My Great Aunt Anna Lucascik and her mother---Anna Butrynowa Lucascik (born around 1884 in Pinsk Minsk, Poland---or Vilnius ?) When I visited Aunt Anna after my Grandma Mary's funeral, she told me some interesting stories about her Mom coming to America. It was so long ago that I don't swear all my memories of that conversation are true. But I recall her saying her Mom's family were poor peasants and the men were forced into the soviet army, where they were killed. I also remember her saying her Mom was actually too young to come to the USA on her own, so she traveled on her dead sister's birth certificate. When she got to the USA, she was sponsored as a housekeeper. Sometime during that time, she answered a door and was attacked and hit over the head with a hammer---but survived. Whether or not this is all true, I don't really know, but that's what I remember being told.
Grandpa Joseph W Gagznos Jr (B. 4/20/1897 in California; D. 1/23/1952 in New York)
Again, I wish I had asked my Dad more questions about his father. What I do remember him telling me is that his Grandpa Gagznos came to the USA and ran a bar in California. He didn't know how he got to the West coast or if that's where his original port of entry was, but there are census records that back him being there. At some point, he made it to the East coast where Joseph met Mary Dorothy Lucascik (Lukascik---the proper spelling is questionable). I don't remember there being much said about military service for Joseph. I'm not even sure which branch this uniform is for or what he did.
