The Kingdom of Galicia

Beginning in the 1880s, a mass emigration of the Galician peasantry occurred. Caused by the backward economic condition of Galicia where rural poverty was widespread, the emigration began in the western, Polish populated part of Galicia and quickly shifted east to the Ukrainian inhabited parts. Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, and Germans all participated in this mass movement of countryfolk and villagers. Poles migrated principally to New England and the midwestern states of the United States.

A total of several hundred thousand people were involved in this Great Economic Emigration which grew steadily more intense until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The war put a temporary halt to the emigration which never again reached the same proportions.

Galicia was the easternmost part of Austria and also the economically least developed part of that country. Its level of development was higher than that of European Russia, but well behind Western Europe. In 1873, the Polish economist Stanislaw Szczepanowski described Galicia as one of the poorest regions in Europe. On a more informal level, the poverty was expressed in a Polish nickname for Galicja and Lodomeria: Golicja i Głodomeria, loosely translated as Naked- and Hunger-Land. In 1888 the average income per capita did not exceed 53 Rhine guilders (RG), as compared to 91 RG in the Kingdom of Poland (ruled by Russia), 100 in Hungary and more than 450 RG in England at that time. The taxes in Galicia were relatively high and equalled to 9 Rhine guilders a year (ca. 17% of yearly income), as compared to 5% in Prussia and 10% in England.

No country of the Austrian monarchy had such a varied ethnic mix as Galicia. At the turn of the Twentieth Century, Poles constituted 78.7% of the whole population of Western Galicia, Ukrainians 13.2%, Jews 7.6%, Germans 0.3%, and Armenians, Czecks, Slovaks, Hungarians, Roma and others 0.2%.

Religious denominations were fewer, with the Poles being Roman Catholic, the Ruthenians (now mostly calling themselves Ukrainians) belonged to Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, and the Jews belonging to the branch of Orthodox Judaism known as Hasidism.

The average life expectancy was 27 years for men and 28.5 years for women, as compared to 33 and 37 in Bohemia, 39 and 41 in France and 40 and 42 in England. Also the quality of life was much lower. The yearly consumption of meat did not exceed 10 kilograms per capita, as compared to 24 kg in Hungary and 33 in Germany. This was mostly due to much lower average income.

Thus, due to the hunger, cold and ethnic oppressions the Galician peoples were forced to look for refuge in America and elsewhere. With the abolishment of serfdom in 1848, immigration became possible. For travel across the border local authorities issued provisional passes or permits.

The journey to America was long, costly, and tedious. The majority of emigrants came from remote villages. Peasants began their journey with teams of horses or on foot, to get to the nearest railroad station. In the case of Athanasius, he may have boarded the train at Chabowka, which had rail service since 1884. Zakopane did not get a rail line until 1899, long after he left.

In the 1890s there were many instances of people using rafters’ passports to travel up the nearby Wisła (or Vistula) River all the way through Poland, passing through Krakow, Warsaw, Toruń, and Gdańsk, where it emptys into the Baltic Sea. From there the traveler would head for Hamburg for ships passage to America or elsewhere.

As the extent of emigration increased, the regulations were changed to discourage removal. In the case of men of military age, immigration was outright banned.

In Galicia raids were usually conducted most often at railroad stations. Agents posted there observed the travelers, and if there was even the slightest suspicion of illegal emigration they seized the persons suspected and turned them over to police commissioners. Their documents legality were thoroughly checked, as well as their financial means and their status in regard to military service.

Toward the end of the 19th century, when the wave of emigration reached its greatest height, the partitioning powers introduced more and more restrictions—but the number of emigration permits issued differed more and more from the actual state of affairs. In the years 1886-1890 the Prussian border was closed to emigrants from Russia and Galicia. Issuing passports was limited to a minimum.

In mid-1893 the Galician governor’s office issued a circular, instructing officials to use all legal and moral means to keep people from emigrating without good cause. The campaign included clergymen, teachers, and military policemen. In the years between 1870 and1890 even the newspaper Gazeta Lwowska printed articles that were intended to discourage emigration, giving false information on numerous ship sinkings and other catastrophes on the ocean. The authorities even confiscated letters from abroad, which touted the New World lands of milk and honey.

Dziubinski Info

Brother Tom provided a photograph and some newspaper clippings to me the other day which offered new (to me) information about the Dziubinski's. The photograph is of Emil Dziubinski in 1931 with his Holdingford High School classmates. (I have the full picture, with names, available to those interested.) Emil was Irene's older brother who died in the October, 1931 car accident in Wisconsin. In that same accident, Irene's mother Anastasia (or Nettie, as she was affectionately known), was also killed and sister Helen lost her leg.

