Burghardt – It's All About Family

Walter John Bonk

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.

*Walter standing on right in front of mother Carolina late 1907 his father is standing 4th from left*

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.

*Walter Bonk and Beatrice Kasprzycki 23 June 1925*

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.

*Gram (front), Aunt Bea, Mom, Aunt Tootsie abt. 1964*

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?

*Postcard from Ann Bonk to my mom in 1936*

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.

*Laverne with Auntie Ann, Aunt Bea, and Joan (back right)*

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.

Mary Posluszny

Mary Posluszny was the 10th born and 6th living adult child of Carolina Straub and Joseph Posluszny. Of those 10, she was the second daughter. She was born on January 21, 1893, in Dzikowiec in the Galicia region of Poland. She was named Maria as was her deceased sister, but we knew her as Mary. More specifically, Aunt Mary Biega.

In mid-November of 1906 just short of her 14th birthday, Mary departed for the United States from Hamburg, Germany on the Pretoria. The trip took 2 weeks. The manifest said she was a farmhand. I know the Posluszny family had a farm but she was the first with that occupation listed.

I found her first on the ship’s Record of Detained Aliens list. The manifest said she didn’t have a ticket to her final destination and the Detainee List said the cause of detention was “brother”. Joseph is listed as her relative on the manifest and John is the relative on the Detainee List. She was detained for one day and received 3 meals. I wonder, how easy, or difficult, would it have been to contact a family member to let them know you’ve arrived and were being detained at Ellis Island in 1906? Can you imagine sending your 14 year old daughter on a trip across the ocean by herself?

Following her arrival, her brother Frank, who was 4 years older, followed in February of 1907, and the last group, her mother, stepfather, sister, and half brother arrived in July of 1907.

Mary is front row center holding flowers. I am amazed when I look at this picture how much my cousin Ann, resembled Mary Posluszny.

Because she was the first female to arrive and not married, I am guessing that once the rest of her family arrived in the United States in early July of 1907, she lived with them in Perth Amboy New Jersey where they settled.

*Mary, seated right in 1909 for Frank and Josephine’s wedding*

Three years later in 1910, Mary married Victor Joseph Biega. She was 17 years old and he was 22 years old.

Victor was born on March 3rd 1888 in Mrzyglód Poland to Stanley and Marianna Ryniak Biega He had a brother Walter, born in 1883, and a brother, John, born in 1893. Victor arrived in the United States on February 1 1909. I determined through a newspaper article that Victor was living in Perth Amboy in 1909. Through superficial research, I found Walter and John lived their lives in Perth Amboy. Walter had a family but John never married.

I do not want to go down a rabbit hole with Walter and John but in the 1940 Census, John was a music teacher for a WPA Recreation Project. Walter had a bar in Perth Amboy called, Biega’s Tavern. Another fun fact, Walter’s daughter Helen married John Burghardt, uncle of our 3rd cousin, David.

While living in Perth Amboy, Mary and Victor’s daughter Mary E. was born in 1911 followed by Carolyn A. in 1913 and Joseph Edward in 1914.

In 1916 they were living in Wallingford and Mary gave birth to Clara who did not survive past a year. In 1918, Mary gave birth to her son Stanley G, in 1920 she had Victor John, and in 1922 she had her son John E. Unfortunately, John died in 1925.

*Headstone for Clara and John Biega / St. Casimer’s Cemetery Wallingford CT*

Victor held a variety of jobs. In 1917, he’s listed as a laborer in Wallingford and they’re living at 14 West Street. In 1920, he’s an employee at Wallace Silversmith and they’re listed as living at 30 Geneva Avenue, which was the home of her mother Caroline, but the 1920 census doesn’t list them there.

That is because they were living in South Norwalk! I discovered this from their son Victor’s 1993 obituary which said he was born in South Norwalk. They popped up in the 1923 Norwalk directory where Victor, the dad, was working as a hatter and they were living at 1 Van Buren Avenue. Her brother Charles and his wife Mary were living at #7.

But 1924 brought them back to Wallingford where they moved into 105 Ward Street and they became the owners of a grocery store on the corner of Ward Street. This occupation and address carried on through the 1950 census. His daughter Mary and son-in-law took over the grocery store and he and Aunt Mary moved to 3 East Street where Victor passed away on December 19, 1963. Fun fact – our friend Chris Heilman’s son Andrew bought that house in the early 2010s and lived there with his family for several years.

Mary and Victor’s five living children all remained in the Wallingford area.

Mary and her husband Otto Steinke bought the market at 105 Ward Street and named it Steinke’s Market. Mary died in 1972 at the age of 59. Otto died just 9 months after her. She and Otto had two daughters, who at the time of her death lived in New York City and West Burlington New York.

*Otto and Mary (Biega) Steinke’s headstone / St. Casimer’s cemetery, Wallingford*

Carolyn was a teacher in Wallingford and married Robert O’Neill in 1952. Her death appeared to be sudden at the age of 52 in December of 1965. I found no obituary but the funeral information says, “A delegation of teacher from Robert Earley Junior High School was an honor guard at the church and at the cemetery”. Mrs. Schipke and Mr. Paris, teachers we would have at Lyman Hall during the 1970s, were pall bearers.

*Victor, Carolyn, and Mary Biega July 31, 1952*

Joseph established Biega Funeral Home in Middletown in 1939 and ran it until his retirement in 1982. It is still run by his son Joseph. He was very involved in his church and community. He died in Florida in 2009 at the age of 95. In addition to Joseph, he had a son, Robert.

