Strzycki, James John, Ret. Rev. Monsignor
(July 25, 1887 - July 28, 1956)Ferdinand and Mary Strzycki, who came from Poland in 1881, had their first child in Indiana before Jakub was born in Chicago on July 25, 1887, the feast day of St. James the Apostle. James is the English equivalent of Jakub. Following ordination, Father James Strzycki, as he preferred to refer to himself, was an assistant to Father Casimir Slominski at St. Ann's parish in Chicago.
Then, in 1918, shortly after Harvey annexed the property of St. John the Baptist Church, Father Strzycki was appointed the pastor of the wooden church and a two-room school. He was shocked to find the Sisters of Nazareth living in the attic of the school. Less than one third of the parishioners lived in Harvey. The rest lived in the village of Phoenix. Because of a post-war boom in babies, two rooms were not enough for the school.
In the midst of the construction of a brick school, Father Strzycki was transferred to the Five Holy Martyrs Church in Brighton Park on the southwest side of Chicago. Still full of ideas, he built a rectory and a convent. The enrollment in the school rose so rapidly that by 1924 more classrooms were needed. He spent $85,000 on a new school.
In the early 193Os Father Strzycki found himself in a state of almost constant fury as more and more of his parishioners came to the door of the rectory for food and money to buy coal, medicine, and other necessities. He helped parishioners to find work when they lost their jobs during the depression. Some of them also served one term as justice of the peace and another term as chief burgess. The man who succeeded him as chief burgess in 1933 was another Pole, Joe Lukasik, who was previously involved in the church fracas.
In addition to the Polish churches in Luzerne County, beer and saloons were very much embedded in the lives of coal miners. For example, Wilkes-Barre had at least three breweries. Charles Stegmaier, who started the first one, used a goat and a cart to deliver beer to local taverns. Another brewery, built on land owned by the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company, had to brew 100,000 barrels of beer each year and sell each barrel for no less than one dollar each. In 1934, John Malinowski, who followed in the footsteps of Emil Malinowski, who had a brewery from 1911 to 1927, revived the Franklin Brewing Company and hired Albert Strucke to work in the brewery. After the Second World War, Strucke became assistant brewmaster of Franklin Brewery.
Dupont had another Polish chief burgess when Strucke died. His wife, Mary, with whom he had six children, the daughter of Slovak immigrants, treasured the Strucke name.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)
Strzycki, Very Rev. Msgr. James J.
Clergyman. Pastor of Five Holy Martyrs parish, Chicago, Ill. For services to the Catholic Church, the Holy See elevated him to the rank of Papal Chamberlain. Address: 4327 So. Richmond St., Chicago, Ill.From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943