My Global Family

I am participating in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, a writing challenge encouraging genealogy researchers to write about their ancestors. The challenge is hosted by genealogist, blogger and podcaster Amy Johnson Crow.

Here's my post for Amy's Week Eleven prompt: Large Family

By Nancy Gilbride Casey

This week's theme is "Large Family," and I choose to highlight my grandparents' families. Each had a large family - all in all there were 24 siblings among them. They also came from incredibly diverse backgrounds, each interesting in its own way. And in each, I can see a glimmer of how family ties and bonds get passed down through the generations. I have come to appreciate the great depth of experience and cultural influence which has shaped my life. 

MATERNAL LINES: Kozlina and Simonik

Thomas Joseph Kozlina

Part of Grandpa's large family included his mother Louise (seated lower left), and brother Frank (seated middle).

My paternal grandfather Thomas Joseph Kozlina (b. 3 June 1910, d. 22 March 1997), was born the third of eight children in Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, to Croatian immigrant parents: Frank Kozlina and Lojza Vjekoslava "Louise" Baltorinic. Grandpa's parents were both born in tiny towns near Zagreb, and immigrated from Croatia in 1904 and 1905 respectively, marrying in 1906, and settling in North Union, Fayette County Pennsylvania. There, Frank, a coal miner, and Louise tended their family, which included Grandpa's three brothers: Stephen, Frank and William, and four sisters: Barbara, Anna, Kathryn and Frances.

Of all my grandparents, I knew Grandpa Kozlina the least well, as he and my grandmother divorced when I was a child, and he moved back to Pennsylvania from Cleveland and remarried. Although I saw him infrequently, I know that music was a part of his life. Through music my mother Anna Margaret Kozlina, came to love Croatian folk dance. She spent time as a performer in the Cleveland Croatian Slavulj, a folk dance performing troupe. Perhaps it was her love of music and dance that inspired my own early-life passion for dance. This influence has even come down to my daughter, who took a folk motif from one of her grandmother's dance costumes, as a tattoo in lasting tribute to her "Memaw."

Margita Katarina Simonik or Margaret Katherine Simonik, my maternal grandmother (b. 6 June 1913; d. 7 March 1988), was one of eleven children born to John Simonik and Anna Tatar. Sadly of these eleven, only five would survive. Grandma was the fourth in line of her siblings: sisters Mary and Anna, and brother Steven were older than her, and Josephine was younger. Grandma was born in Moorewood, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, where John and Anna had settled after immigrating around 1901 from Forbasz, Popradvolgy, Szepes, Slovakia.

The Simonik family, top row, Mary and Anna. Bottom row: Margaret, Anna, Josephine, John and Steven.

Grandma Kozlina was the grandmother I knew the best, as she lived with our family frequently as a help to my mother, after my parents divorced. She was the sunniest, most loving grandmother a child could want. She was self-deprecating, funny, helpful and kind. She was always thinking of others.

Margaret Katherine Simonik

Grandma would ride the bus from her home in Cleveland to our house every Monday for many years, a "babushka" on her head, and usually laden with bags of goodies for our family - whatever she thought we could use. We would peek out the front door window to see her walking down the street, and run to meet her and help her carry her bags to the house.

Grandma Kozlina did many thankless jobs to help my mother, never once complaining or asking for anything in return. Of all my grandparents, she had the biggest influence on me, and I just loved to spend time with her, chatting as she helped with laundry, or as she made dinner or lunch while my Mom was working.
 

Joseph John Gilbride

PATERNAL LINES: Gilbride and Baker

Joseph John Gilbride (b. 9 April 1910; d. 27 Aug 1990), my paternal grandfather, was the youngest of four sons born to John Joseph Gilbride and Margaret McAndrew. He was born in Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, where his father work in the anthracite coal mines, and his mother was a homemaker to Grandpa and his three brothers: Clarence, Donald and Harold. Grandpa's parents were both born in Scranton as well, to large Irish families, whose members had immigrated to the United States a generation or two before, likely around the 1850s.

By 1920, Grandpa's family had moved to the Cleveland, Ohio area. His father wanted to escape the dangers of the coal mines in Scranton, and he found work initially as a laborer at a round house in the railroad. Grandpa would eventually follow in father's footsteps, also working for the railroad in the Collinwood area of Cleveland.

As a young child, I recall the pleasure of living just down the street from Grandpa and Grandma Gilbride on E. 147th Street, on Cleveland's east side. I vaguely recall being aware of other relations living near us, but it has only been later in life, as I research our families, that I have come to understand just what a common occurrence this was. Apparently, many relations on both the Gilbride and McAndrew side lived within blocks of each other in Cleveland. This is a practice I have discovered was widespread among those same Irish families in Scranton, and I was fortunate to see just how close many of them lived to one another when I visited there recently.

Of my grandfathers, Grandpa Gilbride was the one I was closest to. He had a terrific sense of humor and was always teasing us about something. He had a wonderful belly laugh, ever-present blue suspenders, and twinkling blue eyes. He was the grandparent who laughed the most, was a great storyteller, and tended to see the humor in situations.

My grandparents' wedding was truly a mix of the Gilbride and Baker families, as two siblings on each side served as bridesmaids and groomsmen. From left to right: Donald Gilbride, Marybelle Baker, Joseph Gilbride, Josephine Baker, Kathryn Baker and Harold Gilbride.

Mary Josephine Baker

My paternal grandmother Mary Josephine Baker (b. 7 May 1911; d. 11 Feb 1981), provides my Canadian connection. She was the second oldest of seven siblings, six who lived to adulthood. Her were brother Edward and sisters Kathryn, Gertrude "Gert," Mary Isabelle "Marybelle," and Jane.

Grandma's parents were Edward Joseph Baker and Catherine Anne Cassidy, both born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, to German/Scottish and Irish parents, respectively. Her parents immigrated to Cleveland about 1910, I assume for work; her father Edward Baker was an iron moulder at the Allyne-Ryan Foundry on the east side of Cleveland.

Grandma Gilbride was the quietest of my grandparents in my memory - if in a room with Grandpa, he would be the one talking and the one you would remember. She was reserved and as I recall, a simple woman. My Dad told me once she was a big Cleveland Indians fan and loved to listen to them on the radio - a fact that shocked me, as I never realized she was a sports fan. Early photos of her show, a stylish, fresh-faced beauty who clearly caught Grandpa's eye, and whose steadfastness kept him by her side for over 50 years.

My grandparents, influenced by their large families, provided me with an amazing heritage that spans the globe and is a continual source of inspiration in my life.