Joseph John Timko Sr.

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 to Stephen Timko Sr, and Maria Kenderes.

Description

In early photographs, Joseph was shown to be a man of average height and weight with the facial features typical of someone of Slavic descent. He was a clean shaved man who stood five foot, nine inches 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 he received from a mining accident. When questioned by his children about the bump and all he'd say was he got it when something “bad happened in the mine

Early Years

My grandfather, 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 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 and at the time of his birth, he had a four-year old brother Stephen.  In the years to follow, Joseph became was a brother to four 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. 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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

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 Mary and her three sons 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

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 these areas and declined advancements at Republic Iron & Steel Corporation for fear of making errors when documenting work-related information.

Family Years

How Joseph came to meet her 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.

Never 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 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.

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 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 conjunction with the homes in that period. 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.

• 1xx Parkman Road [Note: The exact address of the family's first rental house is not known. My paternal Aunt Emma (Timko) Burin said that while driving with her mother Anna, 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, hence the 1xx designation.]
• 985 Hunter Street NW
• 1437 Tod Avenue SW
• 487 Fourth Street
• 481 Oriole Place SW
• 770 Fourth Street
• 1640 Oak Street SW

Working Years

Worked as a crane hooker at the steel furnaces at Republic Iron & Steel Corporation in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio. Formerly, Joseph formerly 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 and his own family.

Death

Joseph died from a ruptured 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.