June 8, 2007

A page for Evelyn Staley has been added to this history. Evelyn was a godchild to Julia Koshko. Julia's compassion and sense of duty are worth reading about.

August 20, 2006

Many times when researching a family's history, it's easy to collect information. The harder part is collecting the documentation. If you can help, please do. Maybe you can correct an error or fill in a blank or tell us something we didn't know about at all. Please note that this web site will NOT list information about people who are still living so as to respect their privacy rights and protect them from identity thieves.

December 8, 2005

Helen Litz, nee Helen Petrak, of Windsor, Pennsylvania has died after a two-year battle against cancer. Helen died Tuesday, December 6 at a hospital. She was 78 and is survived by her husband, Paul. They had no children. This information came from Helen's niece Jessica Edwards.

Helen was the fourth child of George Petrak and Anna Koshko. Anna was the fifth child of Julia Radiak and Andrew Koszkowski.

June 13, 2004

Birth, baptismal, and marriage certificates pertaining to Anna Koshko and George Petrak as well as George's naturalization are now online. Thanks to Carolina Edwards.

May 31, 2004
Special thanks to Carolina Edwards of Avis, Pennsylvania for telling the stories of her parents Anna Koshko and George Petrak. Pictures she provided will be available on this web site soon.

October 10, 2003
Ivan Brezina, a Czech citizen emailed Rick Koshko in October 2003, with information about his own family tree search and possible relationship to George Petrak. Brezina believes "George" would most likely have been "Jiri" in the Old Country because the Czech name Jiri matches to George in English. Brezina also advises that several Czech villages are known by the name Skalice--and one may be the Skalite where George Petrak was born. Ivan Brezina can communicate in English and would like to hear from anyone who can help him piece together the puzzle on his side. This could be an opportunity for a George Petrak descendant to meet a distant cousin. Please contact Rick Wiegmann Koshko through the email screener and ask for Brezina's contact info if you're interested.

March 30, 2003
Judy Vavrek has provided some photographs of her grandfather Paul Koshko. In one he poses with a banjo. In the other he's in a garden. I don't know for sure, but these look like a young bachelor's glamour shots.

January 27, 2003
In 1910, Andrew Koshko and his sons Andy and Mike referred to themselves as coal miners to the U.S. Census Bureau. The 1910 census form indicates they worked all year in 1909 but were out of work on April 15, 1910 when the census was taken. Mike was 15 years old and Andy was 17. Eight kids were born to and all living with Andrew and Julia Koshko by that time. Those who were at least ten years old spoke English. According to the form, eight year old George had already begun school but didn't speak English thus corroborating the story that the kids from his generation learned English by total immersion in the schoolhouse. The family lived on a farm which Andrew Koshko owned free of mortgage in the Census Bureau's East Precinct of Snow Shoe Township. This census form shows that Andrew entered the United States in 1891 and that Julia entered in 1889. "NA" under "naturalized or alien" on Andrew's line may be an abbreviation for naturalized, but it's not clear. A more obvious problem is that the number of years married seems to show 19 for Andrew and 14 for Julia. You can click here to look at the census form yourself (it's 566 kB and 2400x656).

September 22, 2002
The sons- and daughters-in-law of Andrew & Julia Koshko posed together for a picture circa 1943. It's believed to have been taken at the time of Julia's funeral. Here's a 75 kb. version (544x452) that should fit in most browsers. And here's Jim Koshko's high resolution 662 kb. scan (2736x1988) if you want to look it over for details.

I've started bio pages for nearly all of the sons- and daughters-in-law. Look at the name index on the left or go to the comprehensive name index to see who's there now. Anyone who can provide information for these biographies is welcome to help. Maybe you can even write one yourself.

September 18, 2002
Included here is another photograph of Julia Koszkowski, courtesy of Jim Koshko. Here's a 489x370 (should fit in most browsers), 45 kb. version and Jim's original high quality scan (2716x2056 and 695 kb.). The latter will enable you to see that Julia is wearing rings on both ring fingers and on her right pinky. She's the fourth person from the left in this studio pose. This seems to be a family photo, but we need help identifying the other six people in the picture. The man is wearing a cross on his lapel. Almost everyone has very large hands. There are two flower baskets on the floor in front of everyone. Could this signify something or were they there just for effect?

There are many other things we can ask ourselves to jog our memories: Does anyone have a copy of this photo with a note on it? Do we have pictures of anyone else in the picture? Did Julia ever go back to the Old Country to visit family or did any of her relatives there ever visit her? What rings were these and why did she wear them? Maybe Julia worked for another family and they considered her important enough to be in their family picture.

September 16, 2002
Jim Koshko has scanned two very elegant wedding photos of Elizabeth Koshko & Michael Surovey and Paul Koshko & Teresa Krisch. Jim has also provided a picture of the sons- and daughters-in-law of Andrew and Julia Koszkowski. I'll try to incorporate it into this site by this weekend. Thanks.

September 12, 2002
Click here for a picture of the ten children of Andrew & Julia Koshko alive in 1943. The picture is believed to have been taken at the time of Julia's funeral. Thanks to Jim Koshko. Click here for Jim Koshko's high quality original scan.

I've begun adding captions to group photos, using information written on the prints or recalled by those who know.

About this site
This web site is about the family history of Andrew Koszkowski and Julia Radiak and their descendants. These two immigrants left the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 1800's and eventually settled in central Pennsylvania in the United States. The Koszkowski name became Koshko. Today their descendants live across the continental 48 and in Hawaii.

If your last name is Koshko or you're descended from someone named Koshko, this site may be about your ancestors. Currently, biographies of Andrew Koszkowski, Julia Radiak, their parents, and their children are in the works. A very small team of distantly related Koshko cousins has made this site's beginning possible. Its further development depends on more relatives becoming involved. If you can provide photographs, copies of documents, or stories about the people profiled here, please do!

Rick Wiegmann Koshko