John Nyznyk The Enigma: The Story is Complete

John  Nyznyk   November, 1914.

John Nyznyk, my paternal grandfather has been a mystery.  A  I knew about him was that he was a terrible man, so terrible that my grandmother left him when my father was very young.  According to my mother, my father never met him.  When I was growing up, he was rarely mentioned and I never thought to ask my father about him.  My father was very happy to talk about his childhood, his life in New York City, but his father was never mentioned. My grandmother remarried years before, so it was not unusual that he was never brought up. When I started to work on family history, his story was front and center.
First of all, I found that he lived in New York City, a few blocks away from where my father lived with his mother and step-father.   I had been told that he wasn't interested in working, but according to census information and his petition for citizenship, he had a job.  He applied to become a US citizen and became one in the 1930.

Second, I found from his citizenship petition that he had two children that he left behind when he came to the United States.  According to his marriage license information, his first wife died shortly after he immigrated here.  His daughter, Michalina, was born in 1910, so she was an infant when he left.

John Nyznyk's petition for citizenship, showing the two children left behind in Europe.

In 1931, his daughter Michalina  came to the United States, and John Nyznyk was her sponsor.  She settled in the Orange, New Jersey area and became a US citizen in 1939.  In her petition for citizenship, she made no mention of her father.  She changed her name legally to Mildred Nesnick when she finalized her filing for citizenship.  At that time she was a live-in maid in New Jersey.
Although Michalina/Mildred was living in New Jersey, her father continued to live in New York City.  According to the 1940 US Census, he was living in Manhattan, on East 6th Street, and had been unemployed for over a year.   My mother told me that he had been asking relatives about my dad, and seemed to know that he had a job.  He also thought that my father should be supporting him.  Since my father had nothing to do with him since before 1920, he paid no attention to this.  This was third hand information by the time I heard it, again, my mother was the source, not my father.

By the time I started my family history search, both of my parents has passed away.  The only was that I was going to find any information about  my grandfather was by looking for it on genealogy sites.  I found the information about his other children, his daughter's immigration and citizenship from sources on Ancestry.com.  It is not surprising that I found his death information on Ancestry.

My mother told me that he died and was buried in a charity cemetery.  From this I assumed that he was indigent and was given a charity burial somewhere in the New York City area.  I found an article about Harts Island in the New York Times, where the unclaimed dead and poor and indigent of New York were buried in mass graves.  From this, I thought that Harts Island was were he ended up.  I was going to pursue this avenue, as soon as I found the date of his death.  I really didn't want to go through many roll of film records of the New York City death index, so I did nothing.  One day a hint came up on Ancestry and I found the date of his death, June 6, 1950.  I requested the death certificate and the detailed certificate of the cause of death.
So now  I knew how his story ended.  He was not indigent, he died at the Cancer Institute, Welfare Island of lung cancer.  He was buried in a Catholic Cemetery on Long Island.  The arrangements were made my the Jerema Funeral Home, not far from where he lived.
So John Nyznyk's  mysterious life in no longer unknown.

Genealogy Surprises and Family Secrets.

Michalina Nyznyk's  Declaration of Intention, 1936.

Ancestry.com has been a friend and and a nemesis. Spending hours looking through lists and finding nothing is a part of genealogical research, and I have spend a lot of time doing this, but the other day, Ancestry dropped a gift right in my lap.

Several years ago I found my paternal grandfather's John Nyznyk's petition for naturalization on Ancestry.  It was full of surprises, the biggest one was that he had left behind two children  in Pomorany, Ukraine.  As far as I knew, my father was an only child, and I doubt that he knew that his father had other children. According to his petition, John had a son, Paul, born in 1903, and a daughter, Michalina born in 1910.  If my father did know, it was a big, dark family secret.  Over the years, my mother shared a lot of family secrets, and this one was so big, that I doubt that she could hold it back.

A few years, I got a hint in Ancestry; Michalina  came to the United States in 1931, and that she was going to live with her father in New Jersey.  That was it, no further mention of her in any records.  In the 1940 Census, I found my grandfather living in New York City without Michalina. What happened to her? Did she marry, did she return to Europe.? I even sent in an application to  the PBS production Genealogy Road Show,  trying to get on the show and find out what happened to  Michalina.  Unfortunately, my question was  not accepted.

Then out of the blue, I found her again on Ancestry.  Michalina was still in New Jersey, and she was applying to become a United States Citizen!  She started her application in 1936, after she was here for five years.  She was living in South Orange, New Jersey and her occupation was housework.  She also had an alias--she was known as Mildred Nesnick.   On her final petition, she legally changed her name and would be known as Mildred Nesnick.  She swore an oath of allegiance on February 14, 1939 and became a United States citizen.

