Coming to Ameryka

by Ed Sawicki

with BJ O'Leary and numerous other members of the Strauss family tree.

ISBN: 979-8-9857846-4-0

Credits

This history of the Strauss family was started in 2023, well over a century after our ancestors came to America (Ameryka in Polish). The idea was kicked around for years but it was finally Betty Jane “BJ” Sawicki who convinced her brother, Ed Sawicki Jr, to do it. BJ and Ed are grandchildren of Kinga Strauss and had grown up knowing all the Strauss aunts.

To help recount the family history, we tapped the memories of the family elders who were alive in 2023:

Virginia Lubowiecki: This granddaughter of Michael and Johanna Strauss, and daughter of Kinga Strauss Lubowiecki, turned 100 years old in December 2023. She's spent hours answering our questions about the family. Sadly, she died two months later.
Phyllis Gozelski Meyer: This granddaughter of Michael and Johanna Strauss, and daughter of Lillian Strauss Gozelski, has also helped with family history. Phyllis passed away on August 25, 2023, two months before her 90-years-old birthday on October 24, 2023.

Others have made significant contributions to this family history.

Joe Cannata's relationship with his branch of the Strauss family tree was a strong motivator for this book. Watch his video soliloquy to see what we mean.

Johanna Marie Gozelski, grandaughter of Johanna Strauss and now married to A. Doug Berwanger, has been extremely helpful with photos, information, and driving Ed Sawicki around upstate New York to see the places where family history occurred.

Edwin “Joe” Gozelski, son of Johanna Strauss, has been helpful in explaining the potato business, and his family's migration from Long Island to upstate New York.

Thanks to Gloria Ann Strauss Croker, her sister Marie, and Stephanie Strauss who contributed family tree information for the descendants of John Johan and Mary Strauss.

Thanks to these people for sharing their Ancestry.com accounts:

Dennis O'Rear—married to Linda Colgan-O'Rear, granddaughter of Hedwig “Hattie” Strauss
Rene North—grandaughter of Lillian Strauss.

A special thanks goes to Joe Cannata, grandchild of Hedwig Strauss. If you know Joe, you know he's a force of nature. His soliloquy at a recent cousins get-together at his home in Leavenworth, Washington helped us decide to continue with this book at a time when enthusiam for it was running low.

Betty Jane “BJ” Sawicki O'Leary has contributed lots of family photos, information, and has behaved as an editor for the book's content.

Ed Sawicki Jr. is the book's main researcher, editor, and publisher. Ed has published many books in his career. This one is a labor of love.

Technical details

This book was built to be easily readable on most devices like phones, tablets, and computers. The simplest way to achieve this was to build it as a series of web pages, one web page per chapter.

Since many readers are expected to be seniors, we use the Atkinson Hyperlegible^TM font endorsed by the Braille Institute for readers with weak vision. You should have no trouble reading the text regardless of the device screen size you use.

The book has many photos, and some videos, and here screen size is more important. If you're using a phone, you can pinch the display to zoom in on a photo, but using a larger screen device like a tablet is better.