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Note: _bacnQUCUhtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zk5Cc4sHXgs/VqP4HCoherI/AAAAAAAAGO0/ma7IWttgIhQ/s800-Ic42/Frances.png" height="267" width="800" /></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/FranciskaFrancesLabuzSurma19102004?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Franciska "Frances" Labuz Surma, 1910-2004</a></td></tr></table> Notes for Franciska Łabuz Surma:
Franciska spoke Polish her whole life.
For the purpose of completing the 1931 birth certificate of her first son, Frances herself likely stated her place of birth. The location was misspelled on the birth certificate. It was correctly spelled Mszana Dolna. It isn't known if she stated the town of Mszana Dolna because it had double the population and was a more well known area than the nearby village of Kasinka Mała, or maybe she actually <i>was</i> born in Mszana Dolna. Kasinka Mała (pronounced kah-SHINK-ah MAH-wah) - sometimes referred to as simply Kasinka - is three miles northwest of Mszana Dolna.
So her birthplace is one or the other, but which, remains uncertain.
The original Polish language spelling of her last name was Łabuz. That Polish letter that looks like an "L" with a line through it, is pronounced like an English "W". The Polish pronunciation of Łabuz is WAH-booz, or close to that.
Since that "Ł" does not exist in English, it became written as an "L" in the United States. And since the "z" and "s" sounds are fairly similar in both Polish and English, the last letter in Victoria's last name was variously written in the United States as a "z" or an "s". So the properly written name in Polish of Łabuz was written as either Labuz or Labus in English. There was no Catholic church in Kasinka Mała when Franciska was born in 1910. A Catholic church was built beginning in 1911, which opened in late 1913. So if Franciska was baptized in a Catholic church, the location was likely not that Parish of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kasinka Mała. If Fransiska was baptized, the location was probably a Catholic church in Mszana Dolna. Any baptismal record from 1910 that still exists might be held at the parish, or held by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kraków, located in the City of Kraków.
Franciska's father Jozef Łabuz was said to have died before Franciska's mother Wiktorya moved to Chicago in February of 1913, to earn money. The date of Franciska's birth, March 7, 1910, puts the apparent death of Jozef between 1909 and 1913, either in the months before Franciska was born, or when Franciska was no more than three years old.
But if Jozef Łabuz did die or disappear, then based on an immigration manifest that shows that Franciska's grandparents Wojciech and Marianna Łabuz left Kasinka Mała for Chicago in October of 1910, and that Franciska's mother Wiktorya waited until Wojciech and Marianna returned to Kasinka Mała to take care of young Franciszka before Wiktoria left for Chicago in February of 1913, then that would put the time period in which Jozef apparently died or disappeared about late 1912.
Jozef's location of death may have been in or near Kasinka Mała, where Franciska was raised, or in the nearby town of Mszana Dolna. Those areas were in the Austria portion of Austria-Hungary from 1867 until October 31, 1918, when Austria-Hungary was dissolved. Then Mszana Dolna, Kasinka Mała, and a the larger surrounding area became a part of Poland. Mszana Dolna and Kasinka Mała are now in the Małopolska Voivodeship a.k.a. Małopolska Province a.k.a. Lesser Poland Voivodeship (similar to a state in the United States) in southern Poland.
A map showing the location of Kasinka Mała: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/e1RJFFJca4bkZJAS9">Photo</a>
After Franciska's father possibly died, her mother Wiktorya decided to travel to Chicago to work as a maid. Wiktorya left Franciska to be raised by her parents, Wojciech and Marianna Łabuz, on a farm in Kasinka Mała.
In the United States, when away from Polish speakers, and in written documents, Wiktorya was known by the English spelling of her name, Victoria.
By mid 1926, Victoria had saved enough money to send for her only daughter, Franciska. Franciska needed enough money to travel from her home to a European port, then to pay for a ship's voyage, then to pay for a train ticket from New York city to Chicago, plus meals and expenses along the way.
