Novel Notes of Local Lore

Adele Bartos was born on September 19, 1907 in Czechoslovakia to Daniel Janicek and Renata Benes.  It is not known what type of work Daniel did in the old country, but sometime in 1911, he set [...]

Nelson Pederson was born on July 22, 1931 in Chicago to Emil Pederson and Asta Brahms, both immigrants from Denmark.  It is thought that Emil worked in a factory in Ravenswood, near where the [...]

Almera Navarro was born on August 2, 1908 in the Philippines to Jonray and Divine Santos.  Jonray worked for a trucking company, and Divine cared for their seven daughters: Dorilyn, Eilene, [...]

Arndt “Arnie” Winkler was born on February 8, 1911 in Odell, Il. to Hagen Winkler and Eileen Burke.  Hagen was of German descent and worked as a farmer on his eighty-acre farm.  Eileen was of [...]

Iveta Prochazka was born on February 8, 1923 in Czechoslovakia to Adam Klima and Bozena Pesek.  Iveta was the youngest of three children, her older siblings being Radana and Rudolf.  It is [...]

Honza Ruzicka was born on October 22, 1904 in Chicago to Cyril Ruzicka and Lenka Vesely.  Cyril was born in a little village outside of Prague and came to America as a young man to escape being [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Glen Mayer was born on September 15, 1932 in Chicago to Adolf Mayer and Elizabeth Bojars.  It is thought that Adolf was a German immigrant and that Elizabeth may have been from Latvia.  They [...]

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 [...]