THE BEN SAKMAR STORY

by Mary Ann NOVAK, granddaughter of Ben SAKMAR and Anna TIMCHAK

The primary records for the SAKMAR family are in Spisske Kapitula. They show that Michael SAKMAR, a Greek Catholic, and Elizabeth (nee NEDECZ, a Roman Catholic) bore Joannus SAKMAR on April 11, 1810, in Brutovce, Spis, Austria Hungary. At the age of 21, Joannus married Anna KOMARA, daughter of Michael and Maria [nee ?] KOMARA of Brutovce on February 6, 1832. Anna was born April 4, 1813, and was 18 years of age at their marriage. The KOMARA name reappears often in our family history.

On April 30, 1833, Anna bore Jacob SAKMAR, our great grandfather, the father of Ben. Jacob was the first of six children for Anna and Joannus. Jacob's siblings were the following:

• Laurentius [b. 6.7.1839; d. 2.16.1915], m. Maria KOMARA on February 6, 1865, sons Georgius [b. 4.6.1872]; Basileus [b.6.18.1883]; Venantus [b.5.18.1887; d. 12.11.1929, age 42 of typhus];
• Joannes [6.12.1842];
• Mihaly [b.5.12.1845];
• Balint [b.2.8.1847];
• Maria [b.2.12.1848]; at 16/17 years of age, on February 6, 1865, married Stephanus BIROSCHAK, son of Matyas and Anna KICZKO BIROSCHAK; son Joannes [b.12.28.1865]; daughter Susanna [b.8.10.1879, d. 1959].

On February 9, 1863 at the age of 30, Jacob married Maria BIROSCHAK, age 18, daughter of Matyas [b.2.6.1811/12; son of Paul and Maria BIROSCHAK] and Anna KICZKO. Maria was the third of nine children. Maria's siblings were the following:

• Stephanus [b.12.26.1839, married Jacob's baby sister Maria SAKMAR in 1865];
• Martinus [.10.18.1842];
• Gyorgy [b.4.24.1846];
• Janos [b.8.15.1847];
• Michael [b.6.20.1851; d. 12.2.1894];
• Michael +Adamus [b.9.23.1855];
• Janos [b.6.22.1858].

Jacob and Maria farmed in Brutovce; Jacob also may have been a magistrate. They had 11 children - 10 sons and 1 daughter - of which Ben, Benignus, was the eighth child, the seventh son. Two sons died as babies. Jacob died 1.14.1887, when Ben was 8 years old. Maria died of a stroke while milking a cow, July 22, 1906. The SAKMAR siblings were the following:

