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Andrew Wrobel in the 1930's
Andrew and Marianna would marry, apparently in 1928, but perhaps a year or two earlier.
In September of 1929, Marianna bore her first son, also named Andrew, but referred to here as "Andy" to distinguish him from his father. The following year, she bore another son, John. A little bit later, in Chicago, Andrew and family are pictured with Marianna's sister Antonina, her husband Fred Blazonczyk and daughter Louise. A later Blazonczyk son, Eddie , would become a polka bandleader of some renown.
Clockwise from top left are Fred Blazoncyk,
Marianna, Antonina, Below is a picture of Andrew and his family riding on a raft on the Dunajec River in the Pieninski National Forest during a visit made in the summer of 1938. Andrew is flanked by his two oldest sons, Andy at his left and John on his right. Behind John is an unknown family friend, behind her is his mother, Marianna, and at the extreme right is Aunt Helen. On the way home, Marianna was pregnant with her daughter, Victoria, born in November of that year.
When he first arrived in Chicago, Andrew took a job at the Lincoln Motor Company, working 12 hours a day, then 10 hours on Sunday, all for $20 a week. Nevertheless, he later found time to develop a circle of friends devoted to Polish folk culture, especially that of his home region. He would play the bass violin in small folk bands. The Thirties were a tough time for the family. Andrew was unemployed like millions of others at the time from his job at the Stockyards. Marianna also worked there making Polish Sausage and for a while supported the family during these hard times. Their son Andy recalled going down to the corner bar as a boy and carrying buckets of beer back to the family apartment on South Paulina Boulevard, a scene that could have come straight out of a Nelson Algren novel. Click here to learn the rest of the story. |
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This page was last updated on May 1, 2004
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