Search for content in message boards

Family traditions

Replies: 1

Family traditions

Posted: 16 Dec 2001 12:15PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 6 Jan 2002 5:15PM GMT
Surnames: Vraba, Vanecko
Do you have handed down pashinas? (feather comforters)
I sure miss home made poppy seed streudel, but I still have a couple of pashinas!

For you people looking in the Cleveland, OH area, there were settlements by country origin and "clubs" where they socialized, danced to Polka music, etc. Especially the Italians and Hungarians. Living in these neighborhoods must have made it easy to meet future spouses but hampered learning English as you could speak without it. My husband's grandmother was always sad that her husband had been a school teacher in the old country (Bohemia?) but could only be a farmer here due to the change in language. Most of the ones I knew came over as Catholics but religion kind of went out of their lives as they moved to the country (suburbs of Cleveland) where there were few churches, and the ones that were there, were protestant "community" churches built for all.
It is kind of sad that bakery is what I most think of when I remember the relatives long gone. And, I didn't collect names. They were busy back then and didn't like to think of the past. (When I did ask, that is the kind of answer I got) No wonder when you consider they gave up family to come here.
Susie Vanecko Vrba told me that when she arrived at Ellis Island with her pashina as her only possession, the officials took it away from her. She was 16. She never, ever saw her mother again. Hard to imagine! The other stories I remember her telling were how the rich people she cleaned house for knew something of birth control but the poor didn,t and thus they just kept having children all the time. She seemed bitter (or maybe somewhat a feminist) on that issue!
SubjectAuthorDate Posted
HelenWoods55 16 Dec 2001 7:15PM GMT 
Contribution 15 Aug 2014 2:40PM GMT 
per page

Find a board about a specific topic