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Ivan “John” Kos[s]

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Ivan “John” Kos[s]
birth: 19 November 1892 in Dubranec, Austria-Hungary to Josip Opos and Katarina Cvetković Kos
death: 20 October 1970 in Gary, Lake, Indiana
burial: Oak Hill Cemetery, Glen Park, Lake, Indiana

marriage: 28 January 1917 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Mara “Mary Violet” Kos[s]
birth: 18 July 1900 in Dubranec, Austria-Hungary to Josip “Joseph” and Jana Kata “Anna Katherine” Kos[s]
death: 5 June 1985 in Scottsdale, Maricopa, Arizona
burial: Oak Hill Cemetery, Glen Park, Lake, Indiana

Children of Mara “Mary Violet” Kos[s] and Ivan “John” Kos[s]:

  • Dorothy Elizabeth Koss (1918-2001) m. Orlo Guy Leininger
  • Anne Marie Katherine Koss (1919-2006) m. Michael Andrew Milinovich
  • George Joseph Kos (1921-2006) m. Elizabeth Dorothy “Betty” Altomere
  • Mary Louise “Mary Lou” Koss (1931-1999) m. 1st Paul Julius Domonkos m. 2nd Martin Jerome “Jerry” Vavrak m. 3 & 4 Robert Eugene Hamilton m. 5th Philip Savio

Ancestor here lived in:

Gary, Lake County, Indiana

Other Information:

Ivan “John” Kos[s] was the second son born to Josip Opos and Katarina Cvetković Kos on the 19 November 1892 in Dubranec, Austria-Hungary. His mother died in childbirth when he was 9 and his father remarried soon after. As a child, John was attacked as he tried get honey from a bee hive, sustaining over 100 bites. He was not thought to live but he did. Afterwards, his vision was diminished. He had also been born color blind. In his later years, he developed cataracts. At age 17, he accompanied his brother Janko “Stephen” Kos to America. They departed Le Havre, Seine-Inferior, France and arrived in New York via the La Gascogne on 6 April 1909. John had $10.00, was recorded as being 5’3″ with auburn hair, brown eyes, and light complexion. He continued to grow as he was 5’7″ in his later years. He claimed to be meeting a friend, Pavao Kos, in the U.S. John and his brother stated they were going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where they had secured employment. John worked as a laborer in Pittsburgh and hearing that there was money elsewhere, went to work for the Pullman Company. He took the rails out west and when the job was complete, returned to Pennsylvania. There, he learned that money was to be made in Chicago so he moved there. Meanwhile, his brother who had a wife and child in Austria-Hungary, decided to return home. John loved America and stated he would never return to the old country, which later became Yugoslavia and now, Croatia. Throughout his working life, John continued to send money back to his remaining family members. It was in Chicago while working for Pullman that he met a former villager, Josip “Joseph” Kos[s], a distant relative. Joseph arranged for John to marry his daughter Mara “Mary Violet Kos[s] and they wed in Chicago on 28 January 1917. A child came quickly and the family decided to relocate to Gary, Lake, Indiana where employment was plentiful by late 1918. There, their second child was born the following year. The family lived with John’s in-laws in a rental home at 1521 Garfield Street. He and his father-in-law would bicycle to work at I.I.B. Teaming Company. Both came down with influenza in February 1919, his father-in-law dying from its complications. John became the sole bread winner of a family of seven. The family moved to a home at 2636 Harrison Street. He found work as a laborer with U.S. Steel. One winter night, the men had fallen asleep at work waiting for a shipment of ore to be delivered. As the train pulled in, John realized that one of his co-workers was fast asleep on the tracks. As he pulled the man to safety, John slipped and his leg was crushed. He became an amputee. The home they were living in flooded from the nearby Calumet River so, with the money he was awarded for his heroism from his company, the family purchased a farmhouse at 336 West Ridge Road in Gary. It was so far out in the country that the street car line did not travel there. Madison was not an existing street. John, with a wooden leg, relearned to ride a bike to get to work. He grew vegetables and maintained rabbits and chicken to supplement his income. He also grew grapes and was known for his fine wine. Unfortunately, his culture clashed with the laws of Prohibition and the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on the sand dune across from the family home. John had awakened by their noisy automobiles and got his family to safety, hiding them in the fruit cellar of the home where they spent a cold and frightened night. After the accident, John was promoted to craneman and he continued to be employed at US Steel until the mid 1950s when he retired. John was a Roman Catholic and planted the tree on the west front of St. Marks Church. He would walk there to attend 8 AM Mass on Sundays. He and his wife became involved with the formation of St. Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Croatian Church. Although John drove a crane at work, his poor vision did not allow him to pass a driver’s license test so he relied on his wife to drive him. John longed to be a U S citizen but he could not read or write; he had learned to use cursive to write his name. His youngest daughter tutored him to pass the citizenship exam. She was rewarded with a new bicycle when he successfully naturalized in 1940 in Hammond, Lake, Indiana. John and Mary had a new home built on the east side of Glen Park after his retirement but their stay there was short as their son, who they had given their Ridge Road home to, had decided to relocate to Florida. John and Mary moved back to their former home where they were joined by his widowed mother-in-law, his oldest daughter and grandchild. In his retirement, Pop or Gramps as he was fondly known, liked to tinker with small appliances. He built a hand held vacuum cleaner in the early 1960s, made scooters for his grandchildren out of old roller skates, and kept their bicycles in tip top condition. John loved to dance and in his younger years, played a tamburitza. He also loved to play cards with his male friends in the neighborhood. He was a member of the Croatian Fraternal Union. John died on 20 October 1970 at Methodist Hospital, Gary, Lake, Indiana of congestive heart failure. He had been suffering with a bad cold for a few weeks before his death. John was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Glen Park, Lake, Indiana.

