of the Bronx and took a screen shot when I saw Ferris. Since he is a gardener, perhaps Ferris is the area where he worked and lived.
1906: They are now living on Williamsbridge Road in Westchester, New York City.
My initial thoughts of this area were they must be very rural but research shows me that all of the small towns in the Bronx were rapidly filling up with New Yorkers moving out of the city looking for a plot of their own.
1910: The federal census shows they are living in the Bronx Borough, part of New York City. Wickham Avenue to Astor Estate is the street listing. AI says, “In 1910, the area of the Bronx between Wickham Avenue and the former Astor Estate was rapidly developing from a semi-rural landscape into a residential neighborhood. Jacob, 48, is listed as a Gardener in the farm industry and “working on own account”. Katherine, 44, and the children “Tessie 16, Jacob 14, Kate 12, Elizabeth 10, Louise 8, and Hanna 3” are all at home and I assume attending school.
1915: The state census lists the family at Pelham Parkway in the Bronx County. Jacob the father (54), and Jacob the son (19) were farming. Katherine the mother (49), “Thresia” (21), and Katherine 17I did house work, and Elizabeth (15), Louise (13), and Hannah (9) were in school.
You can see Pelham Parkway as they would have known it on the right, and the present day Pelham Parkway.
During this time period, Katherine’s parents, Johann and Theresa Duy would come and visit. They lived in Longmeadow Massachusetts, but they had Katherine, Barbara, and William in the Connecticut/New York area. The following story comes from their daughter Katherine’s 1980 written memories to her sister Theresa’s (born Barbara) daughter Irene:
My mother’s mother and father (my grandparents) and Uncle Philip were the last members to come to America. I remember my mother telling us how terrible the ocean voyage was and they almost died. And I also remember how my mother longed to see her parents and grieved she would never see them again. They used to come and stay with us for periods at a time and when they left to go back to their eldest daughter’s in Longmeadow Massachusetts…they would cling to each other and it was almost impossible to tear them apart. And they always grieved for the brother and sister who remained in Austria. The family bond was very strong.
Unfortunately, life with Jacob was not always pleasant as he was an alcoholic. Stories passed down mention Katherine leaving Jacob a few times. She would travel to her brother William’s home in Greenwich Connecticut. While away, she would take in laundry. She returned each time because she was pregnant.
October 27, 1916, Katherine Duy Engram passed away after a two year battle with breast cancer. She left behind Jacob and seven children ranging from 22 to 10.
In daughter Katherine’s 1980 memories, she shared this with her niece Irene. Katherine was 18 when her mother died:
”It will be 64 years on the 27th of October 1980 since my mother passed away. She was very, very sick with cancer for 2 years before she died. I stayed on the farm and kept house for the family for 2 years and because of unbearable, alcoholic conditions, we left our father. Your mother (Theresa) was either in nursing training or already doing nursing duty during that time. She always wanted to be a nurse.
I know my mother would be very proud if she came back today and saw the family she created, but I am sure she watched over us and prayed for us and still does. From time to time I wake up thinking of her and recall the bitter, hard struggle she had and can’t go back to sleep for wishing I could take her in my arms and hold her close. Children never know the sacrifices their mother’s make for them. Your heritage is a beautiful one Irene.”
After Katherine died, Jacob Jr. enlisted for World War I and the girls all moved to New York in the care of Theresa. In my next post, I’ll pick up from here.
Marge Donroe Bellafronto’s father, Alfred (Fred) Arthur Donroe, was born in New Haven Connecticut, November 9, 1916. He met and married Dora Barbaresi on September 16, 1940.
Marge was born two years later on September 25, 1942.
Alfred enlisted in the Army in July 1943 in New Haven and he headed overseas in October of that year.
