March 4, 2020 Strong Woman

 One of the many strong women in a family of strong women was my paternal grandmother Michalina (Lena) Lyskawa.  Lena was born in Sokolniki Poland (Poznan) on 28 September 1877. Her parents were Franciszek Lyskawa and Franciszka Konieczna. Her father died on 3 May 1893 when Lena was 16 years old.  She travelled to the United States by herself in 1901 arriving in Baltimore harbor to be met by her sponsor, her uncle, Jan Antzak. He was a worker in a tobacco shop, and Lena not only lived with her Uncle Jan and Aunt Stanislawa Lyskawa, but went to work in the tobacco shop as well.  She sent most of her money home to her mother. In 1903 her mother and sisters Victoria and Mary were able to make the passage to America. With Lena's wages and Jan Antzak as sponsor, they travelled to join Lena just prior to her marriage. The only son of the family arrived in 1905. Jozef was said to have stowed away to avoid conscription in the Prussian Army.  A different scenario is more likely.  The Germans had a draft system, where the young Polish men were drafted into the army.  Those lucky enough to have a number that was not drawn, or ineligible for army life, would often sell their papers to another young man, who would then have to leave the area.  There was a young man sponsored by Jan who sailed to America only to disappear, and at the same time Jozef appeared in Detroit. He didn't arrive in time for her sister's wedding, but she later named a son after him.

The young man who would become her husband was born in Detroit MI on 4 October 1875. He was a first generation American.  Frank Joblonski (later to become Joblinski) was one of 13 children born to Piotr Joblonski and Katarczyna Gic.  They had immigrated in 1872  from the same village in Poznan as the Lyskawa and Antzak families. After several years as a laborer in Detroit, Piotr bought a large farm in Romulus MI, but stayed friends with his fellow Poles in Detroit.  Since there was such a short time that she lived in the United States, and young woman like her didn't have the opportunity to meet young men, it was probably that  Lena was intended for Frank.  They knew each other for 2 weeks when they were married at St Francis d'Assisi Church in Detroit on 28 September 1903.  It is said she cried all the way back to the farm.  

Lena was better educated than Frank. She spoke several languages, and lived in the big city.  Suddenly she was torn from her Mother and sisters to live on a remote farm with a man she barely knew and his parents. Farm  life was hard, and soon the babies began coming. Edward in 1905, Stella in 1906, Joseph was born and died in 1908, John was born in 1909 and died in 1911, Bruno was born in 1911, Clara in 1913, and the baby of the family, my dad Allie, was born in 1915. Through all the childbirth and child rearing, farm work went on.

Life on a farm in those days required a lot of manual labor.  Lena had the hens to feed and eggs to gather, along with geese and turkeys to care for.  There was a large family garden to plant, care for, and harvest. Housekeeping was done with out the aid of any mechanical devices, clothes were washed in a tub on a washboard. Soap was boiled with lye to set out and harden, then cut into bars. 

Clothes were hand sewn, from hand made patterns, and most cloth had to be ironed, with a flat iron that she  had to periodically place on the range to reheat. Meal were prepared from scratch three times a day. Full hearty meals that required hours of preparation. After the meal came the clean up, heating water on the stove to pour into basins to wash the dishes, pots and pans. 

Frank and Piotr owned a thresher, and in the fall they took it around the area farms to help with the harvest. In turn, those farmers helped on the Joblinski farm.  It was all horse power in the early days, and a pair of percheron horses pulled the large machine.  When the fields were worked on the home farm, meals for all the men were prepared.  Massive amounts of hearty fare was provided for the hungry laborers. During the depression, food was not an issue.  There were vegetables from the garden and fruit from the orchard.  Beef was too dear, but the family had plenty of poultry.  The Joblinski farm had the secret sign out front, that let the hobos know the lady of the house wouldn't shoo them away.  Lena always gave them a plateful of food that they could eat in the shady yard. 

Lena took good care of her children.  Even though some of them gave her grief. Edward, known as Eddie, took to drink at a young age.  He would start the day with a fifth of whiskey and spent his young adulthood on a drunk. His mother's tears and pleading did nothing to stop his downward spiral.  His health suffered, and when he finally did see a doctor he was told if he wanted to live to see 30 he needed to stop drinking.  He took himself off to a institution somewhere in Detroit, where he "took the cure,"  He never drank again and lived to the age of 81.  Having spent his early days as a wastrel, he never married. 

The eldest daughter, Stella married Eugene Machcinski and had two children, then he was arrested, for some crime having to do with a stolen car, joyriding, perhaps. She and the children Jennie and Edmund moved back home with Lena and Frank.  There young Edmund and his Uncle Allie became good friends, and stayed that way the rest of their lives. (The children of Allie all had the same thought after his death, "Oh, Edmund is going to miss him.")  When Gene was released, he and Stella resumed their marriage and had two more children, celebrating 50 + years of marriage. 

Bruno and Clara didn't give their mom much trouble, but Allie more than made up for it.  He was a bright and inquisitive child. He often was in trouble at school.  He was caught just in time when he and his pal were trying to detonate an old WWI shell with a rock at school one day.  Another time he was in a water fight, and waited at the corner of the school house with a bucket of water. Approaching footsteps told him of a target, and he flung the bucketful of cold water. Unfortunately it was his teacher, Miss Webster who got the dunking.  Yet despite all his high jinks, Allie was a favorite of his teacher, and she braved the stern Mr. Joblinski to go to the farm and plead to leave the boy in school past the customary 5th grade education. Although he was needed on the farm, Lena and Miss Webster prevailed.  Allie graduated from 8th grade in 1930.  They failed, however, to convince Frank to allow him to go to high school. As a young man he became enamored of speed.  He loved to tinker with the farm tractor, and later on the old jalopies that he obtained.  

A black moment came for Lena and Frank when neighbors came to the door tearfully to inform them Allie had been killed in an automobile accident. Rushing to the scene, they were relieved to learn that although critically injured, their son was still alive.  He spent a long time in the hospital, and when the doctors told his parents that his leg had to be amputated to save his life, his always stubborn father prevailed and told the doctor to save his life and his leg. He would not allow the surgery. Although my dad always walked with a limp after that, he and his mangled leg survived.  While still recovering at home he bought an old motorcycle that he and Edmund worked on.  The day he roared out of the driveway with his crutches across the handle bars, Lena watched from the window and wept. If that wasn't bad enough, later on Allie bought an airplane!

Frank died on 28 September 1937, their 34th wedding anniversary.  He was buried by his parent in Mt Carmel Cemetery, Wyandotte, MI.  Bruno, the middle son inherited the farm, and Lena lived there until her death on 13 June 1950. She is buried next to Frank.  I haven't been able to locate the graves of the two little boys that she lost, but they are at Mt Carmel as well.  I wish I could have known this strong intrepid woman who braved the seas by herself to travel to this country, and to marry a man she barely knew to forge a new life as a wife, mother, and farmer.  She faced a lot of hardship and grief with fortitude and grace. A Good Christian woman, and beloved by her children.