What surprised me was that my grandfather was not a part of this process, there is no mention of him in her application.  According to family information, he was not a part of my father's life at all.  After he and my grandmother separated, he had no contact with my father at all, even though he lived only a few blocks away in New York City.  I wonder if Michalina had the same experience--her father brought her  to the United States, and after that, no more contact.  There is another question--did Michalina's brother come to the US at some later date?

So, My advice to readers who are trying to find lost family members--genealogy is a tedious hobby--lots of work with few results.  Use all the resources that you can afford, one of them might have the answers you are looking for.

Paul Niznik and Anastasia Justina Romanowicz:Family Genealogy

Paul Niznik married Anastasia Justina Romanowicz in June 1864.  They are my paternal great-grandparents.

Marriage record for Paulus  Niznik and (Anastasia) Justina Romanowicz, June 1864. Their rrecord is the second one on the page. Source: Metrical Books 1837-1882, Greek Catholic Church, Pomorzany (Zborow).  Original manuscripts of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv. Filmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Vol. 201-4A/4642.

Paul was 29 years old when he married, and is listed with two occupations: pelleo (person who works with skins and hides) and artilleryman in the service of Duc Leopold of Bavaria. He may have been involved in the the Second War for Italian Independence in 1859. His parents, Ivan Niznik and Maria Gudziak were deceased at the time of the marriage.  Both the Niznik and Gudziak families were in  the skin and hide trade.

The victorious French watch the Austrian Armies retreat after being defeated in the Battle of Magenta, June 1859. The Austrians are on the bottom right of the painting by Ernest Meissonier. One group of Austrian artillery are pulling a cannon as they retreat.

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Anastasia Justina Romanowicz was 19 when she married Paul Niznik.  Both her parents, Ivan Romanowicz and Agatha Pauluk,  had passed away.  The Romanowicz family were also pelleony.  From what I have found in the Metrical Records, marriages were common between families in the same trade.  Paul and Anastasia were also distant cousins. Permission to marry was given by Andreas Nisnik and Andreas Romanowicz.

After their marriage, Anastasia and Paul went to live in his father's family home, number 287 in Pomorazany. Although Paul's parents were deceased, his stepmother, Maria Materko Niznik was still living in the house.  This home belonged to the Niznik family since 1837, according to the earliest records in the Metrical Records, and probably longer that that. 

Village house, similar to the house in Pomorany where Paul and Anastasia lived when they married.

Since the Metrical Records include only deaths after 1865, I know only one of Paul and Anastasia's surviving children, my grandfather, John Nyznyk, born in 1878. Three of Paul and Anastasia's children died in childhood: Peter,  was born and died on July 15, 1867; Anna, born in 1871, lived for six months; and Varvara, born in 1873, lived one year.  There were most likely more children, but there are no records of their births available at this time.

When I first looked at the marriage record, I wasn't sure that Paul's bride was the same woman listed on my grandparent's marriage license, since her name was Justina, not Anastasia.  A volunteer at the Family History Center told me that when I found a birth record for a child of Anastasia and Paul, her correct first name would be listed.  After searching death records, I discovered that Anastasia used one or both of her given names.  She is listed as Justina on the marriage record; on the death record of son Peter, she is listed as Anastasia, and on the death record of daughter Anna, she is listed as Anastasia Justina.
According to the Metrical Records, the Niznik family name changed spelling three times.  In the oldest records, it is Nisnik.  In the 1850's it is spelled Niznik,  with an umlaut over the z.  In 1867, it is spelled Nyznyk.  In the Metrical Records, the first name was written in Polish, the last name in Latin.  But by the late 1860's the priests were recording names with Ukrainian spellings.

I have a few more Metrical Records for Pomorzany to study.  The records for Ozerna have arrived at the Family History Center, so soon I will begin to research the Kociuba (Koshuba) family.

John Nyznyk: My Grandfather, an Enigma, The Story Ends

My grandfather, John Nyznyk has been the subject of my blog for the past two weeks. Researching his life has unearthed a lot of information about his life, but not everything that I was trying to find.
This week I will finish the story, but I do not have an satisfactory end to it.

Last week I finished my post with the 1930 United States Census.  John was 52 years old,  living at 533 East 6th Street in New York City, working as an upholsterer in the furniture industry.  He was living alone, and stated that he was a widower. He now was a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Michalina Nyznyk Immigrates to the United States.

Manifest from the SS Kosciuszko.  Michalina Nyznyk is listed on the first line.

