Family History Page 8

My Grandfather's 1920 Czechoslovakian passport (above) and identity card for travel inside the country (left). The passport, issued by the newly formed Republic of Czechoslovakia to Paktorovič Salamon on 20 July 1920, is readable in three different languages, Czech, French, and German. The revenue ("kolek") stamp affixed at the top of the cover side is a typical Czechoslovakian three crown ("3 koruny") government issue of the time. Hungarian, needless to say, is no longer the official language of the Subcarpathian region, but the franking stamps all carry Cyrillic text in the outer circumference, a concession to the overwhelming ethnic Rus' presence in the district then called Podkarpatské Rusi. In addition to generally permitting travel through Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, and America (ne - mecké - švýcarské - francouszké - Hollandska - Ameriky), the picture side bears a visa stamp issued by the US Consulate in Prague permitting travel to the United States of America between 16 August 1920, the date of issue, and 15 October 1920. A second visa stamp dated 18 August 1920 gave him permission to go from Czechoslovakia to Belgium through Germany, allowing a maximum of 4 days for travel between 18 and 27 August. A third stamp obtained from the Belgian legation in Prague on 18 August 1920 permitted him to go through Belgium on his way to America without stopping ("Bon pour se rendre en Amérique en transit par Belgique sans arrêt"). In the first column under his name, his profession is described simply as "soukromník" (a private person or small property owner); his date of birth is given as 1887; his current home city as Užhorod (the Czech/Slovak name for Ungvár), in the district of Užhorod; and his birthplace as Ketergény, also in the district of Užhorod. Below that he is described as being tall(er) in stature ("Postava: vyšší"); having dark hair ("Vlasy: tmavé"); symmetric or regular (?) mouth ("Ústa: soum."); oval face ("Oblicej: oválný"); ? beard ("Vousy: ? ); grey eyes ("Oci: sivé"); symmetric or straight (?) nose ("Nos: soum."); bearded chin ("Brada: zarostlá"); and no distinguishing marks ("Zvláštní znameni: ~").

I could write a book about my grandfather (and perhaps will some day). For the moment, I'll just say that he left Ungvár (by that time called by its Czech/Slovak name, Užhorod) for the US in late 1920, as his Czechoslovakian passport and travel "identity" clearly document. Unlike his brothers, there's no Ellis Island record for his immigration, as he seemed to have had enough resources to travel above steerage class. His passport gives his profession as "soukromník" (private person or small property owner), while his identity card reads "Paktorovics Salamon, obchodník," the latter a Czech term denoting, variously, businessman, dealer, trader, merchant, shop owner, etc. Apparently, for a while after his immigration, he owned a "Beauty Parlor and Bobbing Shop" in Roxbury, MA, a section of Boston heavily settled by Central European Jews during the early part of the 20th century (see below). Whether he was "successful" with this business or any other occupation around this time isn't clear to me; in any case, he had a resource not available to his siblings, namely his wife's adoptive father, Elek Grünberger, who really was a successful leather merchant and property owner, and could have afforded to help his son-in-law and his family get a good start in life, perhaps with due consideration of his wartime military service. Nevertheless, my grandfather's wife and first four children didn't arrive in the US until nearly 4 years after him, in late November 1924 (their journey out of Eastern Czechoslovakia is documented on Family History Page 8). Such was often the case with immigrant families, but it does seem to indicate that he hadn't exactly made a fortune right away.

Business card printed for my grandfather, now calling himself Mr. S. (for Samuel, adapted from his Hungarian nickname, "Samu") Pactovis some time between 1920 and 1927. I don’t know precisely where my grandfather entered the US, but that he would have gone to the Boston area upon arrival makes sense, since two of his brothers, Daniel and Morris, were already living in the vicinity with their families (see Pages 5 and 6). That this was the case is further evidenced by the business card reproduced above, which I found on the same page as the Dorchester photos; it credits him as the "proprietor" of a “Beauty Parlor and Bobbing Shop” on 345a Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury, the Boston area neighborhood immediately west of Dorchester. My first reaction on seeing the card was, like, WTF, I can’t believe this! This couldn’t be the man I had known—not that there’s anything wrong with the beauty business, but I just couldn’t picture him involved in the activities listed on the card. Facial massage and manicuring? Marcel waving? Had he gone to beauty school on his arrival in the US? Well, I knew he had held a number of different jobs in his life, but I guess the man would have tried just about any profession in his youth. I don't have any evidence that my grandfather's La Fontaine Beauty Parlor was successful; in any case, he soon left it behind and headed for New York, and by 1928 his children were enrolled at P.S. 102 in Elmhurst, Queens. The 1930 US Census record (See Family History Page 11, which will appear in the next release of this website) shows him living with his family (there were 5 children, now, including my Aunt Rosalind, born in 1927) at 93-14 Corona Avenue, in Elmhurst, Queens, NY, and lists his profession as "Conductor, Rail-road ".