Anne Vidunas Beretsky 1930s
1930 -- Census, 20 Penn Street, Kingston PA1935 -- Sodality Card Party
1930
Federal Census, 20 Penn Street, Kingston PA
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| 20 Penn Street, Kingston PA |
Here we find 13 year old Anna Vidunas living at 20 Penn Street with her mother and step-father Andrew Yorski, brothers Louis and John, and Louis' wife Frances and their two children Louis Jr and Dolores. That's eight people in what looks to be a very tiny house.
If you look at the family above the Vidunas/Yorski household, you find the Markelonis family. Martha is Mary Vidunas Yorski's sister who also immigrated from Lithuania. They lived in the other half of the duplex-type home.
According to Realtor.com, this property was built in 1930, and currently (as of 2010) has six bedrooms and two baths (Klug, 2010).
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| Vidunas/Yorski family in 1930 google maps |
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| Vidunas Yorski family in 1930 20 Penn Street, Kingston PA The red arrow is where Anne lived Yellow is the Markelonis cousins Google Maps street view, 2012 |
Historical Insight -- Sears, Roebuck and Company
Anne Mary Vidunas most likely read or shopped from the Sears catalog about this time.
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| The Sears, Roebuc catalog helped rural families purchase goods unavailable or too expensive at general stores Credit: Historic Catalogs of Sears, Roebuck and Co., 1896-1993/Ancestry.com (Ancestry Historical Insight, 2018) |
In 1886, about 65 percent of all Americans lived in rural areas and they were forced to pay high prices at local general stores. But Richard Sears, a railway agent, used his spare time to sell valuable commodities, such as jewelry, along his route (Ancestry Historical Insights, 2018).
Historical Insight -- The Great Depression
During the Great Depression, Anne Vidunas likely faced hardships like joblessness and scant resources while living in Kingston, Pennsylvania in 1930.
Dust storms wreaked havoc on farms across the American heartland, caused the closure of entire towns, and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes for greener pastures along the West Coast. Many became migrant farmers in California (Ancestry Historical Insights, 2018).
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| April 1936, Cimarron County, Oklahoma Credit: Arthur Rothstein/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain (Ancestry Historical Insights 2018) |
Americans began withdrawing thier money from banks, causing them to fail. Industrial production came to a standstill and unemployment skyrocketed. Unable to pay their bills, hundreds of thousands of Americans became homeless (Ancestry Historical Insights, 2018).
How did this affect Anne? She was about 15 years old, going to school with her siblings.
1935 Sodality Card Party
The images below are of the party put on by the church's Sodality club. She was on the refreshment committee. If you look at the names, you see they are mostly Polish and Lithuanian names. The church was St. Mary's Lithuanian Church, we will see this church in a moment. First, we have to figure out what Sodality means.
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Sodality, according to the online dictionary, is "a confraternity or association, especially a Roman Catholic religious guild or brotherhood." According to Wikipedia, it is "... a form of the 'Universal Church' expressed in specialized, task-oriented [group] ...." (Wikipedia -- Sodality, 2019).
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In Other News:
In 1930 -- Pluto is discovered as our ninth planet -- for about 75 years ... Enjoy your status, Pluto!
In 1931 -- Chinese-Japanese war #2 is fought for about 2 years (OurTimelines.com, 2018)
1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States
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| 1933 - 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President (FDR Presidential Library & Museum, 2018) |
President Roosevelt Quote: -- "When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on!" (Roosevelt, 2018)
In Other News:
In 1933 -- Soviet Communist Party purge happens; Armstrong invents FM modulation; Radio Astronomy is developed
In 1934 -- The Longshoreman's Strike -- 35,000 men go on strike for 83 days -- that's a long time to go without food for those families (OurTimelines.com, 2018)
1935
Residence 20 Penn Street, Kingston PA
According to the 1940 census (which we will get to in the next post), Anne was living in Kingston at this time. However, we also have newspaper clippings and yearbook to establish this!
