A Camel Ride

This is one of my favorite photos. It shows Great-grandma Andrews on a camel! I'm not sure where she was doing this. It doesn't say, but it's pretty cool. She seemed to be quite ahead of her time!

Great-Grandpa Andrews

Another photo from Grandma's album. This one is labeled "Great-Grandpa Andrews." He is with two little boys and looks very happy. I don't know much about this photo. Is it in Brooklyn? If anyone does, please let me know!

Baby Grandpa Jules

Grandma had some pictures of grandpa when he was a baby in her album. There are about three or four of them, but I can't get one of them to scan correctly.

The earliest one is of him as a baby in 1909. At least I'm think it's him. It says Julius and 1909 along with some stuff in Hungarian on the back. There is a red stamp on the left side of the photo, which must be some kind of logo. The name of the photography shop or developer seems to be in another language. He seems to be in some sort of a bassinet with a big ornate blanket under him and he's a fat little chubby guy.

The other photo shows him in a sailor suit sitting on some kind of a bench. He has curly hair and bangs looking seriously at the camera with hands clasped. His little white boots look fancy and have many buttons on them. The photo was taken in New York City by Haberman's Photo.

Cardinal Lane and the Biacovsky Sisters

For some reason, Grandma's ranch house on Cardinal Lane holds lots of significance for me. I dream and think about it often, mostly about the kitchen, but sometimes about the giant living room where we spent many Christmas Eves opening presents.

I know grandma and grandpa were very

proud of their house. They took very good care of the lawn and the shrubs. Every summer, we would come over and trim

everything, especially the forsythia that grew

along the drive way. When it bloomed, it was a big yellow wall of flowers, but it started to cover the driveway. So, we had to keep it trimmed. My dad had the trimmer and I would use the wheel barrow to dump the cuttings into the woods.

In the backyard,

grandma had her rock garden. I loved her rock

garden. There were poppies and

roses, I think, and blue bells along the path to the woods. She also had those "dainty" yellow daisies that she got from Peter, I think. They grew all over the place. On the hill that separated her house from the house next door, there were

sometimes wild strawberries that we could pick and eat.

Near the driveway, there was a small circle of

rocks with a little flower bed inside. That is where she grew these little plants that I think are called hens and chickens or something. We would visit them some times because I liked them.

The biggest treat was taking the walk in the woods on the path behind her house. I have many

fond memories of those walks and pressing the leaves we found into wax paper and ironing them. It was always fun to visit grandma and grandpa.

Grandma was close with her younger sisters Emma and Kathryn. Grandma lived close to Kathryn and spent a lot of time with her, but Aunt Emma lived pretty far away. Her visits were always special. We would get together and grandma's house and eat tons of food and catch up and laugh. They would always tease each other and stuff. I twas cute.

From what I heard Aunt Emma was a spunky lady who was full of energy. Actually all the sisters are! Above is a photo of a young grandma with Aunt Emma.

Grandpa Jules with my Dad

I love this one. This is grandpa Jules with my dad as a baby on the porch at the Old House. Grandpa looks just like Groucho Marx, cigar and all.

More from Grandma Elsie' Wedding

I found another photo that I think is from Grandma Elsie's wedding in May of 1939. It appears to be a group shot of the Biacovsky and Andrews families and probably some friends. I can't tell where it was taken. Possibly outside of The Old House? The background looks so desolate and rural. It's amazing that it looked like that back then.

Remembering The Old House

Everyone on my dad's side of the family talks about The Old House as if it were a member of the family. It has been peppered throughout my grandma's and my dad's stories from their childhoods and we used to drive by it from time to time to see what it looked like and how the neighborhood has changed.

My grandma told stories of standing by the road and screaming "George Washington passed here!" to the few cars that came along. She also mentioned all the neighbors and friends -- Butchie Banks and others, Gretchen (said with an accent, I think) and the famous Mrs. Algier.

I did some research when my grandma passed away to find out more about the house. Out of this research came an article for the Courrier-News, the local daily paper for the area.

The home has a long history, but only a few owners. Built in the mid-1800s by a Finderne attorney named Mr. Windsor, the house was originally called the Windsor Mansion. It appeared in a small book called, Picturesque Finderne, that promoted the area as “malaria free” and “only an hour train ride to New York City.”

