Joseph John Timko Sr.

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Joseph John Timko Sr.

Joseph John Timko Sr. - Born on March 17, 1893 in Kudlovce (Kudlocz), Hungary (Slovakia). He was the second oldest known child born to Stephen Timko Sr, and Maria Kenderes.

Description

In early photographs, Joseph was shown to be a man of average height (5 foot 9 inch) and weight (180 pounds in 1942) with the facial features typical of someone of Slavic descent. He was a clean shaven man and had a fair complexion. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and at the age of twenty-eight he had no visible scars except for a noticeable bump near the first joint of one of his fingers on his right hand, which he received from a mining accident. When questioned by his children about the bump all he would say was he got it when something “bad happened in the coal mine.

Early Years

Childhood - Joseph was born on March 17, 1893 in the small village of Kudlovce, in the county of Zemplin in eastern Slovakia, which was in the northern portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. His birth name was Jozef Timko Czanovzky as documented on his baptismal papers. His first name was later be Americanized to Joseph. His parents were Stephen Timko Sr., aka Istvan Timko Czanovzky, and Maria Kenderes. At the time of his birth, he had a four-year old brother Stephen. In the years to follow, Joseph became a brother to four more brothers and a sister. It is documented that Joseph was baptized on March 19, 1893 at All Saints Catholic Church in Kudlovce, Hungary. The entry listed his name, his sex, the names of his parents and his godparents. Joseph’s godparents were listed as Andras Paulik and Maria Eger.

Notes: It should be noted that at that time of his birth there were no actual birth certificates created. And most certainly no paperwork was created for the “mere” peasants of an occupied country. It therefore fell to the church to provide the only actual “paperwork” that made my Dzedo the newest member of their congregation. Even the church was not interested in his actual birth. It was nothing more than another entry along side his baptismal date in a ledger maintained by the local church which contained not only baptismal records, but also marriage and death entries.

It must remembered that in those times the clergy was responsible for maintaining the ledgers in regards to the major events of their parishioners, i.e. baptism, marriage and death. The entries were typically written by hand, in script, and were in Latin, the language of the Catholic Church. However, it was not uncommon to find some of the entries written in Hungarian, Magyar or Slovak. These language barriers make reading these ledgers extremely difficult and tedious. Also, adding to the confusion is that the ink has often times faded from the passing of time or the pages suffered from physical damage, such as water damage. Because the region in which Joseph was born had been conquered numerous times in its history, cities and counties might be referred to by as many as eight different names depending the occupier of that time. It also should be noted that any reference to the existence of an actual baptismal certificate for Joseph must be viewed as only a partial truth. As I have pointed out, actual paper certificates were simply not created in that period for the working class. However, in today’s world, certificates can be obtained by contacting the proper authorities in the region. These documents are no more than a transcribed record created from the information contained in the church’s original ledgers. This is similar to requesting a copy of your birth certificate nowadays to submit as a means to verify one’s employment eligibility. In his early years Joseph grew up in an area not unlike the countryside found in western Pennsylvania. Slovakia also has low rolling hills and its climate is similar with it being only a few degrees further north in latitude. While the exact location in Kudlovce where Joseph lived is unknown, it is most certainly no longer an isolated rural area, as the surrounding neighborhoods north of the adjoining city of Košice have most probably enveloped them.

With few exceptions, the people in the County of Zemplin were predominately tenant farmers working the lands of the nearby owners or “barons.” In exchange for the rights to farm sections of those lands, the tenant had to pay the barons with a percentage of their crops. While this might seem an equitable arrangement, the baron’s demands for payment kept increasing over the years. The tenants were soon faced with the undesirable task of working the land year-round for little or no percentage of their labors. It was not uncommon for the families of tenant farmers to be starving even though the land was producing sufficient crops. Bread became a Sunday-only staple at the dinner table with a meat dish a rarity. The main source of nutrition was the potato. This was likely supplemented with greens from the surrounding fields and fish from the nearby streams, providing the baron was agreeable. Unfortunately, starvation was not uncommon. This harsh lifestyle was probably, in part, the reason that so many Slovaks came to the United States. Other reasons I have found include laws forbidding the people from speaking their native tongue, restrictions on where one could live, conscription into the military, and the list goes on. In fact, probably the only real reason many did not leave for the new world was they did not have the money needed for passage on one of the many ships that crisscrossed the North Atlantic.

