Aunt Steph's Ryder Family Information

My Aunt Stephanie Danowski spent time digging and gathering information on the Ryder family. Her search involved much looking through official records as well as a trip back to Poland. The following is her narrative transcribed word for word. The original typed manuscript contained several errors that Aunt Steph corrected in pen. I’ve made those changes on this document. Last year I posted a piece written by my cousin, Mike, for his daughter honoring our grandmother, Kamila. Much of the information Mike used in his piece can be found in this raw work by Aunt Steph.

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Regarding Kamila Kuczynski

Village of Rutka, Town of Suwalki, Parish of Jeleniewo

State of Bialystok with Filipowa its capital

North eastern part of Poland

After the marriage of Jozefa and Jan Kuczynski, they farmed a small piece of land in Rutka. They were the parents of three children, Frank (Kutz), Joseph (Kutz), and Kamila (Rasciszewski-Ryder), when Jan decided to seek his fortune in America. He worked for the railroad, setting railroad ties for the tracks, while his wife and family worked the farm in Poland by hand (Too poor to have a horse). In the course of his work, Jan had an accident resulting in the loss of some fingers, for which he received a settlement of $200. And with the money, he returned to Poland, but being a non-farmer, he soon went into debt and again left for America leaving Jozefa and her three children to take care of themselves. This time he worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania where he developed lung fever and had to return to Poland-this time in poor health. He lived just two years longer, during which time Stephanie (aunt of the author) was born in April 1900 (16 years after Kamila). When Frank was old enough, he left Poland to work in the steel mills of Massillon [Ohio], sending for his brother to join him in a few years.

This brings us to the story of Kamila. She was born in Rutka on July 21, 1884 and was baptized in the church in Jeleniewo, according to her baptismal certificate obtained by her sister, Stephanie, in 1959. The villages of Rutka and Jeleniewo were destroyed in World War II, but the records were somehow saved.

According to her story, she left Rutka for America in 1904 on the Hamburg-American line, stopping at Liverpool (She did not remember the ship’s name). She was bound for Sag Harbor, since her aunt, Eva (Musnicki) had advanced her $27 for the passage. Among her most prized possessions was the featherbed she had made. This was to serve as her bed on board ship (Steerage Class) and later as a blanket wherever she went.

The ship took 17 days to cross the ocean and upon arriving in New York, she took the wrong train. A stranger finally directed her to the right train, and she was met at Sag Harbor by her uncle, Walter Danielowicz (Daniels) who took her to Aunt Eva’s. When she refused to give up her featherbed, there was an argument, and she went to stay with her Aunt Ludwika Andruskiewicz (Anderson). She found work in the Fahys Watch case Factory at $3 per week, but since she had to pay her aunt $3 for room and board, she looked for new lodging. This she found at Zielinskis’ where she stayed until she was accused of stealing crackers. Fellow workers, Alex Sawicki and Alfons Rasciszewski found her crying in despair, so they took her to the home of the brothers of Alfons; Kazmierz (Charles) and Vincent, where she lived until her marriage to Alfons on December 30, 1906. This took place in St. Casimir’ Polish Church on Greene Avenue in Brooklyn with Rev. Nawrocki performing the ceremony. Vincent and Anthony Wychunas (brother-in-law of Alfons) were witnesses. A reception was held at the home of Julia (Rasciszewski) and Anthony Wychu after which the young couple left for Sag Harbor, where they received a cool greeting. Ursula, Kazmierz ‘s [spelled Cazimir in the original document] wife, would not let Kamila use her stove for cooking-the newly weds ate sandwiches and moved out on their own the next day.

A son, was stillborn and was buried in a newly bought plot in St. Andrew’s Cemetery (Sag Harbor). During the next summer, while the Fahy’s Watch Case Factory was closed for resetting machines, Kamila and Alfons went to Poland (1908) to visit Rutka and Olita. Alfons returned to Sag Harbor to work, but Kamila remained in Poland to help settle the Rasciszewski property and to help her mother and sister prepare to return to America. Their daughter, Helen, was born in Poland and was almost two years old before they started the trip home. Kamila and Helen were bound for Sag Harbor, and Jozefa and Stephanie for Massillon where they were to stay with the families of Frank and Joseph Kutz. At Hamburg, Jozefa was found to have an eye infection and was detained for six weeks, while Kamila and Helen went on. During the ocean trip a measles epidemic broke out among the children and the ship was rerouted to Philadelphia. Helen along with other children were placed in the hospital in isolation. Two weeks later, Kamila was told she could have her child, but when the baby was brought in, it turned out to be a boy, whose mother had left for Chicago the week before, having been told that her baby had already died. Kamila had a hard time convincing the authorities that hers was a little girl, almost two years old. Finally she was told of the error and that her little girl had died and had been buried. She was offered the baby boy, but she refused and went back to Sag Harbor, broken hearted.