The family had a name change after arriving in the U.S. Manifests show they left Austria-Hungary with the surname Kos. By 1917, however, the name was changed to Koss as is shown on John’s wedding certificate. This submitter asked Mary why the name was changed; she stated that it was a recommendation of a clerk at Ellis Island. He said to think about it as most American names are longer than three letters. The family continued to use the original spelling but as they became assimilated, decided to add a letter to their surname. The name was officially changed for John by court order when he naturalized in 1940. It was at that time that they also Americanized their first names. John’s son, George, changed his name back to Kos while serving in the Coast Guard during World War 2.

Submitted by:
Lori Samuelson
Email: genealogyatheart@gmail.com

Mara “Mary Violet” Kos[s]

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Mara “Mary Violet” Kos[s]
birth: 18 July 1900 in Dubranec, Austria-Hungary to Josip “Joseph” and Jana Kata “Anna Katherine” Grdenic Kos[s]
death: 5 June 1895 in Scottsdale, Maricopa, Arizona
burial: Oak Hill Cemetery, Glen Park, Lake, Indiana

marriage: 28 January 1917 in Chicago, Cook. Illinois
Ivan “John” Kos[s]
birth: 19 November 1892 in Dubranec, Austria-Hungary to Josip Opos “Joseph” and Katarina Cvetković Kos
death: 20 October 1970 in Gary, Lake, Indiana
burial: Oak Hill Cemetery, Glen Park, Lake, Indiana

Children of Mara “Mary Violet” Kos[s] and Ivan “John” Kos[s]:

  • Dorothy Elizabeth Koss (1918-2001) m. Orlo Guy Leininger
  • Anne Marie Katherine Koss (1919-2006) m. Michael Andrew Milinovich
  • George Joseph Kos (1921-2006) m. Elizabeth Dorothy “Betty” Altomere
  • Mary Louise “Mary Lou” Koss (1931-1999) m. 1st Paul Julius Domonkos m. 2nd Martin Jerome “Jerry” Vavrak m. 3 & 4 Robert Eugene Hamilton m. 5th Philip Savio

Ancestor here lived in:

  • Lake County, Indiana

Other Information:

