Błaszczychas in the USA

My parents, Joseph Zuchowski and Antonina Zylka came to America from Poland. My dad came to Detroit in 1903, a year later my mom arrived. They were married October, 1905, in Detroit, Michigan. They had two children in 1906 and 1907. They moved to Rossford in 1908 to get work at Libbey Owens Ford Co. Six more children were born in Rossford. Frank, Chester, Walter, Ted, Mary, Stella, Wanda and I lived in the same house on Bacon St. where my brother, Ted still lives. I was born on December 13, 1911. When my dad was 28 years old, he became an American citizen, automatically making his wife a citizen with him. We called him Ta.

We know that at that time in Altoona, Pennsylvania there lived Franciszek Piotrowski with his son Andrzej (Andrew). Franciszek was the younger brother of Błażej (the forefather of the clan of Błaszczychas). There is little evidence about him so we can only suspect that Franciszek later returned to Poland (and lived with his other son Józef in Stara Wieś). So when in April of 1910 two young Błażej's sons, Franciszek and Kazimierz had arrived to America perhaps only Andrzej with his American family lived in Altoona. The boys went there to visit them. Surely this was arranged before by letter.
There was no time for enjoying cousin's hospitality for long. Franciszek and Kazimierz wanted to get job, to stand firm on their legs. So they soon went further. To their uncle Józef (Joe) Żuchowski in Rossford, Ohio - then a village newly founded (in 1898) by Edward Ford around his Plate Glass Company.
He was a husband of their mother's sister. Their father died twenty years before so it is natural that the family was in closer relation with mather's relatives.
It was May 8. 1910. The family tradition preserved in memory that they came by street car from the railway station. They got off at Bergin and Dixie.
The boys didn't speak English, had little money (if any), didn't know customs of the country they had landed in. But they were young and bright, they had hands eager to work. So let us guess they were rather self-confident than upset. We don't know what weather was then. It was May, so let it be fine and sunny day. And let us see in this sunny May day two smart Polish boys joyful and full of good hope looking for the house of their uncle Józef Żuchowski on Bacon Street. Looking for their new future (such a sunny day would happen again several times in the future with other young self-confident Błaszczychas in the main role, also in Poland).
Franciszek and Kazimierz stayed with the Józef Żuchowski's family for several years.
Angela writes about this times:

I started first grade in 1916 at St. Mary Magdalene School.
Our family attended St. Mary Magdalene Church. The school was in the same building. The church was upstairs, and the school in the basement. In the beginning there weren't too many children attending classes. Later, they built another building when more classrooms were needed.
In 1918, my parents owned cows. We got permission to take them to graze behind the church and school in the pasture. Everyday for two years or more my brother and I took turns taking them back and forth. My mother milked the cows and we delivered milk to neighbors. Later we went to pick berries at Henry Rinker's berry farm on Lime City Road. We picked them for about five years, walking there from our home on Bacon Street, which took us 20 minutes.
In 1921, my dad designed and built the Polish Club for the advancement of the moral, educational and social betterment and welfare of its members, the thorough Americanization of its members and especially of those seeking to become citizens of the USA. Along with Adam Gorka, Paul Zylka, Tony Jos Melinski, and Joseph Kornasiewicz and Joseph Zuchowski, the club was formed.

Polish newcomers adapted themselves to the new life pretty quickly. Kazimierz came to the USA in 1910, in 1914 was already married, in 1917 had a house of his own and at the beginning of 1920s was a joint owner of a shoe-store (together with his brother) worth a lot of money. Ten years after his arrival to America! His brother bought in 1924 a house (in Detroit, Michigan) for a sum of $8400, very high at those times.
For long time they preserved tradition and customs of their fathers.
Angela recorded:

I married Frank A. Szychowski on June 25, 1932 in St. Mary Magdalene Church. We had a big family wedding reception at the Polish Club. A family style chicken dinner was served with mashed potatoes, gravy, salads, kapusta, coffee, wedding cake, pop and alcoholic spirits. A Polish Band played after dinner and we had a Grand March where the bride and groom sit and watch the guests dance in lines to end at the couple for kisses, hugs, and a toast with a shot of whiskey. A cigar was given out by bartenders. My mother took my veil off and replaced it with a cap, singing a sad song telling of my future life as I sat on my husbands lap. Then we had the Sweetheart Dance, where the bride and groom dance in the middle of a circle of guests holding hands singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". (Polish co-authors of this "Guidebook" don't know the song neither the custom) The guests sang in Polish and danced polkas, waltzes, and oberdiks until three a.m.
The next day, we invited the immediate family to the Popravine to eat the leftovers and have a mock wedding. (this custom is not known to Polish co-authors of this "Guidebook" too) Men dressed up as members of the wedding party and a man impersonating a priest would pretend to have the wedding over again. To celebrate, they'd shine guests shoes who would drop a dollar in a basket as a gift to the bride and groom. Sue Szychowski played the accordion while singing a Polish song.

First American Błaszczychas married girls from Polish-American families. Their children were brought up as Polish and American. They were bilingual (at least when they were young). But they were not Polish, they set American. They married boys and girls having various ethnic roots (however mostly East-European). Their Polish background showed only in the way of celebrating some holidays (especially Christmas) and in serving some dishes (pierogi!). Their children no longer were taught the language of their fathers.
The American "melting pot" has done well its job.
But being American they are still Błaszczychas. There are no mean, rotten people among them. They are mostly well educated and well doing. They are honest and upright.