Joseph Kichka’s Story

Joseph Kička (Kichka in the U.S.) was born in Conneaut, Ohio on the 8th of September, 1904.  He was the third child born to Jan and Maria (Szabo) Kička.  Joseph had two older siblings, Mary (1902) and John (1903) as well as two younger brothers, Andrew (1906) and Steven (1909).  Joseph was baptized at St. Mary’s Church on the 18th of September.  He’s the 1st entry on this image.

In 1910, they were living at 846 Day Street in Conneaut according to the 1910 Federal Census.  Interestingly, that census was taken in April of 1910.  Joseph’s father Jan would pass away in June, just 2 months later.

I was told that my great-grandmother took the kids back to Czechoslovakia after my great-grandfather died but I don’t have any evidence of their trip back to Europe.  I’m still looking for some document showing that they made the journey back.  What I did find was a note made on Maria’s baptism record stating that she remarried on 19 March 1915 to Gyorgy Asztalos (see the bottom right corner below).  So, sometime between 1910 and 1915 they made their way back.

While back in Czechoslovakia, Joseph was in the military.  I’m not quite sure what branch he was in or what his position was but here’s a picture of him in his uniform.  If he was required to be 18 years old to join the military this picture would be from about 1922.  I’ll need to find out if any military records exist from that time.

The next trace of Joseph that I can find is an Ellis Island passenger list showing him arriving in New York in October of 1924.

At this time he’s barely 20 years old so his service in the military didn’t last too long.  The ship’s list shows him and his brother Andrew both arriving on the passenger ship Homeric.  They sailed from Cherbourg France so it must have been quite a trip from Pavlovce nad Uhom to Cherbourg.  They were heading back to Conneaut.

 

But Joseph didn’t stay in Conneaut very long.  He apparently went back to Czechoslovakia because I have another Ellis Island passenger record for him from September of 1928.

He again sailed from Cherbourg France but this time on the ship Berengaria.

It appears that he was alone, at least I can’t see that anyone was traveling with him.  Curiously he says that his “home” is Homestead, Pennsylvania.  I wonder who actually lived there.  I need to do some more digging.

 

In 1929, Joseph was living with his brother John and John’s wife Susan.  The Cleveland City directory for 1929 shows that John owns the house at 3906 Malek Place and that Joseph is renting at the same address.  It says that they are both machinists.

Then, in August of 1929, Joseph married Elizabeth Bodnar in Cleveland, Ohio.

They were married by Reverend C. W. Dik who was the pastor of St. Wenceslas Church on Broadway Ave. and E. 35th street in Cleveland.  (St. Wenceslas church was torn down in the early 1960’s to make way for what is now Interstate 77 heading south out of Cleveland.)

In the 1930 Federal Census, Joseph and Elizabeth are living at 4118 Warren Street, which was very close to St. Wenceslas.  They are renting part of a house for $13 per month.

Joseph and Elizabeth had family Christmas cards made somewhere around 1933 or 1934.  (My father was born in 1930 and he looks to be 3 or 4 in this picture.)  I don’t know how popular it was to have custom family Christmas cards made but I’m guessing it was a splurge, not cheap.  I really like this picture.  My grandparents are all dressed up and look proud to be living in the U.S. after just coming over from Europe.  I’m wondering who they sent these to because they’re printed in English.

Here’s another picture of Joseph, Elizabeth and my dad.  This looks to be from William’s 1st Communion which would have been about 1937 or 1938.

Joseph worked at DuPont Chemical for many years.  I’m not sure how many years he worked there or when he retired but the 1940 census already says that he works at a chemical plant and I know he retired from there.  If he retired at the age of 65, that would have been 1969.  I do remember him working during my lifetime so that sounds about right.  That means that he worked for DuPont for at least 29 years.

This page from the May 1938 DuPont monthly newsletter, “The Oval”, has him as “Man of the Month”.  The story in this newsletter goes against a lot of what I know (and have proof of) about his early life.  Knowing that my grandfather was a private person, I’m guessing he didn’t like sharing personal details of his life and changed the story slightly to leave out the part about his father dying when he was 6.

In the 1939 Cleveland City directory, three of the Kichka brothers are all living in Cleveland and are all married.  Andrew and Anna own a home on E37th St.,  John and Susan own a home on E46th St. and Joseph and Elizabeth own a home on Warren St.  They’re all 3 listed as being laborers.  They must all be doing well because they were all able to buy their own homes.

Finally, in the last available census, the 1940 Federal Census, Joseph and his family have moved again.  Joseph and Elizabeth have 2 kids, William (my dad) and Betty Ann.  They’ve bought another house at 4329 Martin Avenue and said that’s it worth $2000.  Since they just moved there that must be what they paid for it.

Joseph and Elizabeth lived in that house on Martin Avenue until the early 1960’s.  They were forced to sell the house and move because the government was buying up all of the property in that area for a new highway, Interstate 77.  I found the Deed from the sale of the house on Martin to the State of Ohio.  They were paid $8,600 for the house.  They then turned around and bought a house in Brooklyn, Ohio, for $18,500.  This is the house that I remember visiting as a young child.

Joseph Kichka changed his surname to “Kay” in the early 1950’s when my father changed his name.  My father changed his name when he came back from the Korean war.  One of the stories is that my father was feeling patriotic and wanted to sound less foreign and more American.  That I can understand.  What I can’t understand is why my grandfather also changed his name.

Joseph and Elizabeth Kay celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in August of 1979.  This picture was taken at Our Lady of Lourdes church, where a lot of St. Wenceslas parishioners went after it was closed.

Joseph died on 16 May 1992.  My grandmother passed away a few years earlier, in 1989, and Joseph continued to do well until he had a stroke.  In what seems fitting for his story that seemed to circle back on itself, he passed away at a nursing home in Ashtabula, Ohio, not far from where he started his life in Conneaut almost 88 years earlier.

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Sources:

[1]    St. Mary’s Church, Conneaut, Ohio
[2]   Year: 1910; Census Place: Conneaut Ward 4, Ashtabula, Ohio; Roll: T624_1152; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0024; FHL microfilm: 1375165
[3]   “Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1910,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V135-LFM : 19 July 2017), Mária Szabó, 05 Jun 1881; citing Pavlovce nad Uhom, Veľké Kapušany, Slovakia, line 39, reference ID 43, state regional archives, Slovakia; FHL microfilm 1,793,219.
[4]   Family Photo / Document
[5]   Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Various maritime reference sources.
[6]   Year: 1924; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 3564; Line: 1; Page Number: 41
[7]   Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Various maritime reference sources.
[8]   Year: 1928; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 4341; Line: 18; Page Number: 166
[9]   Cleveland, Ohio, City Directory, 1929. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[10]   Cleveland State University. Michael Schwartz Library. Special Collections.
[11]   Ancestry.com. Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data: Marriage Records. Ohio Marriages. Various Ohio County Courthouses.
[12]   Year: 1930; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1769; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0206; FHL microfilm: 2341503
[13]   Cleveland, Ohio, City Directory, 1939. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[14]   Year: 1940; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T627_3216; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 92-324
[15]   Google Maps