Fedoronko Family History

John Michael Fedoronko 1889-1976 “Mister Fred”

John Michael Fedoronko was my grandfather and the father of Olga my mother - the Fedoronko side of the Lytwak family. This is an interview of John Michael, done by Edward Sr., my father, in his own words.

I was born January 7, 1889 in the village of Czertez near Sanok, Poland. Czertez is in the southeast part of the country. I was one of eight children born to Michael Fedoronko and Anastasia Fedoronko (maiden name). My maternal grandparents were Nicholas and Mary. My father was an elder in the village and was killed by Hungarian soldiers during WWI in 1915. My brothers and sisters beginning with the eldest were:

Nicholas

Stephen (a priest)

Samuel (died in childhood)

Andrew

Mary

John Michael

Samuel and Anna (twins who died in childhood)

Nicholas was 12 years older than me. He was well to do owning 7 acres.

I left home when I was 16 years old with a neighbor friend, Wasko Zapotoczny. He was seventeen and coming to live with his brother John (Jan) Zapotoczny in Pittsburgh, PA. On the Ellis Island manifest, I said John Zapotoczny was my cousin, but he wasn’t (On the manifest his name was listed as Jan Fedorojnka). I was to look up a man named Charley Latko.

I left Hamburg, Germany, on the ship name Arcadia, on May 16, 1904 and arrived in New York on June 13, 1904. I arrived in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania on June 19 and met up with Charley Latko.

We went to work in New Cumberland, West Virginia at a plant that made bricks for paving streets. I received 75 cents a day but the job only lasted six weeks. We went back to Small Street and 29^th Street in Pittsburgh.

We heard there was work at a coal mine in Mount Braddock, near Connellsville, PA. Charley and I decided to go to the mine. We took a street car as far as it would go and then we walked for two and a half days along the railroad to Connellsville. The car fare was 10 cents. We would eat in bars. Charley would order a drink for 10 cents and we could eat all the free food on the bar.

The first night we slept on the cross ties stacked along the tracks. The next night we slept on newspapers in a coke oven. (A coke oven burned coal to produce coke – used in the steel making process).

The third day we left Connellsville for Mt. Braddock and found the mine was closed. We had no money so I pawned a ring for a dollar and a quarter.

I got a job in Oliver No 3 mine. I worked all night and only loaded two cars with the driver helping. I got a dollar in script (like a voucher to redeem at the company store) and paid Polish woman for my board.

I got a job for a contractor at Angrove when he opened a new mine and started a coke stove. I got one dollar for ten hours. I stayed with a Hungarian family. I worked for six weeks and left because it was going to get cold.

In the spring of 1905, Zapotoczny told me to come to McKees Rocks. I still could not get a job so I took a boat across the river and walked to Ambridge. A woman gave me dinner. No jobs. Went to Allegheny (North Side) and lived on Mulberry Street. We went to McKees Rocks and paid room and board.

I got a job with American Bridge heating rivets. I got another job delivering rivets. I ran a crane. I got cut but did not lose work but still got fired.

I worked at Butler car shop (railroad freight cars) but it was not enough money. I worked at Pittsburgh Bolt Shop for five days and quit because it was not enough money.

Next worked at American Bridge at Ambridge. I worked at Pressed Steel car ship in McKees Rocks until 1917.

Eva Polny, a girl from my village in Poland and I were married October 9, 1909 in Ambridge, PA. Joe was born July 17, 1910, at 96 Ohio Street in McKees Rocks, PA. My wife and son, Joe, returned to her home in Poland in the latter part of 1911. Mike was born April 1, 1912 in Poland during her visit. My wife and our two sons returned to New York on October 28, 1912. Dorothy was born March 6, 1916 at Gardner Street in McKees Rocks.

We moved to Jeannette, PA in 1917. We lived on Lowry and Chambers Avenues while I worked at the Pennsylvania Rubber Company. Jerry was born July 17, 1918 on Chambers Avenue in the home.

We moved to Cranesville, PA, in April 1919. John Seneta, Stephen Leninsky and I decided to buy a farms in the Cranesville area. Our farm was located on the right side of the Crane Road, 1.4 miles from Cranesville, PA. We went together and shipped our furniture in railroad box car.

In October, 1921, we moved back to Jeannette. The John Seneta and Steve Leninsky families stayed on their farms. We lived in Jeannette until 1925 while I worked at the rubber company operating a crane in the press room. I bought a house at 1019 Arlington, Avenue and then later the house on the lower side of the street at 1022. Helen was born December 21, 1921 ant 1019 Arlington Avenue, Jeannette, PA.

We moved to St. Helena in Pender County, North Carolina, in January 1925 on ten acres, which now belongs to Helen. Olga was born December 9, 1925 on this farm. In 1928, I purchased ten acres from Napoleon Perseghin which is where the Fedoronko home was located until recently. I paid $3,150 which included an old house, 300 young chickens and a mule. Six years later I purchased ten acres. In 1933 I purchased 283 acres from Cowan for $400. In 1937 I purchased 182 acres for $1600 and swapped for Dorothy property, 2 acres cleared but not stumps.

I trained mules to open roads, plow and make rows, cultivate and fertilize. We were first to get machines to disc, sweep, and have double planters. We had three cows and four mules. We had an association from the beginning to buy and sell together. They would buy baskets and fertilizer and sell as a group. The association shipped up to 20 railroad cars of beans a day by rail.

Our family was the first in community to have radio, refrigerator and butane gas. The only Russian Orthodox Church in North Carolina was built in St. Helena in 1932. The cost was $3,000.

Eva Polny

Sadly, all the people that knew Eva are now with the ancestors. A few more things. Eva was born August 28, 1890 in Galicia, now Poland. Her father was Jacob Polny and mother Mary. Eva died November 12, 1953 in Burgaw, North Carolina.