Jakiela – Page 3 – It's All About Family

The End of the Line….

The week 31 topic for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is End of the Line. This story will not go in the direction you automatically think of when hearing “end of the line”.

If my teacher was putting the class in order of height, “Nancy, you go to the end of the line” would not come out of her mouth ever in 8 years at Holy Trinity School. Only if I was being separated from my sister or friends because I couldn’t stop talking!

My ancestors did NOT bring the height to my family. At the time of their ocean voyages, my grandfather Charles Jakiela, at 17 was 4’9”. My grandmother Antonia Liro, at 21 was also 4’9”. I have no ship manifest for my grandmother, Julianna Ingram, but her sister Mary’s record says she was 4’8”. My biological grandfather, Jacob Engram Jr, is listed as 5’9” on his WWII draft registration card. He’s a jolly green giant compared to the others.

The height issue is evident in Charles and Antonia’s 1912 wedding photo which looks like they put their heads into cardboard cut outs of a bride and groom.

*Charles and Antonia Jakiela June 24, 1912*

Their four male children ended up between Steve at 5’5” and Walt who reached 5’9”. If his parents had been alive when he registered for the draft, he would have towered over them by a foot!

My dad, John Jakiela, was 5’6” and my mother was 5’3”. I always say, “if I wasn’t born a twin I bet I would have been taller!” But, in all seriousness, I’ll take my twin over the height.

*2nd and 3rd in line (Dana Smith leading the way)*

Janice, at 18 months older, always had 2-3 inches on us. Just enough to not have to hem every pair of pants she got! Gail and I had a 4” growth spurt in 6th grade and except for a few more inches between then and 18, we were done at 4’11”. In standing in a line by height, we’re forever in the front and the shortest of all the relatives.

It pays to marry up! All five of the next generation are over 5 feet and the two of the next generation look like they will be able to take their place at… the end of the line.

They Came In Boats

The week 30 topic for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Boats. I’m a week late, will try to get back on track!

SS Blücher from Hamburg Germany to New York. It carried 2,102 passengers; 333 first class, 169 second class, and 1,600 third class. My material grandfather, Konrad Posluszny, arrived on this ship on December 5, 1902.

SS Vaderland in 1906 from Antwerp Belgium. It was part of the Red Star Line. It carried 342 first class, 194 second class, and 626 third class passengers. My paternal grandfather, Charles Jakiela, arrived on this ship on November 17, 1906.

SS George Washington in 1910 from Bremen Germany. When it launched in 1908 it was the largest German built steam ship and third largest in the world and could carry 2,900 passengers. My paternal grandmother, Antonia Liro arrived on this ship in September of 1910.

*SS. George Washington from Bremen Germany*

These are just a few of the ships my ancestors sailed on during their immigration from the German-Austrian region called Galicia.

Second and third class passengers were divided into “messes” and cooked their own food and cleaned their own berths. These trips took approximately 11-15 days. They would usually bring a trunk of belongings which went in the hold for the duration of the trip and they would bring a bag with the essentials for their travel. I found this information here .

My grandfather Posluszny was traveling with $3 in his possession. Based on a conversation website, that is the equivalent of $109.72. Imagine traveling somewhere today with not $109.72 on you with no other options to pay for anything!

The all passed through Ellis Island on their way to New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts where they settled into their new lives.

The Trip of a Lifetime

The Week 27 topic of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Airplanes.

I told you about my dad’s experience being stationed in England during WWII in the Effects of War post in June. That’s pretty much the extent of any stories about airplanes because most of my other family members were in the Navy! But here’s a fun memory –

St. Patrick’s Day in 1986 was on a Monday. On that morning, while upstairs getting ready for work, I heard a commotion downstairs. My mother was in the kitchen having breakfast, what happened? I suddenly remembered, she was in competition to win a trip to Ireland through WELI 960 radio and OMG her name must have been called!

I raced downstairs to check on her and yes, they said her name! Evidently, she called once and was so hysterical they hung up on her! Finally she got through to them to claim her prize. An all-expense paid trip for two to Ireland!

