The Family of Joseph Vavra

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The Family of Joseph Vavra, Jr. (1879-1957) and Julia Skoda (1885-1945)

Joseph and Julia Vavra, Pauline, Mary, Velma, Pauline's godmother

From Slovakia and Johnstown, NY, USA

Genealogical research for this site was done by Ginny Flynn.
We express great appreciation for all her work.

Family Names Links:

Joseph Vavra, Jr.

Son of Joseph Vavra (died in 1892) and Helena Maderic* Vavra (1858--1940)
Born: Mar 16, 1879 in Kuty, Slovakia.
Immigrated probably around 1913
Married Julia Skoda probably in Slovakia
Owned a house at 8 Burton Street in Johnstown, Fulton County, NY where he was a leather worker.
Died in Johnstown on Dec 9, 1957 and was buried at St. Anthony's Cemetery there.
- According to the death certificate, the cause was coronary thrombosis. He had general arteriosclerosis for 5 years and also suffered from adeno carcinoma of stomach.
- Joseph's physician, who signed the death certificate was William F. Hesek, M.D. Johnstown, NY 12/10/57.
  We wonder if this physician was related to Frank Hesek, who was married to Joseph's sister, Anna Vavra. Frank and Anna Hesek lived in Johnstown for a short time.
*Alternate spelling of Maderic is Magyerics (Slovak document)
Madairix (US census)

8 Burton St., Johnstown, N.Y.
(picture taken 2000)

Julia Skoda Vavra

Daughter of Mark Skoda and Mary Doman of Slovakia.
- They also had a son, Matus Skoda.
Born February 16, 1885 in Kuty, Slovakia
Died on November 3, 1945 at the age of 60 years. Buried in St. Anthony's Cemetary
- According to the death certificate, the cause was adeno carcinoma of the colon from which she suffered for one year. Wm. Hesek, MD signed the certificate.
- John Lasak, Congress St., Schenectady was listed as the funeral director, and Mrs. Mildren Razkowski, living at 8 Burton St. signed the certificate.

Julia's brother, Matus Skoda and Anna Pavelka were married in Czechoslovakia on January 27, 1914.
During World War I, he was imprisioned by the Russians and spent 5 years in Siberia. After his release, he immigrated to America (about 1927) and Anna followed in 1932. They made their home in Natick, MA. In 1964. they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. See the newspaper article about that celebration.

We wish to thank Ivan Faltejek for the information on Matus and Anna Skoda.

The Children of Joseph and Julia Vavra

Joseph and Julia Vavra had five children: Pauline, Matthew, Mary, Velma, and Francis.

Pauline Vavra Rubsca (July 23, 1904--Nov 30, 1925) Born in Hungary. Father: Joseph. Mother: Unknown

Pauline Vavra married Joseph Rubsch (born 1902)
They had two children: Mildred (born 17 Aug 1922) and Joseph (1925--1943) who served in WWII and died in the China Sea
Julia Vavra was Millie's godmother. Both Millie's parents died young and Julia and Joseph raised her. She was looked upon as a sister to Mary and Velma. [ML]

Matej (Matthew) Vavra

Apr 22, 1906 in Slovakia--May 18, 1974
Matthew Vavra married Victoria Vizvary (7 Oct 1906 in Slovakia--31 Oct 1960)
- Victoria's parents were Henry Vizvary and Eva Kollar
- She had a daughter Pauline [Miller] (1928--June 24, 1969) whose father was Eugene Viola, Sr.

In the 1930 census, Matthew was listed as Michael Vavra

Mary Vavra

Jan 18, 1913--July 01, 1963 in Johnstown, NY

Velma Evans

Born Oct 6, 1915 in Natick, MA--Died Dec,1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan
She worked for the Navy in World War II.
Married Charles Luft. They had three children.

Velma and Charles Luft divorced and she later married Lou Evans.
Velma receive recognition from the Navy. See the document here.

Update May, 2008. Thanks to Velma's grandson for the information about her family..

Francis Vavra

Feb 23, 1926--1927 in Johnstown, NY as an infant.

See Joseph Vavra family documents here.

Memories of this Family

Margaret remembers:

I knew Mary. We used to call her Little Mary. Her death certificate said she was afflicted with dwarfism. I was very young when she visited.*****Matt visited in the 50's and helped my young son, Edward, tan a muskrat he had trapped in the brook that ran through our back yard.*****I know I liked these cousins. I didn't know Pauline or Velma. I don't remember ever meeting Uncle Joe or Aunt Julia.

Barbara remembers:

I knew Uncle Joe and Little Mary. They came to Schenectady often when I was a little girl. I think they came by train.*****Millie Rubsca and Polly Miller were good friends with Aunt Rose and Aunt Millie. They all had a lot of fun together. I remember a lot of laughing. I didn't realize they were Vavra's.*****I also recognize Uncle Matt and the Vizvary name, again not realizing they were Vavra's.

After reviewing this research, the most fascinating thing to me was this. In recent years, Aunt Rose told me that when her favorite aunt, Pauline died, she just went in her room and cried all by herself. Of course, I felt bad that she had to cry "all by herself". I couldn't figure out who her Aunt Pauline was. I'm wondering now if it might have been Pauline Rubsha. Aunt Rose was 9 years old when Pauline died. Pauline was her cousin, but she was 13 years older.

Another thing that hit me was how the Joseph Vavra and the Josephine Vavra families had a lot of deaths at the same time.
Josephine lost her brother, Joseph Vavra in 1957 and her husband, Thomas Palkovic in 1959 (colon cancer).*****

In the four year period between 1963 and 1971, there were 7deaths between the two families. I remember how hard that was for me, a young woman in my twenties with four premature deaths in the family including my father. As I think back now about Aunt Rose, who was in her mid-forties. I shudder to think about how much crying she did alone. She lost 3 siblings, 3 cousins and 1 niece.

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