Tribune Excerpts
The following article appeared in the January 2008 Edition of the Macedonian Tribune
DETSI of ’09
By Mitch Pedroff
The local Macedonians led the detsi to the second and third floors of these buildings. The boys were assigned six to eight per room. The rooms were very Spartan in nature, with a cot for each, a small cooking stove, sink, small table with chairs and one restroom per floor.
Each person paid $1 per week for rent; father, as well as many others, were now in debt to the landlord and would need to pay the back rent when they found jobs. The next day the detsi were ushered down to the alley where two women were waiting with a horse-drawn flatbed wagon with used clothing. Cold weather would be arriving and these young immigrants would need proper clothing for the season.
The detsi were encouraged to take jackets, caps, shoes and American - style work clothes; the clothes were not perfect fitting, but much better than their homemade selo clothes.
In time, these clothes would be replaced with their earnings. As father recalled, “All I saw was debt before me – food, rent, personal items, winter clothing, etc. – so these free clothes helped. I took anything that fit.” Father believed that these women were from a church or church related organization.
Not all of the detsi from Konomladi intended to work for the railroad. Uncle Dinko, who had given his word to Vana to care for her son, left St. Louis and traveled to Elyria, Ohio, where his sister, Donna Melanoff, lived with her husband.
Two other villagers, one of whom was father’s cousin, went to Alaska to seek their fortune prospecting for gold. According to father, they were adventurers, but little did they know that the Alaskan gold rush was over by 1909.
Years later, father located his cousin, living in Dearborn, Michigan. Needless to say, he did not make his fortune in gold. The whereabouts of his fortune-seeking friend was unknown, and no one could account for him. The fourth villager left St. Louis and went to a place called Madison. At the time, it was not known if he went to Illinois or Wisconsin.
To be Continued
Mitchell Pedroff was born and raised in Canton,
Ohio. He is the son of the late Mitcho and Dina
Pedroff, who emigrated from Konomladi and
D’mbeni, Aegean Macedonia. He received his
B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Miami University
at Oxford, Ohio, and his M.S. from Kent State
University. For 35 years, he worked in public
education, 26 of these in administrative positions.
He and his wife Kathy, who have two daughters
and three grandchildren, live at Piqua, Ohio, and
Bradenton, Fla.
