My grandmother Anna Pereksta emigrated to the United States in 1913 when she was eighteen years old. Almost ten years later she married Stefan Papp (Stephen Popp). You can read about her early life
here.
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| Anna with her husband and first two children |
Once they were married Stefan moved into Mrs. Dunda's boarding house in Binghamton, NY to live with Anna. She stopped working at
Endicott-Johnson and they began their family. Their first child was born in December, 1923. The next year they bought their first home, a small house on Baxter Street. Two more children were born there. Anna stayed home, raising the children, tending her garden and keeping some chickens. Her life revolved around her family and
her church. Binghamton's First Ward, where they lived, was a melting pot of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. Many languages and dialects were spoken in the homes and shops. People worshiped in their own churches, shopped in ethnic grocery stores, and socialized in ethnic social groups. With her sisters living nearby and her church only a few blocks away Anna was settled deep in an American immigrant community. Her parents, living in Príslop, both died in the 1930s. Half the Pereksta children settled in the United States; half had remained in Europe. In 1934 Anna became a citizen of the United States.
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| Citizenship certificate, 1934 |
Anna was a small woman, physically fragile, but with a strong will and work ethic. She was usually the disciplinarian, with little patience for backtalk or dawdling. In 1935 she had her first heart attack, forcing her older children to shoulder much of the housework during her year of recuperation. Even so, care was taken that the children would not be injured cooking meals. They would prepare food to be cooked, but a neighbor would come in the evening to light the stove or their father would cook once he got home. Anna continued to have heart problems for the remainder of her life, suffering multiple heart attacks over the years. She retained her will and work ethic.
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| Anna and her family c. 1946 |
About 1941 she and her husband bought a duplex on Cleveland Avenue. They lived in the north side of the house and rented out the south side. There was a large yard where she established her gardens. Anna did
superb crocheting and needlework, decorating their home and sewing and maintaining the vestments at St. Michael's. She sewed her children's clothes until they insisted on store bought rather than home made clothes. In 1942, with her children growing up and feeling at loose ends, she briefly returned to work at EJs but stopped when her husband, fearing for her health, objected. Their oldest son went off to war but blessedly survived unharmed. Their daughter and younger son grew up and finished their schooling. When the younger son was accepted into college Anna gave him a small cache of money she'd saved to help him on his way and even did the laundry he mailed home so he'd not have to spend money on laundromats.
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| Family Dinner in the early 1950s |
In 1948 her husband Stefan died suddenly while working - still a leather cutter at EJs. Her brother died the same year. Anna was 53 years old. She never remarried but remained in the house on Cleveland Avenue living much as she had before - devoted to her family, her church and her friends. Her daughter and son-in-law lived with her until 1956 when they bought their own home several blocks away. They saw her almost every day, first helping her maintain the house and garden, then caring for it and her as her health failed. Her sisters both died in the 1960s. Anna traveled twice to the west coast to visit her son and grandchildren - the flights a dramatic change from her journey across the ocean aboard the
Amerika.
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| Reunion in 1977 |
Anna and her daughter had stayed in touch with her family in Europe, writing letters and sending packages back and forth. In 1977, sixty-four years after she left Príslop, she was able to meet the son of her younger sister Nacia who had remained in Europe. Her nephew and his wife came to the United States from Czechoslovakia to visit, though they were not allowed to bring their children. Her children and grandchildren had integrated into American life just as her nieces and nephews in Europe adapted to life under Soviet domination. In the picture Anna is standing on the left and her nephew from Europe and his wife are standing on the right.
Anna died of heart failure on 19 October 1982. She'd said she would never die in the winter. In the mountains where she grew up, and the Southern Tier of New York where she lived most of her life, a family might wait months for the ground to thaw before they could bury their dead. She was buried next to her husband in St. Michael's Cemetery on a hill overlooking her church and Binghamton.
You can read some final memories and thoughts about Anna
here.