In one of the other clippings Tom discovered is the obituary for Irene's father Athanasius. It says that he was "born in Nowysak, Poland" and "grew up and attended school in Zakopony, Poland". Nowy Sacz is both a town and county in southern Poland, very near the border of present-day Slovakia. Further southwest is Zakopane, also a village in Nawy Sacz county, sitting almost on top of the border.

In the 19th century, Zakopane was the largest center for metallurgy in Galicia — and later with that of tourism. It grew greatly over the 19th century, as more and more people were attracted by its salubrious climate, and soon developed from a small village into a climatic health resort with 3,000 inhabitants in 1889, eight years before Athanasius immigrated to America.

I wonder why Anthansius, situated in a apparently prosperous if not down-right booming town, would decide to head off to America. The obituary notes that in addition to being a farmer, he was also a cabinet maker. As a 23-year-old with such a marketable skill, I am trying to imagine what influences pressured him to leave Poland.



Just prior to his birth in 1874, Galicia, as this area of southern Poland was called, was de facto an autonomous province of Austria-Hungary, with Polish and, to a much lesser degree, Ukrainian or Ruthenian, as official languages. The area had been racked by the Austro-Prussian War, peasant insurrections, political revolutions and military actions in response. Galicia was now subject to internal arguments between Vienna and the Poles in the west and the Ruthenians and Ukrainians in the east.

I had always assumed Athanasius has immigrated to America to get away from the ongoing military situation. And while that may have been a part of his decision, it was the economic situation of Galicia that was most likely the main impetus for such a drastic removal. I will discuss the economics in the next posting.

Real Photographs

For the last few weeks I've been scanning 'real photograph' postcards (RPPC) that I bought this past summer. These were most popular around 1905 to 1920, during the height of the postcard craze. As these views were not mass produced, some being one-off's and at most maybe 100-200 copies printed, they are usually quite sought after. Compared to the mass produced lithographically printed commercial cards, they are usually pictures of unusual events or places.

I have dozens of family snapshots, which sadly have NO identifying names or locales. I know that if I could put a name to these folks, they would be extremely desirable to present day family historians.

So my request to you is to pencil names and dates on the backs of your photographs, so your relatives, after you're gone, can put a name to that photo of the weird looking guy or gal in the family album.

A series of (I think) four of these small, postage stamp sized stickers were issued, possibly, in the early part of the last century. When did this form of bathing attire become passe'? Certainly by the Roaring Twenties.

They were issued by the Clarke & Courts printing firm of Galveston, where some of the Gruetzmacher's worked after the 1900 Storm wiped out the family printing business.

The original Kentucky State Penitentiary was built in Frankfort in 1798. In 1912 the remaining structure in Frankfort was renamed the Kentucky State Reformatory.

The original cell house in Frankfort contained 648 single-occupancy cells measuring only 7 x 3.10 x 7 feet (2.1 m) on six tiers. In the 1870s, a second cell house was built. This cell house contained 408 cells that were slightly larger than those in the original cell house, measuring 7 x 4.10 x 7 feet (2.1 m). These larger rooms contained a double-deck bunk for two inmates. None of the cells had plumbing.

The prison in Frankfort housed a small population of female inmates. They lived alongside the prison in a separate cell house.Inmates at the Kentucky State Reformatory labored in workshops during the day. The Reformatory had contracts with the Frankfort Chair Company and other companies.

Ephraim Thomas Lillard (23 Jun 1847 Kentucky - 6 Apr 1921 Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois) was warden at Frankfort Reformatory (Kentucky State Pen.). A native of Jessamine Co., KY, he enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 15, serving in the 5th KY Cavalry. He was with General Robert E. Lee at the surrender at Appomattox. Ephraim represented Jessamine Co. in the KY legislature.

His daughter Lucille Lee Lillard (23 Oct 1878 Kentucky - 6 Dec 1954 Chicago, Cooke Co., Illinois) married Joseph Robinson Newton.

What especially interests me about the Lillard's is that the name 'Newton' is used several times for the childrens given name. I suspect that a Lillard married a Newton back in ol' Virginy... but which Newton?

Joseph Robinson Newton (24-Dec 1878 KY - 6 Oct 1948, Martinsville, Morgan Co., IN) was the son of Charles Newton. Joseph married Lucille Lillard, and had three children, the third being mentioned below, Joseph Robinson Newton, Jr.

Big Contract for Ford & Johnson Co.

The Ford & Johnson Company which is closely identified with Frankfort and which has a large plant here has just secured the contract forsupplying the furniture for the new Senate office building in Washington. The contract will amount to about $100000 and will be awarded next week to the Ford & Johnson Company. The bids were opened in Washington on Wednesday and the company was the lowest bidder of the many who entered the competition.

