To my daughter, Jamie, for her wedding shower

 

April 2^nd, 2006

 

 

‘For Mary Gill’

 

Mary Gill is your great great grandmother on the Paha side of our family.  This is a short sketch about her life and times.

 

Sketch:

 

Mary Gill was born in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the year 1854 on June 1^st.  She grew up in the small farming village of Mirschikau (me-ski-chew), located in western Bohemia, close the Bavarian border.  Her family farmed the land in this village for over a hundred years, dating back to the late 1700s.  

The area Mary and her family lived in is called Bischofteinitz County, and had been populated over time by farmers of Germanic heritage.  These farmers migrated across Bohemia’s western borders taking opportunities for their families, acquiring land and improving their lifestyles.  Today, we call them the German-Bohemians.  Sometimes they are referred to as the Böhmisch.  Most were Catholics, German was their language.  The people of the surrounding towns and villages came from very similar backgrounds.  They brought to Bohemia many traditions and lifestyles, work ethic and family values.

 

Not much is known about Mary’s siblings or her early life.  The likeness of Mary in the accompanying portrait was painted in Chicago of a photo of her taken in 1878; she was 24 years old.  I find Mary’s ethnic dress very interesting but leads to questions about lifestyle in a rural farm village.  But that story is for further research, probably not by me.

 

The next milestone in Mary’s life is her betrothal and marriage to Josef Paha - February 14^th, 1882.  Mary is 27 and Josef is 24.  They marry in the village of Kschakau, located a few miles to the east of Mirschikau.  Josef’s family lives in the farm village of Sadl, located a few miles to the south and west.  As with Mary’s family, they’ve farmed in this rural village for over a century, and have migrated from the west bringing their Germanic heritage with them.  At first glance, this seems to be a marriage contrary to what we might expect concerning youthful marriages.  Some words below from an historian of the Böhmisch concerning arranged marriages;

 

'The German Bohemians tended to be pretty practical about such things (marriage).  I think the German Bohemians were a little more committed than that and the parents and children probably worked together “arranging” marriages.   There was a contract that was worked out between the two sets of parents.   It outlined exactly what kind of wealth bride and groom would bring into the new household and what future support they might have from their parents.  The sources I recall say that most men did not marry before age 26 because hey could not support a wife before then (mandatory 3 years of military service at age 20 was also a factor).   They had to have a marriage license for a legal marriage and that required certain economic potential -- could be denied if the couples combined earning was not the minimum to keep them independent of welfare.

 

So, is this the case with Josef and Mary?  Just one possibility, others may also be likely, but I like this one.

 

Their first child, Anna, is born January 11^th, 1883, in the village of Sadl, where Josef and Mary were farming the land. 

 

At some time over the next few years, Mary would conceive more children, a total of five, but only Anna and her younger brother John (your great grandfather) would survive childhood and the next major event in Mary’s life. 

 

Josef and Mary would begin to contemplate a major decision – emigration.  For reasons unknown, but probably economically related to their ability to make end’s meet from farming the land, they decide going to America is a possibility.  Over the previous 40 years, many Böhmisch have made this move, and letters back home to friends and relatives have related relative success stories.  And actually, Germanic immigrants to America have been able to move into German-speaking communities and German Catholic parishes with relative ease bringing with them their traditions and cultures.

 

So the decision to come to America is made and shortly after John is born, the family of four leave Sadl and make their way up to Bremen, Germany.  They board the ship SS Eider and depart for South Hampton and then New York arriving October 28^th, 1890.  The manifest details the following:  Aboard were Josef (35) and his wife, Mary (37), their children, Anna (7) and John (9 months).  They came over booking third class passage, more commonly known as steerage.  The ship held 121 first class passengers, 707 second class passengers and 978 steerage passengers on that crossing.  Josef and his family, according to the manifest, quartered in compartment #3with luggage consisting of 2 bags.  Their country of origin was Bohemia, they are bound for Illinois.  Josef is detailed as a laborer. 

 

They enter America through the Barge Office complex, the precursor to Ellis Island, which would open two years later.  They traveled by rail to Chicago and the South Side.  Of note, Barbara Gill also is listed on the manifest and may be Mary’s younger sister.

