David Doubek was born on January 24, 1906 in Czechoslovakia to Dusan Doubek and Bessie Fiala. David does not remember what type of work his father did, just that he died when David was nine years old. Left alone with three children, Bessie tried for a few years to make it on her own before […]
Umberto Sartori was born on February 23, 1916 in Biscari, Sicily to Stefano and Lucia Sartori. Stefano and Lucia married very young and had six children, but when Lucia was just thirty-three, she caught pneumonia and died. Grief-stricken, Stefano decided to pack up the six children and move to America to start his life over. […]
Joseph Hertz was born on May 3, 1916 in Washington, D.C. to Victor Hertz and Lena Aerni. Victor was of German descent and worked as the head accountant in a large firm in Washington. Lena was of Swiss descent and cared for their two children, Joseph and Louisa, who were five years apart.
When Joseph was […]
Brian Cullen was born on March 7, 1927 in Ireland to James and Moreen Cullen. He was the second child of five, with two brothers and two sisters. His father, James, worked in construction and on farms, and his mother, Moreen, was a housewife. Brian went to grade school and then went on to a […]
Otto Hutmacher was born on November 12, 1907 in Prussia to Poldi and Magda Hutmacher. Poldi was a carpenter, and Magda cared for their eight children. Otto only went to the equivalent of grade school and then got a job driving a team of horses for the government. “It was a life of starvation,” he […]
Eduardo Hernandez was born on November 7, 1922 in Mexico to Juan and Rosita Hernandez. Eduardo says that he was the youngest of seven children and that his mother died giving birth to him. His father worked as some type of laborer and, according to Eduardo, was a drunk who beat him and his siblings […]
Celeste Salvail was born on February 29, 1920 in Chicago to Vincenzo Salvail and Angela Potenza. Vincenzo and Angela were Italian immigrants who had met and married while still in Italy. In fact, they had already had two children, Apollonia and Christina, when they set sail for America, but Christina, who was just a baby, […]
Andrew Pokorny was born on October 20, 1912 in Chicago to Branislav Pokorny and Maria Tesar, both of whom were immigrants from Slovakia. Andrew is not sure whether his parents met and married in Slovakia or if they met here, but he remembers his father working as a coppersmith. His mother was a housewife and […]
Floyd Vesela was born on January 14, 1911 in Chicago. His parents were Anton Vesela and Helena Starek, both of Czechoslovakian descent. It was always assumed that both of his parents were born in Chicago, but Floyd thinks his mother may have actually been born in Czechoslovakia and came here as an infant with her […]
Franklin Wilson was born on August 24, 1931 to Lincoln Wilson and Ethyl Jackson, who worked a forty-acre farm near Chatham, Louisiana. The Wilsons had nine children: Calvin, Chester, Anita, Franklin, Roland, Ida Jean, Lily Mae, Hattie and Daisy Mae, all of whom lived into adulthood. Besides working their own farm, Lincoln also worked on […]
