Ancestry Chapter 43
1923-1924 More Children, Grandchildren and Weddings
Thomas Norek
born, 1923, Chicago
Antonia and Michael Norek's eighth child, Thomas, was born on December 29, 1923. Uncle Tom's story is told later.
Antonia is now 35. Poppa Michael is 59 and a grandfather of ten -- an age and time of life when many people start thinking of their retirement years.
Photo. The
Alfons Tibus family.
Alfons is Antonia's brother,
so his children are cousins to
second-batch Norek children.
circa 1923
Tybus Cousins and Eastern Cousins
The children of Alfons Tibus and the second-batch Norek children will grow up together as the first cousins they are.
There are other cousins in Eastern Europe but, even though Alfons goes back to visit multiple times, their existence is rather lost on the Norek and the Tybus children.
Perhaps
no adult attempts fostering family ties between the U.S. and the European cousins,
or none of the cousins had any interest, or the adults knew the children would
have no interest.
Steve Norek marries Ruth, 1924, Chicago
Steve Norek 29 marries Ruth in 1924.
Steve intended to become a priest when he was younger, but the Catholic Church's attitudes, at least those at the seminary, hadn't caught up to Uncle Steve's yet.
(This comment is out of chronology -- I think Steve was thrown out of the seminary before Michael Jr. was thrown out of night school. Sort of a family habit?)
Right photograph reads "Just us" at the top. Michael Norek on the left, with Steve's wife Ruth Norek, the family collie (both Steve and his father had collies) and possibly some of Cecelia's children.
Left photo above reads Woodlands. Marked 193? but put here nonetheless by Steve and Ruth's marriage. Cecelia far left, Ruth and Steve flanking the collie and possibly one of Cecelia's children.
Tom Norek's tongue accident, 1924, Chicago
The latest baby, Tom, was crawling around the floor while Ruth, then 3, and his mother Antonia watched from across the room. Tom crawled over to the piano and tried to climb onto the stool. Antonia dashed over but Tom lost his hold and fell before she reached him.
Tom fell so hard he bit right through his tongue. There was no one else home, so Antonia put both Tom and Ruth into the buggy and rushed over to the doctor. Tom survived, but the damage to his tongue created a slight speech impediment. (From Ruth's 1955 mini-bio; accident and speech impediment corroborated by other family members.)
Dolly born 1924, Chicago
Anna and Joe's second child, Dorothy, who will be called Dolly, was born in 1924.
Left
photo. Valerian Ponczek skiing in Upper Bavaria, Winter
1924-1925.
Right photo. Valerian in Zurich, 1927
Two signed and dated photos of Valerian Ponczek. Valerian is one of Antonia's and Alfons' maternal cousins (nephew of Antonia's mother, Augusta Ponczek Tybus).
He was seen on an earlier photograph, with toddler Michael Jr. and baby Josephine, in West Prussia, with Antonia's family in late 1912.
Known to the second-batch Norek children as Uncle Valerian, he is remembered by Dolores as the uncle who wanted to teach her to ski.
Alfons's daughter Olive remembers Uncle Valerian living with their family when he first came to Chicago.
These photos (the backs written in German) probably were mailed to Antonia.
Photos belong to the Michael Jr.'s family.
Right photos. Valerian Ponczek skiing with the ski resort shown in the background. Marked on the back is that this photo was taken the winter of 1924-25. The "Oberbayerns Berge" means Upper Bavarian mountains, which are part of the Alps.
Left photos. Valerian Ponczek in Zurich, Switzerland, dated 1927.
Dolores thought of her Uncle Valerian as "from Switzerland." I presume he first was "from West Prussia" because he is on the 1912 photo with Michael Jr. and baby Josephine in West Prussia. And because that is where the family was from, whether they are named Norek or Tibus or Ponczek.
Where Valerian went after he left Chicago, or even if he left Chicago, is not known. From the photos I am guessing that he left Eastern Europe for Western Europe in the early 1920s. From the recollections of Dolores and Olive, I am guessing that he was in Chicago by about 1930. If anybody knows something more, please consider postings.
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