"Ancestrees"

(John) Joseph DUDICK ^{1 2 3 4 5}

   Other names for (John) were George Joseph DUDICK and John Joseph DUDICK.

  General Notes:

The 1900 U.S. Census for Pennsylvania states that Joseph Dudick came to America in 1888. According to memories from George Dudick of New York, George Joseph or John Joseph immigrated through Prague, Austria-Hungary. He probably came between Aug. and Dec. 1888, as his wife had their first child either May 7 or July 5, 1889 back in Hungary. (The birth date is listed as May 7, 1889 in Mary's social security number application and July 5, 1889 in her death certificate.) Joseph sent for his wife and daughter Mary in 1891 again also according to the 1900 census. (D-50, 81) No ship's list with their names on it have been able to verify these dates. They definitely did not come through Philadelphia. The closest matches I've found that could be our Joseph's record is for 1) A Josef Dudek, age 21, from Hungary, arriving in New York on Feb. 19, 1887, departing from the Port of Bremen, Germany, on the Trave (D-223) or 2) a Jan Duduk, who was from Austria. He was age 20, arriving in May 24, 1887 on the Elbe from the port of Breman. (D-224) Neither of these records listed the town they came from. Although I've only found records for him in this country named Joseph, the family tradition was that his full name was John Joseph. Jan would have been the spelling of his first name in this case. Ellis Island emigration did not start till 1892. In that year, on Feb 17, 1892, a Josef Dudik whose residence was Vienna, Hungary, arrived at Ellis Island on the ship Waesland disembarking from Waesland, Antwerp, Belgium. He was 26 years old and married. On Mar 18, 1892, a 26 year old Janos Dudick who was married and from Hungary, came on the ship, Rhynland from Antwerp, Belgium. In either of these records he is of the right age and right country to be him at the time. It would likely indicate a return trip in which the daughter and wife were visited and convinced to come to America. If either of these persons are him, his son John Joseph Dudick's birth year is probably incorrect. His birth certificate has never been found to verify it, and though he thought he was born in Pennsylvania, his son remembers him saying he thought he might have been born in Germany instead. At a great stretch, he might be the following: "On Jun 14, 1893 a Josef Dudek arrived in New York from the port of Breman on the Stuttgart. He was from Austria. His age at arrival is 9 months." (D-200, 201, 225)

By the year 1901, all of Joseph and Mary's children had been born. Their birth dates are usually incorrect in the public birth records as per interviews with these family members. The doctor apparently submitted many of their children's birth dates and even names incorrectly.

Joseph is listed as a laborer in 1899 when their son George Joseph was born. They lived at the Hill (Hall) St. Extension in Johnsonburg at the time. In the newspaper obituary for this George Joseph it lists his parents as George and Mary Wolfe Dudick. (D-50, D-109) In 1900, they owned a house free and clear on Clarion Junction, Johnsonburg, PA according to the 1900 census. Joseph could not read nor write, but could speak English. His wife could not read, write nor speak English. He is listed as an alien (not a naturalized citizen). Wife, Marie and daughter, Marie were both listed as naturalized, although one of these facts is likely incorrect as citizenship came with the prerequisite of speaking English. They lived at Indian Run when their daughter, Julia was born in 1901. (D-56) I was not able to find one of our Dudick's in the 1910 or 1920 census. (F-246a)

I did discover one interesting pattern in the 1920 census. It was the first census in which I found many Dudick's with the same spelling as ours. There were 4 heads of households named Joseph Dudick and about 5 named John Dudick living in Pennsylvania. All Dudick spellings were from Austria-Hungary or Slovakland. People with the spelling Dudek were all from Poland.

Joseph died in 1906 according to Mary's second marriage application. No death certificate is held in Elk or McKean counties or by the state of Pennsylvania for Joseph Dudick. (F-246a) George Dudick of New York believed that Joseph worked on the railroad and died in an accident on the railway. (D-45)

His wife did not have the funds to keep the family together after his death. Mary went to work in a boarding house. The boys, John Joseph and Joe Dudick were sent to Father Baker's home for boys in Buffalo, N.Y. Joe Dudick was adopted for a while by a German family who thought he was German. When they found out he wasn't, they neglected him and he ran away, back to St. Mary's Orphanage. The girls, were sent to a girls home in Erie, PA, except for Mary--who was 14. She ran away to Bradford and worked at the hospital.

