2026 – It's All About Family

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!

The Potter Mansion

From approximately 1901 to late 1936, this home sat at the corner of present day South Main Street and Cedar Street (heading towards Grandview Avenue) in Wallingford, Connecticut.

The home was built for Mary Kate Linsly Potter. Mary Kate was born in 1848 to Dr. Jared Linsly and his wife, Catherine, and raised in New York City. She married Orlando Brunson Potter in 1880 after the death of his first wife. Potter was a millionaire who owned many properties in the city, a lawyer, and an ex-congressman, as well as a prominent figure in the business and political life of New York. He died on January 2, 1894, 14 years into their marriage. He also left four children, ages 16 through 25, from his first marriage.

Mary Kate’s sister Sophia Linsly was married to Noah Linsley and they lived in Wallingford at 353 South Main Street on the corner of Pine Street. The home was built in 1880 and still stands today. Some residents may recognize it as Dr. Lawrence’s dental office and home for many years.

Sophia encouraged Mary Kate to come to Wallingford and she had the perfect location. The corner of South Main and Hall Street as it was known at the time. Perfect because Sophia owned the land! Sale records from the town clerk’s office listed it as 214 feet front and rear and 330 feet deep.

*The Potter Mansion early years* *origin of picture unknown*

Mrs. Potter hired the C.F. Wooding Company to build her home. It had 10 rooms, three bathrooms, five fireplaces with attractive mantlepieces and a staircase of unusual beauty. The rooms were very large and the paneling denoted excellent workmanship. It stood on a large tract of land beautifully situated upon which a large number of fine stately trees added to the beauty of the place. (Record Journal 9/2/1936).

*1905 Wallingford map showing location of Potter Mansion and the Linsley Home*

Mary Kate, or Mrs. O.B. Potter as she was known in the newspapers, used her Wallingford home each year from late May/Early June until mid-November. It was known as “The Cedars” (Record Journal 6/12/1908) and “Linsly Lodge” (Record Journal 6/28/1911) during her use and her arrivals and departures were noted throughout her time here.

*The summer comings and goings of Mrs. Potter*

In the winter, she lived on East 80th Street in New York City with three servants.

During the time period Mrs. Potter owned her home, there was one home built in the vicinity of it. The newspaper reported in December of 1924 that a permit for a home for Emil Schmidt was submitted. The property was located “rear of Potter Mansion” and it would be a one story, six room bungalow western design with a sleeping porch and breakfast room.

In early September of 1925, the newspaper reported that Mrs. Potter was in critical condition and in the care of two nurses. She passed away at her South Main Street home on September 16, 1925 at the age of 77. Her body was removed to New York for her funeral and she is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn alongside her husband Orlando Brunson Potter and other family members.

After her death, Sophia and Noah Linsley maintained the home and allowed it to be used for various events. The Congregational Church held a Benefit Bridge-Whist (card games) fundraiser for their Christmas Fund and a flower show hosted by the Wallingford Garden Club brought over 500 visitors, many from out of town. (Record Journal 9/16/1930)

Unfortunately, as time passed with no one living there or maintaining it, the home fell into a state of disrepair, and was finally boarded up to prevent continued vandalism.

For the next few years, there were negotiations for the sale of the home and property but nothing came to fruition. Finally, in June of 1936 the property was sold to Joseph Busa/Buza who intended to tear down the mansion and convert it into building lots for real estate development (Record Journal 6/3/1936)

The dismantling began in late August of 1936 and half of it was removed to be used for other construction projects. Buza’s plan was to place 4 homes on South Main Street, 3 on Hall (Cedar) Street, and one “in the rear”. Construction for two homes on Hall Street were completed in the last 3 months of 1936 for Captain J. Orten Gadd and Frank Ollayos. (Record Journal 9/2/1936).

In early 1937, a home was completed on South Main Street for Robbins A. Hall. It was a 7 room colonial and contained a tile bath and a 2 car garage. (Record Journal 1/30/1937). # 1 on map below.

Maltby Stevens awarded a building contract to Joseph Buza for his home on the corner of South Main Street and Hall Avenue. It was to be an “English style cottage” and would cost approximately $9,000. In the same article Joseph Buza is building a home for his family. (Record Journal 2/13/37 and 3/3/1937) # 2 on map below.

Once the seven homes were completed, there was another development in the works. This development contained 14 building lots and would be known as Morningside Terrace. The property was sold to Joseph F. Buza, a relative of the Potter Mansion development by Emil Schmidt. “The land affords an excellent view of Long Hill and beyond that to the eastern mountain range for miles in both directions.” Emil and his wife lived at the end of Hall Street and their home sits at the corner with Morningside Terrace. (The Journal 9/21/1937).

