Saturnin and Jozefa, or Josephine as she was known in this country, were born in Poland and emigrated to the USA in 1904 and 1903 respectively. They both settled in New Britain, Connecticut where they met and were married and raised their family.
SATURNIN ROMAN (son of Ignacy Roman and Malgorzata Zmijewska), b. Kitki, Dzierzgowo parish, Poland 12 Dec 1883,[7] d. New Britain, CT 7 Aug 1939,[2] m. New Britain 9 Feb 1909[11] JOSEPHINE BECMER (dau. of Jozef Becmer and Julianna Chmielewska), b. Poland 7 Mar 1887, d. New Britain 9 Feb 1954.[6]
Saturnin Roman and Josephine Becmer, the first of the family to come to America, arrived in the early 20th century, he in 1904 and she in 1903. Saturnin arrived in the port of New York on Oct. 27, 1904 on the ship Patricia, which left Hamburg, Germany on Oct. 13.[7] Other records place him in this country as early as 1903, such as the 1920 Federal census[1] but these are obviously in error. New York records verify the Patricia did arrive in New York from Hamburg on October 27, 1904.[12/98][13] While Saturnin's name cannot be found on the passenger arrival list, it is due to the fact that numerous entries are illegible on the microfilm copy (note: the passenger list gives the embarkation date from Hamburg as October 14).[13] He does appear, however, on the Hamburg emigration list for the Patricia and is listed as coming from Rogowo.[14] His death certificate of 1939 states that he had been in the country for 35 years.[2]
Jozefa Becmer arrived 9 April 1903 on board the Prinzess Irene which sailed from Bremen, Germany on the 28th of March. Her age was given as 18 although later records would make her 16 at the time. Perhaps she needed to be 18 to travel without an adult. She was from Ruszkowo, had $3 with her and was headed to New Britain to her cousin Feliks Wisniewski of 353 Arek Street.[21]
It's not known precisely what brought Saturnin and Josephine to this country, but it was no doubt the chance for a better life. They may have been enticed to come to America by letters sent home to others in their towns or by others they knew, relatives in Josephine's case. There was, in fact, a large Polish community in New Britain, CT, which is where they settled and lived the remainder of their lives. Saturnin stated that he resided continually in New Britain since October 27, 1904, the day he arrived in New York.[7] In 1906 Saturnin first appears in the New Britain City Directories. At that time he was listed as an employee of the Parker Shirt Company and was a boarder at the rear of 55 East Main Street.[3/29:273] These directories generally came out the year after the information was collected.
Saturnin and Josephine married in 1909. She was from Radzynek, Plock, Poland, and he was from Rogowo, Lomza, Poland. Attendants at the wedding were Joseph Grubarczyk and Magdalena Wisniewska. Saturnin became a naturalized citizen of the United States on June 29, 1917. He was 5 feet, 5 inches tall with blue eyes and brown hair and weighed 142 pounds.[7] He was a factory worker, working at Landers Frary and Clark for most of his life. Other places of employment included the Parker Shirt Company (1906)[3/29:273] and Corbin Screw Corp. (1915-18,1924).[3/39:418] Most directories listed Saturnin simply as "employee", but several in the 1930's list him as a "buffer" at LF & C.[3/53:693] In 1917 he called himself "machine hand".[7] Places of residence in New Britain included 55 East Main Street in 1906 as a boarder, 32 North Street in 1907 as a boarder,[3/30:297] 223 High St. in 1909,[11] 72 Grove St. in 1912,[7] 77 Silver St. in 1914,[10] 117 Broad Street in 1917,[7] 336 Allen Street in 1918[3/41:439] as a home owner, and owner of 317 Clinton Street from at least 1923[3/538] until his death. Joseph Roman recalls moving to Clinton Street in 1923,[8] and the property remained in the family until the mid-1970's.