The following is a narrative called “Alfred’s War” from one of his family members attached to another family tree:
“After training in Northern Ireland and Wales from October 1943 to June 1944, the 2nd Infantry Division crossed the channel to land on Omaha Beach on D plus 1, 7 June 1944, near St. Laurent-sur-Mer. Attacking across the Aure River, the Division liberated Trévières, 10 June, and proceeded to assault and secure Hill 192 which was repelled the key enemy strongpoint on the road to Saint-Lô. After three weeks of fortifying the position and by order of Commanding General Walter M. Robertson the order was given to take HILL 192. On 11 July under Command of Col. Ralph W.Zwicker 38th INF with the 9th and the 23rd by his side the battle started at 5:45 am. Using an artillery concept used in World War I (Rolling Thunder) which was the only time during World War II it was used and after 25,000 rounds of HE/WP the hill was taken. The Division went on the defensive until the 26th. July. After exploiting the Saint-Lo breakout, the 2nd Division then advanced across the (Vire) to take (Tinhebray) on 15 August 1944. The Division then raced toward (Brest/France), the heavily defended port fortress which happened to be a major port for German U-Boats. After 39 days of fighting the Battle was won, and was the first place the Army Air Corps used Bunker busting bombs. On August 25th 1944 Private Alfred A Donroe was killed in action.”
You can read more about the Assault on Brest here.
Marge was one month shy of her second birthday when her father died.
Dora married Fred’s brother Albert in 1947 and they had two sons. Marge married my first cousin Mal Bellafronto in 1964.
Fast forward to July 31st, I received a message through Ancestry from a French genealogist who was looking for the family of soldiers who died in combat during WW2 in Gouesnou France in the summer of 1944. He contacted me because Albert Donroe is listed in my family tree.
“Every year the City of Gouesnou honors the hero soldiers and civilian victims, because here in Gouesnou, we consider that it is our duty to remember the past for the sake of history and transmission, particularly to the youngest generation.”
The city has decided to create a permanent monument to the soldiers and victims with the inauguration of the US Memorial planned for November 2026.
I sent a message to another ancestry member who has a Donroe Family Tree (not sure of the relationship), and he had also been contacted and was able to provide the genealogist with an even closer family member.
It’s good to know that these soldiers continue to be remembered for their heroism during World War II and that this city is preserving the information for future generations.
Walter Bonk (aka Bak or Bunk) was the 13th born and 8th living child of Carolina Straub. His father was John Bonk (Bak), whom she married in 1888 after the death of her first husband Joseph Posluszny in 1887. Carolina gave birth to a baby girl in 1899 who died at birth. Walter was born in Dzikowiec in the Galicia region of Poland on August 29, 1903 when Carolina was 48 years old.
Walter was a month shy of four years old when he made the trip to the United States with his mother, father, and half sister Elizabeth. The Passenger List indicates that his father had traveled to the United States in the past in 1901 and 1906 to Perth Amboy possibly to work and get things settled for them all to come over.
In 1910, John, Carolina, and Walter are living at 23a Parker Street in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Although Elizabeth would have been only 14, she is not listed as living with them. Perhaps she was working as a live in maid somewhere. During this time period, Walter was attending school and could speak English.
The next time I find Walter, he is 17 years old in the 1920 United States Federal Census. The family has moved to Wallingford Connecticut and his parents owned 30 Geneva Avenue. They are joined by his half-sister Elizabeth, her husband Joseph Łaçź, their two young sons, his half-cousin John Posluchny (spelled phonetically in the census!), and a border, John Ivaninski. It was a full house! The two boarders work at the hardware factory, his father works as a press dropper at the silverware factory, Joseph a packer there, and Walter at age 17, is no longer attending school and is an electrician at the factory.
Only two years later, Walter, Caroline, and John Bonk were now living at 24 East Street in Wallingford. This was one minute walk from the location of the market owned by Elizabeth and her husband Joseph Łaçź and it is a short walk from Clifton Street where his half brother Konrad (my grandfather) and his family will move to in 1925. He is 19 years old.
In March of 1925, his mother Caroline passes away of stomach cancer.