My parents, both in their early 60s, had never been on a plane before! They applied and received their passports, applied for a credit card, received their foreign country drivers license, and they were ready to go on August 26, 1986.

I remember the day they left, someone from my mother’s office was driving them from Connecticut to JFK airport and he was late picking them up! I’m sure they were silently swearing while waiting for him and on the ride, but they made it!

I have no record of their travel while there, but I know they kissed the Blarney Stone, stayed at some little bed and breakfast sites, and shopped. My mom bought me a kilt in the Dress Stewart pattern and claddagh earrings because I already had a ring. I wore the skirt for years and hung onto it for many more.

They had a wonderful seven days exploring Ireland together before returning home on September 2nd.

It is fortunate they had this time together because only a few months later my mother started exhibiting signs of memory loss. At the end of January 1987, she was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiform, and she passed away on April 4, 1987. I’m grateful they were able to experience this trip of a lifetime!

The Story Teller

The topic for Week 25 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, is The Story Teller.

I’ll tell you how and why I started researching and writing about my ancestors.

American history was one of my favorite subjects in school. How the United States was created, and the people involved. The first biography I read was on Abigail Adams in elementary school. I loved the Little House on the Prarie books imagining what life was like in those days.

I noticed in my 20s that I asked many questions about people – where they came from, their families, education – and I loved hearing stories about them and their lives.

Everyone on my maternal side of the family lived nearby so I knew their names, I knew the names of my maternal great-grandparents because their pictures were hanging on the wall at my grandmother’s house (just their faces – it was a little strange!). On the left in the background of the picture below are my grandmother Julianna and grandfather Konrad. On the right is my maternal great-grandmother Gertrude and great-grandfather Ludwig.

Uncle Connie, Aunt Tootsie, and Aunt Judy 1960

My paternal side was similar but different. Out of 5 siblings, 3 lived in the Wallingford. One, Uncle Eddie, lived in Meriden with his wife and two sons. I have no memory of meeting Aunt Ann or his sons although we went to a son’s wedding when I was 9 or 10. Uncle Walt was in the Navy and lived primarily in California and Louisianna with his wife and two sons.

So what prompted my Ancestry search and storytelling?

The ancestry part came about on our move from California to Connecticut. We stopped in Meeker Oklahoma to visit with my husband’s family. We met with his sister Linda and Cody and I met his Aunt Katherine and Great-Aunt Mildred. Aunt Mildred was her family researcher. She had family sheets for her and her husband Jesse and all of Jesse’s siblings, at least 10 that lived to adulthood including my husband’s grandmother Virgia Cleo.

While reading through the family sheets and various notes, it was exciting to think about the place in history this family held. It made me curious about mine.

Between 1995 and 2000, I used Family Tree Maker software for my work. In 2000, Ancestry created its website to help people share their family trees and information. I still had to mail requests for documents but this was a good start. Once documents started coming and people added more information, it was easier to piece information together. The stronger Ancestry has become the more family there is and the DNA connections made it even stronger. My Heritage is another site I joined because it is a better tool for Eastern European records.

From there, I started asking questions of my older family members like my dad and his siblings and my mother’s two sisters. They were all full of information and of course, Aunt Tootsie had all the family pictures. The stories they told were usually stand-alone but sometimes a comment would be a clue to help something else suddenly make sense or confirm what someone else had said. I remember how crazy it was to discover my half-aunt Joanne through DNA when we couldn’t figure out how we were related or to hear about my grandmother taking in her cousin’s infant daughter and then seeing the documents where she had to give her up for adoption because of her own growing family.

I’m always excited when I find new ancestors or learn the dates and locations where they lived. It helps to piece together their lives and the stories are created from there. Some people left us far too soon. By telling their stories, someone will realize they got those woodworking skills from their dad, grandfather, AND great-grandfather. Or that fierceness comes from their great-grandmother. Telling their stories keeps the connections to the past alive.

What Doesn’t Kill You…..

The topic for Week 24 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, is Hard Times.

This is the story about my dad’s family, The Jakiela Family.

Their story, as I know it, begins with my grandfather, Charles, born in August of 1890 to Ignacy and Catharina (Murdzck) Jakiela. He would have a brother born in 1893 and a sister in 1894.

