Cleo Newman was born on February 10, 1911 in Kewanee, Illinois to Peter Wyrick and Lorene Crawford. It is believed that Peter was a Polish immigrant and that Lorene was of English descent. Peter had apparently been a farmer in Poland and found work on various farms throughout the Midwest after he immigrated here. Eventually […]
Herbert Jones was born on May 14, 1899 on a farm in Bolton, Mississippi. His parents, Jesse and Hattie Jones, owned the small farm they worked, which they were very proud of, as Jesse’s father had been a slave. There were thirteen children in the Jones’ family, and Herbert was the youngest boy. He went […]
Sadie Davis was born on December 2, 1920 to Ervin Olmskirk and Caroline Fredericks in Clarkson, Nebraska. Ervin worked in a bank, and Caroline cared for their ten children: Sadie, Irving, Louis, George, Thelma, Rose, Francis, Fred, Ruby, and Gladys.
Sadie was a bright child and after finishing high school, won a two-year scholarship to Wayne […]
Ruby Fessler was born in Chicago on September 16, 1937 to Rudi Fessler, an immigrant from Vienna, Austria, and Ida Beldy, an immigrant from Hungary. Rudi worked for a trucking company. Ida cared for their four children and was also a breeder of Shih Tzu poodles. Ruby graduated from high school, but says she didn’t […]
Francisco Alvarez was born on September 8, 1913 in Cuba to Felipe Alvarez and Maria Acosta. Felipe worked as a chef in Havana, and Maria cared for their nine children, of whom Francisco was the oldest.
Francisco was an extremely intelligent child and was able to attend a couple of years of high school before he […]
Dariya Zelenko was born on September 1, 1914 in a small village in the Ukraine. Not much is known about her early life except that her maiden name was Dariya Kozel and that her parents were farmers. She apparently did not have any siblings and received little to no formal education at all, instead helping […]
Minnie Conrad was born on November 2, 1905 in Florence, South Carolina to Irvin Julian Wentworth Lewis, who was of English descent, and Victoria Edmundson, who was of Swedish descent. Irvin, it seems, was quite the Renaissance man and worked as a musician, a music teacher, a photographer and even a pharmacist at times, making […]
Oscar S. Cohen was born on June 11, 1921 in New York City to David Cohen, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, and Gladys Feldt, a native New Yorker. David worked as a shoe salesman, and Gladys cared for their two children: Oscar and Oliver. Oscar describes his parents as extremely intelligent and remembers that his mother […]
Vlasta Di Stefano was born on January 21, 1910 in Chicago to Bela Hrabe and Lazar Dragic. Bela was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, and Lazar emigrated from Yugoslavia. The two apparently met at Ellis Island and, though they initially went their separate ways, they wrote letters to each other for the next year or so. […]
Hana Jezek was born on September 25, 1922 in Brezova, Czechoslovakia to Bartholomew Jezek and Irena Vedej. Bartholomew was a soldier and was always on the move with the army. It was in one of the little villages he traveled through that he met Irena and fell in love with her. They eventually married and […]
