An Interesting Trip

Ward and I just returned from a trip to Reading, PA with his brother and wife. The purpose of the trip was to do some on-the-ground research about Ward's grandfather, Stanislaw, and his great-grandfather, Franz. Franz immigrated with his two brothers from Poland around 1910 to Reading, PA. However, both Stan and Franz died when their children were young, so there's not much family oral history. The results of this trip added several bits of information to the online records that have been found recently although there are still big questions to be answered. However, it was an interesting, productive, not to mention, fun trip. 

After 3 1/2 hour drive, our first stop was the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery which had served the Polish population. We found a few of the family markers we were looking for, but they were not the ones we were hoping to find--meaning Ward's grandparents and an uncle. We had an interesting time trying to say the multi-syllabic names and guessing the meaning of Polish words during our search.

We spent the next morning searching church records. They were often difficult to read both because of handwriting and because of the multiple ways names were spelled. Ward was excited when he found the baptism of his grandfather. This is an example of an easy-to-read record.

Next stop was the Berks County Genealogical Society. It was in this repurposed goggle factory. Today the former factory houses various art endeavors as well as the genealogy society. It was originally built in 1871 and was the first factory in the world to manufacture optical glass. This was one of a plethora of factories that were present in Reading around the turn of the last century. It's easy to understand why Reading would have been a popular destination for incoming immigrants.

After spending much of the day looking at records, we decided we needed a break. We then drove around to find various addresses where family members had lived. Along with several dwellings, we located St. Mary's Church where Ward's grandfather and many of his cousins were baptized. The church was locked, but a member of the church who lives across the street saw us taking pictures and let us in to see the inside. It was one of the grandest churches I have ever seen. 

We had seen this pagoda on a distant hill, and at the end of the day, we thought it would be fun to find it. The pagoda was built in 1908 as a hotel/restaurant for a planned resort. That didn't work out, so they gave it to the city of Reading. It was interesting to think about Ward's great-grandfather arriving in Reading and seeing the giant pagoda on the hill just like we did.

A little further up the hill from the pagoda was the William Penn fire tower.

This tower was built in 1939 to be used as
both a fire tower and a tourist attraction.

After a long day, we retired to the hotel where we tried to think about something other than Ward's family history so we could sleep. That was met with varying degrees of success but we were all up early the next day to do more exploring before we returned home.

Tune in next time for more Reading adventures. :)