Novel Notes of Local Lore

Vera Kadlec was born on August 10, 1909 in the village of Orlov, which is situated between Pilsen and Prague in what is now the Czech Republic.  Vera’s father, Andel Blaha, was the mayor of [...]

Joseph Wagner was born on July 6, 1912 in Lake Zurich, Illinois to Eckhart Wagner and Klara Schwartz, both of whom were born in Germany.  As a teenager, Eckhart came over with his father, Otto, [...]

Emilia Mundt was born on October 26, 1913 in Chicago to Jan Jelen and Zofia Nedved, both of whom were immigrants from Slovakia.  Jan came to America with a relative when he was nineteen, and [...]

Anton Lungu was born near Brasov, Romania on July 22, 1936 to Ciprian and Ileana Lungu.  Ciprian was a soldier, and Ileana cared for their four children.  Anton only went to the equivalent of [...]

Wilma McDonald was born on April 10, 1910 in Chicago to Lech Kaszubski and Berta Kaluza.  Not much is known about the origins of Lech and Berta.  It is believed that they were both born in [...]

Edith Wojewodika was born on February 7, 1915 in Chicago.  Her parents were Eluf Akselsem and Britta Dam, both immigrants from Denmark who met in New York shortly after arriving in America.  They [...]

Leonard “Leo” Frazier was born on October 7, 1906 on a farm in Minnesota to Lewis and Marion Frazier.  Lewis was born in Minnesota, and Marion was a German immigrant.  Together they had eight [...]

Mirna Claesson was born on November 29, 1900 in Velika Gorica, Croatia, near Zagreb.  Her parents were Dejan and Nada Juric.  Mirna was the oldest of three children and went to school as far as [...]

Deiderich Muller was born on July 27, 1921 in Dortmund, Germany to Adolf and Elisabeth Muller. Elisabeth had been married before to a man named Karl Achterberg and had one child with him, Ada, [...]

Maria Kumiega was born on June 7, 1913 in Poland to Albert and Milena Gajos.  Milena’s maiden name was also Gajos, though Maria says her parents weren’t related.  Albert owned a small farm, and [...]