Family history

So why do this, when my mom was pregnant with me, both my grandmothers died. I never met my grandmothers, never heard their voices or saw their smiles. Nor was I able to hear about their personal and family history all of this was lost to me. Now that I have four grandchildren and there are not guarantees in life that I will be able to speak to them in person about my history as they grow, I do so now. My name, Mary Jo is a combination of both my grandmothers names, they being Mary and Josephine...so my "handle" in life represents both motherhood and lost grandmas. My paternal grandma Josephine was a 100% Polish, born in Poland, her husband my grandfather, your great-great grandfather was also a 100% Polish born in Poland, his name was Joseph Chuprevich, although the spelling of the original name changed when he came through Ellis Island. My grandfather Chuprevich first came over from Poland and settled in Denver Colorado, he owned a very profitable tavern during the gold rush. He made a lot of money and returned to Poland. The second time he came to the US he settled in Pennsylvania. There he built a house with his brother Peter and purchased a large track of farm land, nearly 400 acres. Eventually the farm was split between the two brothers, each getting about 200 acres. My grandfather was basically for the rest of his life a farmer and he worked in the coal mines as well to make extra money for his large family, (7 children). Your great-grandpa, my father was born in Pennsylvania, first generation American. I will write at a later date a more detailed account of both of these great-great grandparents of yours. My maternal grandma was Mary, she as well was 100% Polish and she as well was born in Poland. Your great-great grandmother married a man born in Vienna, Austria. His name was William Fritz. Grandpa Fritz (Grampy to me) was a German solider and he spoke three languages, he was a carpenter, gardener, builder and owned a gas station. My mom and her family would have been considered middle class. There were four children in my mom's family. She had two brothers Richard, Raymond and one sister Jenni. My mom was the third born. There is a very colorful history in her family in regards to her mom. My grandmother fell in love with a German solider and had a child with him out of wedlock, my Aunt Jenni. When my grandpa married my grandma his family objected to the marriage since she was a "tainted" woman having had a child out of wedlock. My grandfather married my grandmother with a side arm, and he told his family if anyone stood up to embarrass his "wife" he would shoot them on the spot, nothing was said at the wedding by any one. My brother Tom was given this gun that my grandpa wore at his wedding. I actually think this is a very romantic story of a man very much in love with his future wife, willing to defend her by any means. They were very happily married until her death, she dying at age 54, in March 1951. My God Father was my Uncle Raymond, his nickname being Boobie, I was born on his birthday. My God Mother was my Aunt Jenni, she never had children so I was close to her. My Aunt Jenni was ahead of her time in many ways and a "prophet" in her own time predicting the price of gold to climb very high, predicting global changes due to weather changes. She also was very much into organic foods and life styles, telling everyone in the 1950' s and 1960's that there were chemicals in our foods that it would harm us. Aunt Jenni made her own medicines and would drive to PA to purchase organic food, she also grew her own vegetables. She also seemed to be connected spiritually to God. My Uncle Boobie was a big guy, really tall and massive body size, he looked like a wrestler. He was in the Korean War and he died very young at the age of 36, he left behind a wife and 6 small children. My Uncle spoiled me a great deal when I was a young child. My mom spoiled this brother of hers, he being the youngest. My dad would tell me stories how this Uncle really annoyed him at times..:-). My Uncle Boobie was spoiled by my mom and his dad. After my grandmother died, my grandfather remarried 6 months later. My mom never liked her step-mother, nor did her sister and two brothers like the step-mother. My mother always referred to her as "my father's wife". Yet she was the closest thing that I ever had to a real grandma and I liked her, we called her Babcia, (Polish for grandma)...Babcia was married twice before, I think they both died but I am not really sure, but she knew her way around men. Everything that my grandfather and Babcia owned was in her name and she very much ruled the roost. Babcia was very colorful! She always wore sunglasses and usually gold la may, always in a dress. Her bedroom had a fancy chaise lounge in it the kind one would expect to see Mae West laying in, (she being a famous actress of the past). Babcia had many bottles of perfume all in crystal atomizers with fancy tassels on them. Babcia had lots of jewelry as well, many fine pieces of amber from Poland and Russia. I really did like Babcia, every Sunday I would have dinner with her, she made the best ice tea, and stuffed cabbage. Babcia was very generous with me and offered to give me many of her crystal bottles and jewelry, I being young and not into those things at the time refused, now I wish I had taken them as a memory of her. Babcia was always on a "diet" and when you saw her she would stand up, and rub her stomach and say "me skinny no"... she spoke in broken English... Babcia had a way of pushing my mother's buttons and I picked up on this and would razz them both up when I could. My mother loved her father, but I never really felt close to my grandfather, he seemed distant to me, a cold German personality he manifested to me. My mom always spoiled me, I had the best of clothing and toys. My dad did the same, even though he worked very hard he would everyday after we ate dinner take me to the park. I would always get gifts from my dad. Music boxes and toys, always given money to go to the candy store next door and buy whatever I wanted. I spent every summer as a child on the family farm, there we had animals and I learned how to grow things in a garden, my mom canned many things for the winter. The woman on the farm next door, was the best cook ever! She made everything from scratch and it always tasted like a 5 star restaurant, I swear if you put a bowl of pits on her table she could somehow make it into a pie or cake. The farm was a working dairy farm there was always at least 40 cows to be milked, so I learned to milk cows as well... also learned how to avoid cow pies in the pastures. My young years were very simple and very family orientated. My family was very large and every holiday, wedding, birthday, etc... there was always lots of family there. My dad's family was very close knit, almost clannish. My mom's family was close as well. All holiday meals had over 20 people there. When I was young these gatherings were always at our home later at my Aunt Monica and Uncle Bill's home. My dad owned a bar that served food as well... this bar was not like the ones we have now, back when I was small. It was more like what they have in Ireland, it was a place for families. There was a "travel club" in the bar and we would go on outings, a bus or two was rented and many families would go to the Lake together, the zoo or to the beach, it was fun. I remember we went to Greenwood Lake and to Coney Island on a couple of the trips. I also remember at Coney Island I went on the merry go round 30 times... my dad actually threw up taking me on so often not me I loved it. Through this club at the bar we had many family friends as well. This bar of my father's was called the Montclair Tavern it was located in Paterson, NJ at the time this area was like a Norman Rockwell painting.. very family orientated. At Halloween the streets were so crowded with children and at Christmas it was all lit. There were fireman's parades down Main Street and street festivities. Everyone knew you and said hello to you by name. It was a different time to be alive a more open time with ones neighbors.