 

The great attraction in Chicago and the South Side is the promise of jobs.  Jobs associated with the mammoth Union Stockyard complex centered around 43^rd Street and Racine Avenue.  Mary and Josef bring their family to Pershing Road and Fifth Avenue and to very close proximity of St George Parish, a German speaking Catholic Church and school complex.  Today, you can still visit these houses they lived in on Wells Avenue, though they are not in the best of repair.  The church and school have been demolished, victims of population movement and parish consolidations.  But in 1890, this area was in transition and the church and school complex were newly established.  The adjustment to America was made easier living in this neighborhood, speaking their native tongue in the familiarity of German customs and traditions.  But it was not the farm, it was urban America.  As Upton Sinclair would describe the area in his classic novel, The Jungle, life was not always the most pleasant.

 

Most of the adjustments had to be made by Mary and Josef; for Anna, as with most young children, would almost seamlessly adapt to a new pattern of life with little trouble.  And John, arriving as a one year old toddler, would never recognize the fact that he was an immigrant, Chicago would always be his home.  Josef would gain employment as a baker, Mary’s life would center around raising the children and taking care of the household.  They lived in a two story two flat of which there were many on their block.  The majority of their neighbors claim German heritage, though there was also a goodly number of Irish in the area.

 

But Mary would be the mainstay of her family.  Over the next twenty some years the family would move a number of times, though they never strayed  too far from St. George Parish, and later from St. Augustine Parish on 51^st Street.  Anna and John would receive bilingual educations reinforcing traditions, culture and family values of a German heritage.

 

In 1910, Anna would marry Frank Livingston.  Three years later, John would marry Ida Rash. 

 

In 1919, Mary became ill and eventually succumbed to cancer dying in 1919.  She would enjoy the birth of two grandchildren from her son John and daughter-in-law, Ida.  But tragically, she would also see the death of grandchild Maria in 1918.  Mary lived 29 years in Chicago.  Josef survived her but passes 15 years later in 1934.  They are buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery on the South Side.

 

Mary and Josef were like many people and they probably always looked back on their decisions in life, especially coming to America, with some regret.  They moved from the slow paced lifestyle of rural farming in Bohemia to the hectic paced and cramped urban environment that not only they would endure, but also all of their future generations, including us.  For more than 100 years, we Pahas have lived in Chicago, mostly within the city boundaries on the South Side.  We move away for a number of years, and end up coming back again and again. 

 

But what of the alternative?  Both Mary and Josef left families and many relatives in western Bohemia. 

 

By 1890, the winds of change were well in motion for the future of Bohemia.  A Czech nationalization movement was rapidly gaining momentum.  The winds of WWI and the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by President Wilson and the Allied victors would lead to the establishment of Czechoslovakia, absorbing Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia.  The new borders included the lands of the Böhmisch but eliminated them from any participation in the new government.  Czech became the national language.  The Böhmisch wanted either a separate nation or at least close association with Germany.  Over the next 25 years this injustice would fester with the eventual annexation by Hitler’s Germany in 1939 in a pacification move by the Allies.  WWII rapidly followed and the Böhmisch sided with the Third Reich, the Czechs fighting against them.  At the wars close and Germany’s defeat, the Czech population violently expulsed the Böhmisch from their borders.  The Gill and Paha families were amongst this expulsion as thousands of families were forced westward into war torn and demolished Germany. 

 

Obviously Mary only witnessed events to 1919, but Josef saw much more.  Regrets they may have had, but the satisfaction of not being in harms way in Bohemia must have been gratifying but also worrisome for the family left behind.

 

So Jamie, you and Adam are at the front end of your lives with time to make many decisions.  Speaking as a wizened father and half of a partnership in making many decisions, often without thought of future consequences, I can say that you need to trust in yourselves.  Try not to be too compulsive, yet spontaneity is the spice of life.  No risk will lead to little reward, so live life knowing that your mortality is a fact.  Mary and Josef took great risk in Coming to America; they made the best of life for themselves and also for us.  You will do the same for your children and grandchildren.  Life is here to enjoy.

 

Love - Dad