The new Our American Melting Pot blog

Welcome to the new “Our American Melting Pot Blog.” It has been more than eight years since the last time I have posted here and those posts were really more sharing research, not stories.

I have set up this blog to share the stories of our family. I’d like to keep the posts short and more colorful. There is a link on the left to our research if you’d like to explore the details.

While family history has been a primary hobby of mine for more than 20 years, because of my work and family, I work in fits and starts. Recently, I have been cleaning up my research and focused on two family groups. The first one is my Krupa ancestors, who are my maternal Grandmother’s Grandparents. The second is Lora’s Van Treeck ancestors, who are her paternal Grandmother’s family.

Generally, I prefer to research in family groups. For example, the Krupa family I am researching is the Jan and Regina (nee Bochnia) Krupa family. I group all of my research, including all their descendants into a single research file or grouping. So, for the Krupa-Bothnia family group, that family and all of their descendants are grouped together. However, I am descendent from them through their daughter, Anna. She is included in her own family group, the Kazmierski-Krupa group. 

Why is this important? Because I plan to try to write a brief story on each family group as I research them. The first one will be Krupa-Bochnia. And I expect to do some of the Van Treeck family groups soon thereafter. You will find links to all the postings by family group and surname on the right. Then I will add posts on specific findings that I found interesting.

I’ve linked this blog to multiple places so you can follow it on Facebook, Twitter, Google, via email or by subscribing to the RSS feed. The links are on the right of the main page. Please select one.

So we will see how this goes. I don’t expect that there will be a lot of postings, but I’ll try to post once a month or so. Let me know what you think via the comments.

Jan and Regina (nee Bochnia) Krupa Family Group (1840s - 1910s)

This is the first of what I plan to be a series of family group post. This outlines the family of Jan and Regina Krupa.

Overview

Regina and Jan Krupa

Jan and Regina Krupa are my Great-Great Grandparents. Specifically, they are my maternal Grandmother’s maternal Grandparents. Their daughter, Anna Krupa married Joseph Kazmierski. Anna and Joseph’s daughter, Irene (Kazmierski) Sejda is my Grandmother.

Jan and Regina were born in what was then Austria, but what is now Poland, in the 1840s, immigrated to the United States in the 1870s arriving in New Orleans from Hamburg. They appear to have lived in Texas for a few years before settling in Chicago before 1880. They had eight known children, one of whom appears to have died on the boat on the way to the U.S. Jan died in 1905 and Regina passed away in 1916.

Family Group

Jan (also known as Johann or John) Krupa
b: 1842, Austria Or Poland
d: 17 Jan 1905 or 18 Jan 1905, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
Married Regina Bochnia in about 1865
b: 1848, Poland (Austria)
d: 22 Dec 1916, 8323 Burley Ave, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

1. Stanislaus Krupa (never married)
   b: abt Apr 1872
   d: bet 29 Mar 1873 and 19 May 1873
2. Bronislawa “Bertha” Krupa (married Joseph Wysocki)
   b: 1870 or 1871, Poland
   d: Nov 1951
3. Josephine Krupa (married John Gulgowski)
   b: 19 Feb 1875, Galveston, Galveston, Texas, United States
   d: 18 Jul 1934, 3003 E. 80th Street, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
4. Frances Krupa (married Konstanty Swiontek)
   b: 29 Jul 1878, Texas
   d: 25 Jun 1964, Lutheran Deaconess Hospital, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
5. Mary Krupa (married Alexander Swiontek)
   b: Sep 1879, Illinois
   d: 18 Jun 1966
6. Antoinette Krupa (married Ignatius Granacki)
   b: 3 Jun 1880, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States d: 7 Jul 1947
7. Kathryn Krupa (married Frank Sliwinski)
   b: 16 Jun 1886, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
   d: 13 Oct 1923, South Shore Hospital, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
8. Anna Krupa (married Joseph Kazmierski) b: 10 Dec 1888, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
   d: 6 Mar 1962, 8324 Kooy Drive, Munster, Lake, Indiana, United States

Additional details on the Jan and Regina Krupa family can be found here in our research files.

Bertha Wysocki, Josie Gulgowski, Frances Swiontek, Tennie Granacki, Mary Swiontek, and Anna Kazmierski. (Source: Terry Mascenic via Tennie Granacki's Find-A-Grave memorial)

History

Jan Krupa was born in the early 1840s, probably in January 1842, in what was then Austria but is today Poland. Interestingly, his gravestone lists his birth as 1831, but I am fairly sure this is an error from other sources that list his age, such as the ship’s manifests and his death certificate. The 1900 U.S. Census indicates he married Regina Bochnia in about 1865. Regina appears to have been born in 1848, probaby on November 9th, although, like Jan, there is some discrepency in her birth date. Her gravestone indicates an 1842 birth. However, the ship’s manifests and her death certificate indicate the 1848 birth date is more likely.

Regina and Jan, with children Stanislaus and Bertha, departed Hamburg, Germany on 29 March 1873 aboard the S.S. Germania. They arrived in New Orleans on 19 May 1873, but only Bertha is listed with them. According to some stories from family members, one or two of their children died on the ship over. It appears that Stanislaus may have died since he was listed as an infant on the departure manifest but is not listed on the arrival manifest.

After arriving in the United States, it appears that Jan and Regina initially settled in Texas because two children, Josephine and Francis, were born there. I am not sure where they lived or what their occupation was in Texas. Sometime before 1880 they moved to Chicago, Illinois. Mary, Antoinette, Kathryn, and Anna were all born in Chicago.

In 1884, Jan became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Under the rules in place at the time, Regina became a citizen when Jan was naturalized. By 1888, Jan appeared in the voting records, indicting that he registered and voted. It appears that Jan was a laborer but there are no specific records of what he did or who he worked for. According to census records, neither Jan or Regina could read or write and neither spoke English.

Also by 1888, Jan and Regina settled at 8323 Superior Avenue later 8323 Burley Avenue in Chicago (Superior Avenue became Burley Avenue on 30 July 1916). According to the 1900 U.S. Census, Jan and Regina owned this home.

Jan Krupa died in January 1905 in Chicago and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois. Regina died in December 1916 and is buried with her husband.

Jan and Regina Krupa's Gravestone at Holy Cross Cemetery, Calumet City, Illinois (Source: Lori Kotlowski via Jan Krupa's Find-a-Grave memorial)

Jan and Regina’s children had long lives except Stanislaus, who appears to have died as an infant during the voyage to America, and Kathryn, who died of Hodgkins Disease when she was 34 years old.

Interesting Finds

• My Aunt gave me a box of artifacts and memorabilia, much of which contains information from this family. This includes some interesting artifacts, which I intend to add to this blog. It also contains some pictures which I will try to digitize and share in the hopes that the people in the pictures can be identified.
• Jan appears in the 1888 Voter Registration index in 1888 – and it says he cast his vote.
• I have the deed for his cemetery plot and the receipt for the gravestone, which are very unusual artifacts. I will attempt to post them sometime in the future.

Things left to do

• Get Jan’s Naturalization paperwork. This should be easy to find.
• See if I can find where they lived in Texas between arriving in New Orleans in 1873 and arriving in Chicago before 1880.
• Determine where in Poland they were born and identify their parents.

Revision History

27 Dec 2015 – Original post