His mother died in 1894, the same year his sister was born, which makes me think her death might have been related. Charles was not yet 3 years old.

His father married Victoria Borek in October of 1894.

*Marriage record for Ignacy and Victoria*

Charles left for the United States in November of 1906 when he was 16 years old. He traveled with a cousin, Pawel Murdzck with Charles heading to Southington Connecticut and Pawel to Braddock Pennsylvania. I don’t know if they ever saw each other again.

Charles made his way to Palmer Massachusetts and the fabric mills. There he met his wife, Antonia Liro who immigrated in 1910 and had headed north to live with her sister Aniela and her husband Joseph Mikula and their children.

They were married in 1912 and made their way back to Southington where she gave birth to Steven in 1913 and Edward in 1915, and Charles worked for a Peck, Stowe, and Wilcox which manufactured tools and was the largest employer in Southington.

Life might have been good for a time, Charles continued to work at PS&W, and Antonia took care of their 2 young sons but then World War I came along.

Charles completed his draft registration card and family lore says he wanted to go to war because he “of his love for the country that took him in”. After hearing about some of the anti-immigrant sentiment, I wonder if he felt like he had no choice. Whatever the reason, he headed to Camp Devens in Ayers Massachusetts in May of 1917. He became a citizen of the United States June 26, 1918 under the May 9, 1918 while at Camp Devens.

*Charles’ naturalization certificate – years later, cousin Steve had a deli in the same location* *at 31 Liberty Street Southington!*

He headed sailed out of Boston on the September 4, 1918 along with the 301 Trench Mortar Battery of the 76th Division. Just in time for the Meuse-Argonne Campaign in France which would lead to the end of the war.

I don’t know how he fared in the trenches, but on the way back to port and the transport ship to take him home, his train ran over an unexploded munitions over a trestle. The bomb went off and he ended up in the river. This is another family story. A friend from home who was also on the train, saved his life. He came home with a scar running from his forehead to the back of his head. But he came home!

He arrived back in Boston Massachusetts on April 26, 1919 aboard the SS Santa Rosa from Pauillac France.

Charles and Antonia wasted no time in restarting their family and Helen was born in March of 1920! Followed by Walter in November 1921 and my dad, John, in June 1924.

The town directory shows Charles went back to Peck, Stowe & Wilcox and they lived in a variety of rentals in the area of the factory.

Everything came to a halt in the early morning of April 1, 1927 when Antonia died from pregnancy complications and Charles was left with five children, the youngest not quite 3 years old. Sound familiar?

I’ve told this part of the story a few times. Charles was devastated. He gave my dad to his godmother, and brought Walt and Helen up to Massachusetts to be taken care of by their Uncle Joe. Steve and Eddie stayed with him in Southington. When they moved to Wallingford in February of the following year, the family was brought back together again. I think that’s where the story I heard comes from, that the kids ran away from him, and he realized it was time to bring them back.

Charles drank, had a hard time holding a job, and wrote many letters to the Veterans Administration asking for more money. When they moved to their last rental on Prince Street, Eddie, now a teenager worked for the baker next door. After a few weeks of not getting paid, he asked the baker for his pay. The baker informed him he had a deal with his father that Eddie was working for their rent.

I was told he was a talented craftsman and that he made a beautiful wooden cross for Antonia’s grave. Uncle Joe would send him fabric from the mills and he would sew pillow cases for the house, and one time he made a wardrobe in the basement. The only problem was it was too big to get upstairs. So he took it apart and remade it. That’s where my dad got his talent.

My Auntie Helen told me they attended Whittlesey Avenue School, but when it got crowded, they were sent to Colony Street School. She liked Colony better because at Whittlesey the children from the fancy homes on Main Street were snobs. The kids in the Colony Street area were on a more economic level with her family.

They were fortunate to have St. Peter and Paul’s church to go to. Walt and John were altar boys and Helen cleaned the church. Did Charles ever attend? I don’t know but Charles got angry when my dad couldn’t say his prayers in Polish.

Charles died in May of 1935 in a hit and run accident while walking home one night. He was identified by the letter in his pocket from Stanley Judd of New Britain offering him a job that he would have started the following week. My father was not yet 11 years old.