Michalina Nyznyk, my father's half sister, arrived at Ellis Island, in New York on April 27, 1931.   She joined her father, John, in Belleville, New Jersey.  He was living at 52 Columbia Ave in Belleville.  Michalina was 20 years old, with brown hair, fair skin and grey eyes.  She was 5'4" tall and in  good health .  She left her brother Paul, her closest relative in Poland, who like Michalina was born  and raised in Pomorainy,  and now lived in Niszczuki, Zborov, Poland.  She obtained her passport in Warsaw on March 23, 1931, and left from Gdynia, Poland, on the SS Kosciuszko on April 15.  She came to the United States as a permanent resident. According to the ship's manifest, her occupation was farmer and she could read and write. From the records that I have, she had never met her father, since he left Pomorainy before she was born.

Second page of the SS Kosciuszko, showing Michalina's home information and her fathers address in New Jersey.

I have found no other information about her at all.  She was not listed in the 1940 Census, or in any existing  Belleville, N.J. directories.  I have found neither marriage nor death records for her.  As far as I know, she came to the United States and vanished.

John Nyznyk: The 1940 United States Census.

John Nyznyk was 58 years old and living alone in New York on April 8, 1940, the day the Census taker came to gather information. He lived at 205 East 4th Street in New York, a few blocks from his residence in 1930 and was paying $13 a month in rent. He was listed as single and was born in Austria and attended school for 5 years.  According the the Census, he lived at the same address in 1935, which is interesting, because four years earlier, in 1931, he was living in Belleville, N. J. with his daughter Michalina.
John had been unemployed for 50 weeks, and had worked only 12 weeks in 1939. However, he said he had a source of income, which was $240 per year or $20 a month.  When he last worked, he was a laborer in construction, unusual for a 58 year old man. He had previously worked as an upholsterer, never as a laborer.  He was still looking for work and did not do any public emergency work.  
This is the last record that I have about John Nyznyk.  I have searched again and again and have consistently found nothing.  I think that he died in the 1950's, but this information came from my parents, and they heard it from other relatives.

1940 United States Census.  John Nyznyk is on line 15.

Conclusions?

I will continue to search for information about John and Michalina.  From the 1920, 1930 and 1940 Censuses, I found a lot of information about my grandfather.  I am also fortunate that his applications for US citizenship were available on line.  I am also glad that my father had a detailed marriage license for his parents.  His birth certificate was also detailed and provided me with a lot of information about his parents.
I would like to find out more about Michalina.  I wonder if she married and stayed in the US?  I wonder if she decided to return to her brother and family in Poland? There are many records of in coming ships to the US, but I have found no sources/manifests about outgoing ships. Perhaps a reader of this blog may remember a grandmother, great-grandmother or aunt by the name of Michalina.  If you do, please let me know.

John Nyznyk: My Grandfather an Enigma, The Story Continues

Last week I wrote about my grandfather John Nyznyk, who has always been a mystery to me.  All I know about him are some family stories, so when I began to research my family history, I was interested in finding more about him.  In last week's blog, I started to tell his story through my research findings.  This week, I will continue his story.

Surprises found in my research

The biggest surprise I found in my research was that my father had a brother and a sister.  My father knew that his father had been married before and that his first wife had died.  He never mentioned that there were any other children.  The second surprise in my  research was that my grandfather did not mention his son, my father, in his Petition for Citizenship.  He listed the children from his first marriage, but not my father.  This is interesting, because states that he was still married to my grandmother Mary Klak.

John Nyznyk's Petition for Citizenship

John declared his intention to become  a United States citizen in 1926.  He filed the Petition for Citizenship on April 8, 1930.  He was living at  533 East 6th Street in New York City and listed his occupation as an upholsterer. He stated that he was born on July 27, 1878 in Pomorainy, Galicia, Austria.

John Nyznyk's Petition for US Citizenship

John said the had been in the United States since 1910 (at least 5 years of residency were required in order to file for citizenship.)  He stated that he was married to Mary Klak, but had no knowledge of her residence since 1915.  He named his two children, Paul, born on August 19, 1904 and Michalina, born August 20, 1910.  He also named his first wife, Anna Kowalsky, who died in Pomorainy (known then as Pomorzany), Poland in 1913. My father Peter was conspicuously absent.  John's citizenship was finalized on November 10, 1930.

John Nyznyk's final Naturalization card

The 1930 United States Census: John Noznick

Searching for information about John Nyznyk in the 1930 US Census was very interesting.  I did not find anything about John Nyznyk, but I did find John Noznick.  The census taker was at 624 East 11th St, New York City on April 12, 1930.  The Noznick family was made up of John Noznick, age 49, Mary Noznick, age 42, and Peter Noznick age 14.  Neither John nor Mary were able to read or write.   They were both born in Galicia, Poland.  John came to the US in 1916,  Mary came in 1911. According to the Census, John worked as a porter in a restaurant and Mary was a housewife.