Stanley was a dentist in Wallingford for many years. He and his wife Roberta and their three children lived on the other side of the horseshoe from our house. He died in 1988 at the age of 70. One of his three children, Lee (short for Stanley), married a neighborhood girl and they live a block or two away from us today. Their son is a year or two older than my son who is turning 35 this year.

Victor, who was not a junior as he had a different middle name, also lived in Wallingford. He served in World War II in the Army Airborne Division. Well, he trained with the Airborne infantry in Georgia and South Dakota but when his outfit was still not scheduled for overseas, he “traded his parachute for a rifle and went over seas with the 30th Division, joining the third army in France. He was injured shortly after arriving. When he recovered he went back out to fight. It was while battling on the plains near Cologne that he received injuries resulting in the loss of his leg. He came home in 1945 and received the Purple Heart. He married in 1947 and died in 1993 at the age of 73. He had one son, Victor Jr, and two daughters, Susan and Robin along with five grandchildren at the time of his death.

Victor and his wife Florence had a cottage at Pickerel Lake in Colchester near my Aunt Judy and Uncle Mal and Auntie Irene and Uncle Lou. On occasion some of the 4th of July partiers would head down to their cottage to visit. That was the extent of my knowing him!

*Aunt Mary Biega (year unknown but likely her 80s or 90s)*

My third cousin David Burghardt remembers Mary Biega because he grew up on Simpson Avenue in one of two houses his family owned on the property. Aunt Mary would go to their house to play cards. David’s grandmother was Julianna Straub Burghardt and her father, Albert, was my great-grandmother Carolina’s brother. He also recalls visiting her at her home on East Street.

I relayed the story in one of my Aunt Judy posts of how my grandmother Julianna and Aunt Mary would be a part of plays that were performed at St. Casimer’s Church. My grandmother acted and Aunt Mary directed.

Although I was 35 when Aunt Mary died, we didn’t visit her or know her very well through my growing up years. We would see her at the Fourth of July parties held at Pickerel Lake. Her half brother, Walter Bonk and his wife Beatrice would bring her with them. This led me to think that Aunt Mary was his mother! In my older teen years, I understood who she was and I was impressed that she was my grandfather’s sister.

After her husband Victor’s death, Mary continued to live at 3 East Street before she moved into senior housing at 11 McKenna Court, the site of the former Washington Street School. Mary lived there until her death on May 1, 1995 at the age of 102 years old! She outlived her husband, her 7 full siblings, and all but one of her 7 children.

*Victor and Mary Biega headstone / St. Casimer’s Cemetery Wallingford CT*

The Search Continues

Most of you know I have been researching all sides of our family when Ancestry.com was a twinkle in the creators’ eye. It started with personal stories, microfilm at the library, town clerk records, funeral cards that were kept in dresser drawers (when hoarding is a good thing). God bless Aunt Tootsie for being the keeper of family photos and Judy Behme for working with me and for handing over these photos for preservation.

Ancestry.com with it’s public records all in one place, online family trees and the creation of DNA matches has been a gold mine (but sometimes a curse!). I have been able to work alongside cousin Cathy Bellafronto on the other side of the world to add members to the tree.

But even with new information available, Grammy Julianna Ingram Posluszny born February 19, 1888 continues to be a little bit of a mystery to us in the present day.

We know this for fact – she had 2 sisters in the United States. Mary (Marianna, Marya) born 1891 who later became Mary Wirth mother of cousin Katherine and cousin Pauline; and Elizabeth (Elzbieta) born 1894, and married to Ben Weiss (Uncle Ben and Tante Lizzie of Los Angeles). However, Grammy’s obituary mentions 4 sisters, with 2 of them in Poland along with a brother Walter also in Poland.

Recent website discoveries show me yes indeed, there are 4 sisters – Marianna, Elzbieta, Zofia (b. 1898) and Christine (b. 1901). However, there is no record of Walter, but there is Franciszek Jozef born in 1896! Well, there are 2 boys in the picture at the top. So now we have Julianna born 1888, Mariana in 1891, Elzbieta 1894, Franciszek 1896, Zofia 1898 and Christina 1901. And Walter. So there are a few more people – mother Gertruda and father Ludwick and someone else – in the picture but I think we have the siblings fleshed out now.

Which leads to another mystery. Family stories and a medium agree that Julianna was young when she came to the United States. Younger than stated in manifest records. But how young? One record that has been found by me and cousin Loisanne list a Julianna Ingram arrived in New York on June 19, 1896 from Bremen on the Bonn. Based on the year she would have been NINE YEARS OLD. Possible? Then is she even in the second picture?

Her marriage license to Konrad Posluszny in July of 1906 states she is 19 years old consistent with a 1887/1888 birth year. The 1910 census says she immigrated in 1900 and the 1920 census is a little hard to read but transcription also says 1900 which would make her a more reasonable 12(!). So where is her ship manifest record? Maybe they fudged her age but would they really send her off at nine years old and if so, why? Did she travel under a different name? Unfortunately the records online from Padew – actually living, breathing scanned copies of the records which force me to keep my Polish to English and Latin to English app open – only run from 1890 to 1899 so, no record of Julianna’s birth.

Maybe there was something going on? Reasons they felt she should leave? It wouldn’t be the first time that they lied about age. Marianna’s manifest record says she was 18 years old for her trip in 1907 when she was actually 16 years old.

So there it is — if anyone has any ideas, suggestions, comments – please share them! What I have discovered is my great great grandparents are Sebastian Ingram and Elizabetha Burghardt and Andreas Kahl and Catherine Jung.