On June 23, 1925, Walter married Beatrice Kasprzycki of New Haven. She was born on September 13, 1905, the fourth of nine children of John Kasprzycki and Anna Tarnowski of Meriden. The family moved to New Haven in 1917 when her father left International Silver for a job at the American Windshield Corporation.
Just over a year later, Walt and Bea’s first daughter Ann Carolyn Bonk was born on July 25, 1926.
Walter, Bea, and Ann lived at 24 East Street in Wallingford with his father, John. This was a 2 family house and I think they must have lived with him based on the listings in the Streets section of the annual directory.
This following information came from a phone conversation I had with their daughter Ann in the early 2000s:
John, Walter’s father, 55 years old at the time, met Viola Weston, a 50 year old widow and they got married. Viola had 23 and 21 year old sons, and an 18 year old daughter who came along with her to live at 24 East Street. So Walter and his family moved to New Haven, close to Bea’s family.
Walter and Bea had another daughter, Dolores LaVerne born in 1931, and another, Joan Beverly in 1933, and their son Henry in 1937.
Walter and his family remained in New Haven until John died in 1933. Ann said they moved back to Wallingford and lived in one of the apartments and Viola, based on a provision in John’s will, continued to live in the other apartment until her death in 1937.
Walter went to work as an electrician for the Wallingford Steel Mill which then became Allegheny-Ludlum Steel and worked there for his entire career.
Walter also became involved in Wallingford politics in 1944 when he was named as an alternate delegate to the state Republican Party convention as well as part of the republican town committee. He continued on for many years and he also served as the Wallingford Assessor and a second selectman.
We would see Uncle Walt and Aunt Bea once a year at the annual Fourth of July family picnic hosted by Aunt Judy and Uncle Mal and Auntie Irene and Uncle Lou. Judy and Lou were my mother’s older siblings.
Uncle Walt and Aunt Bea continued to live in their home at 24 East Street until age caught up to them. They both resided at the Skyview Nursing Home where he passed away in August 1998 at the age of 94 and she in February of 2003 at the age of 97. They had been married for 73 years.
Their children, Ann, LaVerne, Joan, and Henry were my mother’s half first cousins. But if you’ve read about her being born story, technically they’re not related at all?
My mother and Ann were 4 years apart but the Poslusznys, Bonks, and Biegas, all lived within a block or two of each other. My mom was friends with all the girls throughout her life. We may not have seen them frequently, but we knew of them all because of my mother.
Ann’s postcard sent from Middletown when she was 10 and my mother 14 says:
Dear Betty,
I am having a swell time. I miss you a lot, I miss going walking on Sunday with you. Please tell the rest of the family I was asking for them.
Your pest, Ann C. Bonk
Ann married Floyd Monroe of East Haven and they had three daughters and 4 sons. They lived for many years in Vermont and we would see them once a year at the annual Fourth of July picnic! After Floyd passed away in 1985, Ann moved back to Connecticut and became a teacher at the Wallingford Community Day Care where she was known as Miss Ann. Something I didn’t know about her until my research was she was a graduate of Yale University School of Music. Prior to that she studied piano and organ with various teachers including a professor at Yale. For two years prior to college she was the organist at St. Peter and Paul Church in Wallingford. Ann passed away in 2011.
Laverne married Ed Dziubinski and lived in Branford. They had 2 children and Ed passed away some years ago and she has since remarried.
Joan married Carl Focareto of Berlin Connecticut. He was a loud, gregarious individual and I don’t mean loud in a bad way! “Knock-out” was his nickname. I don’t know why, and it just came to me! They were married in 1954 and they had 2 children who we knew fairly well because they went to the “other” high school in Wallingford. Their daughter, Beverly, married someone from “our” high school who was good friends with one of my brothers in law, so we would see them at parties and softball games. Their son, Peter, lives a few blocks away from us.
Carl and my dad were golfing buddies. When Carl died in 1998, it hit my dad pretty hard. As a tribute to him, dad had the florist make up an arrangement that was a putting green. I wish I still had the picture of it. It was probably something they had never done before! Joan still lives in Wallingford.