The 1930 US Census, showing the Noznick family on line 77

When I read this, I thought--what is going on!  First of all, John Nyznyk filed his Petition on April 8, 1930, 5 days before the census taker came to the Noznick home. According to his Petition, he lived at 533 East 6th Street, several blocks away.  John Nyznyk was an upholsterer and  from what I found in his records, never worked in a restaurant.  He was 52 years old, not 49 as listed on  the census.  John Nyznyk could read and write, John Noznick could not.  John Nyznyk stated that he had no knowledge of Mary's residence since 1915, but according to the census record above, he was still living with her.  From what I know for sure, John Nyznyk was never known by the surname Noznick.  So what do we have here?  I have a feeling that my father gave the census taker the information.  His step-father's name was Peter Zackowski and his mother married him before 1920.  I think that my father gave the census taker Peter's  occupation information.  I have no idea why he did not give the actual names of his parents.

The 1930 United States Census: John Nyznyk

Sometimes following a hunch leads to a genealogy jackpot, some times to a wild goose chase.  This time I hit the jackpot.  I decided to search the 1930 Census, using the address John Nyznyk used on his Petition for Citizenship.  After finding the enumeration district for the address, I found the schedule for 533 East 6th St. Looking down the list of names, I found a John Mazwyk, which looked liked it might be my grandfather. There are mistakes on the US Census, often names are miss-spelled or other wise mangled up.  When the person giving the information is not fluent in English, the census taker  would spell the name as best  as he/she could. John's age and birthplace were correct, as was his occupation of upholsterer. The year he immigrated to the US is 1910, which confirms other records. He stated that he was a naturalized citizen and could read and write. His place of origin was listed as Austria.  More surprises, his age at his first marriage was blank.  He stated that he was a widower;  he had "forgotten" not only his son, but his second wife as well.

John Mazwyk aka John Nyznyk is on line 30.

Now I have another record to back up John Nyznyk's basic information, his age, his date of arrival in the US, his US citizenship and his occupation. John's story does not end here.  There are more surprises that I will write about next week.

Landmines and Dead Ends: John and Michalina Nyznyk's Story.

King Jan Sobieski's Castle in Pororyany, Ukraine

When a person begins to research their family tree, all the information found is like finding a treasure. But, what if that treasure is a little bit tarnished?  What is it is not a treasure at all?

Studying the Nyznyk/Noznick family has been a treasure hunt, but sometimes it is like exploring a minefield.  First of all, it was fairly easy to find information about John Nyznyk, my paternal grandfather. Using Ancestry.com, I found quite a bit about him.  When I added that to what I already had, I thought that I had a fairly good idea of his life.  Then, I started to step on the landmines.

John Nyznyk in 1914.  Two wedding pictures are the only pictures I have of him.

Unlike my mother’s family, there were not many family stories about John.   From what I was told, he and my grandmother split up shortly after my father was born.  When this happened is unknown.  According to the information I had from my mother, he was an alcoholic who wasn’t interested in working, as well as a wife-beater.  My mother said that my grandmother left him when my father, Peter Noznick was about two years old.  He never had any contact with his father again.  My mother told me that my father heard so many horrible things about John from his mother, that he never had any interest in meeting him.  I don’t recall ever hearing my father speaking about his father very much,  almost everything I know was second hand information, told to me by my mother.  I don't remember asking my grandmother much about her past, probably because her English was poor.  I did enjoy looking at her box of old pictures, but didn't asked her any questions about them.  There were some old wedding pictures, but I don’t think that I saw them until after my grandmother passed away in 1969.

Marya Klak, my paternal grandmother sometime between 1911and 1914.  She married John Nyznyk in 1914.

A few years earlier, my father was planning a trip overseas, actually, a trip around the world, and he needed a passport.  It was then that he found most of the information I had about his father, which came from his parent’s marriage license and  his birth certificate.  This is when I stepped on the first landmine, Noznick wasn’t his surname, it was Nyznyk.The name on the marriage licsence was Nyznyk, on the birth certificate it was Nausneck.  My father had had to get an affidavit to prove that he had been using Noznick since he was in school. I have no idea how Nyznyk became Noznick.