Seven sons of this family survived to adulthood, but an eighth son, Henry, died at the age of two months in February 1914. His parents are listed in the record as Simon Roman and Jozefa Rosenska of 77 Silver Street, both from Poland, Russia.[10] The names of the parents are obviously wrong as Saturnin and Jozefa ("Betzmer") Roman are listed as Henry's parents on his birth certificate. It is interesting to note that Saturnin's name disappears from the New Britain city directories around 1910-1914, yet there is listed a Stanislov Roman in the 1912 book as a boarder at 72 Grove Street,[3/35:4231] the same address that Saturnin listed as his residence in 1912 when declaring his intent to become naturalized.[7] In the 1913 directory Stanislov Roman is shown living at 77 Silver Street.[3/36:445] "Simon" Roman was the informant for Henry's death record, but it was written up by the undertaker, who may have collected the data and then written it down a little later ... and a little wrong. Most records list Saturnin's birthplace as Rogowo and Josephine's as Ruszkowo, but on the first child's birth certificate, Saturnin's place of birth is given as "Kitki - gub. Plocka Poland" and Josephine's place of birth is "Radzynek - gub. Plocka Poland". Radzynek is just south of Ruszkowo. Her maiden name on this record was written in pencil as Betzmer and over the top of that, in ink, as Becmer. This is an easy mistake to understand when you realize that the Polish "c" is pronounced like "tz" in English.
Another son, Leo, died at a young age in the closing days of World War II. He was a navigator-bombadier on the B-26 bomber. The B-26 was apparently not a forgiving airplane. Len Morgan writes in the February 1994 Flying magazine, "The alarming accident rate of the first Martin B-26 Marauders resulted in a Congressional investigation to decide if production should be continued. 'One a day in Tampa Bay' was the grim joke down at McDill Field, where crews were trained. At the same time the word from combat units in the South Pacific was, 'We like the B-26. Send us more'. While the Marauder was not fault-free, crew training was the main problem. When an engine quit during takeoff, it had long been standing practice to lower the nose, retract flaps and build speed. The traditional 'bend it over and clean it up' response in a B-26 often saw it sinking back to earth. The proper drill was to leave the flaps down and maintain minimum climbing speed. ... One of the first B-26 missions flown from England was intended to bomb a power station in Holland from 150 feet. The flight was met with withering ground fire; one plane was shot down, another badly damaged. Three days later, 10 more tried the same tactic. None returned. The disastrous low-level approach was abandoned, and thereafter the B-26 bombed from the medium levels, which proved its natural element. Despite the initial training problems and the disastrous raid, the Marauder ended the war with the lowest combat loss rate of any American bomber in Europe."
Prior to coming to this country Saturnin lived in Rogowo, Poland.[7][9] He was born in Kitki, Poland,[7] but other information about his life before his emigration is unknown. There are several towns in Poland by the name Rogowo, but Saturnin came from the one in Lomza province.[16] It is in the parish of Ploniawy where his Chodkowski ancestors came from. In 1883, the time of his birth, Kitki had 20 houses and 173 inhabitants.[18/4:115] From the same record we find that the village that Saturnin's mother came from was even smaller. Borowe-Gryki, in 1883, had 4 houses and 27 inhabitants.[18/1:319] Saturnin died at about 3:15 P.M. while working as a machine operator at Landers Frary and Clark.[2]
Josephine was the daughter of Joseph and Julianna (Chmielewska) Becmer. Just prior to marriage, she lived at 291 High St., which would have been just up the street from her soon-to-be husband. She was a factory worker at the time[11] and came from Ruszkowo, Plock, Poland as given on several of her children's baptismal records,[16] and that is where she was visiting when she gave birth to her second child, John.[5] Ruszkowo is in the parish of Trabin. She died about 8:45 on the morning of February 9, 1954 of a cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease and was buried at St. Mary's in New Britain Feb. 12, 1954.[6] Josephine had returned to Poland in 1911 to visit family. She had taken son Edmund with her and gave birth to son John while there. The three of them returned 18 September 1912 on board the Potsdam which sailed from Rotterdam on September 7th. At this time Josephine was described as 26 years old, five feet tall with brown hair and grey eyes. Traveling with them was Josephine's sister Stefania Becmer. She was described as 18 years old, 5' 0" with fair complexion, brown hair and brown eyes and born and living in Ruskowo, Plock. Her nearest relative in Poland was Jozef Becmer in Ruskowo.[21] Stefania returned to Poland, probably within a year.
