St. Boniface Cemetery
Elmont (formerly Fosters Meadows), New York
2010
(Photo: Raymond Hoeffner, Jr)
Elmont (formerly Fosters Meadows), New York
2010
(Photo: Raymond Hoeffner, Jr)
The Family Legacy of
August and Mary Makofske
New York's Queens, Nassau, Suffolk
& Beyond to the US South and West
Send
along your old pictures and stories for
the galleries.
Email: edwesnofske@optimum.net
September 2010
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With the assistance of:
Start up information: Caryl Makofske Bettez, Patti Makofske Erlandsen
Substantial supplemental information : Brother Lawrence A. Makofske, OSF
CLICK on the
ITALICIZED Working Links Below
for Other Pages
THE FAMILIES
August & Mary Makofske
(Last updated Aug, 30, 2010)Joseph Makofske
(b. 1875 Queens, NY - Other information unknown)
Edward Makofske
& Gertrude Hoeffner
Their children: Philip August, 2nd child.
(Last updated July, 31, 2010)
John Daniel Makofske
& Mary G Coskie
Their children: Joseph, Edmund, John J, Nicholas H, Lawrence J.
(Last updated July, 31, 2010)
Katherine Makofske & Jacob Wicks
Their children: William, Charles, Jacob, Paul, Edward
(Under construction Aug, 28, 2010)
Jacob Makofske Sr.
& Victoria Foremski
Their children: Adam, Robert Andrew, Jacob August Jr.,
James Frank, Raymond J, Walter Anthony, Genevieve, Leonard V.
(Last updated July, 31, 2010)
Mary Makofske
& Ignatius Vanderlofske
Their children: Edward, Florence, Edna, Lillian, Lottie,
August, Alfred, Evelyn, Carl
(Under construction Aug, 28, 2010)
William Makofske
& Veronica (Fanny) Kirsch
Their known children: Amalia (Mollie), Harold A, Alice C,
Veronica E, Gertrude V, Marjorie, Mollie E, Dorothy J.
(Under construction)
August Makofske Jr.
& Catherine Kirsch
Their known children: August, Herbert A,
Herbert W, Lucille D, Beatrice Marie, Evelyn J, Ruth Ann, Richard E.
(Under construction)
Frank Martin Makofske
& Elizabeth Hartmann
Their known children: Francis J, Infant daughter, Dolores, William,
Alfred, Joan, Thomas A, Donald A.
(Under construction)
August and Mary (Cujowska) Makofske came to the United States in 1873.
They came from West Prussia, an area of Polish and German populations at that time incorporated under the rule of the Kaiser (Emporer) of the recently (1871) unified nation of Germany. (The remaining areas of what we know as Poland today were ruled then by the Czar of Russia and the Emporer of Austria-Hungary). Even as Poles, they were German speaking in a predominantly German ethnic area. Regional developments in culture, politics and agriculture related to increasing an insecure German authority over a territory with non German minorities helped inspire the move of Prussian Poles to immigrate as with August and his wife Mary.
They departed from the port of Germany aboard a small ship called the Marco Polo. At the time, prior to the establishment of Ellis Island in 1892, immigrants to the port of New York arrived at Castle Garden in lower Manhattan.
They arrived at Castle Garden on March 3, 1873. The family traveled in "steerage" rather than in a cabin. See their Immigration and Citizen page.
The couple settled into the area of Hollis, Queens and then Foster's Meadow on the border of today's Queens Borough and Nassau County. Before 1899, the townships of today's Nassau County were incorporated into Queens County. Queens became part of New York City in 1899.
There August started working as a farm laborer on one of the farms owned by the Schmidt family, who, with other more recently settled German families, were replacing the earlier English and Dutch farmers.
His first farm was located at the intesection of Francis Lewis Blvd and Hillside Avenue in Queens.
Eventually he purchased a farm of about 49 acres and operated it until he sold it in 1910. The Foster's Meadow/Elmont farm was on the western most edge of the Hempstead plains, a large area, previously little disturbed, of flat grassy lands with few trees, and that stretched eastward to and over the Suffolk County border. The Hempstead plains were formed and leveled by the outwash flowing to the Atlantic from ancient glaciers. The plains sit south of today's Route 25, Jericho Turnpike.
There August and Mary raised three daughters and six (perhaps seven) sons into adulthood in an agricultural economy of farms located next to the burgeoning New York City immigrant population and markets.
The subsequent history of the family is interwoven with Long Island history and its economic and social change over one hundred thirty plus years.
