Grandpa's Sister Marion Is Born

Today (December 16) in 1902, my grandfather’ Anthony's sister Marion was born in Sabaudia, Poland. It is a little village outside the city of Tomaszow Lubelski. (Her birth record is not in the database I am using but might eventually be available to me another way.) The date of her birth is in many of her records: death record, social security record, her record of immigration, her marriage record, etc. After the family had four boys, Marion was the second of two girls to be born. She had two younger brothers. Anthony was six years old when she was born. When she was ten years old, (1912) Anthony left for Canada with a final destination of Michigan in the U.S.. Eleven years later (1923) Marion left Southampton England on the ship Melita to Quebec, Canada with $30. She was 22 years old and single. She worked as a farm laborer. She had a medium complexion, fair hair and grey eyes. She could read and write. Her brother was her contact in Sabaudia, Poland and her contact in Grand Rapids, Michigan was my grandfather--her brother Anthony Raczkiewicz. (He lived at 208 Lexington NW for about two years at that time and they would be shortly moving to Milwaukee Avenue.). She traveled third class and her passage was paid for by her brother, possibly Antony. She likely stayed with her brother and his wife, my grandma Pauline for a while. By 1926, she and Frank Kufta were married by Father Casmimir Skory, the pastor of St. Adalbert Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Marion was doing factory work in Grand Rapids. Frank was a factory worker in Muskegon. He was born in Poland and immigrated in 1909. He was ten years older than Marion. Witnesses were Joseph Raczkiewicz of Grand Rapids (Anthony’s brother), and Helen Kufta, (Frank’s sister) of Muskegon By 1930, they lived on 6th St. in Muskegon, MI, and their house was worth $4,000. Frank was 37 years old, worked in an iron foundry and could speak English. Mary was 28 and could not speak English. Their children were Wanda, age 3 and Irene, age 2. By 1940, they were in the same house and it was worth only $3,000. Frank had a 6th grade education and was in the process of becoming a citizen. Mary had a 3rd grade education and was still an alien. Wanda was 13, Irene was 12 and Teresa was 4 years old. My mother (Shirley Longwell) has a memory of visiting them one time because Teresa was about her age. They may have visited more but she isn’t sure. Marion died May 30, 1984 at the age of 82 in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. Current day connections: Tomasz Raczkiewicz (my 2nd cousin who lives in Poznan, Poland) remembered his grandfather mentioned Marion and that she went to the US and married Frank. Tomasz never heard about Anthony(my Grandfather) or Joe and Jan who also went to the U.S, from his grandfather. One of Marion’s great grandchildren is a DNA match with me but I haven’t heard back from her. There is a gentleman that has Marion on his tree and I just reached out to see why. He either hasn’t done DNA or we aren’t a match. I use Ancestry but apparently many people from other countries use My Heritage so at some point I may get a subscription to that.