Life might have been good before Charles went off to war but I think he came home, obviously injured, but also suffering from PTSD. Poor Antonia, how did she survive financially during the year and a half he was gone? How did Charles survive with five children to take care of, and have to work?

All five siblings grew up to have families and were successful in their lives. They persevered through the hard times and were always there for each other.

Thinking of them, I think of our professions and jobs that my sisters and I have had. Janice is a retired pediatric ICU nurse, Gail worked for years as a paraprofessional in elementary school following the same child from first grade through fifth grade and then would start all over again with a new child, I worked in an elementary school library, in the cafeteria, and then became a big sister to a first grader being raised by his grandmother. We all saw children and parents going through hard times and we all rose to the challenge to make their lives a little better while in our care.

How’s Your Health

The Topic for Week 23 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is HEALTH.

When I think about my parents’ and their siblings and parents health, I take into consideration the time period they all lived. Although foods would have been fresher, they also smoked unfiltered cigarettes, drank and didn’t have a fitness regime like we do today!

In looking at the lives of my mother and father and their siblings and parents, the ages they died are all over the place. It doesn’t really reflect what their health was like. For example, my mother was in decent health aside from her arthritis in her hips but then along came the unexpected brain cancer when she was 64. Or my dad, who rode his bike all over the shoreline on the weeks and golfed during the week, still ended up with congestive heart failure, a triple bypass, and vascular disease leading to a leg amputation when he was 78. Although he survived it all and died at 86, I really wish he’d gone to a doctor when he was feeling poorly!

Is it the luck of the draw? My mother’s two sisters, Tootsie and Judy, lived until ages 101 and 99! But her two brother, Connie and Lou, died at 71 from a heart attack, and 70 from lung cancer.

On my dad’s side, Helen lived until 95. Now that one makes sense because she walked everywhere! I think she also watched what she ate and stayed fit, but she had health problems in her last few years.

My dad was a great example to us growing up for staying active. On Sundays, he would take us, and other kids in the neighborhood if they wanted to, on bike rides around town or on walks. He played tag in the snow with us and took us sledding at the country club.

My generation knows so much more and we have so much available to us to stay healthy longer than our ancestors. We have to take advantage of it!

Creativity

The topic for Week 22 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Creativity!

I feel like I have shared so much over these 21 weeks of the creative talents in my family with my grandmother Julianna Ingram Posluzny and her plants and needlework and dressmaking, my Aunt Tootsie with her knitting and sewing talents, and my dad with his carpentry and picture framing skills.

But there are additional creative people in my family tree and as usual, I’m not going to go very far up the limbs because I pretty much only know 3 generations back, counting my own! The definition of creative says: “Relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.”

First up – my husband Mark. Besides being an awesome carpenter/designer, my husband likes to paint. He “dabbles” in it, and I try to get him to do a little more, but he won’t listen to me. Here are a few of his pictures that I have taken from the pile of canvases in the basement.

Next is my sister Gail who has such a talent for words and writing poems! I don’t know if she does anymore but she wrote some wonderful ones while we were growing up, including one about being twins.

Besides picture framing, my dad had a really artistic side. As I was thinking about this post, I remembered he would make dried-flower pictures and frame them with beautiful mats and frames. It was the 70s and that was really in.

Remember the Currier & Ives calendars? He received them at the paint store and he would take a picture and make a shadow box! For example, with this picture, he would paint the sides to extend the scenery, and add little people to look like they were standing on the shore, there might even be a boat or two! He loved making them and all the grandkids got one when they were young.

Culinary creativity runs in the family too! My dad’s brother Steve Jakiela was a butcher extraordinaire for over 40 years at Caplan’s Market in Wallingford. He learned on the job and could likely carve up a carcass with his eyes closed!

My mother’s brother Conrad Posluszny was a talented baker who started out with “Old Mr. Heilman” at his bakery, was a baker at Choate School in the early 50s, owned Connie’s Bake Shop at 96 Quinnipiac Street in Wallingford, currently the location of something called “The Shop”. He met Auntie Anne (Martineck Yasensky), who he would marry in 1962 while he owned the bakery. In the late 50s, he went to work as the baker at Masonic Home and was there, working overnight to prepare delicious desserts and breads until he passed away while at work in November of 1981.

