U.S.A. DESTINATIONS
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Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Wilkes Barre Plymouth Edwardsville PA
Salem Massachusetts
Detroit, Michigan
Perth Amboy, New Jersey
From the Ellis Island records, I found this to be the first destination of
the Kotlar/Kotlarz, Wdowiak and Warcholyk lines of the
family. My grandmother, Anna Kotlarz,
who arrived on March 30, 1910 aboard the ship Neckar from Bremen page, #186 of
the manifest, line #13, claimed as her destination the residence of her uncle,
Jan Kotlarz whose address was 713 Charlie Street, Perth Amboy. I tried to search the 1910 and 1920 New
Jersey census for this person but currently the census is not indexed and after
searching line by line until I was nearly blind I decided not to continue.
Shamokin, Pennsylvania
The Warcholyk
and Kotlarz lines
spent some time in this town. Antoni Warcholyk a half-brother to my
grandmother, Anna Kotlarz, married Anna Ambicki in this town before moving on
to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Antoni
arrived at Ellis Island on Feb 16, 1906 at the age of 22 destined for the
residence of his uncle, Jan Kotlarz, living at #8 Wayne Street, Perth Amboy,
New Jersey.
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e-mail me at Carpatho_mts@hotmail.com
Hazleton, Pennsylvania
The Dran and Chomyk/Homik lines made
Hazleton their home about 1890. Anna
Chomyk my grandmother arrived in the town first (the date and with whom, not
confirmed, but I speculate that it was with Chomyk family members). She and my grandfather, Michael Dran, were
from the same village, Swiatkowa Wielka, in Galicia. Michael arrived in December 1890 as stated on his naturalization
papers. They applied for a marriage
license in January 1891 and were married on Jan 24, 1892 at St. Mary’s Greek
Catholic Church in Hazleton by Rev Gugasat Volksy. Click for church Web Site
St. Mary's B.C.Church,Hazleton,
Pa Home Page Their
witnesses were Michael Ruscinyak, Andreas Jawkevics, Anastasia Ruscinyak, Anastasia M?uba and Maria Lombichovc.
Michael worked in the coalmines as stated on his marriage entry in the church
record, but he later worked as an orderly at the Hazleton State Hospital for
Injured Persons in Coal Regions.
Anna and Michael had six children, Barbara (aka Bertha), Julia, John, Fred
Theodore (my father), Michael and Emlyn.
Barbara, Julia and Fred married.
John left home at an early age and was last known to be in Newark, New
Jersey in 1931, but never contacted the family afterwards. Michael and Emlyn never married. Michael was
a career army/air force member, joining in about 1920. Emlyn worked in Detroit, Michigan. He was a lithographer by trade and also
served in the army. He then returned to
Hazleton residing there until his death.
Anna Chomyk Dran
died in 1906 at the age of 41. Michael
Dran, my grandfather, married a second time to Julia Yankowicz Grazcon, a widow from
Swiatkowa. There were no children from
this marriage, but Julia had Graczon daughters, Barbara and Anna
Gracon/Graczon, who remained in
Hazleton and raised their families there.
Barbara married John Popiak and Anna married Konrad Skimbo.
Descendants still live in the Hazleton area. Julia also had a daughter named Milka Graczon Makowski who lived in
Jersey City, N.J. This connection was found in the Ellis Island immigration
records of Julia and also in a travel diary notation of my father, Fred Dran,
when he traveled from Hazleton to Swiatkowa Wielka via New York City.
Houses the Dran family owned and lived in were located on Muir Avenue,
Samuel Avenue and Samuel Avenue Rear.
Churches they attended were St. Mary’s Greek Catholic Church and St.
Michael’s Greek Catholic Church in Hazleton and also St Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, McAdoo PA Other surnames associated with this family
by marriage are Sirak,
Tresh and. Sharwarko
Detroit, Michigan
Barbara Dran Tresh (older sister to Fred Dran, my father) her husband,
Nicholas, and their three children, Michael, Anna and Margaret, left Hazleton,
PA for the Detroit, Michigan area. Nick worked for the Hudson Motor Company for
most of his life. Descendants still
live in that area. Other surnames
associated with this branch of the family are Tima,
Palahnuk and Pollick. The churches associated with this family
are, St. John’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Detroit, Michigan and Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Ukrainian Catholic Church, Dearborn Height, Michigan,
Salem, Massachusetts
Michael Dran
(b. 1860) and his sister Julianna Dran
(b.1868) were the only members of their immediate family to immigrate to the
USA. Julianna had married Wasyl (Basil)
Nestor/Nester in
Swiatkowa W. and after they immigrated about 1901, they established themselves
in Salem, MA. Wasyl opened a grocery
store in the “Polish” section of town on the corner of Hardy and Derby
Streets. There is a candy store located
on the spot now. They soon purchased a
house on Hardy Street. Wasyl died an early death in 1917 at age 45. Julianna was left with 6 small children,
Michael, Paul, Nicholas, Mary, Anna and Amelia. All grew up in Salem and
descendants still live in the area.