Joseph Roman recalls that his father had a heavy Polish accent which he was very self-conscious about. It wouldn't help any when the kids would giggle or snicker when he spoke English. He goes on, "In the summer of 1926 (+ or -) brother John went shopping for food for our mother but needed clarification on some item or other, so he called back home. The telephone was newly installed about a week or so. The phone rang for some time before being answered. Our father picked up and said in his Polish accent, 'Hallo, nobody home', and hung up not knowing who was calling, and this might have been his first time on the phone. "Father was secretary of the Polish-American club and the Polish American Republican Club and very involved in its political status. Mother was the best cook and baker ever in our estimation. She could whip up a meal out of almost anything, especially from the garden, which had just about every vegetable - tomato, lettuce, peppers, beets, carrots, sour grass, which Mom made soup out of with her home-made noodles, especially on meatless Fridays. Besides the garden we had a large cherry tree (abundant), two apple trees, two pear trees, crabapple tree, peach, etc. Chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, two cows, fresh milk everyday including home churned butter from the cream."[8]
Saturnin and Josephine were both deeply interested in and helped out the Republican party in political matters.
Kitki is a village in the Roman Catholic parish of Dzierzgowo, which is in the province of Bydgoszcz. It is about 65 miles (105 km) north of Warsaw. Rogowo is just east of Przasnysz and about 30 km southeast of Kitki. Rypin is about 90 miles northwest of Warsaw. Ruszkowo - (pron. Roushkovo) 12 km northwest of Rypin. It is also 90 km due west of Kitki. Radzynek - 15 km south of Ruszkowo, 15 km southwest of Rypin.
REF: [1] Federal Census (1920) for New Britain, Hartford County,
Connecticut, Enumeration District 172, sheet 2. line 37
[2] Saturnin Roman Medical Certificate of Death as recorded
in the New Britain Town Clerk's Office
[3] The New Britain City Directory, 1906-1938
[4] Margaret Roman Medical Death Certificate as recorded
in the New Britain Town Clerk's Office
[5] Translation of photostat of Polish birth record of John Roman
[6] Josephine Roman Medical Death Certificate as recorded
in the New Britain Town Clerk's Office
[7] Saturnin Roman's Petition for Naturalization, U.S.
District Court in Hartford, CT, petition vol. 23, number 4225
[8] Family Recollections (John, Joseph, and Albert Roman)
[9] Joseph Roman's Baptismal Certificate from Church
of Sacred Heart of Jesus, New Britain, CT
[10] Henry Roman Medical Death Certificate as recorded
in the New Britain Town Clerk's Office
[11] Marriage Certificate of Saturnin Roman and Jozefa
Becmer, recorded in New Britain Town Clerk's Office
[12] Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship
Arrivals into the Port of New York, 1987 (pg.98)
[13] Passenger List of the Patricia, LDS microfilm number
1399192 (covers 26-27 Oct. 1904)
[14] Hamburg, Germany Direct Passenger Lists Sep-Nov 1904.
LDS microfilm number 472977, Page 1427, Line 193
[15] Family Recollections (Edmund A- Roman)
[16] Baptismal record of Felix Roman
[17] Birth Certificate of Albert Roman recorded in New
Britain Town Clerk's Office
[18] Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego (Geographical
Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom) edited in Warsaw), 1883
[19] Church Records of Trabin, Bydgocscz, Poland - LDS microfilms
0719305-0719307 (1830-40; 1841-55; 1856-65)
[20] Marriage Record of Saturnin Roman and Josephine Becmer
[21] Ellis Island searchable database
Children:
1. Edmund Aloysius, b. New Britain, CT Dec. 29, 1909,
d. New Britain April 24, 1974 (3 children, 6 grandchildren)
2. John Chester, b. Ruszkowo, Poland Jan. 25, 1912, d. New Britain,
CT Nov. 21, 1993 (cardiorespiratory arrest, due to or a
consequence of coronary artery disease)
3. Henry Witold, b. New Britain, CT Dec. 5, 1913, d. Feb. 6, 1914
(of acute gastro-enteritis)
4. Joseph Henry, b. New Britain, CT March 19, 1915 (3 children,
6 grandhcildren)
5. Albert John, b. New Britian, CT April 16, 1917, d. New Britain
Feb 1999
6. Stephen Walter, b. New Britain, CT Sept. 20, 1919, d.
Port Jefferson, NY Aug. 1996 (3 children, 5 grandchildren)
7. Leo Boleslaw (Leo John), b. Jan. 1922, d. Belgium March 21,
1945 (navigator-bombardier of a B-26, killed in action)
8. Mary, b. and d. Feb. 3, 1924, buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery
9. Felix, b. New Britain, CT May 30, 1925, d. Mansfield, OH
April 27, 1978 (3 children, 5 grandchildren - one by adoption)
10. Adam, b. and d. June 10, 1928 (born two months prematurely)
buried at St. Mary's
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