My cousin Judy Posluszny Behme inherited that culinary creativity gene and could whip up anything you asked her too. Uncle Connie probably made her wedding cake in 1959 and she made MY wedding cake in 1988. We loved going to her house for holidays.

I think everyone in my family has a creative streak in them and if I didn’t include you here please forgive me! Share it with us in the comments, or in the Facebook comments.

Nicknames

The topic for week 21 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is – Nicknames.

Where do they start? Is it a shortening of someone’s name? Something someone said, something they did? In my family, it’s a little bit of everything!

In my mother’s family, there were some simple nicknames – Elizabeth was known as Betty and Conrad was called Connie. But Antoinette became Tootsie! In my head I can hear her being called T and maybe that turned into Toot and from there – Tootsie. I don’t think we ever heard the story of her nickname.

In my father’s family, their nicknames may have been more the version of their names. Steve was called Stas in a letter from their uncle. Walt was known as Vots, Helen was Helchie, and my dad John was called Yunk and Yunkie all his life.

When I was growing up we were told the names my sisters and I were given, Janice, Gail, and Nancy, were so people couldn’t make nicknames out of them! Of course, we are called Janny, Gaily, Nan or Nanner, so that theory went right out the window! Maybe my mother didn’t enjoy being called Betty instead of Elizabeth so she tried to prevent something like that.

In high school, my twin Gail and I were called JakTwin 1 and JakTwin 2. Eventually for me, it was shortened to Jak and is a name some friends still call me today. A few have said they didn’t know my first name was really Nancy!

My husband Mark, for much of his adult life was called Rocky. You might think it was because he was big and strong like Rocky Balboa. Unfortunately, no. It was for Rocket J. Squirrel, the pal of Bullwinkle because he was “flighty”. Friends said he would say one thing and do another.

Do you have a nickname? How do you feel about it?

The J. Lacourciere Paint Co.

The topic for week 20 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is – Taking Care of Business. I thought there was no better person to talk about than my dad, John Jakiela.

My dad graduated from high school in 1942. He was already working part time at the steel mill during high school and continued to do so until he headed to England during WWII.

When he came back to Wallingford, he returned to the steel mill for a brief time but said he was concerned about what he was breathing in so it was time to move on. He began working on a painting crew and that led him to working for The J. Lacourciere Paint Co. in Meriden and Wallingford Connecticut.

He worked on one of their painting crews and they painted and wallpapered hundreds of homes in Meriden and the surrounding area.

By the early 1950s, he was working in the Meriden store as a clerk.

There were 2 stores, one in Wallingford on Center Street at the current location of Cafe Luca and the Meriden store. The building the Meriden store was housed in was at 55 Grove Street in Meriden. It was an old brick building with very high decorative ceilings, a loft where the accounting was done, and an attic. Customers came in off the street through the front door and the back door – this old wood door with a bunch of locks – brought us in from the small parking lot in back. On the right side was the back of Firestone Tire which faced West Main Street and on the left side was the Capitol Theater. The theater was torn down for a parking garage in 1985 approximately.

While we were growing up, my dad worked Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. He had a half day on Wednesdays and worked Saturday mornings. He also worked until 8pm on Fridays. Every Friday he went to Verdolini’s for a pizza pie. He’d eat it on his dinner break and bring home the rest where my sister’s and I would fight over who got the left overs. I think there were usually 3 pieces left?

*Verdolini’s Pizza – my introduction to GOOD pizza*

I remember visiting the store and we would love to flip through the wallpaper sample books and all the tubes of paint in the art supplies. We’d pore over the paint sample stand and pick out our favorite colors. The year he made us a doll house we used the sample pages to wall paper the walls. We also used the pages to wrap bricks (yes, bricks) for door stops and book ends in the bookcases he built us.

In 1971, Clarence Lacourciere passed away at 69 years old. Then in 1973, Royal, the remaining brother managing the Meriden store passed away at age 75. I’m sure at this moment my parents had concerns about the future of my dad’s job. I don’t know how it came about, but my parent’s bought the store (the contents, and name) from the family and my dad ran the store as he had since 1951.