The second land-mine was finding out that my father had a half-brother and a half-sister.  I found this  information searching on Ancestry.com when I came across John Nyznyk’s naturalization information. On his  Petition for Citizenship, filed in 1930, he listed two children, Paul and Michalina, living in Pomoryany, Poland (today it is in Ukraine).  He did not list my father.   
The third landmine was the information about my grandmother that John gave during the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. He listed my grandmother, Mary as his wife and said that he had not seen her since 1915, the year my father was born. This contradicted the information he gave when he filed the  Declaration of Intent, (a document stating his desire to become a naturalized citizen) in 1926, when he stated that he was living with my grandmother. I do not think that my father and mother knew about his half-siblings, my brothers and my brothers and I had no idea of their existence. 
 

The fourth landmine, also found when I was searching on Ancestry.com, was the immigration of  John's daughter, Michalina to the United States in 1931.  According to the ship’s manifest, Michalina sailed from Gydnia, Poland, on April 15, 1931 and arrived in New York on April 27.  Her birthplace was Pomoryany, the village where her father was born. Her brother, Paul Nyznyk, was listed as her relative living in her native country.  Her home was listed as Nisczuki, Zborow, Poland. She had less than $50.00 with her, and was planning to become a permanent resident of the United States. She was able to read and write Polish, her occupation was listed as farmer.  She was 5 feet, 4 inches tall, with a fair complexion, brown hair and gray eyes.  Her final destination was 52 Columbia Ave, Belleville, New Jersey.  She was planning to join her father, John Nyznyk at that address.  This is all the information I have about her.  It is interesting, that on the 1940  United States Census, Michalina’s father, John Nyznyk, was living in New York City, and there is no mention of her.

 

I have run into a dead end.  The only information I have found about Michalina is what I have from the Ship’s Manifest.  Did she stay in the United States, did she marry and have children? I have no idea.  I have also reached a dead end on John Nyznyk as well, the 1940 Census is the last information I found about him.  I heard from family stories that he died, probably sometime in the 1950’s or early 1960’s, but after searching several genealogy databases, I found no more information about either John or Michalina.

June 28, 1914: “The Archduke is Assassinated!”

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, being greeted by dignitaries in Sarajevo, June 28, 1914

June 28, 1914 was an ordinary Sunday in the village of Bila, just outside the eastern wall of the city of Ternopil.  The villagers attended church and ate dinner at home. They spent spring and summer afternoons outdoors, visiting with friends and enjoying the summer weather. Nobody had any idea how everyone’s lives would change because of what happened that Sunday morning in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

My great-aunt, Katherine Rychly was 10 years old in 1914. Her father, Sylvester, was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, working at a sugar company in order to save enough money to bring his family to the United States.  Katherine’s older sister Anna was newly married and living in Minneapolis. Katherine's other older sister, my grandmother, Paranka (Pauline), had left Bila a few days earlier,  and sailed from Bremen, Germany, on June 23, arriving in New York on July 1, 1914.  Katherine, Anna and Paranka wouldn’t see each other again until 1922.

Map of the Austria-Hungary Empire, showing Bosnia - Herzegovina and the city of Sarajevo

Sarajevo, Bosnia, was located in a province of the Austria-Hungary Empire, added in 1908, after being occupied by the Austrians since 1878.  The province had a mixed population of Serbs, Croats, Muslims and other ethnic groups.  The annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary was unpopular with its people. I have heard from family stories that my paternal grandfather, John Nyznyk, was a soldier in the Austrian army, stationed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and he said that there were a lot of problems there.  After the Balkan war of 1912-1913, the neighboring country of Serbia gained territory and power, and growing Serbian nationalism encouraged the Serbs to do something about the status of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

June 28 is an important day to the Serbians, St Vitus’s Day, the day when, in 1389, the Ottoman Turks destroyed the Serbian Army on the Field of Blackbirds—today known as Kosovo, and ended the Serbian Empire.  The Serbian lands and people became part of the Ottoman Empire.  The visit of the Archduke, Franz Ferdinand to Sarajevo on June 28 was considered an insult to the Serbs.   Austrian authorities were warned that the Archduke’s visit wasn’t a good idea, but nobody took these threats seriously.  Seven young Serbian men volunteered to assassinate the Archduke and his wife. They were members of a secret Serbian nationalist society, The Black Hand. 

Archduke Franz Ferdinand arriving in Sarajevo on the morning of June 28, 1914

 

The Archduke and the Duchess Sophie leaving the train station for the ride to City Hall

On Sunday morning, June 28, the Archduke and his wife, the Duchess Sophie, arrived at the Sarajevo train station. There was a six car motorcade waiting, full of Austrian and local dignitaries.  Their first destination was the Sarajevo City Hall, with other stops scheduled later.

