August Joseph Krashowitz, Sr. - Grey Sheep

Who is this Man??

Husband of 1st cousin 1x removed

August Joseph KRASHOWITZ, Sr. - a man of mystery.  According to multiple US records, he was born 8 Apr 1873 in the Austrian Empire and came to the United States between 1886 and 1891.  But what town?  How did he meet my cousin?  Why does he spell his surname Krashowitz?

What We Know

Surname

The surname Krashowitz is spelled several different ways mostly depending on the year of the record and the native language of the parish priest.  Krashowitz, Krashowitsch, Krasovitz, Krasovec, Krašovec, Krašovič, Krasovicz.

Initial Impression of Origin

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5885143,14.7424917,12z

My hypothesis of August POI rests solely on a combination of surname spelling and language.  While he married Maria Skender, a divorcee, in Pittsburgh, we know her origins.  Maria was born 27 April 1871 in the Gottscheer town of Oberskrill, house 4.  Oberskirlj was a Gottscheer border hamlet where, at the time, German was the language of education and business, Gottscheerisch the language of home and Slovene the language of necessity.   She is a daughter of equally border families from Gorenji Potok and Banja Loka.  When you notice the Krashowitz surname, you see a bastardized version of German.  Krashowitsch is Gottscheer German spelling.  Krashowitz is hybrid German/Slovene spelling and Krasovec (with differing diacritical marks) is Slovene/Croat (also American without any marks).  I believe cultural association brought them together and common language was part of the mix.  So, if we examine the Krasovec families living in known regions of the Austrian Empire sharing a common language and surname spelling, we come down to the Kolpa River Valley.  Specifically border Gottscheer area between Loški Potok, Suchen parishes, and Oberskrilj parish. 

Basic Biography

When August (AKA A.J.) was 22, he married Maria SKENDER, daughter of Joseph SKENDER and Anna KRKOVIČ, on 03 Oct 1895 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA.  His passenger list is yet to be digitized easily online, but an index I need to order, combined with the immigration date on his various census records indicate this is true, however, the record is unlikely to document his town of origin because of its age.

Sometime between 1895 and 1898, the young couple moved to Indianapolis, IN where their firstborn, August Joseph KRASHOWITZ, Jr. was born on 16 Feb 1898.  Not much is known about this time in their lives, but by the time their second child Edna was born in April 1899, they were back in Pittsburgh PA.

I wonder what was going on in August's life as he moved frequently in his early married years.  Determined by the birth locations of his children he lived in the following locations between 1895 and 1908 when he mostly settled in Richwood, Nicholas, West Virginia.  1.  1895 Pittsburgh (marriage)  2.  1898 Indianapolis.  3. 1899 Pittsburgh  4. 1900 Richwood.  5. 1902  Pittsburgh.  6. 1908 Richwood.

In 1902, August was living in Lawrenceville, a working-class suburb of Pittsburgh.  He was very involved with the local Catholic church and started a choral social group which I infer he enjoyed.  However, upon the great success of the group, the dues charged became a point of dispute between the host church and the choir.  The priest moved to collect the dues into the coffer and August moved to keep the dues within the choir group.  Lawsuits ensued and in the process, August was caught up in the very common practice of "manipulating the dates" for naturalization.  His friend paid him something like $3.60 to testify at his naturalization hearing that he had been in the US 5 years instead of less than 4.  The priest, in either retribution for the financial dispute, or out of honesty because he knew his two parishioners were being legally deceptive, turned them in.  One of the several articles about this incident.  August was charged.

Regardless, AJ stayed in Pittsburgh until at least 1906.  His 6th child Frank was born in 1908 in Ridgewood, WV.  

Between 1908 and his death 25 Nov 1928 in Stonewall, Wayne, WV (likely the hospital location), August stayed in Nicholas/Ridgewood area West Virginia working various jobs, mostly in the merchant/service industries.  During this time, he registered for the WWI draft as a naturalized citizen (which I can't find) and his wife died.  In 1921, August re-married to Della Brock in Nicholas, WV whom I have not researched.  They had no known children.  In the early 1920's, about the time he re-married, either he or his firstborn son also named August Krashowitz was involved in violating the national prohibition act.  One of two articles.

August and Maria had 7 children before her death on 22 Jul 1918.  Several of the children changed their surnames.  August Joseph Jr changed his name to John A. Kennedy.  James Ignaz Krashowitz kept his name, but his children changed their surnames to Parks.  Frank Krashowitz changed his name to Frank Kennedy.  Thereza Krashowitz changed her name also to Thereza Kennedy.  HPFowler53 is the only known descendant researching on Ancestry.com at this time and she is a Parks.  I don't know whether or not Holly has participated in DNA testing.  So far, she is not a match with Ancestry.com. 

Placement in Slo-Cro Family Tree on Ancestry