Dear Hearts,
February 3rd is the 155th anniversary of the birth of Alfred Wlodzimierz Wilkoszewski: son of Romualda and Edward; husband of Wanda; father of Norbert, Alfred Jr., Carl, Eugene, Irwin, Stewart and Blanche. He was called Snaz and lived his whole life in Chicago and was probably the man responsible for changing the family's surname to Wiley. You can see the details on the family record here.
Jim actually knew him and offers these sweet memories:
"It was my job to wake him up with a little bell and walk with him to the dinner table. He would hold my hand and talk a sort of fake language to me, and his white hair stuck straight up in a point like the roof of a cottage.
His wife, Wanda Zinn was the daughter of Josef Zinn and Antonina Grabska. She died in the flu epidemic of 1918. Boompa kissed her goodbye that morning, went to school and when he came home, she was dead and quickly buried in the epidemic graves in the Polish Catholic cemetery on the North Side. He never saw her again, but just before he left us, he sat straight up, opened his arms and said, "Mama, Mama." Then lay down, sighed and slipped peacefully into his mother's arms and the arms of God.
When Wanda died in 1918, Al was left to raise 7 kids. He was multi-talented, played the piano like a maniac, was a bank clerk and a prodigious drinker, and loved to brawl. His 6 sons and 1 daughter all turned out wonderfully, though. He invented a fart machine that he would sit on and embarrass Mary Claire and Helen when their boyfriends came calling. I saw one--it was ingenious, but he never got it patented. Worked excellently. True story."
Please watch over us, beloved ancestors. God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.
Love, Patty & Jim
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