When the elder Mary was able, she returned for her children. To her great grief, her youngest daughter, Julia, had been adopted out. She and her other children spent years searching for Julia. Julia had been taken from the orphanage in Erie by the chief of the Erie fire department. She wasn't actually adopted by him, but he had enough influence to keep her original mother from knowing her whereabouts. Julia wanted to find her family desperately too. She skipped school at age 12 or 13 and went to the orphanage to try and find her brothers and sisters. She was simply told they were no longer there. She then ran away at age 14 and married Harry Dimick. This marriage ended in divorce and she moved to California. Julia eventually found her original family with the help of a priest at St. Agnes in Los Angeles, California in 1932 or 1933. Although the reunion was very special to all of them, her mother had sadly passed away by then. Julia's name had been changed to Marion Gertrude by her care-taker family. In 1940, Julia met and married Clarence Olmstead. He operated a poultry market. They later purchased and operated a liquor store. She retired in the early 70's and died of a stroke in 1977.

Mary Dudick, wife of Joseph Dudick, met Mike Cesario in Mt. Alton, PA after her husband's death. He was a foreman for the railroad. She had two more children by him, Josephine and Tony Cesario. They married in 1922. Mary had a sister, Veronica?, (who married John or Michael Parilla) and at least one brother, Mike Wolfe and his son John, living in Johnsonburg, PA (D-45). She visited her sister in Johnsonburg, PA for all or most of her own children's births. She had other relatives or friends that she also visited in New York State.

She seems to have had a very hard life, according to her son, Tony Cesario. She had a religious nature, did like to read from the bible, but was not accepted in the Catholic Church. Her granddaughter, Dorothy, remembers her as small and delicate in frame. Her oldest daughter looked just like her, but was tall. (D-116) She owned two older homes in Mt. Jewett at the time of her death. Since there was no will, one was given to Tony Cesario and one to Josephine. They tore them down and got trailers which were still standing on the same property in 1981.

The known residences for our Joseph and Mary Dudick in America were: 1900: Joseph & Mary Dudick & family at Clarion Junction, Johnsonburg, PA; 1912: Mary Dudick and Mike Cesario lived in Backus, PA (D-21); 1919: Mary lived on Dayton St. in Mt. Jewett (D-21); Dec. 1919: Mary lived in Kushequa, PA (D-24); May 18, 1920: Mary lived in Kushequa, PA (D-28); 1929: Mary lived in Mt. Jewett. (D-33).

They also were known to have lived in Salamanca, PA; Mt. Alton, PA; and Custer City, Pennsylvania

The Coat of Arms for Dudick is in "Siebmacher's Wappenbuch". The shield is blue with a white left-diagonal stripe with three red roses in it. Above that is a knight's helmet and a Crest of a black eagle. There is no recorded motto. The surname, Dudick, is believed to have originated in Germany. The surname in German means "one who was a simple man." (D-155)

My husband's grandfather thought that his family was originally from Germany. Our branch had moved to Slovakia because they were remembered as speaking Slavic from the old country. That could mean the Slovak language from the state of Slovakia or Czech from the state of Bohemia, or Rusyn from the Slovakian region called Ruthenia or even Polish from Poland. These languages are similar and derive from common Slovak root. (E) A correspondent who could be our relation is a Michael Dudick from Leetonia, Ohio. He says the name was spelled Dudik and that the Dudicks originally lived in Germany. The last town they lived in in Germany was Myjava. It became a town in Austria Hungary which is in the northwestern part of Slovakia now. His branch of the family moved out from there to eastern Slovakia (then Austria) in Pozdisovice, Kosice, and Sobrance. (D-153) His family came from four brothers named Andrew (Andrej), John (Janos) (prob. born in 1860s), Michael (Michal) and George (Juraj) who was a twin to John or Michael. John married Anna Danko in Europe. (D-178) He came back and forth to America several times. His children and wife eventually came and stayed. John died here in the states at an unknown time. Anna, his wife, died in NJ in 1949. John's brother, Andrew came over with his son Andrew. The son stayed and Andrew returned to buy property near the Russian border. (C-161,162) If our Joseph's name was George Joseph, he could be the George who was a twin and brother to this John, Andrew and Michael. Another Dudick descendant, Bill Cullen, of an unknown branch whose ancestor was Thomas Dudyk arrived in New York in 1909 and was from Duikowice, Austria. His father's name was Lois.

