 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Kudrick Family
--Michael's Birth--
My Ruthenian Roots by Joseph R. Kudrick
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living. Charles Swindoll
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michael Kudrick is born on July 10, 1899: Michael Kudrick is the first child born to Anna and Alex Kudrick. He is the fourth child delivered by Anna and joins 9-year-old Anna Scšur II, 7-year-old Mary Bartko and 5-year-old John Bartko as members of the Kudrick Family to be raised by both Anna and Alex Kudrick.
Born in Cranberry: Michael is born on July 10, 1899 in the village of Cranberry, a mining patch town adjacent to the Cranberry Mines and south of the borough of West Hazleton. Six days after he is born, Michael is baptized at St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church, Hazleton by Rev. Orestes Zlodsky.
New Century: Approximately six months after Michael's birth, the world's calendar turns toward the new and exciting 20th century.
Alex and Anna: Anna is 31-years-old and her husband Alex Kudrick is 27-years-old.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Cranberry Mining Operation is under the control of the Pardee family interests. The mining operation has one fatal accident among its 709 employees this year.
Other mining operations in the Cranberry area include East Crystal Ridge and Harwood mines, but Cranberry is the largest, both in employees and coal tonnage mined.
A new slate separator is installed in the Cranberry Colliery bringing the total on line to 16.
Anna Scšur II will soon be old enough to venture forth into the workforce. Wages for girls working in the local silk mills pay $2.00 per week for a six day week.
Excavation for the new silk mill (Duplan) on East Diamond Avenue is commenced. Included in the construction is the digging of a 320 feet deep artesian well.
Fifteen letters from Europe remain unclaimed at the Hazleton Post Office however neither Kudrick or Scšur letters are among them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Snow Closes Cranberry Colliery: The winter of 1899 is one of the worst on record. On February 8, 1899, while Anna is four months pregnant with Michael, a major storm hits the Cranberry area closing the colliery and sending the temperature to 20º below zero. Funerals are postponed because graves can not be dug in the frozen ground and snow drifts stand 10 and 12 feet high. Schools are closed with frozen pipes and empty coal bins and people are shut in their homes for days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joseph Michalek, cousin of Michael Kudrick is born in Nanticoke, PA.. Joseph is the second Michalek child born to Mary Scšur (Anna Kudrick's sister) and her husband, Andrew.
A second cousin to Michael Kudrick, Peter Kelhart is born in Hellertown, Pennsylvania to Helen Scšur (Anna Kudrick's sister) and her husband, John.
Roads in and around Cranberry are unpaved and thick with coal dust. The roads do not carry automobiles, but rather tired miners going to and from work and family livestock such as pigs, cows, chickens and ducks.
Cranberry miners work an average of 181 days at an average of ten hours per day.
Diphtheria, typhoid and malaria are among the leading causes of non-mine related deaths in the Cranberry area.
A coal strike occurs in the anthracite coal fields; Alex is out of work for six weeks from September 17 until October 29.
The population of the United States is 76 million spread among 45 states. The anthracite coal fields have 624,000 people of which 70 percent are foreign born or children of foreign born.
New devices on the market include the telephone, Kodak brownie camera, typewriter, sewing machine, and an automobile called the Franklin, Peerless and Stearns.
Eggs sell for 12 ¢ a dozen, sirloin steak is 24¢ per pound and a turkey dinner costs roughly 20 cents.
The most popular song of 1900 is "A Bird In A Gilded Cage."
Average annual earnings of anthracite mine workers is a meager wage of less than $490.
A Pennsylvania coal miner and one of nine children joins the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team; his name is Honus Wagner and he will become a hall of fame baseball player.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|