Poljacik family

Ján Poljačik came from Kokava nad Rimavicou of Rimavská Sobota province of western Slovakia in 1920 to work in the marble mines of Rutland County Vermont.  He was newly married to Mária Funtjar and they settled in Pittsford of that county and had 9 children.  It might sound difficult to do Slovakian genealogy but when I approached it about 10 months ago it was quite easy.  Most Slovakian immigrants came from tiny villages and moved to tiny villages in the USA.  All to do the same mining job that they knew so well.  This Kokava nad Rimavicou has about 300 people and his ancestors stayed there for centuries.  I simply followed the data trail back to 1810.  Jan was an evangelical Lutheran and this made my job very easy since there would be only about 10 records per year for that faith in that village.  I went through a century of data in two nights.

The Burke line from Vermont was a bit more work since there were families from Massachusetts, Quebec, and Pennsylvania.  By the end, it makes for a nice family tree.  Nicholas did have a unique story on this quarter of his tree.  His 2nd great grandfather George Townsend married 4 times.  That is no big deal in itself.  His third marriage was to Ella Mae Campbell who already had a daughter so he become a step-father.  No big deal still.  Well in 1928, when he was 45 years old, he ran away with this step-daughter Mildred Mae Kingsland.  She was 14 years old.  They went to Buffalo New York and got married there.  She signed the certificate stating that she was 16 and he signed stating he was 34 – both lies.  He was still married to the girl’s mother.  Goodness what a lurid tale – such that is not found very easily.  I have checked my work many times and am sure of the story.  The rest of the Burke quarter of the family is quite genial.

In the end all lines would meet in Rutland County of Vermont and that is where Nicholas extended family still live to this day.