Anna Stibrik Tomko
Background
Anna Stibrik was born in the town of Hernadcsany, Hungary on August 22, 1909. (This is the present-day town of Cana, Slovakia, which is just south of the city of Kosice. Kosice is the second largest city in Slovakia after Bratislava.) She arrived at Ellis Island on January 17, 1914 at the age of 4 along with her mother Anna and younger siblings Andrew and Mary. They had departed from the port of Bremen aboard the ship Scharnhorst on January 3, 1914. They were joining her father Andrew Stibrik. He had immigrated about a year and a half earlier and had found employment in the steel mills.
The ethnicity of Anna and her parents was Slovakian. Based on naturalization and census records, Anna grew up living on War Way, which was in the Pittsburgh neighborhood called South Side. South Side was originally part of the village of Birmingham and was annexed by the city of Pittsburgh in 1872. It was at first settled by German immigrants and later became home to a great number of the Eastern Europeans that immigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time frame, South Side was a working-class neighborhood consisting mostly of row homes. Most of the residents were laborers at the nearby steel mills, as was the case with Anna's father, Andrew Stibrik.
In 1927, Anna Stibrik married Paul Tomko. He had immigrated in 1922 and came to Pittsburgh in 1925. The couple started their married life living in the South Side on War Way a couple of houses down the street from her parents. They are enumerated there in 1930 along with their oldest son. They eventually moved to Baldwin township and lived in a single family home on Penn Street. This is where they spent the remainder of their lives.
Paul and Anna had six sons of whom four are still living. Paul passed away in October of 1981. Anna lived almost 14 years longer, passing away on April 22, 1995 at the age of 85.
Ancestors of Anna Stibrik
The first Stibrik ancestor in this line to arrive in America was Andras (aka Andrew) Stibrik, the father of Anna. He was born August 12 (although some records show July 14 or 15), 1881 in Bardejov, Hungary (now in Slovakia) to Andras Stibrik Sr. and Mary E. Szabol. He was married about 1908 to Anna Kuzma. On July 8, 1912, at the age of 30, he departed from Hamburg, Germany to embark on a new life in the United States. He arrived at Ellis Island on July 17, 1912 aboard the ship Cleveland. His traveling companion was Josef Bolok. According to their immigration paperwork, they were both traveling to Pittsburgh PA to join up with their brother-in-law Joseph Blasko. Blasko had immigrated several years before (circa 1905-1906). In March of 1910, he had been joined by his wife Julia Kuzma Blasko and their four year-old daughter Elizabeth. By July of 1912, when Andrew Stibrik and Joseph Bolok came to Pittsburgh, the Blaskos had added two more sons to their family - Andrew and Joseph Jr.
Andrew's wife Anna and their three children followed Andrew to Pittsburgh in 1914. Andrew had departed Austria-Hungary about a month before the birth of his daughter Mary. So the first that Andrew was able to see his then youngest child was when Anna and the children arrived in the United States. It appears that at least for a while, the Stibriks resided with the Blaskos on War Way. Andrew's wife, Anna, was a younger sister to Joseph's wife Julia, and so the families had close personal ties. I have been unable to locate the Stibriks in the 1920 census; however, Andrew's naturalization records, dated September 28, 1922, show the family living at 3123 War Way, which is the residence of the Blaskos. By 1930 the Stibriks are living at 3117 War Way and the Blaskos have moved to Larkspur Street in nearby Munhall.
As mentioned above, Andrew was a laborer in the steel mills. The 1930 census show his job title as railroad car repairman. He became a US citizen in 1922, when he and his older chidlren, who were all born in Austria-Hungary, were naturalized. Andrew died in 1940 at the age 59. He was hit by a car driven by a neighborhood boy and died of the injuries. He is buried in St. Michael's Cemetery in Mount Oliver, Pittsburgh. His grave is on the side of the hill overlooking the Monongahela River and the site of the former Jones Laughlin Steel mills.
Anna Kuzma Stibrik, Andrew's wife, was born February 15, 1892 in Herndcsany, Hungary. Her father was Mihaly Kuzma. About 1908, while still living in Austria-Hungary, she married Andrew Stibrik. In August of 1909 she had their first child, a daughter named Anna. They then had a son Andrew in 1911. Their third child, Mary, was born in 1912 about a month after Andrew (the father) had departed for the U.S. At the time there was much turmoil in Europe and he was no doubt trying to create a better life for his growing family. Unfortunately, this meant that when Anna made the trip about a year and a half later, she was on her own traveling with three small children! Once in Pittsburgh, the Stibriks had three more children: Ellen, Gizella and John.
As shown in her immigration records, Anna was the daughter of Mihaly Kuzma. While all of Anna's siblings have not been identified, it is believed she had an older sister named Julia, an older brother Michael and a younger sister Maria. All four of these siblings would eventually immigrate to the Pittsburgh area. About 1905 Julia married Joseph Blasko and by 1910 Blaskos had emigrated to the US. In all likelihood the Blaskos encourgaged the Stibriks to join them in Pittsburgh, which (as mentioned before) Andrew did in 1911, followed by Anna and the children in 1914.
Also as mentioned before, Anna and Andrew spent much of their married life living in South Side on War Way. In 1940, Andrew died, leaving Anna a widow. Either shortly before or shortly after Andrew's death, Anna would have had to have moved from the house on War Way because sometime between 1940 and the early 1950s that neighborhood was demolished and annexed by the Jones Laughlin Steel Company when they expanded their South Side facility. Anna Kuzma Stibrik died in 1967 at the age of 75. I suspect that until she died she continued to live somewhere in South Side or the vicinity, but I have no specific information. She is buried in St. Michael's Cemetery next to her husband Andrew. She was survived by all six of her chidlren.
Page Last Modified: Tuesday, 07-Aug-2018 18:03:45 MDT