All the furniture which will be used will be of solid mahogany and the tables desks and chairs will all be of the handsomest. The desks will cost about $250 each and each Senator will have a settee ten feet long, handsomely finished and luxurious. The Senate office building will contain a suite of three rooms for each Senator. This will include a bathroom and the furnishings will be elaborate and expensive designs which they submitted to the committee in charge of the letting of the contracts.

The Ford Johnson Company is preparing to bid on the furniture for Kentucky's new capitol, the contract for which will amount to about $100,000. It is probable that the company will submit designs for furniture as they did at Washington so that the Capitol Commission can tell how to estimate the cost and the kind of furniture which is wanted.

Joseph R. Newton who was a resident of Frankfort but who is now sales manager for the Ford & Johnson Company with headquarters at Chicago, was here Friday in the interests of the company, and also to see his new son who is just three days old. Mr Newton said his company had won the big contract in fair competition and was ready to bid on the furniture for the cajitol here. He returned to Chicago Friday night.

--Frankfort Weekly News, July 11, 1908.

A Brief History of Ford & Johnson, by Greg Newton

Ford & Johnson Company was originally established in the late 19th century by John Sherlock Ford (16 Sep 1831 Burton, Geauga Co., Ohio - ), the son of Stephen and Eunice Ford. He graduated from Burton Academy at age 16, and married Sarah M. Starrett, of Columbus, Ohio, on 16 Sep 1866. He clerked for D. T. Woodbury & Co., wholesale dealers in general merchandise at Columbus, until 1856. He worked with the firm of Brotherlin, Halm & Co., furniture manufacturers, from 1856 until the dissolution of that firm in 1863. He was partners in the firm of Ford, Stage & Co. until the death of Mr. Stage in 1865, when he purchased his partner's interest and continued alone, organizing the business as a stock company and afterward sold it out, retaining the chair department.

In 1867 Ford formed a partnership with Henry W. Johnson as Ford & Johnson Co., manufacturers and jobbers of chairs, at Columbus, Ohio. In 1868 the firm moved to Michigan City, Indiana as Ford, Johnson & Co. In 1872 the company established the Chicago base as J. S. Ford, Johnson & Co., manufacturers of chairs and settees. In June of 1900, the Michigan City factories and the Chicago business was placed in a corporation under the name of J. S Ford, Johnson & Co. (The Book of Chicagoans by John W. Leonard. 1905. page 211.)

Major Henry W. Johnson (1834 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - ), the son of James E. and Emily B. Johnson. James Johnson, in early life, learned the trade of carpenter. For several years he was in the contracting and building business at Philadelphia, until his partner absconded with all the capital of the firm. He then returned to Ohio and took the management of the farm which he inherited, and later continued in business as a contractor and builder.

Henry Johnson attended Hiram College in Ohio, taught school for some six years, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the Forty-First Ohio Infantry in 1861. He was brevetted major of volunteers by the United States War Department "for meritorious services in the Union Army." After the war Major Johnson engaged in the business of manufacturing furniture at Columbus, Ohio, and joined up with J. S. Ford in 1867 at Michigan City. Mr. Johnson for many years was vice president.

Henry Johnson's son, William Ford Johnson (b. 1869), was Secretary, Treasurer and Chicago Manager of J. S. Ford, Johnson & Co., chair manufacturers.

Their furniture was sold across the country, with one reference of a furniture store as far away as Seattle carrying their product. They were what is now known as a "second tier" or generic manufacturer of mission furniture, patterning some of their designs after Stickley furniture.
The company had a large factory in Michigan City, Indiana, with the showroom and warehouse on Wabash Ave in Chicago, IL. They were among the exhibitors at the International Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900. The company was a member of the Business League of America in 1905.

Their enormous physical plant in Michigan City, at Chicago Street near Park Row, was composed of Factory A, a three-story building, 947 x 60 feet wide, not including the boiler and engine rooms, and divided into five sections by four fire walls; Factory B, a one-story building with a clerestory arrangement for good lighting, 475 by 75 feet not including the boiler and engine rooms; and Factory C, a three-story building, 450 x 60 feet.

The Michigan City factory started with a force of 150 men, and later had over 500 employees with an annual payroll of over $1 million. Local residents who worked in the factory were given gifts when they married and at the birth of each child. There was a provision made for the payment of an insurance benefit upon the death of the head of the family, and in addition to all this a bonus at Christmas — all showing the interest of the company in its employees from the “cradle to the grave.”

One of the factory buildings was located within the Indiana State Prison, where the Ford & Johnson Company were allotted 100 prison laborers to work in the chair industry. Although prison labor was declared illegal in 1904, the previous contracts were apparently grandfathered in, as there were still convicts working as late as 1916, when S. Karpen took over.

