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    My Polish Grandma
    My Polish Grandma
    My Polish Grandma
    Ebook153 pages1 hour

    My Polish Grandma

    By Stephen Szabados

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This book is about a Polish grandmother. The story in this book is different from many immigrant stories because I tell it from the perspective of a woman. The story asks questions about her fears and challenges in growing up, immigrating to America, and making a new life.

    In writing my grandmother's story, I wanted to go beyond the names, dates, and pictures in the albums. She was more than that. It is crucial to ask why she did what she did.
     

    Hopefully, this story will give the reader insights that will help them understand their immigrant ancestors more. As you read this story ask the same questions about your ancestors. If you do, your view of your family history will definitely change.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen Szabados
    Release dateJun 16, 2020
    ISBN9781393045748
    My Polish Grandma
    Author

    Stephen Szabados

    Steve Szabados grew up in Central Illinois and is a retired project manager living in the Chicago Suburbs. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and a Masters in Business Administration from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. Steve Szabados is an author and lecturer on genealogy. He has been researching his ancestors since 2000 and has traced ancestors back to the 1600s in New England, Virgina, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the 1730’s in Poland, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. He has given numerous presentations to genealogical groups and libraries in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. His mission is to share his passion for Family History with as many people as he can. He is a former board member of Polish Genealogical Society of America, and he is a genealogy volunteer at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. Steve also is the genealogy columnist for the Polish American Journal.

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      Book preview

      My Polish Grandma - Stephen Szabados

      Introduction

      ––––––––

      This book is about my grandmother. She was a Polish woman who immigrated from the Russian partition of Poland after World War One. I wrote this story of her life hoping to show a different perspective of Polish immigration because I tried to tell it from a woman's perspective. I tried to uncover the differences by asking the following questions:

      What challenges and fears did the Polish women overcome when they left home to establish a new life in a new land?

      How was it different from the men?

      When they left the comfort zone around their village and their family, what were their fears?

      Did they travel with a friend, or were they alone?

      Were they excited when they saw electric lighting and indoor plumbing for the first time in the cities and onboard the ships?

      How did their experience on the ship differ from the men's?

      Why did a male family member have to be at the port before officials admitted the women? 

      What were their visions of America?

      How did their vision differ from men's?

      Why was finding a husband so important?

      How did they adapt from farm life to urban life?

      This book describes my grandmother's birthplace, early life, and the events that affected her before leaving for America. The story tells of the challenges she overcame when she traveled across the Atlantic to the United States and found herself alone in her new country. The story ends by describing her new life in America and hopefully shows how she found the strength to build that new life.

      I wanted to go beyond the photo albums' names, dates, and pictures in writing my grandmother's story. She was more than that. It is crucial to ask why she did what she did.

      My grandmother Anna Chmielewska was the youngest of nine children and was very small stature. She stood less than five feet tall and weighed less than 90 pounds as an adult. In Poland, she was the youngest and smallest member of the Chmielewski household. However, in her house in America, she was in charge. My grandmother quietly dominated her home. My parents, sister, and I lived with my grandparents for about ten years. We all did things her way. She did not have a dominating personality, but she was always in command when she was in the room. She never raised her voice. I would describe her as a kind and loving person, but I think the family followed her instructions because we loved her and not due to fear of her. She was physically small but a tremendous inspiration in my life.

      After researching her family history, I believe she gained her inner strength from the tragedies of her early life in Poland and the challenges she overcame to start her new life in America.

      Her father died when she was still an infant, and she grew up on a small farm in Poland, where everyone in the family had to work every day to survive. Her parents had nine children: three daughters and six sons. However, four of the boys died as toddlers. Surviving was not easy.

      Everyday life was hard when Anna grew up in Poland, but her life changed to terrifying during the summer and winter of 1915. mother, Julianna, died in April 1915. Then the violence of World War I destroyed many farms in the area as the Russian Ary retreated through the area using a scorched earth method to delay the Germans. Homelessness, hunger, typhus, and cholera descended on the area, and the Chmielewski family experienced these tragedies. I often asked Grandma what happened to her and her family during the war. She would not talk about her life. Her only comment was, We survived!

      The rebuilding began after the war ended, but Anna no longer belonged on the Chmielewski farm. Her parents were dead, and her brother had inherited the farm. Her sister-in-law was now in charge of the Chmielewski household. Her brother Boleslaw was busy rebuilding the farm, but he also had a responsibility to find Anna, a husband. As the married head of the family, Boleslaw needed to find a Polish husband of noble birth for his twenty-year-old sister. It was time for her to leave the family home.

      Boleslaw could not find his sister a suitable husband among the surviving Polish men. Boleslaw contacted his brother Hipolit in America to resolve this problem to ask for his help. They decided to send Anna to America and have Hipolit help find a husband for her there. Again, finding a suitable husband in Camden, New Jersey, was not easy. Finally, after two years, her brother arranged a marriage with the cousin of one of Hipolit’s Polish friends. This step was still a considerable challenge for Anna since he lived 900 miles from Camden, and Anna met him for the first time a week before the wedding when she got off the train in Bloomington, Illinois.

      In America, Anna worked hard every day. She had jobs as a maid at a hotel, worked in a hospital laundry, and was a cook at a neighborhood restaurant. Anna also cooked and cleaned for her family every day. However, she still found time to be happy working in her garden and being with her family.

      Why are the stories of our ancestors important? They were simple people. However, they are more than names, dates, and places on a chart. More importantly, their lives made significant contributions to our lives. They played an essential role in our family history. We need to capture the family stories that will bring our immigrant ancestors to life for our children and grandchildren.

      Our ancestors were part of the wave of emigration that left Europe with the hope of finding work and a better life. It was not easy to immigrate to America. They saw immigration to America as their last chance. They had to overcome obstacles getting from their village to the ships and felt hardships crossing the Atlantic. Then immigration officials made them prove they were worthy of being admitted to the United States. Once here, they faced challenges and discrimination to find work and make the better life they were seeking.

      This book asks questions about Anna’s fears about making these changes. How did she face these fears? How did she overcome them? Although I found no answers, I still found new insights about my grandmother.

      As you read Anna's story, ask the same questions about your ancestors. If you do, your view of your family history will change. Hopefully, you will find insights to help you understand your immigrant ancestors more.

      My grandmother endured many challenges and hardships. Once here, she worked hard, and her home and her family gave her a sense of accomplishment. Being with her children and grandchildren gave her further enjoyment. Her accomplishments were simple, but they were more than what she would have if she had stayed in Poland. She had achieved the better life she sought when she emigrated. Her life is an example of a typical woman immigrant, and there may be similarities to your ancestor.

      Our immigrant ancestors are the foundation of our roots in the United States. Our lives would be very different if our immigrants did not endure the challenges of immigration to America. Do not underestimate their contributions. They may have left us some material wealth, but the most significant contribution they gave is their family and their role in the growth of the United States. Their lives were building blocks in the development of their new country.

      Remember that they made many sacrifices for us and helped build the United States. They could not appreciate what they were doing because they worked hard and survived each day. However, what they did each day was important. Our role should be to leave something that will help our children remember them. We need to capture the memories by writing our family history.

      If you are reluctant to write your family history, relax. Please write it down in your words and voice. It should include the names, dates, and photos and incorporate the stories and your feelings. Start with small details and then expand as you find more information. I hope my grandmother’s story will serve as an example.

      If  you do not save

      your family’s memories,

      who will do it?

      CHAPTER One - Early

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