The spelling of the name Dudick is a misspelling. In Slovak, the ck combination never comes without a y after it. Michael's branch is spelled Dudik and is pronounced like Dudick. It could also be spelled DUDEK which is the name of a bird. If it was spelled DUDAK, it means piper as in bag pipe player. The spelling Dudek is most prevalent in Bohemia. Dudek is also the spelling that George Joseph Dudick, Jr. remembers his father telling him was the original spelling of the name. However, the Roman Catholice baptismal records that spell it differently than Dudick, spelled it Dudik like in Michael's branch of the family. The females of each family would have had the surname Dudikova or Dudekova.... Joseph's first name would have been spelled Jozef or Josko with a symbol over the o. If his first name was George, it would have been spelled Juraj and pronounced Yuree. If it had been John it would have been spelled Jan. (D-45,97)

The common spellings of the name in the New York Ships passenger lists were DUDECK, DUDIC, DUDIK, and DUDIKS.

I've collected a bunch of facts that could give leads to Joseph's ancestry. I'll list them here in case any of these facts are ever connected. Joseph Dudek, b. Oct. 1, 1857 in Prah, Praha, Czechoslovakia. (D-111) Jozef Dudek, age 26, Laborer, from Austria, Preclov. Destination, Pennsylvania Baltimore, MD: GERA Vessel, Apr. 10, 1892. (D-121) * (a repeated trip?) There is no Joseph under any spelling that came into Philadelphia from 1800-1906. There are no Dudicks under any spelling arriving in Boston, 1848-1891. There were many Joseph Dudick's listed in the New York passenger lists but they were nearly impossible to read on microfilm. One must remember that Ellis Island did not open until 1892 and that was after both Joseph and Mary said they emigrated in the 1900 census records. One is transcribed here from the Ellis Island records on the Internet. Josef Dudak, from Gombers, Austria, arriving in NY or May 16, 1893 on the Saale deparating from Bremen, Germany. He was age 26 years and married. (D-197) This is late for him to come over from the census info, but it's possible that he had made a return visit or the census info was incorrect. The name Dudek applies usually to persons from Austria in ship's lists. The name Dudeck applies mostly to persons from Germany/Prussia. (D-121) There is a Dudics descendant I've been corresponding with whose grandfather was from Kolbasa, Co. Zemplin, Archdiocese of Zemplinski, Parish of Bodras', Ujlaki. Their family names are very similar to ours, John Joseph, George Joseph, Anna, Julia, Joseph... (D-146) Their name Dudicks is pronounced Dudich. Another correspondent was told by her father that the name, Dudik, is "Ukrainian". Czechoslovakian records will be in old Gothic German script and the Hungarian language beginning in 1620 due to a law that was decreed by Austria Hungary. Bohemian Czechs largely migrated in the 1840's to NY, Chicago, Iowa, Minn., Nebraska, Kansas, OK, Dakotas as farmers. One hundred sixty nine thousand Slovaks went to Pennsylvania for coal mining or the steel industry from 1898-1908. They dreamed of owning their own farm here or back home. (D-113)

There is a wonderful lead for the Dudick side of the family. Three people traveled together on the Pannonia from the Port of Fiume, Yugoslavia arriving in New York on Sep. 11, 1905 that all have connections to the Dudick family. They were all from Nevicke, Hungary and could read and write. They were Ruthenian by race. They are Janis Cynsik?, age 38, male, married, destination St. Clair, to be staying with his brother-in-law, Dudik in Pennsylvania He had been in the country previously in the 1890's also staying in St. Clair, Pennsylvania Next to him on the list is Mary Dudik, age 19, single, destination, her cousin, Anna (Uhisr) in New York City, New York. Below her on the passenger list was Veorn Vovcsik (who was the sister-in-law of Joseph Dudick). She was age 19, single, going to see her brother-in-law, Jozef Kacsik? in Arroyo, Elk Co., Pennsylvania Veorn later married Joseph Parilla and went by the name of Veronica Ella Perilla.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration, 1888.

(John) married Maria WOLFE, daughter of Mike VOLCIK and Mary BUGDON Jr., in 1886. (Maria WOLFE was born on 12/25/1865 in Budapest, , Budapest, Hungary,³ died on 8/18/1932 in Mt. Jewett, McKean, PA, USA ^{8 9} and was buried after 8/18/1932 in Bridge View Cemetery, Mt. Jewett, Mckean, PA, USA.)