The Archduke and the Duchess were in the second car, open so the crowds could see them, along with the Governor of Bosnia and another person. There was no security along the route, normally soldiers line the streets when important dignitaries such as the Archduke visited. The chosen route, Appel Quay runs along the Miljacka River.  Two cells of Serbian terrorists were stationed along the Quay. To insure its success, seven men were assigned to the plot.  Each one had small bomb strapped to his waist, a revolver and a packet of cyanide in his pocket.

The first assassin lost his nerve and did not throw his bomb.  As the second assassin detonated his bomb, it made a noise similar to a blown tire, which alerted people in the motorcade.  The bomb was thrown just as the driver stepped on the gas.  The Archduke batted the bomb away, and it exploded under the third car, injuring several people. The second assassin swallowed the cyanide and jumped over the wall and into the river.  His suicide attempt was unsuccessful, and he was easily captured. 

The motorcade was stopped so the wounded could be attended to, and the proceeded to the Town Hall. 

The third, fourth and fifth assassins lost their confidence and did nothing.

The Archduke and Duchess minutes before the assassination

The Motorcade arrived at the Town Hall, the planned speeches continued after the Archduke expressed his unhappiness with the “welcome” he received.  It was decided to cancel the rest of the day’s activities, however, the Archduke wanted to visit the wounded at the hospital.  Nobody thought to tell the drivers of the changed plans, so when the parties arrived at the cars, the procession went ahead with the original route.  Someone in the Archduke’s party shouted that they were driving in the wrong direction, so the cars stopped.  Since the Archduke’s car did not have a reverse gear, the car had to be pushed backwards to Franz Joseph Street.  

Map of the Archdukes's route.  The green arrows show the trip from the train station to the City Hall.  The yellow star is the first bomb.  The  broken red arrows show the new route from the City Hall to the Hospital.  The red star is the place of the Assassination

The sixth assassin, Gavrilo Princip, saw that the car stopped and ran toward it.  He untied the bomb, but decided to use his revolver.  The first bullet hit the Duchess in the stomach.  The second shot hit the Archduke in the neck.  Both died quickly, by the time the car arrived at the hospital, both were dead.  It was 11 o’clock in the morning.

 

Newspaper depiction of the assassination.  Duchess Sophie was shot in the stomach, the Archduke  was shot in the neck.

The next day, newspaper headlines around the world told the story, but nobody as any idea  how far reaching the consequences of the assassination would be.  Many people remembered for years, exactly what they were doing when they heard the news of the assassination, the effect was similar to how people felt when they heard about the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Assassination of President Kennedy or 9/11.

 Article in the June 28, 2014 edition of The Chicago Tribune about the Assassination and its worldwide impact.

Article from The New York Times, June 28, 2014 present day division in Sarajevo and Bosnia 

Read "1914, The Year That Changed Everything" eeroots blog post from January 2014 for more background information. 

Headline on the front page of the Philadelphia, PA. newspaper, The North American

 

The arrest of the assassin, Gavrilo Princip.

Growing Up in New York City the Lower East Side Way

The Tompkins Square Boys Club, 10th St and Avenue 

The Library at The Tompkins Square Boys Club

E.H. Harriman, founded the Boy's Club of New York in 1876

Growing up on the Lower East Side of New York City has been chronicled in many novels, studies, newspaper articles and memoirs.  My father, Peter Noznick, never wrote his story, but through many years of story telling, I have managed to put together the story of his childhood, from 1915 to 1930.

Peter Noznick was born in 1915 in Bellevue Hospital, on Second Ave in New York City, which unusual for that time, since most children were born at home.  His parents, Marya Klak and John Nyznyk were living on East 92nd Street, in the Yorkville area.  Their New York roots, however, were on the Lower East Side.  They were married in St George Ukrainian Catholic Church on East 7th Street in 1914,  and that is where their  son Peter was baptized.

Marya and John's marriage was on the rocks, and within two years it ended and she moved back to the Lower East Side neighborhood. Marya was now a single mother, illiterate, and not fluent in the English language.  Yet, she was able to find the best available situation for her son. She found the Children's Aid Society of New York, which had many services for women in Marya's situation.  She sent him to a Children's Aid Society day nursery, so she was able to work.  She worked at a cook at a summer camp, near Lake George, in Upstate New York, and found an area family to take my dad for the summer.  He had fond memories of that summer, especially of the family dog, a large collie.

Tenement Kitchen from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum NYC.

Marya married Peter Zackowski, and the two of them worked three jobs in order to save enough money to buy a farm. In  the passbooks from the Dry Dock Bank and the Emigrant Savings Bank,  most of the deposits were under ten cents.  At first the family lived on Avenue C, across the street from the Eagle Pencil Factory, between Twelfth and Thirteenth Street.  Later they moved around the corner to 624 East Eleventh St, a typical three room Lower East Side Tenement. They lived there until 1930, when they moved to Connecticut.

