Background on Jakob Plata
Leaving his home in Cwikow, Poland, at the age of 21, Jakob Plata boarded the Kron Prinz Wilhelm in Bremen and landed in New York at the end of February 1912, headed for a new life in Chicago.
Born on July 25, 1885, Plata had worked as a mason in Poland, but settled into American life by working in factories as a metal polisher. After a return visit to his family in Poland and agreeing to bring a sister back with him to the United States, Plata applied for U.S. citizenship in 1923. Soon thereafter, he relocated to Massachusetts. Plata married a fellow Galician immigrant Marya Bochniak (Mary Bednarz), and by 1926, the couple began operating a dry goods store at 530 Main Street in Indian Orchard, raising a daughter Helen (b. 1928) and son Edward (1930-2013). After Jakob's death in 1947, Mary continued the store on her own for several years. She died in 1963.
