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Mary Adamczyk Kowalsky
Millions of people have made the long journey across the ocean to come to a place they’ve seen only in their dreams. Each has his or her own unique story filled with hardship and success. To me, one story stands out above all: the story of my great-grandmother, Mary Adamczyk Kowalsky. My Grandma Jean told me, “In spite of my mother’s youth, she was a very down-to-earth, practical person.” Even though I never met my great-grandmother, I strongly admire her. Her story is especially important to me because it was told to me by my Great Aunt Adele (who passed away over four years ago), my Grandma Jean, and my father.
I know very little about my ancestors, but I will try to piece together parts of Mary’s life. She was born in 1894 in Poland and grew up on a farm in the small village of Meletz. In 1910, when Mary was sixteen, she became the first person in her family to immigrate to America. Mary immigrated because she thought that the streets were paved with gold. Also, she wanted to make money and live in a big city. Mary’s parents bought her a boat ticket because she wanted to go so badly, so she traveled alone to the immigration building on Ellis Island in the New York Harbor.
Mary lived in Manhattan, where a Jewish doctor asked her to be a governess for his children. Mary spoke Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. The family that she worked for taught her Yiddish, and she also went to night school to learn English. After a month in America, Mary got homesick. She was too embarrassed to write home to ask her parents to send money for her return. Instead, Mary decided to earn it herself, but eventually she got so accustomed to her life in the big city that she decided to stay in America.
A few years later, Mary met Andrew Kowalsky, who had immigrated to America from Poland in 1905 (he was about ten years older than she). As my Grandma Jean told me, “My father liked to tell people that the Williamsberg Bridge had not even been built yet when he came to New York.” Andrew was a warehouse supervisor on the docks in Brooklyn. My dad told me, “My grandfather took over for a guy named ‘Smitty,’ so he was called ‘Smitty’ by the men on the docks.”
Andrew saved $2,000 and married Mary. Their home did not have heat or electricity, and every morning they had to take a cart to the dock to get a block of ice for the icebox. I cannot imagine what cold winter nights in Manhattan must have been like without heat or electricity! Despite some hardships, Mary and Andrew had a long and joyful marriage. In that time, they had three daughters - Helen, Adele, and Jean.
In 1925, because Andrew had saved his money, he was able to buy a beautiful dinner ring for Mary and a pocket watch for himself. The pocket watch had gold chains, a watch fob, a blue sapphire crown, and engraved birds on it. He used it only when he was dressed up for special occasions. My dad told me, “My grandfather never had a wrist watch - only that watch. Now it belongs to me, the proud owner.” It is an example of a source of pride because it was earned by hard work. It is now the oldest heirloom in my family’s possession. In addition, Mary passed down many traditions to her family, such as Christmas Borscht (a special soup), which we still enjoy today.
Later in life, Mary settled in a building in a Polish neighborhood on the lower-east side of Manhattan, where she was surrounded not only by Polish immigrants with whom she could relate, but also by immigrants from other countries with whom she could share traditions. The few times that I’ve driven by this building where my great-grandmother, Grandma Jean, Grandpa Charlie, Dad, Aunt Charlean, and many other family members lived, the whole street came alive, and I could smell the delicious food my great-grandmother used to cook and see my father and his sister playing on the front stoop.
Mary realized that in order to get ahead, she would have to help her husband. Even though she had three children to look after, she took on an apartment house management job, which she kept for forty-seven years. Mary went on to buy a three-family apartment building in Queens for her three daughters in 1961. My grandma told me, “It was a big deal for an immigrant to own property. My mother saved her money, was never ‘on the dole,’ and was proud to be independent.”
America is a very interesting country because it is a “melting pot.” Virtually all families came from a faraway land at one point. In some ways, Mary’s experience seems to be similar to the experiences of most immigrants of her time, yet it has its differences, as well. Like Antonia and her family, Mary came from a village in eastern Europe. However, unlike most female immigrants who came with families, Mary came by herself at a young age. In fact, she was close to my age; I do not think that I could move to a foreign country by myself!
Mary’s misconception that America’s streets were paved with gold is evidence of one of the main reasons masses of people immigrated to America in the early 1900’s. It is true that America often offered a better life for people, but many came with big dreams and found themselves in poverty, as the Shimerdas did.
Like so many of Mary’s time, she went through the immigration building on Ellis Island in the New York Harbor and then settled in Manhattan. She was luckier then most to find work right away, and like Antonia, Mary worked hard. Though Mary was well-versed in three languages, she still had to deal with the language barrier that played a large part in the immigrant experience. Fortunately, Mary worked hard in night school to break that language barrier.
Like Antonia, Mary got homesick. She felt isolation and loneliness, two more aspects of the immigrant experience. However, she eventually was assimilated into the American way of life.
Mary and Andrew worked hard and were successful. In less than 100 years, their family has grown and expanded all over North America. I am sure that they would be proud to know that they have five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren, spread from Toronto to California.
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