Hyun Sang Choe was born on October 17, 1922 in a small village in Korea to Seo-Joon and Young Nari. Hyun was their only child, and when he was just a baby, Seo-Joon died. Young never married again and lived alone with Hyun.
Hyun went to school until about the seventh grade and then quit. Right […]
Elmer Densmore was born on August 13, 1915 in Chicago to Frederick Densmore and Ann Abrim. Both of Elmer’s parents were also born in Chicago, though Frederick was of Scottish descent, and Ann was of German. Frederick was a trolley driver, back when they were still pulled by horses, and Ann was a housewife, caring […]
Caroline Alders was born on June 21, 1917 in Chicago to Fester Alders and Erna Hendricks, both Dutch immigrants who met on a ship to America in 1910. Fester worked in a meat-packing plant in Chicago, and Erna was a housewife.
Fester and Erna’s first child, a boy by the name of Ernest, died when he […]
Hattie Shirley was born on August 21, 1916 in Boise, Idaho to Orville Mayfield and Alberta Hass. Not much is known about Hattie’s parents except that when Hattie was a baby, they divorced. Alberta took the three children: May, Hugh, and Hattie and moved to Chicago, where she eventually met and married a man by […]
Lou Dean Rogers was born on May 25, 1936 in a small town in West Virginia to Herman Rogers and Maxine O’Toole, who was originally from Virginia. Herman worked in a coal mine for forty-six years while Maxine cared for their four children: Herman, Jr., Ruby June, Bobby Ray and Lou Dean, though Bobby Ray […]
Joo-Won Cho was born on July 12, 1923 in Korea to Kyung Cho and Ha-Yun Kang during the time of the Japanese occupation. Kyung was a businessman in Suncheon, and Ha-Yun cared for their ten children, of which Joo-Won was number five.
Joo-Won went to school in Suncheon and then went to Japan for college, which […]
Clement Rybar was born on February 6, 1915 in Slovakia to Jonas Rybar and Alena Kriz. Jonas owned a substantial farm, and even though he and Alena had seven children to help, they still needed to hire extra workers to get all of the work done. Clement went to school until about the six grade, […]
Katie Bohler was born on March 27, 1906 in Chicago to Edward Moran and Bridget Berne, both born in Ireland. Not much is known about Katie’s parents’ life, just that Bridget was married to another man, Patrick Cooney, while still in Ireland and had two children with him. At some point, she and Patrick decided […]
Thomas Bisky was born on June 30, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, to Stefan Brzezicki and Magda Chmiel. Stefan and Magda were both born in Poland where they met and married. Not much is known about what their life in “the old country” was like, except that Stefan served in the army for a time. […]
Rahat Karim was born in Jerusalem on October 28, 1939 to Abdul Karim and Basma Nejem. There were four children in the family, 3 boys and one girl. Rahat went to the equivalent of elementary school and learned the basics, which consisted mostly of reading and writing. He then began working in a factory. When […]
