Tag Archives: snover

George Sznarwakowski, Joseph and Arla

Gratiot Avenue, Detroit. Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress
Gratiot Avenue from Woodward, ~1900-1910

Detroit, Michigan in May 1902 had just celebrated its bicentennial, was America’s 13th largest city (& growing) and had a huge community of immigrants (12% of the population didn’t speak English, the highest percentage in the US). It would later become the Motor City, but even then, Detroit was the world’s largest manufacturer of heating and cooking stoves, built ships, produced cigars and tobacco, pharmaceuticals, beer, rail cars and heavy equipment. The city directory boasted of improvements in roads, water supply, street cars, public lighting and the number of books in its public library. Detroit was a city on the move.

1903 Detroit directory
1903 Detroit directory

Why is May 1902 in Detroit relevant? That’s roughly when George Sznarwakowski was conceived, probably in Detroit. He was born February 17, 1903. Papa – Robert Francis Sznarwakowski – barely knew his father. George died at 27 years old just before Papa’s fourth birthday.

Continue reading George Sznarwakowski, Joseph and Arla

The home on Liberal Avenue, Detroit

Bob Sznarwakowski and his family had a tough few years in the 1930s, but things were looking up by the time Bob turned 18 in March 1944 and registered for the draft. The family had recently moved into a new home at 16076 Liberal Avenue and Bob had a good job at Gar Wood Industries. In scanning and restoring some old photos recently, I found one of Bob, home on leave from the Army – he enlisted in July 1944 – sitting on the front steps of the home on Liberal Avenue.

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Where did all that English DNA come from?

Everyone in the Snover family knew George A Sznarwakowski had been adopted by Anna and John Sznarwakowski in Detroit in the 1910s. The family story had it that George’s last name had been White before the adoption, although there’s no paperwork I can find anywhere that confirms George’s origins. He married Monica Gorzynski whose family were all Polish, and their children, including their second son, Papa – Robert Francis Snover – grew up in Detroit as Polish-Americans. So where did all that (34%) British ethnicity come from?

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Teenagers in Detroit – depression to war manpower boom

George Sznarwakowski death certificate
George Sznarwakowski death certificate

George and Robert Sznarwakowski were only 17 and 15 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but they were effectively adults courtesy of the hardships of the Great Depression and their father’s sudden death over 10 years earlier from “meningoccus meningitis” on February 21, 1930.

In reading old newspapers to flesh out the story told by census and  directories, this tumultuous period in a city that was on a meteoric rise came painfully into focus – a blend of family tragedy in losing their father with national and world events. Continue reading Teenagers in Detroit – depression to war manpower boom

Eloping to . . . Ohio? Lies on a marriage license

Fulton County Courthouse, Wauseon, Ohio
Fulton County Courthouse, Wauseon, Ohio

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! Continue reading Eloping to . . . Ohio? Lies on a marriage license