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Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
Information from Joseph Hoffman.
Information from Joseph Hoffman.
Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY HOFFMAN ON 3/23/92 & UPDATED ON 6/1/92
BORN AT HOME
INFORMATION FROM NANCY HOFFMAN ON 3/23/92 & UPDATED ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
Came from Austria/Hungary. Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
Information from Nancy Rae Hoffman Whitlock.
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
INFORMATION FROM NANCY R. HOFFMAN ON 6/1/92
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Citizenship: 30 Jan 1915, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Information from Jerry Zollars.
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman. U.S. Citizenship: 29 Jul 1941(from Jery Zollars).
She wrote the following memoir in Belle Vernon, PA on December 3, 1936. It was
discovered by Jerry Zollars in 2000 and translated by Sonja Kravanja."I, Suzana Skender, was born on July 18, 1877 in Brod na Kupi, a small village in
Yugoslavia. My mother, Thrisa (Rezi), was German by birth; my father, Avgustin
Skender, a Croat. My father was a postmaster in Brod na Kupi, and also ran a small
general store. My mother's maiden name was Rancinger. Her parents owned a glass
factory in Kocevje, in the Kranjska region. My mother was eleven years old when her
parents died. She had six siblings, three sisters and three brothers. Her sisters'
names were Fanika, Julija, and Ana; her brothers' names were Rajmunt, Daniel, and
Ivan. They were all rather well-off.My mother was married three times. Her first husband was a German from Kocevje.
He died only a year after they were wed. My mother became a widow at the age of 19.
She took her dower and moved to Italy with her brother, Daniel. There she opened a
porcelain store. However, before long a war started in Italy, and all the Germans fled.
She sold her store for a modest sum, and moved to Croatia. there she met my father,
and married him. She had my brother, Daniel, with him and another child who died
when he was one year old. They also had twins, Ana and Mari, who also died when
they were only 8 days old. Sad to say, my father died when I was one year old. He
was eating fish, and a fishbone got stuck in his throat. My mother hired an old maid to
take care of me and my brother, Daniel, and left for Zagreb to get trained as a nurse
and midwife. After she received her certificate in a Zagreb hospital, she returned to
Brod na Kupi, and was hired as a parish midwife. Her salary was paid by the parish.In 1880, my mother married again. Her new husband was also a Croat. He was a
master chimneysweep in Brod na Kupi. They had two children, Oto and Fabijan.
Unfortunately, her husband died in 1895 when Fabijan was 14 years old. Fabijan was
then a locksmith apprentice, while Oto, who was older, and my brother, Daniel, stayed
home to learn the chimneysweep trade. My father had been a chimneysweep for the
entire Gorski Kotar region, and after his death, my mother kept the business. She was
still working as a nurse and midwife, and Oto and Fabijan needed help. My mother had
to hire another person.In the Fall of 1897, a man from the Kranjska region came to work for my mother. He
was a good worker. After 9 months my mother realized that he had a talent to become
a master chimneysweep; she also realized that he and I liked each other. In 1898, she
turned the business over to him, and we were married on November 11, 1898. His
name was Anton Klancar. He was from the Bloska Fara parish, from the village of
Nova vas, house number 25. He was 25 years old, and I was 21. He had also served
three years in the army in Trieste. In 1899, our first baby was born but our baby-girl
died at birth.My brothers, Daniel and Oto, were mad at my mother for turning the business over to
my husband. In 1899, my husband went back home to visit his parents. His father's
name was Matija, and his mother's, Ana Klancar, born Hiti. He had three brothers,
John, Frank, and Juri. John stayed on the farm. Frank bought a piece of land and a
house in the Dolenjska region. Their brother, Juri, bought a house and small piece of
land near their parents' place. He was a master chimneysweep. Their parents had a
big farm that they turned over to their eldest, John. He gave small shares to his three
brothers.In 1899 when my husband went to visit his parents and brothers, he heard that
elections were being held for a master chimneysweep in Cerknica, a village that was 3
hours away from his parents' place. He left the following day for Cerknica to register as
one of the candidates for the job. He didn't have his papers with him, but they took his
word that he was a master chimneysweep. He got the job, and on January 5, 1900 we
moved to Cerknica. We rented a house next to Cerknisko Lake. My husband was
working, and we lacked nothing. On the first of August, 1900, our son Roman was
born.Toni was called up twice to the Army for maneuvers. During his absence I went to visit
my mother. My brother, Daniel, was married, but he was not very good at his work, and
mother had to help him out. She had to move to Kotar Delnice, and run the business.
She had been the parish midwife for 32 years, and received a modest pension. Toni
and I had a child, but she couldn't help us. We saved some money, and wanted to buy
a house. There was one nearly built that we liked. It had 4 rooms and a cellar. There
were plenty of fruit trees around, apple trees, plum trees, pear trees. We moved to our
own house in 1901. It was such a good feeling to have a place of our own, and we
didn't mind the work and the payments.On May 28, 1902, my daughter, Meri, was born. Toni was called up again for
maneuvers. I was bedridden for 13 days, and his mother, who lived 3 hours away
came to help. When we moved to the Kranjska region, I didn't speak the language but I
was content, and got used to living there. Toni worked, and brought money home. Life
was good.In the Spring of 1903 there elections to be held. A vicar paid us a visit. He tried forcing
Toni to vote for the Clerical Party, but Toni wanted none of it. He said: "I'm a Liberal,
not a Clerical!", and refused to vote. The vicar was so angry at him that he started
searching for a clerical master chimneysweep. He went from house to house of the
clericals, asking them to not give any work to my husband. We would never be able to
make it on so much less money. Toni was so furious at the vicar that I worried he'd do
something irrational. We talked about it, and I said to him, "Maybe you should start
thinking about going to America. We can sell our business. You can return after 3
years, and who knows, maybe the clerical chimneysweep will not be able to make it,
either, and you can have your job back."I had a friend, Katica Klavenich, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. I wrote her a letter and
told her what was going on. She wrote back saying that it was fine with her if Toni
came, and even offered to lend us some money for the ticket. She, indeed, sent us 60
dollars. However, Toni found out that the ticket to New York cost 145 dollars. We had
sold our business, but the new owner was also broke. We had a contract with him that
he was to pay us back after he made some money.My husband left for New York, and in July he moved to Edna, a coal-mining town near
Irwin, Pennsylvania. There he was among our people, some of them from my
hometown. My friend Katica's boyfriend also lived there. They married some time
later. My husband had room and board there."--------------------------------
On an envelope found with her things, the following was written in Slovene:
"When you were still with us,
there was joy in our house.
When you left,
sadness came.You will never be forgotten.
I'll be planting flowers on your grave
until the day
when I join you there.February 3, 1936
-------------------------------
A memory of her written by her daughter, Suzanne:"Her hair was dark brown and beautiful and so long she could easily sit on it. I
remember very well since I had to shampoo it for her. We finally talked her into cutting
it shorter to get in style for waving.What a wonderful Mother and Grandmother she was and I for one remember her every
day since she left us to join our dear father in the after life. She missed father so much
everyday and spoke of him all the time. We all know he passed away on April 29, 1935
and Mother on Feb 27, 1952.Everytime I see this bit of her hair I can imagine myself washing her hair and combing it
for her."Written by daughter, Sue, at home, 1959
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Information from Daisy Klancher Hoffman.
Information from Helen Whitlock Burgess.
Geraldine was married three times. Information from Helen Whitlock Burgess.
Information from Helen Whitlock Burgess.
Information from Helen Whitlock Burgess.
Information from Helen Whitlock Burgess.
Information from Helen Whitlock Burgess.