Demarest 1 Melissa Demarest Professor Raymond UWRT 1103-E01 November 2, 2015 My Family’s Story My maternal family tree begins on a journey from Lithuania to the United States. I have found many interesting facts about my family that have shaped who we are today. One of the ‘most intriguing facts for me was finding out that my grandfather and great grandfather were both engineers and I am studying to become an engineer. The Ackalitis Family, Vincent and Marcella, were born in the capital city of Lithuania which is Vilnius, The English version of Vilnius is Vilna, named after the Vilna River. At this time, the German forces controlled this area until the Battle of Warsaw (Lambert). On December / 0, 1906, the Ackalitis family immigrated from Lithuania to the United States via steamboats (Lambert): The family had to sit in a port for days, sometimes weeks in order to get ona boat to. | the United States. They were not guaranteed a spot to get to the US. The main reasons the family.» 1! decided to move to America was because they did not want to live under communist rule and ‘because of the famine (Lambert). Once in America, their new life began. Cul VEN £ abort thud Att * Cambola, Pennsylvania became their new home. Vincent was required to got a job and ended up working in coal mines and building railroads. Marcella and Vincent had four children. ‘One of them was my great grandmother, Mary Ackalitis Harrison, Mary moved to Queens, New York where she met Elmo Harrison and married him. They also had four children. Around 1945,Demarest 2 the family moved and finally settled in Westbury, New York. Elmo started working at Roosevelt Raceway as a stationary engineer. Mary was a secretary at Eisenhower Park. One of Mary’s daughters was my grandmother, Pat Harrison Grabinsky. Pat met Richard Grabinsky at ‘Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York. They got married October 5, 1958 and moved to Lindenhurst, New York. Richard was also a stationary engineer at Roosevelt Raceway and Pat was a receptionist at various locations. This was the story of the Lithuanian journey to and within the United States. ‘The Grabingki Family originated in Warsaw, Poland. Michael Grabinski married Josephine Yedryejew and they had a son, Stanley Grabinski. Stanley married Mary and they had four children, three sons and one daughter So family immigrated to Johnstown Ward Cambria, Pennsylvania in 1914. Stanley worked in the coal mines and in a tannery (Gace s00) He died at the age 41 eCOPDipneumania. Mary moved to Wiknington, , met Helen Koszol Delaware with her children after Stanley's untimely death, Her son ¥ Grabinsky in Wilmington and they got married and moved to New Hyde Park, New York. They had five children, one of whom is my grandfather, Richard Grabinsky. This is the Polish journey to and within the United States. ~ Sometime between Stanley Grabinski’s death and his son Vincent Grabinsky’s marriage, the Grabinski name was changed to Grabinsky, with a y. No one knows the exact story of how it got changed but what we have been told through the generations is that there was a big family fight and they wanted to separate themselves. Our family served our country in the Army, Marines and Merchant Marines. Vincent Grabinsky and Richard Grabinsky were in the Marines. Richard received two medals, Good Conduct Medal and National Defense Medal of Honor. Elmo Harrison was in the MerchantDemarest 3 Marines and Robert Grabinsky retired from the Army. Robert received a bronze and silver medal for rescuing a fellow soldier who was severely injured during battle. In the military, Richard Grabinsky and Elmo Harrison began their engineering career. After serving our country, they both went to a trade school where they received their engineering license and got a job at Roosevelt Raceway for their whole career. Through the generations, I have found that COPD was a common occurrence and cause of death of three generations of relatives. Rheumatic fever struck my grandmother at the age of 7 where she had to be hospitalized for over a month, Diabetes has been prevalent for three generations, Heart disease has claimed the life of three relatives. My grandfather passed away ‘from lung cancer. As far as we can trace back, there are no diseases that have been passed down but coincidently several have died of the same thing. ‘The first generation of my maternal family tree is my mother, Patti Grabinsky Demarest. She is the daughter of Richard and Pat Grabinsky who are both deceased. My mother has one sister, Lorraine Grabinsky who has never married. She was bom on June 18, 1958. Both my mom and aunt were born in New Hyde Park, New York and grew up in Lindenhurst, New York. In 1995, my mom moved to Green Island, New York where she met my father Mark Demarest. ‘They got married on August 9, 1997 and moved to Waterford, New York prior to my birth. My mom has always worked in the medical field and became an LPN in 1997. On June 29, 2015, my immediate family (mom, dad, Aunt Lorrie and I) all moved to Concord, North Carolina so I could go to school at UNC Charlotte and begin my career as an engineer. This is where my WA wr? fo NC-f generation begins. It was very interesting to track the journeys my family took to get where we are today. I can know pass them information on to my future children so that they have a betterDemarest 4 understanding of the family name and how life was not always as easier as it seems. The journeys above take us through the hardships and celebrations of the past five generations of the Demarest/Grabinsky family tree.Demarest 5 Al erobinsey Fann Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 stabeoe on-l tine). Provo, UT, USA: prvest.com Operations, Ine., 2014, Web. 12 Oct. 2015. 2 Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials.” Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials. Ed. Gwynspekes. Find a Grave, 04 Mar. 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2015 "Firstworldwar.com." First World War.com. Ed. Michael Duffy. N.p., 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 12 é Oct. 2015, Aambert, Tim. "& SHORT HISTORY OF LITHUANIA." 4 Brief History of Lithuania. N.p., S015. Web, 12 Oct. 2015.