Polish Ancestors
I am looking forward to visiting my grandfather’s little village in the north. Seven generations of his ancestors were farmers and lived in the same little village of Szczepankowo. In 1893 my great grandfather sold his land and immigrated to Springfield Illinois with 10 of his 11 children…hell no we won’t speak German or join the German military! When they were in their teens, my grandfather and his older sister came over on the ship by themselves first to scope things out…their parents and the little ones following a year later.
My great grandfather moved the family to Illinois and built a big white house on the banks of the Illinois River and went to work with 4 of his sons in the mines until he could earn enough money to send the sons to Iowa to rent farm land where they farmed until they homesteaded among the rocks and sagebrush in SW Montana where many of their descendents remain. My mother fled the farm when she was 14 and worked as a nanny for a family in Miles City, MT. Then at their suggestion, she worked as a telegrapher on the railroad for 10 years in Idaho until she married a Mormon farmer at age of 25.
Polish was my mother’s first language and I am finally in her homeland…
Tags: Ancestors, Europe, Illinois, Poland, Szczepankowo, USA, World Watching And Politics
Zoe
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