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The Thumb's Christmas

  Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller. One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book . In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone. Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Ji...
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Little Lady on the Move: More Baby Book Fun

My Mom Anna Margaret Kozlina and her mother Margaret Simonik Kozline, June 1938.1

I’m loving this exercise of reading my Mom’s baby book. Grandma’s notes paint a vivid picture of what Mom’s life was like in those early days. She was certainly a little lady on the move!

Here are my Mom’s “Outings” and “Journeys” my grandmother recorded beginning when Mom was about five months old. 


Outings & Journeys from Mom's baby book, written by my Grandmother.2 


Mar. 20, 1938 Went to Connellsville, then Lemont & back home

Mar. 27, 1938 Went to Lemont & back home

Apr. 3, 1938 Went to St. John’s Church, then Lemont, Connellsville, Aunt Barb’s, Conn Hospital to see Helen Deroh, then to Lemont, then to Rhythm Inn, W. Va. then to Lemont & back home.

"Helen Deroh" was the mother-in-law of Grandpa Kozlina's sister Barbara, married to George Derov.3

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Uniontown, as Grandma and Mom would have seen it.4

Apr. 17, 1938 Went to St. Mary’s Church, Aunt Mgt’s. Lemont, Brownsville, Lemont, Marcus’s, Grandmas & back home.

Apr. 18, 1938 Went to Connellsville & back home.

Apr. 24, 1938 Went to Lemont, Marincich’s place at Martin, back to Lemont & back home.

May 1, 1938 Went to St. John’s Church, Lemont, Ballgame (Baseball game) at Cont. No. 2., Lemont, Marcus’s & back home.

Grandpa Thomas Kozlina played baseball in his earlier years, so it's likely that Grandma and Mom went to go see him play.5

An early photo of St. John the Evangelist Church, one if several Catholic churches serving Uniontown.6


May 8, 1938 Went to Lemont & Back home. I was over Salingers with grand ma.

The Salingers were friends of the Kozlina family. George Salinger was Mom's godfather.7


May 9, 1938 Went to Uniontown, do some shopping.

May 15, 1938 “ “ Uncle Steve’s, Lemont, & back home.

May 22, 1938 “ “ Lemont, May Queen Crowning & back home. Baseball game

A May Queen Crowning was an event to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, during the devotional month of May. Many Catholic cultures would process with a statue of Mary or children would crown Mary with floral crowns, to honor her as the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.8

June 1st, 1938 “ “ Trotter, to my Aunts grave & Conn. & back home.

"My Aunts grave" refers to Grandma Kozlina's sister Anna who died in 1933 of "sleeping sickness" and is buried in St. John's Cemetery.9
 

Mom's Aunt Anna's grave probably looked much like this when she visited in 1938.10


June 5, 1938 “ “ St. Mary’s Church, Lemont, Aunt Mgt’s & back home.

June 6, 1938 “ “ Rose’s Grill, Aunt Mgts & back home

June 8, 1938 “ “ Dr. Rose’s, & back home. 1st time I rode the bus.

June 12, 1938 “ “ Grandma’s & Grandpa’s to Lemont & a shower & to Aunt Mgts.

June 19, 1938 Went to Lemont, Cont. No. 2 to Dolores Feskanich’s christening, Too Conn. Too.

Cont. No. 2 was one of the many local mines and patch towns dotting the Fayette County landscape.

Continental No. 2 was located just south of Uniontown.11


June 26, 1938 Went to St. John’s Church Lemont, & Uncle Steve’s, Brownsville Picnic, Croatian Day.

Both Grandma and Grandpa were each very proud of their heritage—Grandma of her Slovak roots and Grandpa of his Croatian ones, so it's not surprising that they attended a Croatian Day picnic.

July 3, 1938 St. John’s Church, Uncle Steve’s, & Lemont

July 4, 1938 Franklin St. Hall

July 10, Uncle Steve, Patty Kendro’s Christening & Lemont

It was fun to see that Mom attended her cousin Patty Kendro's christening, as Patty was one of her very favorite cousins and the one closest to her in age. The two were very close growing up.

May 29, 1938 Motored to Skyesville to see my Great, Great Uncle Ivan Kozlina [out of chronological order in the book]

I was happy to see this referenced to Ivan Kozlina, as it explained his relationship as the brother to my great, great grandfather Franjo Kozlina. An obituary found earlier noted him as his cousin.12


July 17, Motored to Braddock, Kennywood Park, rode the Old Mill, went home & went to a picnic at Bute & Shady Grove.

