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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Joseph Paul Zasada: Birth: 14 MAR 1912 in Calumet City, Cook Co., IL. Death: 6 OCT 1978 in Hammond, Lake Co., IN


Notes
a. Note:   (per St. Casimir church records) Stephanus was born 12-6-1891, baptized 12-6-1891. Godparents were Ladislaus Lewandowski and Lucia Zasada. (per Jackie Hayes) Godmother was Lucia Zasada (Nowak), probably Frank's first cousin. Godfather was Ladislaus Lewandowski. I found several bits of info that might be this man. In the 1891 & 1892 Hammond City Directory a Wladyslaw Lawandowski is listed as boarding at 43 Ogden. He is the only person listed at this address which is strange unless the owner is a widow or somehow doesn't work. Right next door at 45 Ogden is the house owned & occupied by Joseph & Katarzyna Zasada. A Wm. Lewandoski lives in the rear of 45 Ogden and Mike Kwatkowski is also listed at that address. I found a Walter Lewandowski in Thornton Twp. in 1900 (ED#1189, Sheet 33A). He was 35, born in Poland, immigrated in 1888. He'd been married for about one year to Josephine, age 24, born in Pol., imm. 1889. There were four kids but must have been from a first marriage. They were Michelena, 9, Pelagia, 8, Helena, 6 and Leo, 4. So, the odds are about 100% that Wladyslaw Lawandowski on Ogden is the godfather. If the Walter I found in 1900 is the same guy he would have been about 27 when Steven was born. That is a good age. He would also be a contemporary of Frank & Frances. (per Hammond Times obit) Died at home (218 - 154th Place, Calumet City, IL) following a heart attack. Funeral St. Andrew's Church, Calumet City, IL. Burial Holy Cross Cemetary, Calumet City, IL. Member of Knights of Columbus, #726 V.F.W. Joseph F. Lietzan post #2871. Note: Steve never married Clara Miotke. Census data from 1930 shows him living in Dallas with wife Cassie. No further mention of her has been discovered. Per Joy Kopercinski, Steve enlisted on 2-18-1913 and was in the field artillery at Ft. Riley, KS. He retired after 33 years of service as Master Sgt. (per Jackie Hayes) 1920 census: ED #171 - Sheet 18A - Camp Grant, Winnebago Co., IL Steve was listed as 22 years old, born in Indiana, father born in Poland, mother born in Indiana (this is a little off), and he was a soldier. He reported for "F.A." training at Dallas on 12-21-1923. I wonder what the F.A. stands for. The only thing I can think of would be field artillery. The man they named the VFW post after in Calumet city was in a field artillery company when he was killed in France during WWI. Anyway, you already know that Steve was a Sgt. when he reported. From what I know about the military, promotion up the ranks was quite slow back then. The fact that Steve was listed as a soldier in 1920 and a sergeant in 1923 seems to indicate that he had stayed in the army. I did a search on Camp Grant. It was in Rockford, Illinois and there is a website for an Archives that has a book published c. 1918 about Camp Grant. It includes 16 pages of photos. From what I've been able to figure out their Atlanta branch holds the actual booklet and it does not circulate but they have one than does. I don't understand that! It just occured to me. The Steve Zasada from the 1920 census was only 22 which would mean he was born about 1897 or 1898. Could there be a second Steve Zasada. I don't think so. The name is just not that common. I just went back and looked at the actual 1920 census page. I hope I'm not grabbing at straws but I think it's a good possibility that what they indexer took to be a second "2" (thus coming up with age 22) is actually a very sloppy "7" making the actual age 27. I've gone up and down the entire census page comparing the handwriting (especially the 2's and 7's) and the more I look the more I think I'm right. I tried to see if I could figure out where Steve Zasada would have been stationed at in 1930. From the census it seems that he and the wife lived on the economy, not on base. On a Dallas County history site I did discover that in 1918 the Army established an aviation boot camp at Fair Park in Dalls, It was called Camp Dick. I know you've already seen the 1930 census with Steve Zasada and wife Cassie living in Dallas. He's still a soldier in the U.S. Army. I was hoping I could find out who Steve married but couldn't. They were married for about four years in 1930 so I would think they married in 1925 or 1926. Did he bring her back to Illinois?


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