Children's Aid Society Dental Clinic

My father moved from the Children's Aid Society day nursery to the Sixth Avenue Industrial School, which served boys through the fourth grade.  The children studied school subjects in the morning and received job training in the afternoon.   He attended a public elementary school for fifth and sixth grade, and in seventh grade moved to the James P. O'Neal Junior High School 64 on Ninth Ave between Avenue B and C. He was in the Rapid Advance Program, which was the "gifted program" of that time.  My dad always liked school, and was a good student.

The Children's Aid Society's Sixth Street Industrial School

Peter joined the Tompkins Square Boys' Club, on Tenth Ave and Avenue A,  which became a very important part of his life.  He had a lot of time on his hands and very little supervision at home, since his parents were always at work.  The Boy's Club provided a quite place to study, sports and recreation facilities, and kept him out of trouble.  He learned to swim in the pool where the Olympic swimmer and star of Tarzan movies, Johnny Weismuller trained, and took advantage of the facilities that were endowed by the Harriman family in 1876.  He attended the Boy's Club summer camp, Camp Carey, on Long Island, in Johnsport, New York.  At Camp Carey, he was able to meet both both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, stars of the New York Yankees. The Boy's Club had a boxing ring, a large gym and just about everything a young boy would want to have.  The dues were fifty cents a year.  The staff members were young college educated men, who provided good examples for many boys who basically played in the street.

A Poster from the NY Public Library

THE GENEALOGY OF MARYA KLAK

Marya Klak, my paternal grandmother, wasa born in Zarvanytsia, Ukraine in 1889, the daughter of Joseph Klak and Anna Domerecka.  She had two brothers, Ivan and Andrij, and one sister, name unknown.  According to my father, Peter Noznick,  both her parents died when she was young, leaving the children orphans.   She was twenty-two when she came to the United States, her passage paid for by her brother.  My father said that since her family was so poor, her chances of marriage were unlikely.  She left Zarvanytsia in March of 1911, and sailed from Hamburg, Germany to New York, arriving on April 9, 1911.  As the ship neared New York Harbor, the steerage passengers came on the deck and watched for the Statue of Liberty. When the Statue came into view, the passengers fell on their knees and thanked God that they were in America.

Marya Klak, between 1911-1914

Marya went to live with her sister and brother-in-law, on Houston Street, in New York City.  She worked as a live-in maid for a family who lived on Riverside Drive.  They story my father told me was that her employer was a famous actress, but I can't remember her name.

Marya Klak and John Nyznyk, November 11, 1914

She married John Nyznyk on November 11, 1914, in St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, in New York City.  Although Marya was Polish, her husband was Ukrainian.  He was a harness maker, and according to family stories, served in the Austrian Army.  He also was a widower, and father of two children, Paul and Michelina, who were living in his home town of Pomorzany.  My father, Peter Paul, was born August 18, 1915 in Bellvue Hospital.   At the time, Marya and John were living on East 92nd Street in New York City. 

Shortly after Peter's birth, John and Marya separated. I haven't found any records of where Marya and Peter lived during this time, but I have to assume that they lived with members of her family in New York City.  My father  told me that his mother found a day nursery where working mother could leave their children, and enrolled him there. Later, she enrolled him in a school operated by the Children's Aid Society of New York, where he attended until the fourth grade. Marya worked several jobs, including a summer as a cook for a children's camp in upstate New York.  My father stayed with a family in the area and he remembers their collie dog fondly.

Peter Noznick in Central Park NYC 1920's

Peter Noznick 1917

Sometime between 1915 and 1920, Marya met and married Peter Zackowski, another Polish immigrant.  The family lived on Ave C across from the Eagle Pencil Factory. There was a fire station nearby and the horse drawn steam fire engines terrified my father.  They moved to 624 East Eleventh St, between Avenue B and C, and lived there until they moved to Connecticut. They worked several jobs and saved every penny until they had enough money to buy a farm in Windham Connecticut in 1930.  Moving to an old colonial house was a big change for Marya, she had never lived in a house that large in her life.  She wall-papered every room and furnished it with pieces from area farm sales.
Sometime during these years, she became known as Mary.

The Farm in Windham Connecticut, 1940's

Marya lived in Connecticut for the rest of her life.  She missed living in New York and having her friends and family nearby.  She did see them regularly, since they came to the farm for visits almost every summer.  They called her "Choch" which was a shorted form of auntie in Polish.  Marya and Peter ran a dairy farm until the late 1950's, when electric milking machine became the norm.  They continued to sell milk, eggs and hay into the 1960's.  Her son, Peter had three children, Pauline, Peter and Andrew, who spent many summers at the farm.  There was plenty to do there, even through there was no TV. There wan an old radio and an old Victrola record player, which required cranking to operate, as well as 100 acres of farmland and woods to explore.

