According to my father, my grandmother’s family was from Poznan, Poland. The daughter of Walter and Antoinina (Annette, maiden name Lentz), my grandmother, Sophia (Sophie) Szopinski had five siblings – Stanley, Joe, Valentine, Helen, and Veronica.
Walter Sopinski worked for the Dunkirk, NY parks department, and was the first person in the city to use a gas-powered lawnmower — I have the news clipping somewhere. Typical of most people with their professions versus homelife, rumor is that his own garden was a bit of a mess. He was sometimes known as “The Kaiser” because of his appearance, mustashe and all, and perhaps his strictness as a father.
He owned a house on Roberts Road where both my grandmother and father were born, and my father’s parents lived in until they went to a nursing home around 1992. It was in the family for nearly a century, but was another generation or two older, having been moved by hand (a LOT of hands) from across the street where it originally stood.
Walter died before I was born, and so I never knew him, although I beleive when I was young I met my great-grandmother a few times.
Stanley Szopinski was born on the ship from Poland, and earned the lifetime nickname “Peanuts” because he was so small they warmed him over the pilot light on the stove in a shoebox. I remember meeting him as a child when we lived in Depew and I offered him a snack. “Peanuts?” I asked, to which he laughed and asked how I knew his name. I didn’t know him well, but he was always “Uncle Peanuts” to me and the name Peanuts even appears on his grave in St. Hedwig’s Cemetery. Married to Helen (maiden name I do not know), his children were Edward, Danny, Theodore, and Dorothy Sopinski. Their daughter married and became Dorothy Polowy. I hear that she was close her brother-in law, my grandfather Walter Stuczynski, and her body is burried next to him – hers is the next grave over from my grandparents in St. Hedwig’s. Her daughter Kathy Polowy, now Kathy Kavanaugh has more detailed family records — I really should get in tough with her as I’m sure there is a lot to share. She was also the mother of Danny Polowy and I beleive there was one other son. See also http://www.kentropolis.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=566
Helen married Edward Stortz, my “Uncle Eddie” who served in the Navy during WWII. He was on a smaller ship – a frigate or a destroyer, and the only action he saw was when a German U-boat surfaced in the Hudson river, fired shots off and killed the captain, then escaped. They had no children, and they lived in Buffalo when I was little, belonging to Queen of Heaven parish. He died when I was young, and my Aunt Helen a few years later, but remember affectionately playing with the remiander of his hair, and having them babysit me while my grandmother (on my mother’s side) was in the hospital in Dunkirk.
I beleive Joe and Stella had one daughter, Eleanor Szopinski. Now widowed as Eleanor Cogley, she belongs to my parish, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, in Orchard Park, New York. I never knew her well, and don’t see her often, but would like to. My father, Jerome Stuczynski, is the godfather of her son, Bob Cogley.
Known as “Lefty” and to me as “Uncle Lefty”, I do not have his wife’s name, but they had five children – Val (“Junior”), Paul (“Pike”), Robert, Irene, and Adell. I met him a couple of times when I was young, but don’t really know any of them or their families. Edit: I found out recently (November 2005) that Irene Szopinski, married as Irene Romero, died about a month ago.
I think I remember meeting Aunt Veronica, but am not sure. They had a son, Herb, and a daughter Joanie, who upon marriage became Joan Markowski. The children and grandchildren of “Cousin Joanie” and her husband live mostly in Lancaster, New York, but I have little contact with them. I beleive a couple of the brothers are in construction, and they are strong church-goers. I liked meeting a bunch of them, excepting the funeral circumstances, and I would like to know them better.
My grandmother met my grandfather at a Sunday picnic on Arkwright Hill outside of Dunkirk. He moved into her father’s house on Roberts Road when they married and they lived there most of their lives. I have a lot of memories from times I spent with them — we visited them almost every week it seemed, and I often cried when we left for home. When I was old enough to drive, I visited them on my own, and even spent a few weeks in Dunkirk over the summer after I graduated from college in 1991, in part to spend time with them. My grandmother and I didn’t talk nearly as much as I did with my grandfather, so most of the stories about family and personal history are from him, but she was gentle yet strong, or at least a bit crotchety at times, but hard not to love her for it. My father was their only child, born in the upstairs bedroom if I remember correctly, and before they died in the early 1990s, they got to see their first, and currently only grand-daughter, who was too young to remember them except through my own eyes.
I think I live in your Uncle Stanley’s & Aunt Helen’s house. Or at least I used to. My parents still do. I don’t know all the lineage. I think Kathy Kavanaugh is my mom’s cousin. And I think Edward Szopinski is my mom’s step-dad.
It’s great to hear from you. I hope I could meet your part of the family sometime. I also have a lot of old albums, and maybe there are some photos I could archive on a CD for you — who knows?
I’m Kathy Kavanaugh’s daughter. Is this page still active?
Yes, the site is active, just not used often except as an archive with occasional comments.
Your mother has wonderful genealogical notes, some of which I have copies somewhere in my files.