Ron's Maternal Grandmother & Aunt Martha

Ron's maternal grandmother & aunt

Posnan, Poland (circa 1907)

Left: Maria Marta (Kaczmarek) LaFleur (1904-1981)

Right: Franciszka (Ossowska) Kaczmarek (1879-1956)

Franciszka had this photo taken of herself and daughter Marta (Martha) as a memento for

her husband, Jozef Kaczmarek (1879-1927). After marrying in 1900, Jozef left his wife

behind and traveled to America in 1902 where, working as a polisher of medical instruments,

he earned money to pay for improvements to his small tavern in Warderayn, Poland. The first

expedition proved so successful that he departed again in 1904, shortly after Marta's birth,

and remained in America for a full three years. Not long after his return, a second daughter,

Regina (Virginia), was born in 1909. Soon thereafter, Jozef embarked on yet another trip to

America. By 1912, Franciszka had grown weary of the repeated separations; and, when her

husband refused her repeated pleas to come home, she approached a local priest for advice.

The priest sent a letter to Jozef in America, admonishing him to send for his family. Shortly

thereafter, Franciszka sold the family tavern, bundled up her two daughters, and the three

of them emigrated to the United States, joining Jozef in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Later,

after the family relocated to Bay City, Michigan, two more children were born: Joseph Felix

(1914-1995) and Bronistawa a.k.a. "Bernice" (1916-1961). Several years after Bernice was

born, Jozef moved the family back to Chicago where he found life more to his liking. There,

at the age of forty-two, Franciszka gave birth to a fifth child, Evelyn Olga (1921-1999).