The Sons of Andrew Piszczor Sr. & Anna Szczypta, Part 1

Might you be thinking I'm running out of pictures? I know I used this one before but I never explained it and it will allow me to roll into a nice storyline, so please hang with me here and watch how I ride.

This is the earliest family photo I found so far. It is just a wonderful happenstance that it is a family portrait. Andrew and Anna (Szczypta) Piszczor on the front porch with their six sons. I haven't seen this photo in over 10 years but I do know it was taken in 1921 in either Tarr or Mt. Pleasant, PA. There was nothing else on the photo noting why they were all dressed up for the photo. Allow me to set the characters of the story for you till about 1940 and you will see how they progress through the years in the next few posts:

Andrew Piszczor Sr. - Came to the U.S. in 1904 when he was 18. His father, Jakob Piszczor, had already been to this country and back to Poland at least once by the time he arrived so he must have had contacts in Tarr, PA. He was a farmer in Poland and was heading here to work in the mines at that time. Some time before 1908 he found his way to Chicago where his sister Antonia lived with her husband Jozef Basiorka, where legend has it he met his future wife in their apartment.

Anna Szczypta - She arrived from Poland in 1905 at the age of 25 and heading to Chicago to stay with her cousin. The hand writing on the manifest is quite illegible but it looks like a Jozef, which works with the story that she and Jozef Basiorka were cousins. This is why she was in that apartment when Andrew came to Chicago. How ever it happened something worked and they married in Mt. Pleasant, PA in 1908 and went on to raise seven sons.

John Piszczor - The oldest son was born in 1909. By the time he finished high school he knew he didn't want to work in the mines anymore and he rode the trains out to California for a short stay and returned to the Uniontown area and began as an apprentice to a tailor. Some where down the line he married Ann Slosar in the 1930s.

Joseph Piszczor - Born in 1911, Joe went into the coal mines and eventually worked his way into the Union hierarchy. In 1934 he married this girl down the road by name of Helen Schifko, remaining in the New Salem area. They had their first son, Donald, in 1935 and Bernard was born in 1940.

Andrew Piszczor Jr. - Andrew Jr. came into the word in 1912 and after high school he worked in the coal mines and had a second job also (I want to say it was the railroads, but I'm not certain.. anyone help me on this?) He went on to quite literally marrying the girl next door, Helen Sinko, in 1936. They also stayed right in the neighborhood through this time in New Salem and McClellandtown and had two daughters, Josephine Ann (better known as Josie) born in 1937 and Betty Lou in 1940.

Jesse (Hyacinth)Piszczor Sr. - This son of various first names that finally settled as Jesse was born in 1914. From what I know he was the athlete of the family, playing semi-pro baseball and football while in high school. He left the farm right out of school and headed to Cleveland to work manufacturing. It was there where he met and married Josephine Semik in 1938.

Michael Piszczor Sr. - After a well deserved break Michael was born on 1917. He found his way to Cleveland in the late 1930s and didn't find his someone special at this point.

Francis Piszczor - This Frank was born in 1919 and also followed the trail to Cleveland shortly after high school. But once there he didn't waste much time in finding a Cleveland girl, Monica Wolinski, and somehow convinced her to walk down the aisle with him in 1940.

Now at this time we are missing two sons; the first Francis Piszczor who lived only a very short time in 1918, reportedly contracting the Spanish Influenza and Walter Piszczor Sr. who will be making an appearance shortly....

Anna Szczypta, Wife of Andrew Piszczor Sr

I was eight years old when she passed away. She was a sweet and loving woman who was able to make all of her grandchildren feel special. When I stayed over at their farm she used to wake me up to do the early chores with her. She taught me how to milk a cow and collect eggs in the chicken coop. I know she taught some of my girl cousins how to make cheese and butter, some pretty important stuff I would say! She also made wine with the fruit from the farm and kept eight Piszczor men in line! I remember that the only time I saw my grandfather Andrew weep was during her entire funeral.

Anna Szczypta was my fraternal grandmother born in Witow, Poland in 1879. Her parents, Jan Szczypta and Regina Sepek, were farmers and she had one brother by the name of Jan. While Jan stayed in Poland, Anna decided to come to America, arriving in 1905.

She appears to have met her future husband Andrew in America, even though they grew up within three miles of each other. This leads into the the romantic legend; that they met in the apartment of her cousin(?) in Chicago who just happened to be Jozef Baisorka. Who incidentally was married to Andrew's sister Antonia! (just to note, Anna's arrival papers stated she was going to stay with a cousin in Chicago who lived on 752 W. 18th St, but I make out the hand writing to confirm the name!) For whatever reason all four of them left Chicago and headed to Westmoreland county in Pennsylvania. It was there in 1908 that they married in Mt. Pleasant, again with misspelled names.