Their first child, Daria, was born in Swiatkowa prior to her parents’
emigration. Daria remained in Swiatkowa
and married there. Wasyl Nestor’s brother, John Nester also immigrated to the
USA. He and his descendants lived in the Binghamton, NY area. Other
surnames associated with the Salem Nestor family by marriage are Orzeckowski, Gary, and Wladyka. Surnames associated with the
Binghamton Nester family
are Sosenko, LePay,
Holda, Jablowski, Tellup, Klimash, Latture, Michalek and Skurski
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e-mail me at Carpatho_mts@hotmail.com
Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas of
Plymouth and Edwardsville
The Siry/Sirak, Slota, Warcholyk and Kotlarz lines established themselves in the
greater Wilkes Barre area. Catherine Slota Siry immigrated (possibly
with Slota
relatives) between 1890 (death of her husband in Hrabovcik) and 1893. She married in the USA a man surnamed Martin. No
family member now living remembers anything about this man. Neither does anyone know where Catherine is
buried. She brought her three children
to the USA, one at a time between 1893 and 1897. Her children were named Mary, Michael (my grandfather) and John
Siry. The children took the surname of
the stepfather and were known in the community as the Martin children.
Michael was 10 years old when he
immigrated to his destination, which was Plymouth PA. Catherine,
his mother, may have died by 1900.
According to the 1900 census, all the children were living on their
own. Michael married Anna Kotlar in
1912 at SS Peter & Paul’s Greek Catholic Church in Plymouth. They established a household in Breslau, a
suburb of Wilkes Barre. They produced
ten children, Mary, Michael Jr., Anna, Steven, Olga, Julia, Theodore, Peter,
Joseph and John. Michael began using a
variation of his birth surname by the 1920 census. The surname Siry became Sirak for whatever reason, but still
the family and his children were known in the community as the Martin
family. In 1922 the family bought
property and built a house in the Buttonwood section of Wilkes Barre. Mike and wife Anna resided there until their
deaths. Five of six sons would serve in
the military, either in WWII or the Korean War. Many descendants still live in
that community. Other surnames associated with this family by marriage are Uhas, Yuhas, Dran, Zeveney, Olex, Rowe, Rock, Gruber, Lenar
and Flynn. The church associated
with the family is SS
Peter&Paul’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Byzantine Rite, Plymouth PA.
Anna Kotlar and Michael Siry/Sirak were married in this church and their
children were baptized there. Anna and Michael are buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Hanover Twp PA (map)
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Mary Siry was my grandfather Michael’s older sister. She immigrated in 1893 at the age of 9
years. By 1900 she was recorded as Mary
Martin, according to the census, and was working as a domestic in a hotel in
Plymouth. She eventually married Andrew
Mazur and lived in
Edwardsville. In 1910 her brother John, who was still
single, was living with her family.
Mary and Andrew Mazur produced five children. They were Anna b. 1907, Leo b.1908, Eva b. 1910, Elizabeth b.1915
and Olga b.1917. Mary Siry Martin Mazur died between 1920-1923 and Andrew, her
husband, married again. I have lost
contact with this line of family. A
surname associated with this family by marriage is Fera.
The church associated with this family is St. John the Baptist Orthodox
Church, Edwardsville PA.
John Siry, Mary Siry Martin Mazur’s brother, immigrated in 1885. He lived as a single man with his sister’s
family and then he married the sister of brother Michael’s wife. He married Eva Kotlar who was the younger sister of Anna
Kotlar Sirak. Are you confused? Two
brothers married two sisters. John’s
marriage produced two children, Margaret b. 1915 and Elizabeth, b.1917.
Unfortunately, John was not healthy and succumbed to tuberculosis about
1923. His wife Eva married two more
times. Her second husband was Milan Krlic with whom she had six children and
raised them in Breslau, PA, a suburb of Wilkes Barre. Some are still
living. Her third husband was Philip Lenio. There were no children from this marriage. A
few descendants of Eva reside in the Wilkes Barre area. Surnames associated
with this family by marriage are Zematoski, Rembish and Wargo
Michael Siry/Sirak’s wife was Anna Kotlar. Anna’s mother was
Maria Wdowiak from
the village of Dudynce. Maria had two
marriages in Dudynce, the first was to Stephan Warcholyk.
That marriage lasted two years and produced one child, Antony, before
Maria was widowed. She then married
Stephan Kotlarz in
Dudynce and had three daughters, Catherine, Anna and Eva. Seeing no future for his children in
Dudynce, their father sent Antony, Anna and Eva to the USA. Through family
story, Catherine married a Jewish jewelry merchant and immigrated to France,
Sampigny area.
Another immigrant relative in the Wilkes Barre area was Nick Wdowiak. My family is not sure whether he was an
uncle or cousin to Maria Wdowiak Warcholyk Kotlarz of Dudynce. He married Amelia Pstrak in the U.S.A. and had eight
children. Some are still living. Nick
and Amelia resided in the Breslau section of Wilkes Barre until their
deaths. There are a few of his
descendants still living in the area.
Click Bald Mountain Childhood__
to read an online book about the life of a Carpatho-rusyn family living near
Wilkes Barre in the 1920s. The introduction contains historical information
about the homeland and origins of Carpatho-rusyns. There are some very interesting personal interviews with Rusyns
who were deported to the Ukraine during Operation Vistula in 1947 (all worth
reading).
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