Category: Posluszny Family

Imagine being a teenager and leaving your family with the possibility of never seeing them again. That’s what it was like for my grandmother Julianna Ingram, her sisters, and cousins. This is a story about being there for each other.

Julianna aka Julia aka Grammy, came to the United States in (census says) 1903. She would have been 16. She did not arrive with family to greet her. It wasn’t until 1908 that her sister Mary (Wirth-mother of Pauline and Katherine) joined her and 1912 when Elizabeth (Tante Lizzie) followed. Julia lived on her own, probably worked as a domestic, met Konrad Posluszny and married him in 1906 without family by her side.

Julia’s father, Ludwig, had 8 brothers and sisters. His sister Catherine married Franciszek Kukulska and they had three children. The oldest, Mary, was born in 1892 and came to the United States in 1908 at 16 years old. One year later she was getting married to John Juszczak and immediately became pregnant. Their marriage license shows Julia was a witness to their ceremony. By this time Julia had one child and another on the way and the first cousins lived a few blocks away from each other on Jefferson Street in Yonkers NY.

In May of 1910, Mary died giving birth to her daughter who was given the name Mary. Her husband John was a laborer in a sugar refinery and was unable to take care of the infant. He asked Julia to take the baby in and he would pay her for her care and of course, she did!

Four years later, John died in an accident at the sugar refinery. By this time Julia had 3 children of her own under the age of 5 and money was tight. She had no other option but to give Mary up for adoption. Fortunately, a couple heard of the situation through their church and adopted her. She never had to spend any time at an orphanage.

DNA testing on Ancestry led me to Mary’s daughter, Sandi. She told me that her mother’s adopted parents were lovely people. Their daughter died from diphtheria in 1914. They were good, hardworking German Methodists. Her mother knew she had been adopted but never wanted Sandi to find her family while she was alive. Sandi found the adoption documents while cleaning out her grandmother’s home in Florida after she passed away. Without those papers, we may never have figured out our connection.

I love thinking about how Grammy was by her cousin’s side when she got married and then was there for her daughter after she died. It was unfortunate that she had to give her up but she went from one family who loved her to another who was able to care for her better. The more I learn of Julianna Ingram, the more I love the thought that she runs through our veins.

This Columbus Day weekend marks THIRTY years (that’s right 3-0!) since I waved goodbye to my father and twin sister at Bradley Airport in Hartford and flew to my new home with my newly fianced fiance in California.

I knew that my family was only a long day on a plane ride away if I every wanted to visit – and we did, making sure we alternated visits back and forth until we moved back to Connecticut in 1995 (at which point my husband and son were making that journey of leaving the only home they every knew!)

Which made me start thinking – and how I manage to tie this into being All About Family…

How many of our grandparents….great grandparents….great aunts and uncles made that journey to a new home, by themselves with little to their name except a suitcase and a small amount of money in their pocket?  Many of them left knowing they would never see their family members again.

Charles Jakiela – Age 17 – to New York from Lubatowa Galacia – November 1906 – heading to uncle in “South Hingtown” CT

Antonia Liro (Jakiela) -age 21 to New York from Wielepole, Galacia – September 1910 – heading to sister in Thorndike MA

Konrad Posluszny – age 16 to New York from Wildenthal, Galacia – December 1905 – heading to his brother John in Yonkers NY (and brother John arrived in 1899 based on the 1910 census)

Julianna Ingram (Posluszny) – age 16 to New York from Padew Galacia – 1903 – heading to we are not really sure where because the only Julianna Ingram record we can find is way off age wise.  The 1910 census though says she arrived in 1903.

Caroline Straub Posluszny Bonk – age 50 – to New York from Wildenthal Galacia in 1907 with her second husband and two children aged 10 and 3 – heading to her son John in Yonkers NY

We know that it was not easy for them to leave, or easy for them once they got there but with the blessing of their families, they did it….and so did we. ❤

 

On February 19th 1888 in Padew which was part of Galacia, Julianna Gertrude was born to Gertrud Karl (which we’ve known as Kahl) and Ludwig Ingram.  She was their first born child.  Her birth was followed by her sister Mary in 1891, Elizabeth in 1894, Sophie in 1898 and Christine in 1901.  Family stories were that there was a brother Walter who was born after she immigrated to the United States but I can’t find any proof of that and he’s not listed in her obituary.  I have pictures that Aunt Tootsie claimed were of him but again – have no proof!

These are two pictures of the Ingram Family taken in Galacia.  Although the one on the left had been been labeled with the help of Aunt Tootsie, I find it hard to believe Julianna would look so mature at 10 years old!  The photo on the right shares the same two older people and I’ve been told it’s Julianna and family but I no longer am 100% sure. And there’s more mystery….