A photo of the house, taken in 1899, now hung in the foyer of the funeral home, shows a horse and buggy parked in front of it. I don't have a copy of this photo to put here, but I believe Jeff gave a copy of it to everyone one Christmas. Grandma hung it on the wall next to all the photos of her us and the rest of the family.

Instead of that photo, the one in this post is from June of 1953. It's very yellowed and the house is hidden behind the trees. I'm on the hunt for better ones as I go through our photos. I'll post more as I find them.

Here's how it all started for us. In 1920, John Biacovsky, my great-grandfather, bought the house from Mrs. Levi (pictured) and converted it into a two-family home. I don't know anything about Mrs. Levi and find it interesting that we have a photo of her. It could be that this house meant as much to her as it does to our family and she wanted us to remember her and her time taking care of it. Or, maybe that was just the custom at the time?

My grandmother, who was at that time was a petite 8 year old with dark wavy hair and hazel eyes, lived on one side with her parents, her brother and three sisters. Her father rented out the other half.

Grandma would tell me stories of Mrs. Algier, who had many husbands -- 7, I think -- and seemed to be in touch with the spirit world in some way. This was frowned upon by my very Catholic great-grandma. Despite this, Mrs. Algier took a special liking to my grandma and spoke with her often. I think she even showed grandma all of her dead husbands photographs in the attic. Although, I admit that sounds like I added that. Not sure if it is true. Does anyone else remember this?

There are many photos with The Old House in the background. I've posted one here, but I don't know who is it it. It's a man and two ladies. I think it might be great-grandpa Andrews, but I'm not sure. There is stuff written in Hungarian on the back. If anyone knows who it is, please let me know!

Two years after my great-grandfather died, my grandmother and her sisters decided to sell the house. In 1962, they sold the home to Edward and Eugenie Kowalenko who turned the two-family residence into The Bridgewater Funeral Home, Inc. Recently, Jim DeMaio has taken over the business.

Aunt Kathryn's in Annanadale

When I was a kid, we had family events at my grandparents' house, aunt Kathryn's house and my parents' house. We divided up the holidays in some way which I don't remember, but I think my grandparents had the major holidays. Things changed after my grandma sold the house. Anyhow, I found this photo that has to be from around 1984 of a get together at Aunt Kathryn's house. I am probably eight years old in this one. I think this is was the time when I forgot to eat the dinosaur ice pops that Aunt Kathryn bought me for the visit. So, Mark ate all them and sent me the wrappers! It was hilarious.

Great-grandpa's brother George

Here is George Biacovsky, who is John Biacovsky's brother. This is the only photo that I've found of him so far. I don't know much about him except that he is directly related to our relatives in Budimir. Grandma Elsie wrote "Pop's Brother George" on this photo, which is how I know who he is. If anyone knows more, please fill me in. Looks like he is in uniform in the picture above.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! Here is a picture from the New Year's Eve festivities in New York City. Above is Larissa, my friend from my first year at Rutgers and I with Amy's (also from Rutgers) 2010 glasses. We look a little like Harry Potter.

Julia and John Biacovsky

In this photograph, you'll see Julia Gadus with her new husband, John Biacovsky. They were 22 years old when they were married on August 15, 1907.

Their wedding attire is very similar to Johanna's. Great-grandma has a big flowing bouquet and a similar style of dress. However, she doesn't have the garland that her sister had. John has almost exactly the same style of suit, but doesn't have the big white bow.

Johanna Gadus

In my grandma's photo album, I found pictures of Johanna Gadus, my great-grandma Julia (Gadus) Biacovsky's sister. I remember my grandma talking about her, but hadn't seen a photo of her in ages.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about her. Perhaps someone else in the family does. Her wedding photo is very cool. I love that giant flowing bouquet -- it looks like it might weigh a ton -- and whatever that is wrapped around her body. It looks like some sort of garland. The boutonniere on her husband's jacket has a huge bow and his ring is on his right hand clutching gloves.

In the next picture, we see her with three children. At least two of them are girls, but I'm not sure about the baby. At that time, little boys often wore dress-like clothing, too. The children are holding some kin of flowers. The family looks a little stern, but it might be from sitting there for so long.

I'm not sure if Johanna stayed in Slovakia or came to the US. I'm guessing that she stayed there and spent her life there. If anyone knows, please send me an e-mail or post a comment.