Click here for a Map and Perspective (under construction) on the 'Foster's Meadows' farm.
After life in Fosters' Meadows, (1873-1910) (today's Elmont, NY in the Town of Hempstead), August, Mary and youngest son Frank eventually moved two miles north into the Village of New Hyde Park, Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County.
The residential village was a developing community amid a Long Island real estate boom that reflected the creativity of the residential real estate developers to name things to appeal to urban dwellers seeking a better life.
Some of the succeeding generations of family moved eastward on Long Island traveling with the winds of change for agriculture, industry and commerce.
Oldest son Edward established his farm in Wantagh.
John Daniel farmed for a period of time in upstate New York in Saratoga County before returning to Long Island.
Jacob worked the farm in Fosters' Meadow in conjunction with his younger brothers William and August, Jr when they were in their early 20's.
William lived in Brooklyn after his marriage with his parents-in-law as he worked in the nearby Wallabout produce market to which farmers in Hempstead like the Makofskes would eventually send some of their produce. Eventually he moved to Middle Village on Juniper Valley Road.
August Jr. later moved eastward with wife Catherine (Kirsch) and his family in the Town of Hempstead. He appears to have operated a farm on the west side of Uniondale Avenue.
As agriculture declined in the face of industrial, commercial and residential development in an eastward direction on Long Island over the last 136 years, Makofske descendants and relatives turned to other pursuits to adapt. The Great Depression (1930's) and World War II (1940's) helped changed the course of their lives as well as Long Island’s post war industrialization and defense business (1950's).
A Background Note
How this project started: In July of 2010, a
Makofske descendant found a webpage on the wesnofske.org website
reporting
an oral tradition in the Wesnofske family in 1988
that August Makofske immigrated to the United
States
at the same time as Martin Wesnofske. Email contact
was
made and I was asked about things pertaining to the Makofskes
including Makofske Avenue in the town of Hempstead.
I shared some research and other information on the Makofske family I had gathered in 2009 in conjunction with genealogical research for the first Wesnofske Family Reunion. In return, some information on the Makofskes was provided to me that pointed to a potential portrait of a large family tradition originating on Long Island and experiencing a parallel path with the Wesnofske family as time and the generations passed.
By further researching newspaper files, legal records, and other genealogical sources, the draft of a significant family tree was put together although it is incomplete and undoubtedly contains some mistakes and confusions some (but not all) of which are in original records and sources.
Completions, corrections for genealogical accuracy of the Makofske Family Tree will be welcome and part of periodic updating until the product is mature.
Mary Kujowska Makofske was the sister of Anna Kujowska Wesnofske, my great grandmother.
Who am I: A retired professor from the State University of New York and knowledgeable about upstate New York, Oneonta, NY and Long Island.
-- Ed Wesnofske
I shared some research and other information on the Makofske family I had gathered in 2009 in conjunction with genealogical research for the first Wesnofske Family Reunion. In return, some information on the Makofskes was provided to me that pointed to a potential portrait of a large family tradition originating on Long Island and experiencing a parallel path with the Wesnofske family as time and the generations passed.
By further researching newspaper files, legal records, and other genealogical sources, the draft of a significant family tree was put together although it is incomplete and undoubtedly contains some mistakes and confusions some (but not all) of which are in original records and sources.
Completions, corrections for genealogical accuracy of the Makofske Family Tree will be welcome and part of periodic updating until the product is mature.
Mary Kujowska Makofske was the sister of Anna Kujowska Wesnofske, my great grandmother.
Who am I: A retired professor from the State University of New York and knowledgeable about upstate New York, Oneonta, NY and Long Island.
-- Ed Wesnofske
With the mechanization of many aspects of productive activity (inlcuding agriculture) and the development of powerful defense manufacturing on Long Island (Grumman, Republic, Fairchild) jobs of manual and intellectual skill rather than manual labor became the backbone of the Long Island economy.
First was the move from farm to similar agriculture and nursery occupations for other employers. Soon these jobs of manual labor and housekeeping were replaced by acquiring skills for trades, industry and small business. Education was gained and descendants entered commerce, trade, the arts and professions in large numbers. Today, those descendants still reside in overwhelming large numbers in Long Island communities, having for the most part successfully navigated through the great winds of change.
August and Mary originally belonged to St. Boniface Church in Fosters' Meadows (today's Elmont). It was a German speaking church where eventually a parochial school (1887) was established as well as a cemetery. They are buried in St. Boniface's Cemetery.