• Martinus [b.10.24.1863; d.4.30.1865];
• Joannes [b.4.13.1865; d. 4.25.1928; children Jacob; Maria (Lawrence, Carolina, Regina, Vincent, Valentine, Maria); Michael (Sylvester, Sophia, Anna); Stefan (Ondrej, Philip); Karol (Fabian, Caterina, Maria); Cecilia (Cecelia, Josef; Milan)];
• Paulus [b. 7.1.1868];
• Michael [b.1.3.1870; d.12.15.1946 Johnstown, PA]; children Mary [b.6.27.1895; d. 9.3.1923]; Catherine [b.5.3.1898; d.1.20.1987]; Charles Paul [b.5.26.1900; d.2.18.1982]; Elizabeth [b.10.30.1906; d. 2.12.1980]; Emory Edward [b.10.30.1906; d.8.7.1938]; Sophia Edna [b.5.15.1912; m. Cas MAZER; d. 10.12.1991]; Madeline [b.7.14.1913; d. 5.16.1994]; Dorothy Irene [b.1.12.1917;d.?] Michael was the first to come to the US in approximately 1890;
• Maria [b.3.2.1872];
• Karolus [b.11.1.1874; d. 7.30.1943 Johnstown, PA]; m. Maria KOMARA, children Joseph [b.3.30.1899; d. 8.23.1989]; Margaret [b.3.1901; d.6.16.1981]; Charles [b.3.8.1904; d. 12.15.1972]; Josephine [b.3.5.1909; d. 11.6.1990]; Karolus/Charles came to America in approximately 1895;
• Kassian [b.8.10.1876; d.12.23.1967 Stamford, CT]; children Charles [b.3.4.1904; d.12.27.1986]; Stephen [b.8.8.1905; d. 2.14.1986]; John [b.12.22.1907; d.5.19.1986]; Albert and Rosella at birth;
• Benignus [b.10.31.1879; came to America age 21, in 12/1900; d. 5.31.1961 Johnstown, PA], m. Anna (nee TIMCHAK) 6.15.1909, children Irene [b.3.1.1910; d.9.9.1993]; Joseph [b.8.10.1913; d.1.16.1991]; Edward [b.11.24.1915; d. 11.25.1971]. Anna was the daughter and youngest child of Andrew TIMCHAK [b.5.27.1865 in Kanas] who came to America in 1885, bartender, d. 12.6.1892, age 27, in Johnstown, PA of typhoid fever and pneumonia; married Anna (daughter of Thomas FECZKO, who at age 32 married Marie FEDACK, age 26, in Brutovce), [b. 7.16.61/63 in Brutovce; m. in Brutovce before coming to America in approx. 1885]. Their other children were Mary - Sr. Rogeria, OSF - [b.1885; entered convent 1897, d. 1909]; Stephen [b. ?; d. 2.11.1956]; Anna TIMCHAK then remarried John WAVRICK of Kanas [b. 11.24.1875] in approximately 1896; their children were Veronica (ZAMBA) [b/9.5/6.1897; d. 6.25.1971]; Victor [b. 9.10.1897; d. 3.29.1900]; Josephine (BENCH) [b. 3.29.1900; d. 10.15.1979 in Johnstown]; Margaret (BRESNICKY) [b. 4.8.1904; d. 11.6.1980]; John [b.5.18.1905; d.2.5.1985]. John WAVREK remarried in approximately 1918 a Hungarian widow, Veronica VENGLARCYK, with two children, Andrew and Helen. They had two more children, Cletus Bernard [b. 2.14.1919] and Elizabeth [b.5.30.1920]. John WAVREK now had 11 children from 4 different families when he died on November 20, 1920. The TIMCHAK and WAVREK records are in the Statny oblastny archiv v Presove.
• Joannes [b.5.17.1885; d. 5.17.1885};
• John [b.6.12.1887; came to America 1905; d.8.25.1967], m. Helen (nee SEMAN) in Bridgeport, CT, children Margaret (MADRAK) [b.11.29.1921; d. 7.10.1970]; John and Helen died as babies; Irene(O'DAY) [b. 11.27.1928]; Frances (CASEY) [b.6.10.1931].

The wedding of Ben SAKMAR and Anna TIMCHAK took place on June 15, 1909. Mary Ann NOVAK, granddaughter of Ben and Anna SAKMAR, has identified the wedding party: (back row, left to right) Joseph WAVREK (brother of John); Mary SAKMAR (daughter of Ben's brother Michael); John SAKMAR (brother of Ben); Martin GMUCA; John WAVREK (Anna TIMCHAK's stepfather); Veronica GMUCA (daughter of Martin, became Sister Monica); Stephen TIMCHAK (Anna's brother); [front row, left to right] Ben SAKMAR; Josephine GMUCA (Martin's daughter, became the grandmother of 2007 United States Chief Justice John ROBERTS); Josephine WAVREK (daughter of John, became the grandmother of Cincinnati Reds baseball star Johnny BENCH); Anna TIMCHAK SAKMAR.

Ben and Anna (TIMCHAK) SAKMAR are shown in their later years, about 1952, below. Ben was about 72 and Anna was about 59 when the picture was taken.

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