Rachis, Bagdes, Dapsis, Waitkus Story
Stanislaw Racis, b.1798, d.1895 was a farmer and an excellent horseman. The Russians captured him and forced him to train their horses in the Russian Army. He escaped from the Russians by tiptoeing over their sleeping bodies. He returned to his home and hid in a hole in the ground under a haystack for five months to hide from the Russians, causing his hair to turn white at age 17.
He went on to have five wives and lived 97 years. I don't know anything about the first three wives. The fourth wife, Anna Liszeuskich had five children with Stanislaw Racis:
Michael - died in Europe
Stanley - came to America first, then died in Europe
Rosalia b.10/15/1886 d. 4/11/1966
Maryanna Yoanna b.10/22/1887, d.10/15/1969
Veronica - died very young in Europe
Anna Liszeuskich died in childbirth. Rosalia and Maryanna were overjoyed at the funeral, because there was food and they were hungry. Stanislaw Racis then married Anna, who was approximately 25 years old. We don't know her last name. She is the mother of Joseph Rachis. Anna did not want the children of the previous wife in her home, so Rose and Maryanna were sent to be live-in maid servants (slouzina) on a large farm. Anna re-married after Stanislaw Racis died and lived for a very long time.
Rose and Maryanna's brother Stanley came to America first. Rose was angry that her father, who was a learned person and knew how to read did not push to make sure his children were educated Rose did not know how to read.
Michael Bagdes-Canning's father researched Rose's immigration to America. He got a copy of the ship manifest:
Raczis, Rosalia 18 yrs.
Gostowski, Russia F Maid Servant
Polish Russia, Simno, Russia
Brother Stanislaw Raczis, Simno Czyplikswin
Cousin Mazaliem, Wincenty
1632 Shakespere St., Baltimore, MD
$12.50 Paid
5'4" Fair, L Brown, Blue
Sept. 4, 1907 -- S. S. Frankfurt
I get her age at 19 when she arrived. She was sponsored by a tavern owner who put her to work. It turned out to be a whorehouse, but it took a while for Rose to realize it. She had not learned anything about sex and reproduction before this.
Rose married Alexander Bagdes October 26, 1908. Their first child, Petrinella was born 12/20/08. It seems clear that Alexander was not Petrinella's father. Petrinella was short and chubby, while all the other children from this marriage were slender and tall. I think Rose and Alex had 11 children, six of whom survived to adulthood.
Rose and Alexander lived in Baltimore until 1930. The house they were renting burned to the ground; they got out with just the clothes on their backs; they were barefoot. They then moved to Dell Avenue in Logan's Ferry, PA joining Alexander's sister, who lived on Dombroski Street in Logan's Ferry, Karolina Bagdes Waitkus, b. 1888, d. 1/16/71 and her husband Antanas (Anthony) Waitkus b. 1891, d. 1/1944 and their five children, one of whom is my father, Kashmir Andrew. They worked in the coal mine.
In 1943, Rose and her children moved to Detroit, again to find work. I believe Petrinella preceded the family to Detroit and encouraged her mother and the rest of the family to move there. Alexander had died in October, 1940
Maryanna Rachis worked as a live-in maid, saved $100 and came to America to join her sister, Rose, in Baltimore. On the ship coming over there was much sickness and Maryanna tried to help the sick people and care for their children. In Baltimore, she worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital, most likely in the kitchen. In 1910, she met and married Stanislaw Dapszis b.1/14/1880, d.12/30/1968. They lived in Sparrow's Point, Baltimore County, MD., where Joseph Dapszis, b. 1/14/11, d.12/1/79, Victor Dapszis, b. 1912, d. 7/9/1923, Agnes Dapszis, b.10/24/13 (she's 96 and near death), and Maryanne Dapszis, b. 4/16/16, d.12/17/91 were born. Stanislaw worked as a shipyard laborer.
They moved to the Williamburg section of Brooklyn, NY circa 1923 (guess). Stanislaw worked at great heights on building the Empire State Building in 1931. Circa 1933 (another guess), the family moved to 8424 85th Street, Woodhaven, Long Island, NY. They rented out the first and third floor and lived on the second floor of the beautiful Victorian house.
One house over from 8424 85th Street at 8436 85th Street, lived Joseph Rachis b.1895, d. 6/25/63 and his wife, Emma MIles Rachis, b. 1900, d.11/21/1988. Joseph Rachis is a half brother to Rosalia Rachis Bagdes and Maryanna Rachis Dapsis. Joseph and Emma had two children, Joseph, b.11/29/1920, d. 1/20/2009 and Marie, b. 8/18/1919, d. 4/8/2004. Our Joe Rachis, b.11/28/1951 and who is addressed in this email is the issue from Joe Rachis the second, born in 1920. We have much to learn about his family.
Agnes Wota was the niece of Joseph Rachis, the first born in 1895. Helen Schnell, age 71, is the daughter of Agnes Wota. We have just found each other and hope to learn more about the family connection.
Agnes Dapszis Waitkus went to P.S. #196 for Junior High School. It was an all-girl school. She was taught Algebra, French, and Art Appreciation. The required outfit was a pleated serge skirt, and a white drill midi-blouse. For gym, she wore shorts to the knee, a white midi-blouse, and a red or blue scarf. She graduated in 1929 at age 15.
