Ylasta Wojcik Mehelich

My family came to Bisbee in 1916 or 1917. (They) moved to Bisbee from Texas. (My) family had been burned out in a fire. Father saw an article in the paper that specified they needed miners and people were needed to work in the mines. He was not a miner. Actually his trade was in the railroad. After the bad luck in Texas he decided to try his hand in the mines. He didn't stay in there very long, a couple of years, and then he bought a shoe repair shop and a leather shop.

My mother was born in Czechoslovakia; so was my father. Her mother died at childbirth. She had a step mother. My mother began working when she was eight and in between she tried to go to school. She did not have an education that helped her a great deal. She was good at figures, but did not read as well as she could have had she gone through school. She couldn't read a pattern but she figured it out. She learned to do needlework by watching and observing and picking it up. She would watch someone and she would go home and try it. She learned to speak English and she spoke Czech, Polish and German, so she was pretty intelligent.

There were four children in the family - two boys and two girls. I was next to the youngest.

USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material must obtain written consent of the archivist or submitter.

---