Anna had seven sons with Andrew (and one died who within his first year) and lived on their farm in McClellandtown for nearly 40 years. There are pictures of Anna the farm in a number of the online albums.
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The Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA) Oct 30, 1962

PISZCZOR (PEZAR), ANNA M.

Aged 82, Footedale-Lambert Rd, died Sunday, October 28, 1962 at 11:40 a.m. in the Uniontown Hospital. Born November 11, 1879 in Poland, she had resided in the area for the past 47 years. She was a member of the St. Thomas R.C. Church, Footedale; St, Hedwig's Lodge 2234 ZNP and the Rosary Society of the church. She is survived by her husband, Andrew Piszczor Sr, and these children: John, Cleveland, O.; Joseph, New Salem; Andrew Jr., McClellandtown; Jesse, Michael and Walter, Cleveland, O.; 16 grandchildren; three great grandchildren; one brother, John Szczypta resides in Poland. She was preceded by a son Frank S. in 1958. Friends are being received at Vito P. DeCarlo Funeral Home until Wednesday. A Requiem High Mass will be chanted at St. Thomas R.C. Church, celebrated by Fr. Walter E. Iwaniski. Internment will be in the church cemetery. The Holy Name Society will recite the rosary Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock.

Dorothy Basiorka, Daughter-in-Law of Antonia Piszczor

I can't recall ever meeting Dorothy but finding this notice I thought it well to share it on here....

Dorothy Basiorka, 42, of Greensburg RD2 (Brinkerton), died Monday, Dec. 16, 1996, at her home. She was born Nov. 8, 1924 in Greensburg, a daughter of the late Rosatio and Maria Pontario Zangla. She was a member of St. Stanislaus Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas S. Basiorka (1988) and three brothers, Carmen "Michael", John and Joe Zangla; (and) a sister, Ann Jansen. She is survived by a son, Thomas M. Zangla and his wife, Rose Ann; two daughters, Linda L. Basiorka of Corpus Cristi, Texas, and Mrs. Carol A. Forsyth and her husband Brain of Greensburg; a great-granddaughter Jessica C. Zangla; a brother, a brother, Frank Zangla of Alexandria, La; three sisters, Margret "Peggy" DiPetro of Pittsburgh, Josephine Zangla and Mary Elizabeth "Libby" Zimmerman, both of Greensburg; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Friends were received at Jay A. Hoffer Funeral Home, Norvelt. The Funeral Mass was held at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church with Rev. Nicholas Trongo as celebrant. Dorothy was interned at St. Stanislaus Cemetery.

The Early Szczypta Records

The Szczypta name merged with the Piszczor when Anna Szczypta married Andrew Piszczor Sr in Mt.Pleasant, PA in 1908. Now they grew up less than 10 miles apart in in Poland but, according to the stories, met in the United States at her cousin's home. Her cousin was Jozef Basiorka who just happened to be married to Antonia Piszczor, Andrew's sister! (Just another link to connect!)

Szczypta: (Scipta, Scypta, Sczipta, Sczypciak, Sczypta, Sczypty, Szcipta, Szczipta) - a very small amount of an ingredient

Year Name - Location - Record Type
1620 Sczypta - Nowy Targ - Birth
1620 Sczypta - Szaflary - Marriage
1632 Sczypciak - Skrzypne - Marriage
1640 Sczypty - Nowy Targ - Residence
1650 Scipta - Nowy Targ - Birth
1652 Scipta - Nowy Targ - Birth
1684 Scypta - Zab - Birth
1778 Szczipta - Chochołów - Birth
1786 Sczipta - Witów - Birth
1786 Szczypta - Witów - Birth
1786 Szczypta - Wróblówka - Birth
1786 Szczypta - Wróblówka - Birth (b)
1787 Szcipta - Witów - Birth
1787 Szczipta - Witów - Birth
1787 Szczypta - Odroważ - Birth
1788 Scypta - Dzianisz - Birth
1788 Scypta - Witów - Birth
1788 Szczypta - Wróblówka - Birth (a)
1790 Scipta - Chocholów - Birth
1790 Szczypta - Wróblówka - Birth (c)
1807 Scipta - Witów - Birth
1809 Scipta - Dzianisz - Birth
------ Szczypta - Odroważ - Civil Registration
------ Szczypta - Podczerwone - Civil Registration
------ Szczypta - Stare Bystre - Civil Registration
------ Szczypta - Witów - Civil Registration
------ Szczypta - Wróblówka - Civil Registration
------ Szczypta - Załuczne - Civil Registration
(a) al. Galik
(b) al. Galus
(c) al. Kurasek

Where in the World did John Go?