Siblings

Along with his five brothers and one sister, there is some conjecture by the older family members that Joseph had a sister Maria, who either died early in life, or married and remained in Slovakia with her husband. There are no known documents to support this claim, only family lore.

Joseph siblings who either journeyed to or were born in the U.S.A. are as follows:

• Stephen Timko Jr.
• Andrew George Timko
• John Joseph Timko
• Paul John Timko
• Michael Joseph Timko
• Anna Margaret Timko

Emigration & Immigration

Joseph, his mother and two of his brothers emigrated from the city of Fiume on the western coast of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire on July 28, 1907 aboard the SS Pannonia, a passenger cargo vessel of the Cunnard Steamship Line. It took them just five days to cross the north Atlantic. They arrived in New York City, NY on Aug 1, 1907. Joseph was just fourteen years old and all he knew of his new home was what he could see from the railing of the ship. It was just Joseph, his mother Mary and two of his brothers, Andrew and John, looking towards their future in this new land.

Naturalization

Documentation:

On July 7, 1921, Joseph became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America.

The family name of Csanovsky:

On Joseph’s naturalization documents, which were filed in Indiana, Pennsylvania, it stated that when his mother Mary and her three sons (Joseph, Andrew and John) entered this country under the surname of Csanovsky. Documents from Ellis Island support this revelation but neither set of documents offer any explanation for the use of a second surname. One reason offered by relatives for the use of the surname Csanovsky was the existence of an immigration quota system that would have excluded them had they tried to enter the United States under the name of Timko. However, there is a potential problem with this explanation. It would imply that the family stated their surname and discovered that the country was too full of Timkos. And if that was the case, upon learning this valuable bit of information, did they simply tell the customs official, “I made a mistake. My real surname is Csanovsky?” There has to be more to the story.

And there is one additional point that should be included with this discussion of surnames. The father’s surname recorded on Joseph’s birth certificate from Slovakia was Istvan Timko Csanovsky. Thus, the name Csanovsky was used fourteen years prior to Joseph’s immigration. Whether the original surname of the family was Csanovsky or Timko, we may never know. All we know for certain was the surname Csanovsky was used to enter the United States and for some reason abandoned in favor of the surname Timko. While both the Csanovsky and Timko names were recorded on early documentation, only the surname Timko survived.

Education

Joseph completed the equivalent of the fifth grade before immigration to America. While he could read and write, he was self-conscience of his limited skills in these areas and declined advancements at Republic Iron & Steel Corporation for fear of making errors when documenting work-related information. It was his inability to write in English that proved to be a long-term problem for Joseph in regards to his job at Republic Steel. Sometimes his boss wanted Joseph to fill in as a replacement worker. However, Joseph would usually decline, in part because of his inability to write in English. Maybe there was another part of him that didn’t want to make a mistake that might cost him his job. Perhaps the embarrassment of making a mistake was based solely on his inability to proficiently read and write in English. And when the odd occasion arose when he did have to fill in for his boss he simply copied the numbers associated with a batch onto a production sheet or read temperatures and then record them. Writing down numbers was easier than writing a sentence. He was merely copying digits he saw on the scales or thermometers, while the other required knowing how the letters formed words that led to the composition of a sentence. Joseph never sought the position of foreman in any permanent form. For a man who appeared so confident to his wife and children in all that he did, it was probably a bitter pill for him.

Religion

He was baptized into the Catholic faith in the small village of Kudlovce, in the county of Zemplin in eastern Slovakia. HIs godparents were Andras Paulik and Maria Eger.

He was a member of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio.

Family Years

How Joseph came to meet his future wife Anna Veronica Berish can only be a matter for speculation. It is known that the Slovak miners lived in very close-knit communities where everyone knew everyone else. Perhaps they met during a church social or through mutual friends or simply as neighbors. No matter, the county records show they were married on September 14, 1914 in Dixonville, Indiana County, PA. Anna was just seventeen at the time of her marriage. In fact, her father had to file papers with the court to allow his daughter’s marriage. The young couple were married by Reverend Gro. D. Bonsk.

Over the next seventeen years, the young couple would have eleven children: five boys - Joseph John Jr., Stephen Michael, Edward John, Albert James and one unnamed boy who died at birth, and six girls - Mary Martha, Anna Joan, Susanna, Elizabeth Margaret, Emma Marie and Dorothy Alice. Susanna would only live a few days before passing away.

