Irving McDonald was born on April 2, 1915 in Chicago to Wesley McDonald and Lucille Rickert. Wesley was born in Pennsylvania but at some point moved to Chicago and began working as a mail carrier. Lucille was a Chicago native and stayed at home with their five children, of whom Irving was the oldest.
From a […]
Apolena Moravec was born on June 30, 1902 in Korovyntsi, Ukraine, though Apolena refers to it as being part of Russia. Her father, Alexei Popov, was Russian, and her mother, Helena Lisiewicz, was a Pole. Alexei worked as an accountant, and Helena cared for their five children, of whom Apolena was the youngest.
Apolena attended elementary […]
Tereza Kadlec was born on October 4, 1897 in Olomouc, Moravia to Karel Hruska and Anna Jandacek. Tereza was the second youngest of eight children (5 girls and 3 boys), all of whom lived to be over ninety years old. Karel was a sugar beet farmer, and Anna was a housewife. Both Karel and Anna […]
Antonia Pakulski was born on October 10, 1905 in Poland to Bartholomew and Gosia Kowalczyk. Antonia was the youngest of seven children, and when she was just one year old, the family immigrated to Chicago.
Antonia attended school until the eighth grade and then quit to get a job. She first began working as an assembler […]
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 […]
