Apolonia Ruzicka was born on March 30, 1914 in Chicago to Jonas Horacek and Marie Blaha, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia, though they apparently met and married in Indiana. Marie lived with her family in South Bend, where Jonas had also immigrated to and had found a job working for the Studebaker Car Company. The two […]
This week’s Novel Notes is a special edition! Author, John (Zbigniew) Guzlowski, was gracious enough to share with me the story of his parents’ fierce struggle to survive in war-torn Poland, their almost miraculous meeting, and their subsequent epic journey to these shores in hopes of building a better life.
John’s parents were Jan Guzlowski and […]
Hai Bo Song was born on October 5, 1914 in China to Jie Fu Song and Jing Fen Chan, who were farmers. It is unclear how many siblings Hai had, as cousins in China were also referred to as brothers and sisters. Hai’s youngest son, Ning, explains that at that time in China, it was […]
Adam Cerny was born on January 25, 1911 in Chicago to Teodor Cerny and Cecilie Klimek, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia. Teodor and Cecilie grew up in the same town in Bohemia and married there. Teodor worked as a farm laborer, and Cecilie cared for their four sons: Simon, Tomas, Radovan and Othmar. At some point, […]
Grace Phillips was born on October 3, 1922 in Alder Point, Nova Scotia to Warren McAndrews and Mary Jane Wilson, both of whom were Scottish Canadians. Warren was a coal miner, and Mary Jane cared for their ten children: Margaret, Grace, Leon, Calvin, Rosemary, Dale, Katherine, William, Mattie and Lillie. Lillie was actually the daughter […]
Nedda Scarsi was born on April 7, 1910 in Chicago to Giovi and Fara Mancus, both of whom had immigrated to the United States from Sicily as a newly married couple. Giovi made a living selling produce from a cart he pushed from street to street, and Fara cared for their seven children, of whom […]
Cal (Caolan) Maguire was born on May 21, 1916 in Ireland to Caolan Maguire, Sr. and Mary Brady. Caolan, Sr. was a fisherman in their little village by the sea near Balbriggen, and Mary cared for their thirteen children, of whom Cal, Jr. was the youngest. Cal went to school until about seventh grade when […]
Angela Esposito was born on September 29, 1918 in Chicago. Her father, Leo Esposito, came to America as a young man from Florence, Italy. He made his way to Chicago and found work as a stone mason. After working at that for several years, he saved enough to open an ice cream parlor, making all […]
Samuel Werner was born on April 25, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri to Arne Werner and Kathleen Murphy. Kathleen was born in Ireland and was just a baby when her family immigrated to Texas. When she was only three, the family moved again to St. Louis. Similarly, Arne had been born in Germany, and when […]
Eliza Radic was born on May 3, 1906 in Chicago to Bert Jarvi and Miriam Jokela. Both Bert and Miriam were born in Chicago as well, though their parents had emigrated from Finland. Bert worked as a “refinisher” of sorts and did silver plating. Miriam was a housewife and took in sewing while she cared […]