The Old Mill at Kennywood may have looked like this when Mom rode it. (Image credit: Kennywood Park Records, 1895-2018, MSS 141, Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center. Used with permission.)

 

July 24, Went to St. John’s Church, Lemont, home & back to Betty Patch and Shower

July 31 Went to Lemont & Shady Grove Park. 

Shady Grove Park seems the perfect spot for Mom and her family to spend a summer afternoon.13



July 30 Square Dance at Bute

Aug. 7 Motored to Pitts. See Aunt, Grand Pa’s Kozlina’s Aunt to Kennywood Park, Shadowland Park & Lemont.

Aug. 14 Went to Lemont, Shady Grove Park & Bute Picnic

Aug. 21 Katherine Kurutz’s place, & Bute Picnic


It’s clear to see that Mom's extended Kozlina and Simonik families were very close, visiting, going to picnics and parks, and attending church together. I’m sure as a new mother, Grandma was happy to see her female relatives, to show off Mom, but also to gain support and advice from them.

There’s still one more baby book page to transcribe, brimming with tidbits. That’s up next.

Until next time…

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This post was chosen as a Friday Family History Find by blogger Linda Stufflebean. Thank you, Linda!

 

NOTES

1 Photograph of Anna Margaret Kozlina and Margaret Simonik Kozlina, 6 June 1938, unknown photographer. Included in Baby Days book, privately held held by Nancy Gilbride Casey, [address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2023. Book inherited by author from her mother Anna Kozlina Gilbride, 2010.

2 Baby Days, baby book presented by Katherine Kurutz to Anna Margaret Kozlina's family, ca. 1937; privately held by Nancy Gilbride Casey, [address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2023. Book inherited by author from her mother Anna Kozlina Gilbride, 2010.

3 1930 United State Federal Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, ED 13, Sheet 9-A, Connellsville City, Ward 7, line 38, Helen Derov, mother of George Derov; database and images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/51411235:6224); citing NARA microfilm publicatioin T626, Washington D.C.

4 "St. Mary's R.C. Church and Rectory, Uniontown, Pa.", author unknown, postcard, 1 January 1912; image, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary_%28Nativity%29_Church#/media/File:St._Mary_Nativity_Postcard_2.jpg); citing Fayette County Historical Society.

5 "Kozlina Hurls No-Hit Tussle in West Penn," clipping from unnamed newspaper, about 1935, from scrapbook kept by Margaret Kozlina, passed to her daughter Anna Kozlina Gilbride, and passed to her daughter Nancy Gilbride Casey. Private collection of author, Tioga, TX, 2023.

6 The Roman Catholic Churches of Uniontown, PA (https://www.faysouth.org/parish-history/), "St. John the Evangelist parish history," undated photograph, no photographer noted.

7 St. John's Church, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Certificate of Baptism for Anna Margaret Kozlina, 21 November 1937, naming George Salinger and Anna Kozlina as godparents. Original certificate in possession of Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX, inherited from her mother Anna Margaret Kozlina Gilbride, 2010.

8 Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_devotions_to_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary : 22 May 2023), "May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary," last updated May 2023, at 20:16 (UTC).

9 "Miss Anna Simonik Of Leisenring Dies Of Sleeping Sickness," Connellsville Daily Courier, 8 May 1933, p. 1, col. 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/41717428/ : 25 May 2023).

10 Undated photo, unknown photographer, Anna Simonik headstone, St. John's Cemetery, Connellsville; author's private collection, Tioga, TX. 

11 Connellsville Coalfield map; image, Coalcampusa.com (https://www.coalcampusa.com/westpa/connellsville/connellsville.htm : 25 May 2023). Used with permission.

12 "Ivan C. Kozlina," obituary, Dubois Courier Express, 22 April 1955, p. 2, col. 5; image, NewspaperArchive (https://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/dubois/dubois-courier-express/1955/04-22/page-2/ : 25 May 2023).

13 Shady Grove Park, Connellsville, Pa," postcard, 20 October 1910; image, PowerLibrary (https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/psa/islandora/object/psa%3A1085391); citing Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg. Non-commercial use permission granted.

 






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