Between 1951 and 1955, Hall Street became Cedar Street. Cedar now runs from South Orchard Street east to a dead end just past Morningside Terrace. All the homes built in 1937 on Hall Street and Morningside Terrace still stand today.

*2025 view of South Main Street and Hall/Cedar Street*

Reviewing town directories for the 1937 time period I matched up the names to the homes:
#1 – Robbins A. Hall
#2 – Maltby Stevens
#3 – Herbert Crump (not mentioned)
#4 – Frank Ollayos
#5 – Captain J. Orten Gadd
#6 – Emil Schmidt – built in 1924
#7 – Edward Clark (not mentioned)

I thought it might be fun to look at a side by side of this area between 1905 and 2025

I’m not sure exactly when I heard about the Potter Mansion. We walked or drove down South Main Street and Hall Street every day growing up in 1960s and 1970s, and I wonder if one of my parents ever mentioned it. In 2014, a picture showed up in a Facebook group about old homes but no one had any information. The idea that a house of this size was on that corner for a relatively short period of time has always astounded me and I just wanted to tell its story.

*A later picture based on the size of the tree in front*

Admirable Ancestor

The Week 1 topic for 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks for 2026 is “an ancestor I admire” and after looking at my family tree, I’ve decided that falls on my great grandmother Carolina Straub Posluszny Bonk. Although, technically, she is not my biological great grandmother, her son, Konrad and my grandmother Julianna Ingram were 2nd or 3rd cousins, so there is Carolina DNA in my body.

Carolina was born on April 12, 1855 in Wildenthal (what is now Dzikowiec) in the Galicia region of Poland. She was part of “an ethnic German population living in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in the Austrian Empire established in 1772 as a result of the First Partition of Poland” (Wikipedia). This area was also known as Austrian Galicia or Austrian Poland for my family members asking are we Polish or Austrian or German? The answer would be “all of them”!

If her siblings list is accurate, Carolina was the 11th child born of 15 to her parents. Four of them born prior to her, died at birth or in their infancy. Carolina herself would give birth to 14 children with eight living past five years old.

She married Joseph Posluszny on May 31, 1876 in Wildenthal and she gave birth to her first child in March of 1879 when she was 24 years old.

Seven months following the birth of her daughter Elizabeth Eva in September of 1896, her husband and my great grandfather, Joseph Posluszny passed away. Carolina became a widow at the age of 41 with seven children ranging in age from 16 to 7 months old.

Last September, another of Carolina’s great-granddaughters through her son Joseph contacted me after finding this blog in google. She told me the following: “Pa’s father had been the village blacksmith. Pa’s father had an apprentice. His name was John Bonk. When Pa’s father died, John Bonk took over the blacksmith shop and apparently the family. Pa was not happy with this and it was about that time that he left Austria.”

Carolina and John Bonk were married on May 12, 1898. Carolina gave birth to a daughter who died at birth and in 1903 at the age of 48, gave birth to a son Walter John Bonk.

Her older sons did head to the United States shortly after her marriage to John. Her son John left in 1899, Konrad in 1900, and Joseph in 1901.

Carolina, John, daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and their son Walter immigrated in July of 1907 and resided in Perth Amboy New Jersey until their final destination of Wallingford Connecticut.

*The Posluszny/Bonk Family about mid/late 1907*

This photo ends up in nearly every Posluszny post. Carolina is seated on the right, with her son Walter in front of her. She is 52 years old at the time of this photo in 1907.

*Frank and Josephine Posluszny wedding 8/1909 – Carolina front left*, *husband John Bonk behind her*

She, along with her daughter Mary, was an active member in the local Polish National Catholic Church in Wallingford, St. Casimir’s Church.

Carolina died at the age of 70 (not 64 as the newspaper article said) after suffering from stomach cancer. My Aunt Judy told me in a conversation years ago, that she and her mother, my grandmother Julianna, would go to Carolina’s house a few blocks away to take care of her when she was ill. Also, that my grandfather Konrad and Julianna were kind to her second husband. Carolina and John gave my grandparents the downpayment for their home in Wallingford on Clifton Street. I found it touching that my grandmother did the same for my parents when they purchased our home here on Atkinson Lane.

She is buried in the Polish National cemetery in Wallingford.

*Carolina Bonk – St. Casimir’s cemetery*

I can’t imagine a life with 14 siblings, or to give birth to 14 children only to have 3 die in the same year from smallpox. I don’t know the cause of her husband’s death at the age of 43, but with young children still at home and a business to run, the best option was to married the hired help. She did what she had to, to survive. She was well-respected in her church and community at their death and that makes me proud of her.