Young lovers running off to get married is not a new thing, or in any way a Detroit thing, but I was amused as well as intrigued to learn that Jeffrey’s paternal uncle – Papa’s older brother George – had chosen Ohio to run away to in 1943.
Jeffrey’s father would sometimes tell me stories about his childhood in depression-era Detroit, Michigan; one was about his older brother running off with the lodger to get married, something their mother was furious about. What he didn’t tell me (or know?) is that the pair ran across the state line and lied about their ages do do it!
George A. Sznarwakowski was born in Detroit in 1903, and adopted some time between 1910 and 1920 by John & Anna Sznarwakowski, first generation Polish immigrants then in their 60s. I have so far been unable to find out more about George’s circumstances or birthparents.
Monica Gorzynski, a Polish immigrant who had arrived in the US in 1914, married George in Detroit on Jan 17, 1924. His occupation is listed as “clerical work” and hers as “stenog”, so perhaps they met at work. Unfortunately the columns listing who married them and the witnesses are blank.
Their first child, George Harold was born Sept 23, 1924 (no waiting around to start a family!). Papa followed March 12, 1926.
Just after their 6th anniversary and his 27th birthday, on Feb 21, 1930, George died of “meningococus meningitis”. Apparently death rates at the time were 70-80% and Papa recalls him being dead within 3 days of becoming ill.
Young George was 5 and Papa 3 (turned 4 on March 12th). The great depression was about to make life in Detroit a huge struggle for many, but Monica and her four children (Mary was born in 1928 and Phyllis in 1933) had the added burden of losing their primary breadwinner.
George and Papa quit school early – WWII Enlistment records noted Papa left in 9th grade. George started an after-school job with a butcher when he was 12 and quit school at 15 to work for the butcher full time. At 18 the boys had to register for the draft – Sept 1942 for George and March 1944 for Papa.
I don’t know when Monica took in lodgers to make ends meet, but a young woman from Tennessee, recently arrived in Detroit (she was still in Tennessee for the 1940 census) came to live with them – Betty Joe Lockwood.
Betty was 6 months older than George and an inspector at a munitions plant – Papa recalled Monica working briefly at a munitions factory, so perhaps that’s how she met Betty. I haven’t found anything to date Betty’s arrival at the Sznarwakowski home, but George and Betty, possibly as a result of his pending entry into the military in April 1943, in January took off for Fulton County, Ohio, to get married. Papa’s recollection is that no one had any idea they were even dating. Monica was furious.
I believe at the time Michigan law was that residents had to marry in the county where one of them lived, and that you needed parental consent if you were under 21. As George was born in Wayne County (Detroit) the chances of being found out if he lied about his age – he was 18 in January 1943 – were too great. Ohio appears to have taken their word for their ages – they kept the right day and month, but both of them added 3 years to become 21 and 22.
George entered the Army Air Corps 30 April 1943 and left 7 September 1944 as a 2nd Lieutenant, a pilot. Papa enlisted 14 July 1944 and so was away when George got out.
Papa remembered that his mother told the family they were not to have any further contact with George, but when I asked if he complied, he replied “Of course not! He was my brother”.
I don’t know where George and Betty went after the war – the earliest record is a Detroit City Directory from 1951 where he’s listed as a carpenter at a local construction company. Papa recalled that Monica did forgive them at some point, and that’s good because George & Betty were together until George died in 1995 (Betty died in 1999). They too changed to the Snover surname – here’s George’s obituary from the Detroit Free Press, 23 November, 1995.
