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Note: 82WtfLLHeitMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eXq5kUEzsdY/VqP3MA3rqVI/AAAAAAAAGOI/95kQ42UYyFs/s800-Ic42/William%252520Surma.png" height="316" width="311" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/101087389908224627084/WilliamSurma19091988?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">William Surma, 1909-1988</a></td></tr></table> Notes for William Surma:
William was born August 9, 1909, at his mother's residence in Chicago. William was born to a widow, Elizabeth Surma, who also had a 22-month-old son, Andrew John Surma. No birth certificate was made for William until June 6, 1927. William's mother drew an X on a delayed birth certificate, because she couldn't write. <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/jDhorf9lwMNGsTDe2">Photo</a>
That birth happened eight months and 21 days after the newborn's father had died. Young William was baptized August fifteenth. For some reason, his first name and his father's first name were both written as Valentine in the St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church's baptismal registry book: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/yk91c81d8xXeGWBA6">Photo</a>
After April 26, 1910, and by mid 1911 at the latest, William's mother Elizabeth took William and his brother Andrew back to the old country of Austria-Hungary, to the town of Krompachy. That was where Elizabeth's late husband's widowed and remarried mother Anna still lived. Elizabeth handed the young boys over to Anna and her second husband Wojcech Galiniak to be raised.
That was apparently done to free up Elizabeth to be able to more easily find a new husband. Elizabeth/Alzbeta was still a very young woman. She very quickly did get remarried, to a Valent Svec.
By about 1928, William's older brother Andrew had returned from what was then Czechoslovakia, to Chicago.
In April of 1929, William (who apparently was going by the name Walenty) left his home in Czechoslovakia, and traveled to the port at Cherbourg, France. He boarded the <i>S.S. Aquitania.</i> The ship departed April 27th, and it arrived in New York on May third.
He was listed on a manifest page that was only for U. S. citizens. He was listed as "Walenty" Surma, age 19. It was written that he had shown his U.S. birth certificate to prove that he was a U. S. citizen. But he didn't have a birth certificate. His home address in the U. S. was written as 4844 S. "Seeby" Ave., but the correct name of the street was Seeley.
A photo of that manifest page: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/g2tKKZKZWSKSyBnB7">Photo</a>
The 1930 U.S. census had an effective date of April first. The Surma household was enumerated April ninth. Andrew Surma, 23, was listed as the head of the household. Also living in the home were Andrew's wife, Mary, 23; their son John Andrew, 6 months of age; and Andrew's brother William, 20. (John Andrew Surma was born September 23, 1929, and he died August 25, 1968.)
The Surma household lived in a multi-unit building at 4844 S. Seeley Ave., Chicago. That was one mile from where their mother Victoria Gaszkowski was living at 5322 S. Bishop St. The Surma brothers' rent was $20 per month. The brothers were both machinists. There was no radio in the home.
A photo of part of that 1930 census page: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/z2ac4SP7bSSsYJdeA">Photo</a>
Six months after that census was recorded, on October 4, 1930, in Chicago, William Surma married Franciska "Frances" Łabuz ("Labus" in the United States). His marriage license, obtained in September, shows his first name written as Walenty, which is the Polish spelling of Valentine.
Precisely nine months after the couple's marriage date, William and Frances' son Edward Frank Surma was born July 4, 1931, in Chicago. Based on the information in the below documents, it appears that the parents took 26 days to choose a name for their son, and get that information submitted. <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/e4qgaVfpNoro1OiQ2">Photo</a>
That birth certificate includes the misspelled place of birth of Frances, correctly spelled Mszana Dolna. It seems likely that Frances herself stated this information. Mszana Dolna is a much larger (but not huge) metropolitan area than the tiny Kasinka Mała, where Frances grew up. It isn't known if she stated Mszana Dolna because it was a much more well known area than the nearby tiny Kasinka Mała, or maybe she actually <i>was</i> born in Mszana Dolna. Kasinka Mała is three miles northwest of Mszana Dolna.
The couple's second and last child, John Joseph Surma, was born September 16, 1932, in Chicago. More information about him is in this chart.
The Surma family in 1933; William, Frances, their sons Edward and John, and Frances' mother Victoria: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/LwWeA4sNrR6nr66o7">Photo</a>
The 1940 U.S. census had an effective date of April first. The Surma household was enumerated April third. The census page shows William, 31; his wife Frances, 30; sons Edward, 9; and John, 8; plus Frances' mother Victoria Gaczkowski, 54.
They lived in a multi-unit building at 1310 W. 52nd St., Chicago. Their rent was $20 per month. William and Frances both worked outside of the home, as a butcher and a sausage maker. (Victoria watched the boys at home.) William had earned $1,300 in 1939, while Frances had earned $975. They had both worked 40 hours during the last week of March of 1940.
Frances was the person who stated the family's information to the census taker, as indicated by the x in a circle after her name. She stated that she and William had 8th grade educations. She stated that all five members of the household had been living in Chicago five years earlier, in 1935.
A photo of part of that 1940 census page: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/XZb81yJv6tq12xu5A">Photo</a>
The family attended St. John of God Catholic church, at 1224 W. 52nd St., Chicago.
Both of Willliam and Frances' sons Ed and John attended Tilden Technical High School in Chicago. Here are small versions of their senior class photos, which were copied from online yearbooks: <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/eXvwN4OAviy1BYur2">Photos</a>
William's SSN was 346-07-8888.
William's death certificate: <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/oqDbDPtmMBHmUzm03">Photo</a>
Note: <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/FnH_maV9Ib2
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