As long as I can remember, I have had this deep compulsion to leave to my progeny
an in-depth account of my life, along with a history of both the Adam-Julia Sakry and the Frank-Mary Thomalla
lineages in each of which I share with my brothers, sisters and various cousins a common ancestral connection.The desire to accomplish this for the edification of future generations began to develop early in my
youth, almost as soon as I realized that my immediate ancestors (parents and grandparents) were a part of an unusually daring and hardy clan of downtrodden European commoners who had had enough vision to realize that
there was much more to life (or could be) than hopeless poverty, endless servitude and insufferable oppression...and who possessed the courage to do something about it.
As I was growing up and discovering the truly limitless scope of the American Dream
and the freedom and opportunity it offered (and actually guaranteed) to every American citizen, I was also discovering with some concern that as free and as bountiful as these blessings were for the mere taking, few if any members of my immediate relationship were availing themselves of even a small portion of the true wealth within their reach.
Perhaps It was too much to expect that my grandparents and their children, so recently transplanted out of the centuries-old darkness of locked-in poverty, ignorance and meaningless drudgery into the sudden brilliant
light of human freedom and dignity, would be able in so short a time to grasp the full meaning of that soul-shaking transformation.
But my impatience at their slowness in shedding old ancestral habits of
submissive attitudes and behavior was further fuelled by the fact that my near relatives were not only exceptionally strong in the attributes that spelled success in a free society but, in not a few instances, were
gifted with talents far above the level of their realization.
It was as if my people needed some special ”extra jolt”... some clearer, more comprehensive assessment of the dream ... some shading of
the blinding light ... some simple yet mind-opening, mind-lifting testimony that the dream was not only real but readily attainable and available to all ... in far greater measure than anything thus far enjoyed or even
imagined.
I wanted to provide that extra jolt. But how? I finally realized that if I were to reach even a few of my relatives with a message of confidence and pride in our common heritage, that would be
better than nothing. And it seemed to me that perhaps the best and most direct way to accomplish this would be through relating everything I could about who and what the Sakrys are, how they adjusted from their
Polish ways to American, and, most important of all, through helping them see that we are just as strong a family line and no less gifted and talented and capable than any other families anywhere in America! All
we had to do was to realize this fact, believe it, and live up to its full potential.
I further decided that I could best disclose what I had discovered about our common heritage by incorporating it all
into my own personal history. Through a review of my own life, I could pass along my observations, experiences, discussions, family contacts, interviews and a
growing accumulation of stories, events, anecdotes, etc., for the benefit of all who might be interested in such information.
That was when I decided to write this personal and family history.
My
only regret is that it has taken me so long...that I could not have brought together enough inspiring data to have helped and motivated more of my own generation toward a greater use
and fulfillment of their lives. It is now too late for them...for my uncles and aunts and their children (my cousins) who are now mostly a past part
of this family history rather than present beneficiaries of it. Even some of my nephews and nieces (of the third American generation) are already reaching into their middle years and may not glean much of any value herein.
However, the record had to be started, data collected, and the history of our clan established ... so that those who follow will have a clear sense of our family ”roots” and pedigrees. I
believe fervently that out of such knowledge can come an extra measure of family pride and dignity to help enrich the lives of the many of our successors in the generations to come.
Revelation!
Some years ago, a rather startling revelation struck me which greatly stimulated my desire to record in some way the story of the Sakry clan in America. In my travels among the towns and cities in many of the
States, I had made a habit of checking local telephone directories for the name SAKRY.
Unlike many common family names which are repeated in many directories in many towns across the land, the name Sakry
was conspicuous by its absence, It just wasn't to be found anywhere but in and near St. Cloud, Duelm, Barnesville, St. Paul and Minneapolis, all in Minnesota. Some few relatives whom I knew about had moved to
California, but for the most part, Sakrys were as scarce as non-Italian Popes in the Vatican.
Through much inquiry and examination of available data, it became increasingly
certain that, as far
as I was able to ascertain, the only Sakrys to be found anywhere in America had to be descended directly from one or another of three Polish brother immigrants: Paul P., Andrew and Adam Sakry.
Obviously then, since these three men were brothers, I realized that if any Sakry were to meet any other Sakry anywhere in this country, they had to be direct blood relatives
. I further realized that we American Sakrys are all descended from one common ancestor in Poland whose three sons brought his seed across the seas and founded the entire clan in the United States!
