Zielinski, John
Teacher, banker and organist. Born in 1881 in Czermna, county of Jaslo, Poland; arrived in America at the age of 19 and began his career as a teacher in the Polish parochial school at Perth Amboy, N.J., at the same time performing the duties of organist in the Polish church there; married Miss Marie Dulska, teacher and organist of the Holy Cross School and Church in Trenton, N.J.; studied law; subsequently graduated from Eastman College of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. In 1911 was organist in the church of the Franciscan Fathers in Chelsea, Mass.; became manager of the Polish weekly newspaper "Gazeta Bostonska." Subsequently connected with the Holyoke National Bank in Holyoke, Mass., becoming an officer of that institution with the title of Assistant Cashier and Manager of the Savings Dept.; remained at this post until 1927, and since then general manager of the Service Mortgage Corporation of Holyoke. His manifold activities during World War I earned him wide recognition. He was at the head of the Polish section of the American Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives, and after the termination of hostilities, head of similar drives on behalf of the Polish Red Cross and the Polish Government Bond issue. During the textile strikes in 1916 in Massachusetts he was appointed representative of the Commonwealth in the capacity of arbiter. During first World War he acted as director of the Holyoke Recruiting Station which drew on the Polish young men for the formation of the nucleus of the Polish Army in France. Former vice-president of the Polish Roman Catholic Union, member of the Polish National Alliance and the Polish Falcons: chairman of the Board of Survey of Holyoke; director and organist of the parish choir of the Mater Dolorosa Church, Holyoke. Massachusetts. Address: 71 Maple Street, Holyoke, Mass.From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943