Okay now for some drama as told by my Aunt Monica in regards to her parents, my paternal grandparents, your great-great grandparents.

This story begins is the small village of Brazaski, in the City of Bieniskonski, Lithuania/Poland, (under the domination of the Russian Czar) where my grandfather, Josef Czuprewicz (original spelling of his name) was born on July 15, 1878. He had two younger brothers, Pawel, (Paul) and Francizek (Frank).

To seek their fortunes, Josef and Pawel migrated to the US. How they acquired monies for their passages is unknown, they went to Denver and purchased a saloon. It had all the attractions of time, dancing girls, booze and gambling... There was no paper money there only gold. The brothers did very well for themselves but they soon tired of the saloon and sold it and moved to New York City into a large community of Polish immigrants. There my grandfather met my grandmother Josefa Jadeska.

Josefa's coming to the US paralleled the typical immigrant story. She was born on February 28, 1890 in the village of Variskes in the State of Suwalka, Poland (under Czarist rule)... My great-grandfather, Josef Jadeska, died at an early age leaving his widow and 6 children surviving. My great-grandmother later remarried and had 2 additional children. To provide a living for so many children was very difficult. Also, when the children were being taught to read and write in Polish by an educator (usually an old man), it had to be done in secret. If the Russians found out, they would burn the house down being used as a school.

Eventually, my grandmother's oldest sister, Caroline earned enough money for passage to the US. She found employment as a maid for a rich Jewish family in New York City. After working for some time, she saved enough money to bring her sister, Mary to the States. Together they worked and saved enough money to bring the next sister over, Anne, then they all worked and saved for the next sister to come she being my grandmother. They all worked as maids as they had no other skills.

Josef Czuprewicz and Josefa Jadeska were wed in the year 1907 in New York City and moved to Scranton, PA where Josef found work in a coal mine. Their first child, Pauline was born April 16, 1908.

My grandfather was a frugal person, Josef saved enough money to take his wife and daughter to his parents' home in Europe. He wanted to show off his family and his opulence. My grandmother told her daughters of a hat her husband brought for her to wear in Europe, it was beautiful with the biggest feather she ever saw. While they were in Europe their second child was born John, he being born July 4, 1909.

During my grandparents' stay at my paternal great-grandparents home, Josefa's younger sister Anastasia, came to visit them and my grandfather gave her money to come to the States. My grandparents returned to the States with their two children in 1910, they returned to New York City, they settled in Maspeth and for a while my grandfather worked as a gravedigger. Their third child Stella was born on November 18, 1912. The family moved backed to Scranton and my grandfather worked in the mines again. There their fourth child was born, Julia in 1915 and then a fifth child, Helen, was born on January 13, 1918.

During the year 1918, there was an influenza epidemic in Scranton. Josefa and her daughter, contracted this dreadful disease and Julia died from it. Josefa was so ill, she was not expected to live and had no awareness that her daughter died (had my grandmother died I would not being writing this now for my dad was not yet born).

Also my grandmother could not take care of her infant daughter my Aunt Helen. Fortunately my grandmother's sister had an infant as well and she took care of Aunt Helen along with her own child. After this time is when the two brothers purchased the family farm in Lake Ariel, PA.

My grandfather continued to work in the mines and only came home to the farm on weekends. However it was not long that the two families living together found that this could not be done forever so they split the farm and moved into two different houses.

ON December 18, 1919 my grandparents had their another son, my dad, Thomas and on May 1, 1922 they had another daughter my Aunt Monica. They were both born in the farmhouse that I spent my summers in.

As these were very desperate times (the depression), my grandmother made extra money by making"bootleg whiskey" in the woods... She would buy pure alcohol from a family in Scranton, dilute the alcohol to get the right proof and then "burn sugar". The burnt sugar gave it color and flavor. My grandmother would hide her bottles of bootleg in the stone wall... all her "buyers" came in the middle of the night and my grandmother was terrified to go in the dark to get her bootleg and would always bless herself for fear of the devil. My grandmother's "business" came to an end at the repeal of prohibition.

On June 27, 1927 another son was born my Uncle Peter, this time a doctor was present at the farmhouse for the birth, not so with the prior births.

As the children got older it became profitable to have a large dairy farm and my grandfather stopped working at the coal mines and became a full time farmer.

My grandmother died February 1951 after a gall bladder operation, my grandfather died March 1951 of pneumonia, which he contracted at the funeral of his wife, he also had silicosis (black lung) for the years he worked in a coal mine.