Important Note: Later research that Mark Keith Sakry (Cliff Sakry’s nephew) obtained from Evelyn Dybvik, Baxter, Minnesota (Paul P. Sakry married her great-grandmother’s sister, Margaretta Nagele!),
confirmed that the father of these immigrant brothers was Thomas Sakry from Komprachcice, Poland, near Opole. Their mother was Maria (Kubis) Sakry. Thomas Sakry’s father was also named Thomas and he
was married to Elizabeth (Wrzod) Sakry. Elizabeth’s father, who apparently resided in the same area of Polish Silesia (Schlesien), was named Michael Wrzod, as indicated in Church records from Komprachcice. (See
Addendum I for a copy of microfilmed Catholic church documents from Komprachcice by the Latter-day Saints (LDS) Family History Center Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.)
What an exciting discovery! It meant that
the story of these three brothers provided an opportunity to establish a full history of the Sakry clan on American soil ... beginning with the American founders themselves ... and thus laying the groundwork for a
complete and growing history from generation to generation.
However, the brothers and their sons and daughters already were in their graves ... two generations dead and gone ... so that the opportunity for any
in-depth documentation of these early American Sakry families was fading rapidly. Something had to be done at once.
Fortunately, a sense of the need for this history has simmered in my mind for
many years. Indeed I have long been accumulating data on a host of relatives past and present in the form of personal relatives' accounts, anecdotes, news clippings, obituaries, marriage announcements, births,
christenings, deaths, gravestone inscriptions, graduations, etc. ... and especially notes jotted at odd times when stories or statements by or about relatives came my way.
Nevertheless, it was only after I
myself had passed the milepost of my 60th year and realized that many of my best sources for background information had already passed away that I decided it was time to get the project in full motion.
Previously there had been endless demands on my time -- a family to clothe, feed, shelter and educate; a career to pursue, goals and ambitions to fulfill; important projects to consummate; places to see, and friendships
to nurture -- and it had been only lately that I could feel free enough to plunge at last into this long contemplated genealogical adventure.
I am
glad now that I had so often in the past bothered to clip, save, jot and ask questions (especially of my mother who gave me many precious items) and to store these carefully in a special ”catchall” file. A
lot of useful and often highly interesting facts and anecdotes have thus been preserved which otherwise would have been forgotten and lost forever.
I also received much valuable information from my Uncle Joseph Sakry,
and from my Aunt Sophie Thomalla, the last of all my uncles and aunts to be alive at this writing (1984).
As might be expected, most of my information concerns the branch established by the third of the original
brothers, Adam Sakry, who was my grandfather. However, although I am not able to attempt a complete genealogy of the other two brothers, Paul and Andrew, I do have some information about them which I shall include
here. Also I will be covering those elements which are common to all three brothers ... especially our common ancestry in Poland ... which I hope will be of value to any members of Paul and Andrew's progeny who
may want to develop a genealogy of their own. (They are most welcome to any information I have.)
Objectives
It is not easy to trace ancestral records. I have worked hard and long
to accumulate what I could, and continue to add details as I come upon them. There has been, too, the problem of how best to tie all the pieces together so that the account would be clear, cohesive and
interesting. Obviously, in a family history of this dimension, it is necessary to resort to flashbacks, inserts, references, quotations and recollections ... which could become quite a
jumble if not given a strong central direction.
I’ve decided, therefore, to use the first person in the telling of this history ... and shall take the liberty to comment, interpret and, especially, to describe certain
members of the clan whom I knew personally or heard about.
Because my records include a considerable amount of personal, or autobiographical, data, it may be advisable at times to include certain of my own experiences
even as I shall want to include those of other relatives, particularly when such material may help embellish the over-all history.
Thus, using myself as the eye of the observer as well as
the voice of the narrator, I hope to achieve the following objectives:
- 1. To chronicle my personal and family memoris; and
- 2. To provide as comprehensive an historical genealogy of the Sakry family lineage in America and its ”roots” in Poland as possible.
This, then, is essentially the Family History of what I shall call the Adam-Julia
branch of the Sakry line, of which I am a direct descendant. (I am a grandson of one of the founding ”brothers three” ... Adam Sakry and his wife Julia Kuczera.)
