Walenty: Polish-American Grandfather

     My father's father was christened Walenty Janus in Lublin, Poland, but later as a young adult, his first name was Americanized to William. A challenging aspect about William involved his birthday, which was recorded in several places as February 14. After researching the family and collecting some documents, I found that his birthday was actually June 12, 1893 and that it was common practice in Poland to celebrate the feast day of the saint for whom a person is named, rather than the actual birth date. Walenty is Polish for Valentine, thus the confusion. (and worse, in various US census records for different decades he is listed as Walenty Janus, Valentine Janus, William Janus and William James!)

      I often wonder why William immigrated to America in 1910. Was it to avoid being conscripted into the Russian Army? Or was he searching for his land of milk and honey? All I know for certain is that  for the rest of his life he worked as a finisher in a furniture factory. In 1917, he was drafted to serve in the American Army during World War I and in 1921, at the age of twenty-eight, he married eighteen year old Sophie Hojnacki, also a Polish immigrant.(I have heard that it was an arranged marriage but the source was not reliable). The couple had four children, one of whom died young in an unfortunate accident, and lived the rest of their lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They spoke English but very heavily accented. (During college, my father worked relentlessly to rid himself of any trace of ethnicity in his speech - he did, however teach us children to pray and to cuss in Polish!)

     William died in 1965 at the age of 75 and the only memory I have of him is a frail white-haired man chatting with his brother-in-law on the front porch. I wish I had known him better.