Facts and Findings

Per the Connecticut New Haven Registry article dated 26 Jul 1936, John Blaskow was a Captain in the Austrian Guards and served directly under Emperor Franz Josef. (*).  He was in the Turkish-Prussian war and after retirement from the army, he went into the wrought iron business in Vienna.  He came to America in 1904, after becoming troubled with rheumatism in 1897.  The doctors advised a change of climate would help and he came to America.

10 Jun 2004 - Found Janos Blaschko, blacksmith working in Szentgyorgy, Pozsony listed in the 1891 Hungarian Industry & Trade Directory.  This document was found at RadixIndex.com Hungarian Genealogy and Local History Database.

* The late Kaiser Franz Josef I (1830-1916) Emperor of Austria (1848-1916) and King of Hungary (1867-1916) lived in Vienna.  I can only find info on the Austro-Prussian War, no mention of a  Turkish-Prussian war.   About the land forces of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy from just prior to the outbreak of the Great War - "Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg"until the collapse of the monarchy in 1918.

The actual copy I have of the New Haven Registry, dated 26 Jul 1936 was missing a section of the article.  A recent find completing the article is as follows.  This article's informant was Elsie Blaskow Gill.

Moved to New Haven

In 1913, Mr. Blaskow moved to New Haven after attaining a wide prominence in New York when his wife’s health was threatened by the crowed areas of the metropolis.  He resumed his trade in the new city and up to the time of his retirement did much of the wrought iron work on construction throughout the city.

There has been tragedy in his life-the tragedy of a man who has lost his four sons all on the brink of manhood and showing promise of great intellectual attainments.  It was a series of blows to the elderly man that would have killed one weaker than he.  But today he remains a strong, high character figure who has withstood the suffering of life and has come out of the fray with a spirit that has hardly wavered.

There was John, who after studying ??? engineering in Vienna and giving promise of a brilliant career, came to this country to work with his father.  Two weeks after returning to his family, he was stricken with pneumonia and died within a few days.

In 1911, William, not yet turned 20, was studying for the priesthood when the rigor of his studies exhausted him, causing his untimely death.

In 1918, Stanley, stationed in Texas with the Ninth Infantry, disappeared and has never been heard from since.  The last word his parents had from him was a letter stating that he was leaving France.  Repeated queries at the war department and other government agencies have brought only the answer that a person of his name was never entered on the army’s rolls.  Whether he met an unknown soldier’s death on the battlefield or whether he today is wandering in some distant part of the world has never been determined.  Always with hope, his relatives are still seeking clues as to his fate.

Quirk of Fate

By an almost horrible quirk of fate the last son, Emil, was killed while starting on a determined search for his brother.  In 1921, when he had just turned 17, he announced his intention of going to Texas to run down every available clue as to his brother’s whereabouts.  He got as far as Illinois.  There a truck, speeding down a highway, trapped the boy and crushed out his life.

Mrs. Gill speaks with pride of her father.  There is something of a twist of glory in his name when she tells of his life in Europe and the tragic fate, which awaited him in America.

“He’s a wonderful man,” is he candid description of her father.  “I never thought he’d ever finish the cottage.  But once he got started we all saw that he was determined to finish the job.  I’m proud of this place because it was my father who has planned it and built it.  To look at him today you would not suspect that he’s 75.  His body and his spirit are both those of a much younger person.

And true it is, for the strength of his character and of his spirit are reflected in work that he has created.

Foot Note:  One of the children arriving in 1908, was named Gottlieb However, I do not know the American translation or if Will is Gottlieb.  Bronislov, appears in the 1910 census is this Emil too?  I am going by the names that were written in pencil on the actual picture shown above, John, Stanley, Will, Emil and in viewing the census and passenger list, 2 names appear as Gottlieb & Bronislov.  Which can be Bronislow.

I found a Johann Blaschkow, age 22, a workman from Hungary listed 5 Oct 1883, from Bremem, Germany on the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild SS Strassburg passenger list #355, this makes him being born about 1861.  This is confirmed by the newspaper article stating John Blaskow of being age 75 at the time of the writing.  However, in this newspaper article states John coming to America in 1904.

7 Oct 2002 - I found using Blaschkow as a variant in my search at Ellis Island.org a Joh. Blaschke coming to America in August 1904 ....the closet find yet. It says he was coming to a friend Franz H or Kasberg living at Calif. Ave 1005, I believe Chicago.