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Anne M. Vidunas graduates from Kingston High School
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| 1935 Kingston High School yearbook |
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| 1935 Kingston High School |
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| Anne M. Vidunas, Senior Portrait At last I have a photo |
In Other News:
in 1935 -- The Dust Bowl event scours middle America; Abyssinian war against Italy lasts for about a year -- they lost
In 1936 -- King Edward VIII (Windsor) begins his -- very short -- reign; Spanish Civil war occurs in which the republican government loses to the Facists ; Helicoptor takes off; The King dies, and King George VI (Windsor) begins, lasting for 16 years (OurTimelines.com, 2018)
1937
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This tiny little piece indicates that Anne Vidunas was visiting her mother Mary Sadausky Vidunas Yorski and her stepfather Andrew Yorski at 20 Penn Street in Kingston PA. Then she went back to nursing school at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC.
We've already seen this home address above, in the 1930 census. Let's look at Mt. Sinai Hospital
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| Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan NYC New York Google Maps |
In Other News:
In 1937 -- Nylon is developed by DuPont; Chinese-Japanese War #3 starts, lasting for about 8 years, with China winning. (OurTimelines.com, 2018)
1938
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| From the book The Forty-Seven Hundred |
In Other News: -- Germany annexes Austria (OurTimelines.com, 2018)
1939
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| 1930s Nurse shoes |
In Other News: -- Aircraft Jet Engine is invented by Ohain, leading to my father's job as jet mechanic in the USAF; Digital Computer is developed; World War II starts, and the US will join the fight in another couple of years (OurTimelines.com, 2018)
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Resources
Ancestry Historical Insight. (2018). Sears, Roebuck and Company. Retrieved from Ancestry.com: Ancestry.com
Ancestry Historical Insights. (2018). The Great Depression. Retrieved from Ancestry.com: Ancestry.com
FDR Presidential Library & Museum. (2018). Franklin D. Roosevelt. Retrieved May 28, 2018, from Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47600299
Kingston High School Senior Class. (1935). 1935 Kingston HIgh School. Retrieved December 9, 2019, from classmates: https://www.classmates.com/siteui/yearbooks/70498?page=59
Klug, D. (2010, September 22). 18-20 Penn St, Kingston, PA 18704. Retrieved December 9, 2019, from Realtor.com: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/18-20-Penn-St_Kingston_PA_18704_M34096-04621#photo6
Nienaber, C. (2013, July 23). Vintage 1930s Shoes / Art Deco Shoes / Gatsby Brunch. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from Etsy -- Dronning: https://www.etsy.com/listing/127840590/vintage-1930s-shoes-art-deco-shoes?show_sold_out_detail=1
Nowak, J. B. (1981). the forty-seven hundred: the story of The Mount Sinai Hospital School of Nursing. New York, NY: Phoenix Publishing. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from https://dspace.mssm.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/28798/fortysevenhundre00nowa.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y page 68
OurTimelines.com. (2018). TimeLines. (Timelines courtesy of www.ourtimelines.com. Timeline formatting and technology copyright © 2000-2018 ourtimelines.com, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED under the Pan-American Conventions.) Retrieved from OurTimeLines.com: http://ourtimelines.com/
The Evening News, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1934, February 21). Anna Vidunas hostess for Sodality meeting 1934. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from Newspapers.com: Newspapers.com
The Evening News, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1934, April 28). Anna Vidunas on refreshment committee for card party 1934. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from Newspapers.com: Newspapers.com
The Evening News, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1935, January 24). Anna Vidunas, Altar Girl 1935. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from newspapers.com: newspapers.com
The Wilkes-Barre Record, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1934, April 28). Anna Vidunas on refreshment committee for Sodality Card and Bingo Party 1934. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from Newspapers.com: Newspapers.com
The Wilkes-Barre Record, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1935, May 1). Ann Vidunas, Card Party committee 1935. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from Newspapers.com: newspapers.com
The Wilkes-Barre Record, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1927, September 24). Anne Vidunas RN. Retrieved February 8, 2017, from Newspapers.com: Newspapers.com
Roosevelt, F. D. (2018). Franklin D. Roosevelt Quotes. Retrieved from BrainyQuote: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/franklin_d_roosevelt
Wikipedia -- Sodality. (2019). Sodality. Retrieved from Wikipecia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SodalityWilkes-Barre Times Leader, t. E.-B. (1934, February 21). Sodality Meeting. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from Newspapers.com: Newspapers.com
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (1935, June 4). Anne M. Vidunas graduates from Kingston High School 1935. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from Newspapers.com: Newspapers.com
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