*Advertisements in the Record-Journal 1975* *and 1976*

In the Lacourciere family there was also a sister, Viola. I was doing my newspaper search for this story where I finally made the connection to “Viola L. Flynn”, a woman who sent us postcards from her trips, gave us Christmas gifts of pins (I still have a few!) and bracelets, and books. It was their sister! It was such a sweet surprise when I realized who she was.

As I mentioned, there was a Wallingford Lacourciere store and that was run by Oryle, a younger brother, born in 1911. Judging by the advertisement that Oryle and his wife printed in the newspaper, it looks like, to me, that they wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Meriden store was no longer owned by the Lacourciere family! Oryle closed his Wallingford store in 1980.

*Ad posted by Oryle Lacourciere after my dad bought the Meriden store*

My parents ran the store from 1975 until they made the decision to close the store in 1981. By the early 80s (or earlier), box stores made their way into the retail landscape and it was more convenient to buy paint there along with whatever other home improvement items you needed.

Since they didn’t own the building, just the contents, they sold off everything. He was friends with a local Wallingford Antique dealer, Red O’Connell, who came in and took anything he could sell at his barn.

Right around the time he decided to close the store, my dad saw and answered an ad for a painter/wall paperer at Gaylord Hospital and Rehabilitation in Wallingford. With his talent and years of experience, of course he got the job! He loved it. No more worries about bills, or getting broken into, which was a common occurrence. He was closer to home and with a golf course next door, he’d go out there on his lunch hour and pick up lost golf balls or maybe hit a few. An added bonus a few years later, was my sister Gail getting a job there. He could visit her every day in the Occupational Therapy department! But the day he turned 65 – he was done, retired! It was off to the golf course nearly every day and usually more than one round! Weekends he’d put his bicycle in the back of his truck and ride the roads and bike trails in Old Saybrook by the water.

But he didn’t put his talents to rest. Even while he was working at Gaylord, he took the framing machine from the paint store, set it up in the basement and started his picture framing business. He was so creative when it came to mats and colors and frames! I would always say “just do what you think is best!” A couple of years ago, we were at a house nearby looking at a kitchen remodel and the woman offered up furniture and pictures in her basement. We liked one picture and when my husband took it off the wall and I saw the back, I got so excited because – my father had framed it! His stamp was on the back!

My dad was an incredibly talented man. He was creative with colors and style. He remodeled our entire house (we helped with the demo!), and built our kitchen cabinets. His father was talented with wood and I think he was the only son who took after him. I’m glad he was able to continue the business, and was able to get such a good job to use his talents when he decided to close up. He was able to enjoy his retirement before his heart made other plans for him and he went to assisted living where he had another 9 or so years making friends, and probably running into former customers of the store.

He took care of business and had a great career in the painting, wallpaper, and framing business.

Preserving Family History

The Week 19 topic for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is: PRESERVE. Today I’ll share my story.

I don’t know where my enthusiasm for researching and writing about family history came from. I do remember on our move from California to Connecticut, we stopped in Oklahoma to visit my husband’s family. His Great-Aunt Mildred Galloway had all the family census sheets and we had copies made to take with us. Maybe that’s what made me think about my family but a few years passed before I started anything.

I love finding the names and places, and I love having my DNA results to see the matches, but more than that, I love discovering the stories.

In the early days of my research, there was very little online, but I am fortunate to live in the same town that my parents’ families moved to in the mid-1920s. It was easy back then to visit the Town Clerk’s office for records. Over the years, I’ve received amazing photos and stories from my cousin Joan and her siblings and I’ve reached out with a little success for stories from my maternal cousins. It was through my cousin Judy’s files (and DNA) that led me to my half-Aunt Joanne.

I think most importantly for me is that my sisters and I grew up with only my grandmother alive and that was only until we were 7 and 9. My maternal grandfather died in 1944. My paternal grandparents died in 1927 and 1935! For our kids, my mother died before any of them were born. Now we have another generation in the family, these stories can get passed down to and through them.