Frank Kaminski, my maternal great-grandfather. The picture
on the left was taken about 1910, shortly after he arrived in this country, and
the right was taken with his two youngest children, Mildred and Ervin, about 1933.
Frank was born April 5, 1887 in Jozefowo, Suwalki, Poland to John Kaminski and
Eva Holzman. Frank immigrated to this country before 1910. I have not been able
to locate him on a ship manifest, - and the family rumor (not proven) is that
he left Poland because his mother died, and he was not happy with his new
stepmother. He may have been a stowaway on a ship, and entered the country in
Detroit, Michigan. He came to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and worked in the coal
mines as a blaster. He joined the Immanuel Lutheran Church, and his marriage to
my great-grandmother (also an immigrant) was arranged by her family. When I
asked her why she would marry a man she did not pick for herself, she said
“because he was a good man”. Frank was a self-taught fiddle player, and from
what I have been told, he was very good at it. He married my great-grandmother
in 1911, and their first home was an upstairs apartment that they rented from
her uncle. It was next door to the church on Reese St. in Scranton. Four
children were born in Scranton, and Frank developed lung problems caused by coal
dust. In May of 1920, he traded his life as a coal miner for the farming life.
They bought a farm in South Gibson, Pa., and four more children were born
there. I was 3 ½ when he passed away from colon cancer on March 26, 1960. I remember
that he carried chicklets in his front pocket, and that I loved to wait until
he was napping, when I would try to sneak those chicklets out of his pocket. He
always caught me, and I remember laughter and hugs. His funeral was held at the
home of his oldest son, and I have been told that when they lifted me up to see
him in the casket that I whispered “Oh, he’s sleeping”. Sleep well, Frank. You
left a wonderful legacy and your family misses you dearly.
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