In July of 1908, Ford & Johnson announced that they had secured the contract for supplying the furniture for the new Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. The contract was for about $100,000 and was awarded to the low bidder in the competiton.

"All the furniture which will be used will be of solid mahogany and the tables desks and chairs will all be of the handsomest. The desks will cost about $250 each and each Senator will have a settee ten feet long, handsomely finished and luxurious. The Senate office building will contain a suite of three rooms for each Senator. This will include a bathroom and the furnishings will be elaborate and expensive designs which they submitted to the committee in charge of the letting of the contracts. (Frankfort Weekly News, July 11, 1908)

But it appears they were premature in their announcement, and the contract was awarded to S. Karpen and Brothers.

"Samples were also submitted from Ford and Johnson Company of Chicago. The head draftsman of the Senate and House Office buildings, Oscar Wenderoth, reported that Elliott Woods was “immensely impressed with the furniture made by Mr. Wadelton and is quite enthusiastic over it.”

"After the bids were open, Brainard was asked to submit a report of the Architect of the Capitol analyzing the prices and quality of the work of the various manufactures. Although S. Karpen and Brothers (Subcontractor to George W. Cobb) of Chicago, was the lowest bidder, Brainard felt the work was of less skillful design and execution and recommended that the work be done by one of the “more expensive people.”5 Unfortunately, his report arrived too late and Architect of the Capitol Woods had awarded the contract to George W. Cobb, who had bid $61,715.70 for the 2105 pieces; T.D. Wadelton had bid $118,755.00. S. Karpen had wanted the contract so badly that they had proposed to make a sample of each piece and guaranteed by a special bond that the other pieces would be of equal quality. If not, they would pay for the government to have quality articles made by another company." (Architect of the Capitol. Art & Reference Subject Files. Russell Senate Office Building. Group record #40; Series #40.3 Reel 21. 1908.)

"The Ford Johnson Company is preparing to bid on the furniture for Kentucky's new capitol, the contract for which will amount to about $100,000. It is probable that the company will submit designs for furniture as they did at Washington so that the Capitol Commission can tell how to estimate the cost and the kind of furniture which is wanted." (Frankfort Weekly News, July 11, 1908)

Joseph Robinson Newton (24 Dec 1878, Frankfort, Franklin Co., Kentucky - 6 Oct 1948, Martinsville, Morgan Co., Indiana), previously a resident of Frankfort, Kentucky with the Frankfort Chair Company. In 1908, he was then living in Chicago, and was the sales manager for the Ford & Johnson Company with headquarters there.

In September of 1908, at the annual company meeting, George B. Cox was elected President, and Col. A. D. Martin of Frankfort, Kentucky was elected 2nd Vice President. By this time, Ford & Johnson was one of the two largest chair manufacturing companies in the United States, and had factories, warehouses and salesrooms in New York City, Chicago, Michigan City, Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Georgia, Frankfort and Louisville, Kentucky, Helena, Arkansas, and High Point, North Carolina. The administrative offices for the company were moved from Chicago to Cincinnati. Ford & Johnson moved into the Kruse-Bahlmann Building, leasing four floors on the eastern side of the building. The building came with railroad switching facilities. In addition to chairs, the company expanded to manufacturing interior woodwork and office furniture, and outfitting office buildings and hotels with everything pertaining to interior woodwork in seating. (Frankfort Weekly News, Sept., 1908)

In Frankfort, Ford & Johnson's mill was on the southside of town. The sawmill and chair factory was at the corner of Fourth and Fowler, with the west and southwest sides along the Kentucky River.

The company sold in a bankruptcy sale to Midland Chair & Seating Company in 1913. It's fortunes declined further under Midland management, and in 1916 the company and plant were sold to S. Karpen & Bros. for the winning bid of $88,549. In January 1933, it was announced that S. Karpen & Bros. would be closing the plant.

Joseph Hughes Newton (26 April 1905, Kentucky -15 March 1984, Glen Ellyn, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois) was the son of Charles Newton and Mildred Hughes. I have no biography on this Newton cousin, other than what I have recently found on the internet.

Tullus is the fictional hero of an American comic strip that was created by Joseph Hughes Newton. It began December 26, 1943, appearing in three David C. Cook's Sunday School papers What to Do, Boys' World and Girls' Companion, all three subsequently being merged into Sunday PIX. Other artists later contributed to the strip.

Tullus was about a young Roman Christian in the first century, and had many adventures throughout the ancient world, visiting Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.

Six collections of the Tullus comics have been made into paperback books:

• Tullus and the Monsters of the Deep
• Tullus and the Dark City
• Tullus and the Ransom Gold
• Tullus and the Vandals of the North
• Tullus in the Deadly Whirlpool
• Tullus and the Kidnapped Prince