Kamila and Alfons lived in several houses in Sag Harbor during the ensuing years; first on Roger Street where Stephanie was born, then on The corner of Atlantic Avenue and Jermain Avenue where Anthony was born, next on the corner of Jermain Avenue and Madison Street (above Korsak’s meat market-It was Soah’s store at the time). Nellie was born there. Finally a home was bought for $1,000 on Atlantic Avenue (Goat Alley). This was paid for in cash saved from taking boarders and cooking meals for factory workers. While living on Atlantic Avenue, Alfons became very sick, first with double pneumonia and then with rheumatism. Kamila went to work as a laundress for the nuns at the Sacred Heart Academy who ran a boarding school for girls. The work was very difficult. The white goods had to be bleached by boiling them in huge vats in the cellar in a lye solution. Then parts of nuns’ habits had to be heavily starched and ironed stiff as boards. In addition to this work, ducks and chickens were raised in the basement level and backyard of the their house. The eggs were exchanged for groceries at Vaughn’s store.

When the school nurse reported that the children were not getting enough milk, Kamila began to look around for a place where she could have a cow and so the North Haven property was bought for $1,500 (cash again) in approximately 1922. The Atlantic Avenue house was sold for $2,000, so there was money for improvements and a cow. Joseph was born on North Haven. Regina and Stanley were born on Atlantic Avenue. When the cow had a calf in the spring, it was raised and kept to provide milk while the older cow was sold at a profit. This procedure was carried out many times with the cows always named Bessie or Baby (in rotation).

The poultry business began in earnest with an incubator in the cellar and a brooder stove in the hen house. During the height of the business, there were two incubators in the cellar with a capacity of 1,200 eggs each. At least two hatches per spring were made, so that upwards of 4,000 chicks were hatched. Frank Krupiniski built the first hen house. Kamila helped him build the second one, and the rest she built with the help of here husband and children. She ran a very profitable business, supplying local stores and families with eggs and chickens. During the spring as many as 600 eggs were picked, cleaned, and packed in crates to ship to market. She had a brisk broiler business in the summer supplying hotels with broilers (her best customer was Mr. McMahon who owned a big hotel in Southampton and ordered up to 100 broilers per Saturday through the summer. The broilers would be caught Friday night and placed in crates. Early Saturday morning, Kamila would start her butchering. She had a little shed with nails banged in at arms length all around the inside. From these nails, she would hang her chickens; then proceed to a slit under the tongue and pierce a nerve near the eye. She would pluck the feathers of each one. The chickens would still be flapping their wings without having a feather on them. She would singe the remaining hair with flaming alcohol and go to split and eviscerate the chickens. Alfons did not like this part of the farming so he continued working at the factory until his eyesight forced him to retire. The poultry business provided money for the education of Stephanie, Anthony, and Nellie. The rest were helped by other means. When Alfons died in 1942, she stepped aside from managing the business, having first Joseph and then Stanley do it, but that did not stop her from doing the work she always liked to do.

Regarding Alfons Rasciszewski

Alfons Rasciszewski was born in July, 1875 in Olita (Alytus), a village on the Nieman River which often served as a boundary between countries. During the Russian-Prussian Alliance, it became a part of Russia. After World War I, it was given to Lithuania. After World War II, it returned to Russia. When Alfons was born, his home was on the Russian side of the river. He was the youngest son of Telka Mikulewicz and Jan Rasciszewski. His older brothers, Vincent and Kazmierz, left for America to avoid serving in the Russian Imperial Army. But Alfons, being the last son, had to remain to serve. He enjoyed army life. For a time, he served as part of the Imperial Guard at Czar Nicholas’ palace. Before that, he was serving with a group crossing Siberia to fight the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War, but the war ended before the group reached there. When Alfons returned to Olita, no one was left of his family. His sister, Tekla, had died and Julia had gone to live in Brooklyn. So his brother, Vincent, sent for him (approx 1900) and got him a job with Fahys Watch Case Factory where he worked for over 35 years.