About everyone I have talked to doing family research has run into this; just when you think you have a part of your family line figured out you're talking with the last person of a generation and out pops a name you have never heard of before. Who is this person and why has nobody ever mentioned them before? The inevitable answer is, "Well, no one ever asked about him before."

This happened to us, that is all of my cousins and I, at a family wedding about 12 years ago. I was showing my father's last surviving brother what I have documented on the family with this brand new software along with some old photographs I discovered and asking him if I had everything correct. Then while looking at one of the photos he says out of the blue, "Oh my, my uncle John used to take us there all the time."

Time out! Who is this 'Uncle John'? The only sibling of our grandparents we knew about was Andrew's sister Antonia and her husband Joseph Basiorka. So I asked, "Who was this John?"

"John was my father's brother. He had a son about my age also named Mike. I remember he was hit by a car about 1939 and hospitalized. I wonder what happened to him." That was it! I went around asking my cousins about this and this was news to them also. That's all I had to go on until late last year with the release of more documents on the Internet.

First, I finally found the 1910 census page for Andrew Piszczor Sr. It was blind luck following a hunch of where my uncle John was born in 1909 (East Huntington Twp, PA) and scanning pages until I noticed an Andrew and Anna together with a infant John. Of course the name was not correct (Pisczur!), I also noticed something I wasn't expecting; his father Jakob (who I never knew was in this country) and a brother John living with him! So now I knew for certain it wasn't the whisky talking that night, but what else about him?

Only other information I had to work with now was that he arrived in the U.S. in 1907. A few months later I was nosing about in the Ellis Island web site trying 'sounds like' searches and came across a Jan Piscur in 1907 from Ciche/Czar. Dunajec, Poland born about 1884. More than enough to to make me look into the manifest and saw his mother was a Kati Pisczur and he was going to Tarr, PA... where I knew Andrew lived at the time... to see his father Jakob Piscur! (Our last name was so messed with through the years)

So he was established and verified, but what happened to John after 1910? One rumor was he lived near his sister Antonia Basiorka near Greensburg, PA and searching there for him now. If anyone has any clues or information please pass it on to me.

Draft Registration Records

These are records that are just recently being released and published for WWI and WWII. What's nice in researching is they provide some exact information that can not be gleaned from census records, such as the address, employer, and physical features. (Not that they are all correct as you can see if look closely and Andrew's record!)

They are being released in a piecemeal fashion and I have found four so far: Andrew Piszczor Sr., Louis (Ludwik) Piszczor Sr., Joseph (Josef) Basiorka and Anton Wolinski.

Check in the album to read them all and I will add more as I find them!

Frank Basiorka, son of Antonina Piszczor

I remember first meeting Frank Basiorka at my grandmothers' funeral, that of Anna Szczypta, back in 1962. He was my dads' cousin and that was a difficult thing to comprehend for an eight year old. From my view I had cousins and they were all, well, kids! But I do remember him as a nice, kind man and my father and Frank seemed to had a good time together.

Frank Andrew Basiorka passed away at 3am on the morning on 30 March 1995 at Green ville Regional Hospital at the age of 80.

Frank was born in Mt. Pleasant Township in Westmoreland County, PA on 7 Oct 1914, one of nine children of Josef Basiorka and Antonina Piszczor (Piscur).

He married Anna Elizabeth Smith on 29 July 1944. Anna passed away 4 Aug 1982. Frank remarried on 17 Aug 1985 to Jean Sutherland Leyden.

In addition to being a farmer he worked for over 20 years in the Westmoreland County coal mines and retired from the Greenville Steel Car Co in 1979 after 29 years of service.

At his death in 1995 Frank was survived by his second wife Jean, his daughter Anita Powell of Clarks Mills (PA); his stepson Patrick Leyden of Denver; his sister Catheryn Sroka of New Kensington, Pa; three grandsons; four step grandchildren and two step great-granddaughters.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife Anna; his sister Mary Sczschowicz; his three grown brothers, James, Thomas and John Basiorka; and three infant siblings whose names I have yet to discover.

Wedding Photos

Found a number of old wedding photos in the collection I have and started to scan them! If anyone might be able to identify some of the unmarked people in these I sure would appreciate it! You can see what I have on so far on the Wedding Photo page at the website!

New Photos added

Slowly but surely I'm getting more on here. Have got some pictures of the family gathering for the 45th wedding anniversary of Andrew Sr. and Anna Piszczor in 1953 (damn, that's a long time ago now that I think of it).

Eventually I'm going to organize all this in a better format but you can still see them in the photo section of the of the Piszczor web site.