Mary and her cows, Windham Center Connecticut 1960's

Mary Zackowski, Peter, Julia, Pauline and Peter Noznick 1949

Peter  Zackowski died in 1963. Shortly after his death, some friends brought Mary a puppy, who she named Skipper,  he was her companion for the last years of her life.  Mary died in 1969, a few weeks before the Astronauts landed on the moon. Peter and Mary Zackowski are buried in the Windham Center Cemetery, next to son and daughter-in-law Peter and Julia Noznick.  

Marya Klak and the Pitfalls of Family History

Marya Klak in New York City, about 1911-12

The story of my paternal grandmother Marya Klak illustrates some of the pitfalls beginning genealogists can tumble into. Family stories are interesting to hear, but is everything you are told accurate?  In the case of my grandmother, yes and no.
Some of the stories I was told about her said that she was an orphan, that she had a brother Andrij, and that she stayed at Ellis Island for a few days because he brother did not come to get her in a timely way. Single women were not allowed to leave Ellis Island alone.  A male family member was required to meet them before they could leave for a local address.

First of all, there are a lot of gaps in the story I  was told.  After finding her immigration records, I found that she did indeed come to New York City in 1911, leaving Hamburg, Germany on March 28 and arriving in New York City on April 9, after the ship made stops in Cuxhaven and Southhampton in Great Britain and Cherbourg, France.  There is no record of her being detained at Ellis Island.  Second, she was met by her brother-in-law, Michael Rudnicki, not her brother.  This tells me that she had a sister, something that I did not know.  I found a person by that name of Michael Rudnicki in the 1920 census listed as a widower.  Was his wife alive in 1911?  What was her name? So far, this is a mystery.  Another story I was told was that Marya was accompanying a young girl from her village on the ship.  Again, according to the ship's manifest, she was traveling alone. What about the story of her being an orphan?  According to the ship's manifest, the person listed in her home town was her brother, not her father or mother, so it is very possible that her parents were no longer alive.

The next question--where was her brother Andrij Klak?  I have found no information about him in my searches of available records.   I do have a wedding picture of a man I assumed was Andrij, but there is no way to verify it.  This man also appears in the group picture of Marya's wedding in November, 1914. 

Marya had another brother, Ivan, listed on the ship's manifest  as the family member from her village, Zavanitsia.  The handwriting on the manifest was hard to read, so I made a guess on the name after enlarging the document several times. So the assumption that Marya had only one brother was incorrect after a few hours of research. Research told me that Marya had one brother, Ivan, and one sister, name unknown.  I can't find sources that prove that she had another brother, Andrij, but my parents told me that my younger brother, Andrew is named after him, so I have to use that as proof for now.

Michael Rudnicki appeared again in Marya's life, first as a witness on her marriage license, when she married John (Ivan) Nyznyk in 1914.  Rudnicki reappears on my father, Peter's baptismal certificate as his godfather in September, 1916. 

After my father's birth certificate, the genealogical trail goes cold, Marya disappears. I have not found her or my father on the 1920 Census or the New York Census of 1925.  The next document that I found her on was the 1930 Census, listed as Mary Noznick and most of the information was incorrect as well.  Family stories say that Marya left John Nyznyk when my father was 2 years old, which would be about 1917.  I was told that the marriage ended because he drank too much, abused her and wasn't interested in working.  According to John Nyznyk's citizenship application papers, the marriage ended in 1915.  Which was the real story?  So all I can say for sure is that sometime between 1915 and 1930, my grandmother and John Nyznyk split up and she married Peter Zackowski.  This is documented because Peter and Marya Zackowski bought a farm in Connecticut in 1930 and left New York City.  After 1930, documenting Marya's life is easy.  Mary and Peter Zackowski are listed on the 1940 census living in Windham Center, Connecticut, and according to the census, were living there in 1935.  Willimantic, Connecticut, city directories list them as living in Windham Center as well.

As a person researching family history, what conclusions can I draw from Marya Klak's story?  From the documents I have found, most of the stories of Marya Klak's family have major flaws and inconsistencies.  Sometime in the future, I may find the information that fills in the gaps and proves the stories to be true.  Until then I continue to search, which can be tedious, nothing goes into the tree until the proper documentation and sources are there.  Never accept information as correct, even if it is published in a family history book, or told by an older relative, until you can find the sources to prove the story to be correct.