My sisters and I didn’t know Henry and his family. I don’t know why. Maybe because he was born in 1937 when my mother was 15, and he was a boy?
Hank as he was known was involved in baseball and lacrosse growing up. He graduated from Tufts University and was a chemist and inventor with 34 scientific patents. He also served in the Army in South Korea. He had his wife had 2 daughters. Sadly, Hank passed away after a long battle from MS in 2021 at the age of 83.
My Behme cousins are far more familiar with Hank and his family most likely because their mother, Judy Posluszny Behme, was 2 years younger than Hank and they might have gone to Holy Trinity together. Being that close in age, they likely had their children in the same range and they too, would have been in school together. I just remember the Behme family heading off to the Bonks house during the holidays and I didn’t quite understand why we didn’t!
When I put these stories together I see so many characteristics within my family today. The scientists and musicians, the cooks and bakers, and overall smarty-pantses in the family! There’s also the “get involved in your town” and take care of people whether their friends or strangers. This is the DNA we carry within us.
As cousin Ann Bonk’s obituary said:
In memory of Ann and how she lived her life, we ask that you honor her by a simple act of kindness.
Elizabeth Eva Posluszny was the 11th born and 7th living adult child of Carolina Straub and Joseph Posluszny. She was born in Dzikowiec in the Galicia region of Poland on September 24, 1896, three years after her sister Mary.
The following year in April of 1897, Joseph Posluszny died at the age of 44. There is currently no record of the cause of death. The following May, her mother Carolina married a/the farmhand John Bonk (aka Bak). He was 26, she was 43.
The following year began the immigration of first John in 1899, followed by Joseph (1901), Konrad (1902), Charles (1905), Mary (1906), and Frank (1907).
Elizabeth was 10 years old when she arrived in the United States with her mother, stepfather, and half brother Walter. The Passenger List on their arrival indicates that John had been in the United States in Perth Amboy from 1901 to 1906. I haven’t found any actual passenger or census record to confirm that but the 1920 census say he immigrated in 1900. More research awaits!
The next record I have for Elizabeth is the 1920 Census and she is married to Joseph Łaçź (One-ch) and living on Geneva Avenue in Wallingford with Carolina and John Bonk and Walter who is now 17. Elizabeth and Joseph have two children, Joseph V born in 1916, and Charles F born in 1920. Also living with them is John Posluszny, the oldest brother John’s son. John Bonk, Walter, and Joseph are working at the Silverware Factory and John Posluszny is working at the hardware factory, both in Wallingford. At 17, Walter was an electrician which is the profession he continued with through his life.
The 1920 Wallingford directory also says Joseph and Elizabeth Łaçź lived on Geneva Street and he worked at the Silverware Factory.
There is no 1921 directory online but the 1922 directory says he is a grocer at – 105 Ward Street. The same grocer that her sister Mary and husband Victor will come to own in 1924, and later their daughter Mary and her husband Otto.
In 1924, Elizabeth disappeared. She left her husband, two children, and family. I told the story about the mental illness that runs through the Posluszny family, and the stories of my grandfather Konrad, and his brother Frank. I was told she had a complete mental breakdown. The 1924 directory says “Joseph Łaçź removed to New Britain” taking his two sons with him.
My Aunt Judy told me the family did not like Joseph. He was 12 years older than her and was 31 years old to her 19 years old at their marriage. Aunt Mary hired private detectives to try and find her but never succeeded.
I have scoured online records for any sign of Joseph or Charles but have come up empty handed. I had possible information on their father, but the information conflicts with another family tree.
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.
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.
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?
We’ll never know.
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.
I’ve written more than once about my mother’s eight week journey from diagnosis to death with Glioblastoma. My dad’s death occurred one week prior to the 23rd anniversary of my mother’s death.
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.
During this week every year, I think about that. I’ve written about my dad’s childhood, how his mother died when he was turning 3 and his father died the month before his 11th birthday. He and his older siblings were then raised by his 12 years older brother.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
It's All About Family 