There is no logical record of Julianna on a ship manifest in the Ellis Island records.  I’ve searched my brains out over the years.  I have an index card of Judy Behme’s search and she ran into the same problem — the age and the year of arrive just doesn’t match up.  There is one record of Julianna Ingram in 1896.  Great! Found her!  Oops – if she was born in 1888 (or even 1887) would she really have come over on her own at 8 years old?  1910 and 1920 Census records say she immigrated in 1903  Great!  Only problem – can’t find any record.  A 1903 immigration would make her 14 at the time – which makes more sense.    Julianna’s sister Mary followed her to the United States in 1907 and Elizabeth in 1912.  They stayed close throughout their lives.  Elizabeth and her husband Ben lived in California but traveled to Connecticut every other year to visit family.

Mary and her husband Paul lived on Long Island and had two daughters, Pauline and Katherine.  They were both close in age to my mother, Betty, and we knew and visited Katherine and her family on Long Island and in Vermont growing up.

In one of my conversations with her daughter, Judy, she shared the following:

• Julianna said she was 18 in order to travel but was really 16  (again, age doesn’t match travel year);
• She had no sponsor so Judy doesn’t know how she was able to come here;
• A rich woman took her in and enrolled her in night school to be a servant (?) and taught her the niceties of life;
• She was German-Russian and understood Polish but her ethnic background was German;
• She was ahead of her time – “liberated” was the word Judy used!;
• She performed in plays at the Polish National Church (St. Casimer’s) a couple of times a year – Aunt Mary Posluszny Biega produced and Julianna acted;
• There was nothing she couldn’t do.  When family members would complain they couldn’t do something, she would get so impatient;
• “Grammy had more balls than Grampy”.

Julianna met Konrad in Yonkers NY where they both lived and they were married in 1908.

This marriage license was a great find for me years ago when I first started my searching.  But – her mother’s maiden name!  We always knew it to be Kahl (actually Karl) so Roupa? Sigh….

Julianna and Konrad lived in Yonkers where they had Antoinette, Conrad, Louis and Judith. While living there, Konrad worked at a hat factory and on weekends they would go to visit an Ingram relative who had a farm in the Bronx in the area of Pelham Parkway to help out.

They moved to Easthampton Massachusetts very briefly around 1920-21 while Konrad looked for work but Grammy hated it there and her daughter Judy said she didn’t unpack.  In 1922 they were living on Derby Street in New Britain where my mother was born and by 1925 they were living at 121 Clifton Street in Wallingford.  In this home of her own she had her vegetable and flower gardens and her chickens.  Her love of gardening and being outdoors definitely was born in her son Louis and Lou’s grandson Jim!

 

Judy Posluszny Behme who was the first born daughter of Louis and Irene Posluszny wrote her own family memories in 1995.  She had this to say about Grammy:

“Grandma Posluszny was always a busy woman she was a stern no nonsense woman and you knew who was the boss.  She was an extremely creative woman who’s hands never seemed to be idle and I imagine that was from being brought up on her family’s farm where she worked like a man in Germany.

Grandma did the most beautiful needlework, embroidery work, crocheting and tatting.  She loved flowers and plants and there was nothing she couldn’t grow.  In the spring through fall her yard was a glorious riot of color.  Even as a small child I remember running into the back yard just to look at the flowers.  Every shade and variety of tulip, zinnias, daisies delphiniums, poppies, mums and asters every variety you could think of.  In the house she had an infinite variety of african violets in every color and type.  I don’t believe there was a variety of flower she couldn’t grow.  She once took a leaf from a gardenia, started a plant that eventually became a large tree that was planted in a big tub which was brought out in the year in the summer and when it bloomed you could smell the scent all over the neighborhood.  At one time she had her picture in the local news about a plant called the Night Blooming Cereus or “The Century Plant” – it only bloomed once in its lifetime, at midnight, and it would be gone the next day.  The scent was heavenly.  Every downstairs room of her house had masses of plants of every variety – orchids, cactus, gloxinias.  Another of her hobbies was doing crossword puzzles – the harder the better – and she loved the Sunday ones.  Considering that she spoke no english when she came to this country, this was quite an accomplishment.  She had great pride in becoming an American and was always thankful for this country and what it gave to her.”

In December 1944, her husband Konrad died.  She was 56 years old and now a widow.  Louis and Judy were both married and out of the house.  Her son Conrad and daughters Antoinette were both in their 30s and Betty the youngest was 20.  Antoinette took over as the breadwinner in the family and they carried on.

Grammy had a heavy german accent, which for a little kid like me was very scary!  Given the option to go with my mother and Aunt Tootsie or stay with Grammy – I usually chose to go!  My sister Janice I’m pretty sure stayed.

She was proud of all her grandkids.  My first cousins, 10 to 20 years older than me have much richer memories of her than my sisters or I do.  But with a quick think I know that we all have many of her qualities in us today – Jim with his gardening; Janice with her sewing skills and gardening to name a couple!

She suffered from some form of cancer towards the end of her life and I remember she was in Skyview Convalescent Home.  She passed away on February 9, 1967 after suffering a stroke.  The Christmas picture with me, my sisters and the Behme cousins was the last picture we have with her.

The more I learn of her, the more I think about what a strong person she was.  FIERCE is the word that comes to mind.  I don’t think she put up with much and she told it like it was. Smart, independent, brave – I think every female in our family has a bit of her in them.