With ten children, and eventually 38 grandchildren, Joseph and Anna had to establish and maintain order in their household. Both had the ability to correct bad behavior with a stern look, a raised voice, and when extremely provoked, having the offender go out to cut a switch for punishment. However, as much as discipline was the order of the day, both loved their children and had their little ways to show them that they cared.

On one occasion Joseph's oldest grandchild Betty Jane Petrilla Hietikko told my grandparents they needed another kid at their house and badgered her mother, Mary Timko Petrilla, to let her stay overnight, only to be told she was too young. This was not only because she was indeed too young but also due to her brother Paul’s earlier exploits. It seems Paul too had wanted to stay all night with his grandparents and although his mother Mary was nervous about letting Paul stay, she finally gave in to his pleas. Paul was only about three years old at the time. He was all excited, and the early part the evening went well, but sometime during the early hours of the morning Paul began to cry. It seems he wanted to go home. His Uncles Edward and Albert, who themselves were only nine and seven respectfully at the time, picked Paul up and carried him from Oriole St. to his home on Fifth Street which was about six blocks away. My grandfather Joseph later told Paul he could not stay over night again until he was little older. He had not forgotten Paul’s sleepover and was not afraid to deny Betty Jane for the sake of a good night’s sleep.

The ten children of Joseph and Anna are as follows;

• Mary Martha Timko
• Anna Joan Timko
• Susanna Timko
• Joseph John Timko Jr.
• Stephen Michael Timko
• Elizabeth Margaret Timko
• Edward John Timko
• Albert James Timko
• Emma Marie Timko
• Dorothy Alice Timko

Residences

During the first years of their marriage, it is not known exactly where Joseph and Anna first took up residence. It could have been with either set of parents, which was not uncommon in the first part of the twentieth century or they could have simply rented a company house from the mine owner. The 1920 Census lists the family as living in Dixonville in the County of Indiana, Pennsylvania when the census taker visited their home. The Census also shows that they lived very close to both sets of parents though it cannot be determined if they lived on the same street, as there were no street names or addresses used in the mining towns of that time. Their oldest daughter Mary’s marriage license also lists that she was born in Dixonville in Indiana County.

During the family's years in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, Joseph and Anna rented or owned a total of seven houses on the southwest side of the city.

• 100 block of Parkman Road [Note: The exact address of the family's first rental house is not known. Anna's daughter Emma (Timko) Burin said that while driving with her mother, Anna pointed to a small collection of houses next to the railroad tracks on Parkman and said that was the house the family lived in when they first arrived in the city. At the time, it never occurred to Emma to ask exactly which of the house had been the family's first home. However, from city records, the address would have to have been either 160, 170 or 178 Parkman Road.]
• Lived at 985 Hunter Street NW in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
• Lived at 1437 Tod Avenue SW in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
• Lived at 487 Fourth Street in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
• Lived at 481 Oriole Place SW in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
• Lived at 770 Fourth Street in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio
• Lived at 1640 Oak Street SW in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio

Working Years

• Joseph worked as a crane hooker at the steel-making furnaces of Republic Iron & Steel Company in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio.
• Formerly, Joseph worked as a coal miner in various mines in and around Dixonville, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.

Andy Petrilla with his father-in-law Joseph Timko & Joseph's brother John Timko

Personal Life

Joseph enjoyed puttering around in his vegetable garden, reading the newspaper, and fishing. He also enjoyed spending time with his siblings as well as his wife Anna and his children and grandchildren.

While living on Fourth Street, Joseph and neighborhood men would sit under the grape arbor drinking beer. When they needed more beer, he would send one of his children to the neighborhood bar to get them another gallon bucket of beer.

He chewed tobacco.

Death

Joseph died from a rupture of the myocardium (heart attack) on November 9, 1954 at St. Joseph’s Riverside Hospital in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio. He had been working in his backyard when he was taken ill. He was admitted to the hospital and died a few days later.

He was buried on November 12, 1972 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Lordstown, Trumbull County, Ohio. The graves of Joseph and Anna are located at Sts. Peter and Paul’s Byzantine Cemetery on Hewitt Gifford Road (Rt 84) in Lordstown, Trumbull County, Ohio. This cemetery is approximately 3-4 miles southwest of Warren, Ohio. Their graves can be found in Section A, Row 8 in Graves 20 and 19. ‎‎