John Joseph Timko

John Joseph Timko

Born on March 5, 1905 in Kurncszfalva, Hungary. He was the fifth oldest child of Stephen Timko Sr and Maria Kenderes.

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Description

Paul was a man of tall stature (5 foot 11 inches) and average weight.. He was a clean shaven man who had a fair complexion with dark brown hair and hazel eyes.

Early Years

John was born on March 5, 1905 in the small village of Kurncszfalva, in the county of Zemplin in eastern Slovakia, which was in the northern portion of Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. His birth name was Janos Timko Czanovzky as documented on his baptismal papers. His first name was later be Americanized to John. His parents were Stephen Timko Sr, aka Istvan Timko Czanovzky, and Maria Kenderes and at the time of his birth, he had three older brothers, Stephen, Joseph and Andrew.  In the years to follow, John would became was a brother to three more brothers and a sister.

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. His arrival was nothing more than an entry into a ledger maintained by the local church containing, in part, the congregation’s baptismal records.

We must remember 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 to read. 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 John 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 at the 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.

John and his family lived 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 in unknown, it is most certainly no longer a 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.

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

Emigration & Immigration

John, 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, Joseph and Andrew, looking towards their future in this new land.

Naturalization

Documentation

On July 7, 1921, John became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America along with his family.

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, I have a 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. 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 & Timko names were recorded on early documentation, only the surname Timko survived.

Education

John attended grammar school in America.

Family Years

How John came to meet her future wife Anna Isabella Novotny 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 October 13, 1930 in Indiana, Indiana County, PA.

The young couple would only have one child - Barbara Ann

The only child of John and Anna was;

• Barbara Ann Timko

Working Years

Worked as a automotive mechanic for Sutton-Miller Company in Indiana, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. When he moved to Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, he worked for Bartholomew Motors Incorporated in the 1950s. He later worked as an automotive mechanic for Crown Ford Motors Company until he retired in 1978.

Death

John died from a heart attack on February 14, 1995 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio.

He was buried on February 17, 1995 at All Souls Cemetery in Cortland, Trumbull County, Ohio.