Mara “Mary Violet” Kos was born to Josip “Joseph” and Jana Kata “Anna Katherine” Grdenich Kos[s] on 18 July 1900 in the tiny village of Dubranec, Austria-Hungary. Mary was the third child born to the couple but her older brothers had died as infants. Her parents would go on to have three more children, one who died as a child. Mary learned to read and write Croatian in the village. In later years, the country’s name changed to Yugoslavia and then, Croatia. Her father, a military man serving in the cavalry, was injured by a horse and was forced to leave the service. When she was 9, he left the family and set off for America. Three years later he sent for the family to join him. Mary recalled to this submitter that she enjoyed the trip over the Atlantic in July 1913 on the President Lincoln, entertaining passengers by singing. Her height was not recorded; she had brown hair and blue eyes, though green were written on the arriving passenger sheet. The family spent their first night in their new country in a hotel in New York City. Mary recalled years later she was excited by all the people, noise, and items available for purchase in the stores. Ever the apple of her father’s eye, she told her father he had made the right decision to relocate. Her mother and brother weren’t so sure about that. Mary adapted and embraced American customs, though she was known for her delicate Croatian pastries. Traveling by train, her father had found a temporary residence for his family in a backroom of a church between Adams and Jefferson Streets on West Ridge Road in Gary, Lake, Indiana. He returned to live in Chicago where he was employed. Mary continued her education in Gary and learned English quickly. After a short stay in Gary, Mary, her mother, and brother joined their father in Blue Island, Cook, Illinois where her youngest sister was born. The family had considered moving to Bethlehem or Alquipa, Pennsylvania where work with the steel mills was available but decided to stay in the midwest. The family later moved to the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. Mary acknowledged as an adult that she liked to flirt and that gave her father concern. He took it upon himself to arrange for her to be married to a distant cousin who the family discovered had also emigrated to Chicago. At age 16, Mary wed Ivan “John” Kos[s] on 28 January 1917 at Chicago, Cook, Illinois. Within a year, their first child was born in Pullman housing as Mary feared giving birth in a hospital. She had heard tales of children being given to the wrong family. Although the family laughed at her for years, DNA has since proved her correct. Job prospects in Gary, Lake, Indiana, took the family there by late 1918. The family lived together in a rented house at 1521 Garfield Street. Her father and husband bicycled to their jobs at I.I.B. Teaming Company. The couples second child was born shortly after they relocated to Gary. Difficult times lay ahead for the family as Mary’s father died in 1919 from complication of influenza. Soon after, John was hired by U.S. Steel. It was there that he lost a leg saving a fellow employee from being crushed by an incoming train. John had been the sole breadwinner of the family consisting of Mary, three small children, her mother, her brother, and her sister. The family, living at 2636 Harrison Street in Gary had their home flood from the nearby Calumet River. Their oldest child, Dorothy, recalled in later years that the backyard had a grape arbor, lots of snakes and a hill where the children liked to play. They also became ill with scarlet fever and health officials quarantined the family. With the help of two minority neighbors, Mary was able to nurse the children back to health. The family used money received from the mill accident to purchase their first home at 336 West Ridge Road. It was a farmhouse that Mary later had bricked. The country home was so far out that the streetcar line did not extend there. Mary took in boarders and became an active member of St. Marks Roman Catholic Church. It is not known why the KuKluxKlan decided to terrorize the family shortly after they moved into their new home in 1923. They were immigrants, Roman Catholic, and had minority friends who would visit. They also grew grapes and were known for their exceptional wine they sold which became problematic during Prohibition. Their oldest child recalled the terror of hiding in the home’s fruit celler as the Klan burned a cross on the sand dune across from the family’s residence. Mary became active with the Croatian Fraternal Union and as a soprano, joined Preradovic, a glee club, that toured in Yugoslavia in 1960. She and her husband also helped found St. Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Croatian Church in Gary. Once her children were grown she became a beautician working for Mike Caulif at a salon on Broadway and 39th Avenue. Mary became a naturalized citizen in 1941. She later found work at U.S. Steel in the sorting mill but due to her short stature had difficulty reaching the platform. John was concerned so she found work at the Ball plant. She left her job shortly after John retired from U.S. Steel. In the late 1950s, Mary and John had a smaller home built on the east side of Glen Park, giving her son their Ridge Road home. Within a year, he had decided to relocate to Florida so the couple moved back to their old homestead. Mary’s oldest daughter and granddaughter, along with her mother, resided there through the 1960s, though the home was put up for sale in 1966. After John’s death on 20 October 1970, Mary continued to be active with her many lady friends. Throughout her life, she enjoyed playing bunco, going to movies, and visiting those that had relocated to California and Florida. After her daughter Dorothy relocated to Florida, Mary sold her home to her former daughter-in-law, Betty Altomere Kos, and moved to St. Petersburg, Pinellas, Florida in October 1973. Her daughter, Mary Lou, had moved to Arizona and after a visit, Mary decided she would move there. She returned to Florida in 1977, living in the same apartment complex, Brookside Square, as her daughter. Due to the onset of Alzheimers Disease, her children decided she should live with her daughter Anne Marie in Pennsylvania in October 1979. Anne Marie had difficulty with the arrangement and after one month, Mary was living with her daughter Mary Lou in Arizona. Mary died in Scottsdale on 5 June 1985 and was interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, Glen Park, Indiana.

Mary was barely 5 feet tall and her mother, Anna, was shorter than her. Anna was recorded as being 5′ 2″ at the time she emigrated. Mary was only 12 and still growing which is possibly why she and her brother Joseph had no height information recorded.
The family had a name change after arriving in the U.S. Manifests show they left Austria-Hungary with the surname Kos and were still using that spelling in 1914. Sometime between 1914 and 1917, however, the name was changed to Koss as is shown on Mary’s wedding certificate. This submitter asked Mary why the name was changed; she stated that it was a recommendation of a clerk at Ellis Island. He said to think about it as most American names are longer than three letters. The family continued to use the original spelling but as they became assimilated, decided to add a letter to their surname. It was at that time that also Americanized their first names. Barbara continued to use the original surname spelling of her maiden name throughout her life. Mary’s son, George, changes his name from Koss to Kos while serving in the Coast Guard during World War 2.

Submitted by:
Lori Samuelson
Email: genealogyatheart@gmail.com