Joseph John Timko Sr.

Joseph John Timko Sr. - Born on March 17, 1893 in Kudlovce (Kudlocz), Hungary (Slovakia) to Stephen Timko and Maria Kenderes.

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 Istvan Timko Czanovzky and Maria Kendris 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, waiting for their future to begin.

[Personal Note: Here is where the first major revelation of my grandfather’s history occurred for me. For a good portion of my life, I had believed that my Dzedo had made the heroic trip to America … alone. I pictured him as a frightened young boy, not knowing what lay before him in his new home. I imagined that some relative or friend of the family met him at the dock and helped him establish himself in both a job and a place to live. It never occurred to me that other members of his family might have accompanied him or that his father had already taken to the long sea journey to set up a new home for his family.]

Naturalization

Education

Joseph completed the equivalent of the fifth grade before immigration to America.

Family Years

Married Anna Veronica Berish on September 14, 1914 in Dixonville, Indiana County, PA. The couple had eleven children: five boys - Joseph John Jr., Stephen Michael, Edward John, Albert James and one unnamed, and six girls - Mary Martha, Anna Joan, Susanna, Elizabeth Margaret, Emma Marie and Dorothy Alice.

The couple would have eventually have ten children;

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 Indiana County, Pennsylvania..

Death

Joseph died from a ruptured of the myocardium (heart attack) on November 9, 1954 at St. Joseph’s Riverside Hospital in Warren, Trumbull Co, OH. He was buried on November 12, 1972 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Lordstown, Trumbull County, OH.