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....
