Anna was born in Czermna (map) on 7 March 1868 to parents Jan Data and Marianna Marcisz. She was the youngest of seven children.
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| excerpt - Anna Data baptism, Czermna, 8 March 1868 |
At the age of 20, she married older widower Andrzej Walczyk. Their marriage record says he was 52, but he was actually 56 years old. Andrzej was the father of nine children from his first marriage, but I'm not sure how many were alive when he married Anna. Daughter Clara (age 15) and son Frank (age 2½) were certainly alive and up to four more children might have been living as well.
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| excerpt - Andrzej Walczyk - Anna Data marriage, Czermna, 16 Feb 1889 |
Anna (Data) Walczyk was the mother of at least six children, all born in Czermna. Son Gregory (Grzegorz) was the first born to Andrzej and Anna, on 13 February 1890. Four more followed: Mary (Marya) in 1892, Zofia in 1894, Piotr in 1896, and Bridget (Bronisława) in 1899. Unfortunately the Czermna baptism records after 1900 are not available, so there could be a few more children I haven't found. However, one more son, Władysław, born in 1905, was discovered via his siblings' obituaries.
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| Frank Walczyk obituary, 5 August 1968, Dziennik Chicagoski Siblings Bronsława Kurek, Marya Nosal, Władisław Walczyk are named at the end of last paragraph. |
In 1906, Anna's husband died, leaving her a widow at the age of 38. Son Gregory was 16 and Władysław was not yet two years old.
Andrzej Walczyk had been a farm laborer, a peasant. Their life had likely been difficult even before his death, but one imagines the situation became rather grim afterwards. Anna did not remarry. All of the children worked, even the younger ones. There was not much time to spare for education. According to the 1940 U.S. Census, Gregory had only two years of school, Mary four, and Bridget five.