She then went to Manhattan Needle Trade School on West 39th Street in NY. She took a three-year course, finished early in June, 1932 at age 18. She was required to wear a beige smock with long sleeves. She got her first job, but had to go to school in the afternoon.
Agnes got a job on Park Avenue with a French couturier designer, who made couture for notables and movie stars. She met Dane Clark, Rose Kennedy, Jean Harlow, Kathryn Hepburn, Simone Beauvoir and many more I can't remember. Her boss used Agnes as a model for the fashionable clothing. I have dozens of photos of Agnes posing and modeling clothes. (See this website’s section, “Our Albums, Agnes Dapsis Waitkus for plenty of fashionable posing!) One smoking HOT photo was published in a magazine called “400.” She won a trip to Miami, Florida from her work. Her boss wanted to send her to Paris, but Agnes' father, Stanislaw, adamantly refused to allow her to go.
Through family visits to her Aunt Rosalia's family in Logan's Ferry, PA, near Pittsburgh in western PA, she met her Aunt Rosalia's husband, Alexander's Bagdes family, of which Kashmir Andrew Waitkus, b. 9/21/16 d. 11/17/95, was a part. They corresponded. Agnes had many boyfriends, but Kashmir attracted her. They visited as relatives. Kashmir and his cousin, Fabian Sebastian Bagdes, entertained her when she was in Pittsburgh, PA. They took her to Kennywood Amusement Park, which she loved. Then, after a lot of correspondence, Kash and Agnes decided to meet secretly in Harrisburg, PA to see if their attraction was real. They were then married in St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church in NYC on August 18, 1940. Agnes wore a wedding gown designed and sewn at the Park Avenue shop where she worked. I was born in New Kensington, PA November 1, 1941.
Reflections about Paul Waitkus by his Daughter, Lori Waitkus Milson, on what would be his 90th Birthday
Happy 90th Birthday Dad! If you were still here with us, we would be having one hell of a birthday bash.
Shopping List, in order of importance: Manhattans Cold Beer
Walleye and Perch
Dot’s Tarter Sauce
Tomatoes from his garden
Freshly picked corn on the cob (not ONE day old)
Paul Francis Waitkus. A man who loved what he loved with undeniable, extreme passion. Another list in order of importance:
His Dorothy Marie
Fishing
Winning at cards
Family (Come on guys, I’m just being honest here. We come in fourth) Friends Pixie The land and everything
he grew from it
Sports of any kind
Good food and drink
Women (didn’t necessarily have to be his friends)
Practical jokes (played BY him, not ON him)
This may not come as a big surprise to many reading this, but I’ll let the cat out of the bag. Dad was very opinionated. Yes, folks, it’s true. If you met him and had a conversation lasting more than five minutes, you very well knew it. And if you didn’t agree with him, well sorry, but you were just plain STUPID. Dad’s favorite word in the English language. STUPID. Could be used in a sentence in many, many different ways. For example, a beautiful, luxurious, majestic 50 foot sail boat that most would give their right arm to own was STUPID because it wasn’t a fishing boat. Until we proved him wrong and limited out on perch one perfect day on Lake Erie. Seven people fishing, 210 in the box. Tessa was vindicated and Gary suddenly became “the best Captain on Lake Erie!”
Gary asking for his approval to marry his daughter and have the festivities at Put-In-Bay was STUPID. Until all 250 of HIS friends showed up and
paid homage to the proud Father who could afford to throw the wedding party of all wedding parties on an island in Lake Erie. (I think Dad did end up paying for the bagels and cream cheese for the wedding brunch.....)
If Dad declared any one of us as STUPID at any given time, well there was no reason to argue. It was what it was. And the reason you would be declared STUPID was because “YOU JUST DIDN’T THINK!” which was his favorite phrase.
In reflecting upon Dad’s birthday these last couple of days, I was flooded with so many happy memories. If Dad was happy, then EVERYONE was supposed to be happy. That’s just how it worked. But within the happy memories surfaced a regret that just kept nagging and nagging at me and it has for many years. Dad had so many health challenges, more than any one hard working man deserved. It seems, in my memory, that he was diagnosed with the Hystoplasmosis and the Hailey Hailey’s got worse and worse at about the same time, during my teens. Sadly, in hindsight, I was a normal teenage girl who cared more about boys and clothes and parties than the hell my own Dad lived through every day. Instead of feeling the compassion and sympathy I should have, I remember being mad at him a lot because he was so mean and grumpy, especially on those hot humid summer days when his skin literally boiled.
Then came the eye opening day, the “Ah Ha” day, the “what could I have been thinking” day when he asked me to drive him to Dr. Gerlinger’s for his Hailey Haileys appointment. (He had lost his drivers license after being declared legally blind from the Hystoplasmosis in his eyes.) I opted to wait in the car and listen to music instead of going in the office. I watched in shock as Dad limped back to the car and ever so gingerly sat down in the passenger seat. “Dad, what does he do to you in there?” I asked. “18” he answered. “18 what?” I asked. “18 shots of cortizone in my groin area” he replied casually. We drove home in silence. There were no words that I could piece together in my shame and sadness. How selfish I was all those years.
So, in closing, Dad I would like to say I am so sorry. I know that you know I loved you with all my heart, but....well, I was just STUPID and I JUST DIDN’T THINK! Happy Birthday! Enough said.