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A Rose for Sharon

    For many years now, I have posted the single pink rose image to my social media on August 19th and June 4th. Those who know me well know it is in honor of my little sister, Sharon, who died in 1994. Her birth date and her death date. That has been the extent of my communication about my sister or her life since. Thirty-two years is a long time to hold onto words. I have considered writing about her. It doesn't matter how deep my feelings are for her or how much I cherish her memory, the words don't come easily, if at all. Words feel cheap and wrong. It's hard to even describe why. Maybe it is because she was our family's: Our sister, our cousin, our niece, our daughter. We knew her best, so no one else should have the right to know about her like we did. Maybe that's why I hold onto my words. But I realize that if I don't tell her story, who will?  I have spent hour upon hour researching my long-gone ancestors, yet I haven't written about my own sister. ...
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JOHN SIMONIK

John Simonik detail from family portrait.1

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

January 14, 2022:   Maternal Great Grandfather #2  - John Simonik (1873-1950)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

I no doubt feel closest to my Slovak ancestors since I spent more time with my Slovak grandmother— Margaret Simonik Kozlina—than any other grandparent. I heard more snippets about her parents and siblings as I was growing up. 

But Grandma has been gone since 1988 and my interest in family history was not such then that I took much note of what she was saying. 

However, experiencing what a lovely person she was led me to know that her parents too must have been kind and loving people, and photographs handed down through the family bear this out.

But first, a little history...

Grandma's father was John Simonik, born on 8 May 1873 in Forbasz, then part of the Austria-Hungarian empire. His parents Stephan Simonik and Catharina Skapura took their son to their church in the nearby town of Gňazdá near Stará Ľubovňa, where he was baptized Joannes Szimonik on 10 May 1873.2 He was one of six children born to the couple.

Detail of John's baptismal record from the church register in Gňazdá.3


Map of the Prešov region (Prešovský kraj) in mountainous northern Slovakia, district (okres) of Stará Ľubovňa highlighted. John's village of Forbasy was located just west of Stará Ľubovňa.4


Of his life in Forbasz, I know little. John married Anna Tatar on 13 November 1901, prior to emigrating to southwestern Pennsylvania, as did our Croatian Kozlina and Baltorinic ancestors. What drove John and Anna to America is not entirely clear; one can speculate that it was the yearning for a better life than what they were leaving behind, and the economic opportunities available in the coal region of the area.

John and Anna's 1901 marriage record noted in the church register.5

When they first arrived, John and Anna lived in Morewood, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where our grandmother Margaret was born. There, John worked as a coke drawer in the coke furnaces below their home in the valley.6 They later moved to West Leisenring, Fayette County, Pa., where they remained for the rest of their lives. 

John and Anna raised five children to adulthood, though they had six others who were stillborn or died early in life. Joining our grandmother Margaret were her sisters Anna, Mary and Josephine, and a brother Steven.

Simonik family portrait, about 1918. Back row: Mary and Anna; front row: our Grandma Margaret, Anna, Josephine, John and Steven.7

I clearly recall driving through West Leisenring on a trip to visit some of Mom's relatives in Pennsylvania when I was a kid. She pointed out a house up on a hill as we drove by, and stated, "That's where I was born. That's my grandmother's house." I recall being stunned that a birth would take place in a home (wasn't that what hospitals were for?). The location of that house up on the hill is evident in many photos of John and Anna Simonik.

John and Anna Simonik posed in their yard at the house "on the hill," mid-late 1940s.8

The couple had a long and happy life together and were married just shy of 49 years when John passed away in July of 1950, with Anna following in October 1950.9

News clipping from John and Anna's 35th wedding anniversary celebrated in 1936.10 

My favorite photo of a smiling John and Anna Simonik, outside their home in West Leisenring, Pa.11

More wonderful photos await in tomorrow's post about Anna Tatar, as well as the answer to the question: Were Anna and John actually Gorals?


NOTES

1 Photo of John Simonik, detail from larger family portrait, about 1918, unknown photographer, location; private collection of N. Casey [address for private use], 2022.

2 Kostol sv. Bartolomeja (Church of St. Bartholomew), Gňazdá, Stará, Ľubovňa, Slovakia, Baptisms, marriages, deaths, index (Krsty, manželstvá, úmrtia, zoznam) 1801-1888, p. 161, baptism of Joannes Szimonik, 10 May 1873; image, "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KH8L-2V4 : accessed 14 January 2022); citing Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia; FHL microfilm 1,739,196, image 505.

3 Ibid.

4 Map of Presov, Slovakia, 2004, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbasy#/media/File:Okres_stara.png : accessed 14 Jan. 2022); Map This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

5 Kostol sv. Bartolomeja, Gňazdá, Stará, Ľubovňa, Slovakia, Marriages 1880-1945, #3230, marriage of Joannes Szimonik and Anna Tatar, 13 November 1901; FHL film 1739197-2, image retrieved by L. Klein [address for private use].

6 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Westmoreland County, Pa., population schedule, enumeration district 118, sheet 29A, East Huntingdon Township, Morewood Rd., dwelling 379, family 499, John Semallak (36); image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449972_00618: accessed 14 January 2022); NARA microfilm publication T624; Washington, D.C.

7 Photo of Simonik family, detail from larger family portrait, about 1918, unknown photographer, location; private collection of N. Casey [address for private use], 2022. Photo was passed on to me from my mother Anna Margaret Kozlina Gilbride, who received it from her mother Margaret Katherine Simonik Kozlina, the daughter of John and Anna Simonik.

8 Photo of John and Anna Simonik, about 1940s, West Leisenring, unknown photographer; private collection of N. Casey [address for private use], 2022.

9 For John: Pennsylvania Department of Health, Fayette County, Certificate of Death 59883, John Simonik, 10 July 1950; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/42410_3421606189_0969-00474 : accessed 14 January 2022), citing Vital Statistics, Harrisburg. For Anna: Ohio Department of Health, Cuyahoga County, Certificate of Death 59977, Anna Sophia Simonik, 1 October 1950; database & image, "Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DC67-7B1 : accessed 14 January 2022); citing Vital Statistics, Columbus.

10 "The John Simoniks Married 35 Years," unidentified newspaper, about 1936; private collection of N. Casey [address for private use], 2022.

11 Photo of John and Anna Simonik, about 1940s, West Leisenring, unknown photographer; private collection of N. Casey [address for private use], 2022.

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