In August of 1926, Franciska left her home in Kasinka Mała, Poland. On September first, she boarded the <i>S.S. Paris</i> in the port at LeHavre, France. The ship arrived in New York city on September seventh.
One of the ship's manifest pages listed Franciska "Labuz" on line three. She was 16 years old. It was stamped that she was "IN HOSPITAL". Next to that was stamped "DISCHARGED". Franciska did not speak or understand any English, so she never knew why she wasn't allowed to leave. But the huge immigration processing facility must have had employees who were fluent in every European language, so the supposed lack of communication doesn't make sense.
That is until you consider that times were different back then. Even adult women were often treated as second class citizens. Kids were often barely regarded as human beings. Especially when that kid was a fresh-off-the-boat unaccompanied foreigner who did not speak or understand a word of English. Franciska likely got little respect, compassion, or consideration from the adults of that era in general, and the so-called adults at the port of New York, and the hospital at Ellis Island in particular.
At that time, a child had to be at least 16 years old to travel overseas unaccompanied. Franciska was just barely 16, but maybe some authority figure had doubt that Franciska really was 16. Maybe the medical issue was a phony excuse to hold Franciska for a while.
The following additional information was typed on the manifest page:
Franciska could read, write, and speak Polish. She was from Kasinka, Poland, and she had been born there. (But the location may have been Mszana Dolna). Franciska's grandmother, "Mrs. Marjanna Labuz", was the person in whose home Franciska had been most recently living. Franciska's destination was Chicago, specifically to the home of her mother, "Mrs. Wiktorja Gaszkowska", who lived at 5322 S. Bishop St., Chicago. Franciska had a train ticket to get to Chicago. She had been issued an immigration visa in Warsaw, Poland on August 24th.
There was also a handwritten statement among the typewritten information for Franciska. It says this:
Placed in hospital on arr obo Lungo, phagitis
What that means is that when Franciska arrived, obo (on behalf of) (some person of authority with the last name of) Lungo, ordered Franciska to be sent to the hospital because she apparently had signs of the physical condition named phagitis.
Phagitis means oesophagitis which is the inflammation of the wall of the oesophagus, the food pipe. Reflux of acid from the stomach, associated with vomiting, causes irritation of the wall of the food-pipe/oesophagus causing oesophagitis.
Franciska was discharged after some unknown length of time.
A photo of that manifest page: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/iCCm5otxLpw6Ww8t5">Photo</a>
In the United States, when away from Polish speakers, and in written documents, Franciska was known by the English version of her name, Frances.
For some unknown reason, Frances can't be located in the 1930 U.S. census. She was only six months from getting married in Chicago, so she must have been in Chicago.
On October 4, 1930, in Chicago, "Frances" "Labus" married William Surma.
On December 1, 1936, Frances signed an application for a Social Security number, but her first name was misspelled as Francis: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/QVMRuoFgmkFWpZK27">Photo</a>
On April 28, 1938, Frances Surma formed a non-profit corporation named the "Little Kasinka Club", which was named after the place where she grew up.
Frances in 1989: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/koA7i3oEcRj72Cjt5">Photo</a>
Frances almost lived to the age of 94. A death notice for Frances was printed in the February 17, 2004 <i>Chicago Tribune:</i>
Frances Surma, age 93, The Matriarch of the William Surma Family, beloved wife of the late William Surma; loving mother of Edward (Mary) and John (Virginia); dear grandmother of Kathleen, Lita, William, Daniel, Diane, Windie and Edward Jr.; dearest great-grandmother of 21; cherished great-great-grandmother of one. Visitation Wednesday 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Funeral Thursday 9:15 a.m. from Lawn Funeral Home, 7909 State Rd. (5500W), to St. Louis de Montfort Church. Mass 10 a.m. Interment Resurrection Cemetery. President of Klub Kasinka Mala. Funeral info, 708-636-2320. - Frances' SSN was 349-10-0484.
Note: <table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Cr7_T-QwdYs
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