DOLINSHEKS
Stanley Francis Dolinshek
October 8, 1995
(Transcription of a written letter to his granddaughter, Mary Brandenburg.)
Dolinshek – Anglicized version.
Dolinšek – Slovenian spelling. (Š is pronounced sh, with the little v over the S.)
Slovenia is the lower province of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two provinces or states that the Slovenes occupied were Carinthia and Carniola. (Karten and Krain in German.)
My sources of information on the nation was the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912. This volume contains maps and all references (not slanted) meaning true. Your Uncle, Frank Dolinshek (Ortonville, MI) ,now has possession of these volumes, 17 in all. You are welcome to use or borrow them.
Frank Dolinshek
Grandpa Frank in Kamnik, Jugoslavia / Stein, Austria. (Stone, in English.) Born near there in 1859 or 1860. Grandpa Frank Dolinshek died in 1943 in Slovenia. Only two children in his family. His only brother worked in a logging camp in Bosnia and was killed by a falling tree. He was buried on the spot.
Grandpa Frank was a well-disciplined man serving in the calvary of the Austrian Army. After service separation, he came home and married a girl named Josephine. I can find her last name from Frances Ursic, my cousin, in Waco, TX.
Grandpa Frank had six children:
- Nicholas, born 9 December 1885. Baptized Nicholas because St. Nicholas was the 6th of December. (Nearest Saint’s name.) Died April 18, 1951.
- Mary, single all life. Died 1973.
- Frank, of Aspen, CO. Died 1954. Had 5 children.
- Jenny or Johanna, married a Ursic. No record of them..
- Frances, now 98. Will be 99 on Nov 22nd. Oldest living relative. Three children. Resides in Waco, TX with her two daughters.
- John, stayed in Europe entire life except for a visit to find his American relatives in 1975. I believe his son is his Sacramento, CA. Louis Dolinshek gets his mail by mistake. Louis is in Sonora, CA.
Grandpa Frank came to the U.S. in the turn of the century. He worked first in Hurley, Wisconsin, then moved on to Ely, MN, Eveleth, MN, finally, Chisholm, MN. (That is where Nicholas went at age 19.) Always in the underground mines, iron mining. As high as $2.50 a day. 12 hours work.
Nicholas Dolinshek
Nicholas Dolinshek came to the U.S. in 1906 aboard the S.S. Bremen. His father, Frank Dolinshek, paid his fare.
Nicholas also worked in the mines, but didn’t like it, so he went to Denver, Colorado, where he worked in a nail factory. He didn’t like that either so he went to Trinidad, Colorado (coal mining), Primero, Colorado (now extinct). He didn’t like that job so he came back to Chisholm, Minnesota. He got a job in the powerhouse as a steam boiler operator.
He found Mary Herlich (1908) and they were married in Eveleth, MN. (No Catholic church in Chisholm.) Incidentally, Grandpa Frank was back in Europe at the time.
Nicholas and Mary had 8 children:
- Rose – married Louis Spinelli. 3 children.
- Stanley – married Nelda Kenney. 9 children.
- Victor – married twice, divorced. No children. WWII Veteran. Died Sept 1970. Interred Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
- MaryAnn – Mushro. No children. Suffered stroke. Now 80.
- Josephine – single. Dearborn, MI.
- Albert – married Dorothy Scroggie. 1 child, Sandra. Born 1945.
- Joseph – married Vera Lombardo. 4 children. WWII Veteran, Staff Sargent. Died 1987. Interred Resurrection Cemetery, Waterford, MI.
- Louis – married Mary Simon. 3 children, 1 boy. Divorced. Remarried Betty. 2 children, Keith & Cindy. 5 children total.
Mary Herlich
Mary Herlich came to the U.S. at age 14 with a friend named Mary Perko aboard the S.S. Bremen. She worked in hotel and boarding houses as a cook and kitchen duty in New York. She moved on to Chisholm, met Nicholas and was married.
Mary Herlich came from a family of two. When she was 5 years old, her brother was 7 years old; they were tending sheep in the mountains when a bolt of lightning struck him and killed him. Mary, standing beside him, was unharmed.
Her father died when she was very young (1889.) Her mother left her in care of an Aunt so she could come to America. Nicholas and Mary put ads in all foreign newspapers for her whereabouts but no replies were ever received. (Could be — she went to South America. Or piracy by British to send pretty white women to Egypt.)
On a verbal visit, Rose Spinelli assumes Mary Herlich came from Semec, Slovenia.
Mary Herlich’s history and wedding dress were burned in a fire in Chisholm, MN in late 1908. No casualties in that fire. She was
sheltered in the Washington School. That school has been torn down since.
[NOTE: Please see the “Great Chisholm Fire of 1908” for more information.]
High blood pressure and hard living led her to have a stroke after Albert was born in 1918. She was weak and could no longer care for Joe. (Joe was in the care of Mr. Grahek.)
Albert (3 yrs. old), Joe (1.5 yrs. old) and Louis, still a baby, were sent to St. Louis County children’s home in 1922. Later, Louis was in the care of Mrs. Vukonich.
Mary never saw her three young ones after that. She was confined to St. Lukes Hospital in Duluth, MN (there were two St. Lukes Hospitals in Duluth – regular and confined) where she died, 2nd November 1923 (All Souls’ Day).
[NOTE: Mary Herlich’s death certificate states she died on 1 Nov 1923. In 1923, All Saints’ Day fell on 1 Nov 1923. All Souls’ Day fell on 2 Nov 1923.]
She was interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Chisholm, MN in the family plot with 6 graves. (It is nearby, but far.)
My father Nicholas saw her faithfully every month and told her of family news. The oldest (five) were making preparations to visit my mother when the sad news arrived. We were at St. James Catholic Orphanage in Woodland Park, Duluth, MN.
Rose Spinelli deserves credit for caring for all of us, all those years. Rose, aged to 85 – October 7, 1995.
1926- My father was on fixed day pay, 42 cents per hour. He changed jobs because the new job paid 1 penny more: 43 cents an hour, $3.36 per day. Total average: $75 a month. $3.50 of that went for a check assignment – the grocer picked up your check and gave you credit for one month, or $65-67.