Jozef Raczkiewicz Naturalized in the US September 6, 1918

By September 6, 1918, Józef Raczkiewicz (my great uncle) had a Certificate of Naturalization in the United States. He had previously immigrated to the United States in 1913 with his brother Antoni (my grandfather.) The two brothers went to Grand Rapids where their oldest brother Jan had already settled. My mother had a copy of Jozef’s Certificate of Naturalization. It was issued from the Circuit Court of Calhoun County in Battle Creek, Michigan. Battle Creek is 65 miles from where he lived in Grand Rapids and it is unlikely that he owned a car. At the time “Joe” lived at 327 Gunnison Avenue in Grand Rapids with his oldest brother Jan. Joe was 24 years old and described as 5 foot 5 ¾ inches tall, with a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. When he originally came to the U.S., the immigration record listed him as a 20 year old farm laborer who could read and write. My Mom (his niece) could remember him always reading the newspaper. She didn’t remember him ever working but I found work records for him beginning in 1914 when he was a tacker at Kiefer Tanning Co., in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The last listing for employment was as a cabinet maker in 1928. My mother was born in 1936 and she didn’t think he had ever worked. She thought she remembered it was due to epilepsy or something similar as the result of military service. I can find his draft registration for WWI and WWII and one reference to his military service without any details and one reference to a pension. Also, the 1930 census refers to him as a veteran of the world war. He was not working at that point. So I am pretty sure he was in the service somewhere between 1928 and 1930 and then never was able to work again. Joe never married and lived with either his brother Jan or his brother Anthony. Jenny Katula, who also emigrated from Poland, is someone Joseph hung around with. My mother remembers her name as “Katula” but it might be the Sagauska who was a witness along with Joe in Anthonys’ marriage. Jenny lived near the railroad tracks near Seward.