Novel Notes of Local Lore

Ignac “Iggy” Rybar was born on September 23, 1926 in Trencin, Slovakia to Jacob Rybar and Amalia Laska.  Jacob worked as an “outdoor maintenance man” and Amalia cared for their three children: [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Elmer Densmore was born in Chicago on August 13, 1915 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 [...]

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 [...]

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.  When Hyum was just a baby, his father died.  His mother never [...]

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.  [...]

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 [...]