Johns' and Mary's

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was listening to my mother tell stories a few days ago about our family ancestors.  On her side of the family, a Polish couple with their two small children, immigrated from Poland to New York City, then traveling by train to Chicago.

The funny part of the story, but not to my mother, was the fact that this Polish couple were named John and Mary.  Their son was called John and their daughter was called Mary.  Both the father and son was called John!  Both mother and daughter were both called Mary!

I could just imagine what the immigration authorities in New York City thought of that as they were being processed into the country!  It might have given a few folks a small headache, or at least a laugh or more than a few heads scratched.  

They did have four other children born to them in Chicago, and they did have different names!  That was helpful in our genealogy research.  Some folks would read this and say, "so what."  I can respect that, but I thought it was kind of funny situation that they were in at that particular time.  I always like the little odd things in our complicated world.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Hello Mary!

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My mother's grandfather was named John, the same as his father.  His father, with his wife Mary, and their two children, John and his sister Mary, immigrated from Poland to The United States.  They had landed and were checked in at New York City.  They then took a train to the south side of Chicago.  They had some family there, and there was already a large Polish community already established.

John, the son, would eventually be my mother's grandfather.  He was a very strong man and would live to be ninety-seven years old.  More importantly he kept his sharp eyesight, hearing and all of his original teeth until the last day of his life!  That's very rare, even today.

In his old age he still could remember Chicago when they still had dirt streets.  For years he was a wagonmaster and helped in the paving of those streets!  He could remember everything and told all of his stories of those wild Chicago days.

John had lived to be ninety-seven, but his sister Mary died on November 1, 1918 of the swine flu.  In those years millions of people from around the world died of that horrible disease!  Mary was one of them. She died at the age of forty-three, leaving behind five children!

John, at the age of ninety-seven years died fifty-four years after his sister Mary.  John died peacefully at Wild Rose hospital, a small country hospital in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. Just minutes before his death, while surrounded by family members, John had seen his sister Mary!  Just before he died, he looked up and said with a surprised voice, "Hello Mary!"  

John had seen Mary and recognized her after all of those years.  She had come to his bedside to take John away to where she had come from, the afterlife, heaven, but somewhere!  Some people are troubled by these stories, but I never have been.  I have always found great comfort in knowing that a loved one would come to my bedside to take me away!

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William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

The Bible and Life

The Trucking Tango

The Escape From The Mob!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was up in Wisconsin visiting my mother's side of the family. My aunt and uncle currently live on the old family dairy farm. They are Nancy and Jerry Mankowski. Both are in their early eighties, but both doing well.  You can read related posts called, "The booze runners" and "FBI crackdown," "The Pistol."

While I was there, my uncle Jerry started telling stories about the Al Capone days in Chicago. One of the stories was about Frank Mankowski, and him changing his name. He did this to hide from the mob!  This is what happened.

Frank Mankowski was a booze runner with his brother Ed. But Frank was more than a booze runner, he also was an enforcer for the Capone crime family!  Their sister Ann was a waitress for a very expensive Supper Club.  One of Al Capones men wanted to date Ann, but Ann didn't like him, so she to refuse his advances. 

Just after the famous St. Valentine's massacre, and the mayor calling in the FBI, Ann was beaten up very badly by the Al Capone man that she rejected! She was beaten up so much that Ann was a the hospital for a month! When Ann woke up, she was terrified of the man who attacked her!

But Frank apparently knew the man, and why he had attacked her. Frank calmly informed Ann not to worry about them. Frank said that he had "taken care of him!". Now remember, Frank was an enforcer for the Al Capone crime family, so that only meant one thing!

When Frank finally got Ann out of the hospital, just as the Feds were cracking down, they fled to California!  When Ann got settled down there, Frank took a slow boat around through the Panama Canal and up to New York City. That is when Frank Mankowski changed his name to Langowski. That was his mother's maiden name.

His mother was pregnant with Frank by another man before her marriage, so Frank was never really a Mankowski anyway. So, Frank changed his name and laid low in New York City for about five years! Frank would never reveal what he did in New York City during those years, that went with him to the grave!

After the five years, Frank bought a farm in central Wisconsin near his brother Ed. There they both lived as farmers, and a much quieter life!  He kept the name Langowski for the rest of his life.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Care and Life 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

The Booze Runners

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I was just up to Wisconsin to visit family. We stayed at the old farm house that my aunt and uncle now reside. They are Nancy and Jerry Mankowski. My grandparents were dairy farmers there. You can read related posts called, "The escape from the Mob," and "FBI crackdown," "The Pistol."

My grandfather, Ed Mankowski, was a booze runner for the Capone crime family in Chicago.  He ran with his brother, Frank Mankowski. Frank was also an enforcer for the Capone's.

Other teams would smuggle the booze out of Canada, and bring it down to the north side of Chicago. The smugglers would deposit the booze at restaurants though out north Chicago, for safe keeping.

Ed and Frank would drive a truck to one of the restaurants, park and walk in and drink coffee and pie  Sometime during the evening, the manager would nod at them. That meant that their truck was loaded and ready to roll!

Ed did the driving and Frank was there with a tommy gun!  That's how he got the nickname of "Tommy Gun Frank!". They would transport the booze to Capone warehouses on the south side of Chicago. Other teams would then deliver it to the many secret casinos and speakeasy's on Chicago's south side.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary 

FBI Crackdown

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I flew up to Wautoma, Wisconsin, to visit my aunt and uncle. They are Jerry and Nancy Mankowski. While I was there, Jerry told me many stories, here's one. Also other related posts are, "The escape from the mob," and "The booze runner,"  "The Pistol."

My grandfather, Ed Mankowski, and his brother Frank, both work for the Al Capone crime family, in Chicago, Illinois, in the nineteen-thirties. Ed was a booze runner, and Frank was also a booze runner, but also an enforcer. They also had a sister who worked as a dance hall girl.

Running booze for the crime family was one thing, but being also an enforcer for the Capone's was another thing altogether! Frank did a lot of the dirty work for the Capone's.

Just after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, the Mayor called in the FBI to clean things up, due to the bad press. Everyone knew that they would soon have to lay low for awhile. 

After the massacre and before the FBI got settled in, a lot of score settling took place between the gangs of the city.  Frank got mixed up with that, and fled to California with his sister. Ed left in nineteen-forty-two to a farm in Wisconsin.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

 Roop-Crappell Ministries 

 Hospice Volunteer Stories 

 The Trucking Tango 

 Apostolic Theological Seminary