Hello there! To be honest, I think I would have forgotten that I had ever contacted you if you hadn't e-mailed me back! "Whitney" is a masculine and feminine name. But I am female. And actually, I'm only 15, so I don't know how much info I could give you. I'm sure you're right about our relations going back to Europe. I could talk to my dad or grandpa though (except my grandpa actually just left about 2 weeks ago for the winter, so I won't be able to talk to him again until May, besides on the phone). I don't remember what I all asked and said in my first e-mail, so I'll start fresh. I live in Wausau, WI. My dad's name is Kregg, and has 6 siblings (Kevin, Vernell {who lives in Merced, CA}, Kirk, Vonda, Kyle, and Vicky). My grandpa's name is James, and his father's name was John. Off hand, I don't know further than that.
~Whitney

I am Richard Lukasko.....son of Arnold. I am very excited about finding this website.
My sisters, Carol and Susan and I recently "found" our cousin, Jim Lukasko (son of John) and had Thanksgiving with him and his family. We want to plan a Lukasko family reunion in California in 2005. I hope you can help us in locating and contacting some of our relatives.
I will send you particulars to update my family.
Are you Carl's son?
I hope to hear from you soon!
Rich

Always nice to hear from a potential relative. I haven't done much work on the site or genealogy digging in the last dozen years. . . . However, it _appears_ that at least three families surnamed Lukasko emigrated from Europe: one to the deep South, and two to the Great Lakes area; yours to the western edge (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa), and mine to the Western Reserve part of Ohio by way of Cumberland, Maryland, thence about half of that branch to California in several waves from the '30s to the '70s. I live in Garden Grove; born in Ohio, came West in '68. My father's birth certificate spells his name Lukaesko -- which suggests that the a originally had an umlaut over it. The document (hand-written) also lists _his_ father's birthplace as some (unreadable) place in Hungary -- not Frankfurt as he always suggested. Which leaves open the question of our actual ethnicity. As a child I always told people I was German; my mother's parents born in or near Prague -- then part of Greater Germany. But we (siblings and cousins) all have the green or hazel eyes, high cheek bones, and tendency toward corpulance of the Slavic peoples. So now when asked what kind of name Lukasko is I simply say Czech and that it was probably shortened from something longer. I hope this scanty info (and lukasko.org -- btw, I own lukasko.everything including some .uk and .ca addresses; not all of which have active sites; as well as a bunch of other domain names -- none of which I ever finished) have helped you. I'll send more info as I get it; don't be surprised if you are contacted directly by other people surnamed Lukasko. Ive been typing since I woke up; no coffee or bathroom yet -- gotta go . . . Good luck,
your distant cousin(?) Greg

Wow Greg, it is great to see that you're still keeping track of the site and have the same email address after all these years. Typically a very broad Google search like I did for "Lukasko" won't give you such a great source of info right away. Looking at your site, I was worried that this was going to be one of those lost causes of family tree past, ike the many other failed experiments that you see on the internet. So thank you for keeping yourself out there like that, I know firsthand that that isn't a cheap task. I found your email very interesting because of the number of parallels . It confirmed a recent discovery from one of my recent searches on the Church of Latter Day Saints record keeping website - that our Lukasko ancestors are actually from Czech instead of Germany as my mother had told me. As I said before, I have basically done no research thus far for my Lukasko family (which is my mom's side of the family, Kaiser is my father's side). I also found it interesting that you said the Lukasko men had a lot of heart problems. If I remember correctly, my grandfather James Lukasko has had triple bipass surgery. I don't think there have been any issues with his heart since then, but the age range you provided certainly isn't promising. I will have to talk with James and see what info I can gather. Being one of the few people in my family that has an interest in genealogy, it is kind of a depressing thought knowing that I have so much more work to do and on more than just for my Kaiser and Lukasko sides. This past weekend I sat down and talked with my 98 year old great-aunt Dorothy Kaiser, who I have never met in my entire life. It wouldn't be such a task if I lived in the Wausau area, but I live over 2 hours south in Madison.

Here is what I know about the Lukasko family, Frankie will attach a photograph of the Lukasko family (seven brothers and three sisters), with the exception of Alec Lukasko. I might be getting the girls mixed up. Their names are as follows: top row from left to right, -George, Martha, Carl, Arnold and then bottom row, August, Vera, John (my father) and Mary. Frankie will also attach a photo of Alec with Grandmother Ilona (Hennel) and Grandfather Janos.
My father, John George Lukasko (I have his original birth certificate was born on April 24, 1904 and baptized on April 30, one week later. He was born in Krompachy, which was under Hungarian control at the time and is now Slovakia, after a whole bunch of government and border changes. Krompachy was a steel producing city, which helps explain why my family members migrated to Ohio, where Alec�s children, Alec and Paul, both have worked in the steel mills. I believe my father was the second oldest child in the family. Janos Lukaesko and Ilona Hennel Lukaesko were listed as his parents on his birth certificate, which has a Hungarian stamp upon it. More of what I know: George Lukasko married Kay, and they lived in San Jose. Kay passed away a few years ago, and Frankie and I attended the funeral. George and Kay had two daughters: Vivien died about ten years ago. The second daughter, Peggy, who has changed her name to Peggy Day, lives in Sausalito. Paul Lukasko married Wilma Snyder, and they had two daughters. The older one, Nadine, died; but the younger one, Cherri, lives in Sacramento. I believe Cherri is about 62 years old. Wilma died about ten years ago. Paul was my favorite uncle. He lived until his mid-eighties. I believe that Carl Lukasko is your father, and I'm sorry that I never met your dad. Arnold Lukasko married Edith, and they had three children. The oldest, their daughter Carol, is about 72 years old and her name is Carol Pope (husband Gene Pope). She has a daughter and a son, and they all live at Lake Pillsbury, located above Ukiah, California. Carol told me that her father was born in Wisconsin. The second daughter, Susan, married Art Agnew, and they reside in Redding, California and have one daughter. Then the youngest was a son by the name of Richard Lukasko, who is married to Alma. Richard has a son by the name of John, who lives in Salinas, and also a daughter who lives somewhere in California. Richard is about 65 years old, was a pharmacist and worked for Longs Drugs. I did not know August or Vera. My dad is next in the photo -- John George Lukasko and he married Lillian Augustine Daniel. They had two children, me and my sister Nancy (Tuttle). We both live in Reno. My father died in 1957 at age 53 years. I am 71 years old now. I married Frankie Foley, and we have a son and a daughter. Our son Jim Lukasko married Shawna Gardner, and they live in Roseville, California, with their two children, Nikki (my granddaughter) and Jake (my grandson). Our daughter Joni married Craig Blakely, and their identical twin sons, my grandsons, JT and Derrick, age 16, are sophomores in high school in Arlington, Virginia, where they all live. Joni and Craig also have a daughter, Jessie, my oldest granddaughter, who is currently a sophomore at USC. Last in the bottom row of the photo is Mary Lukasko. Mary married Tom McGowan, and they had one son, Pat McGowan, who lives in Sonoma, California. Pat and his wife Diane have three boys and one daughter, and now they have a grandson Kai. The next photograph is of Alec, Grandma Ilona and Grandpa John. Alec, the youngest in the family, married Francie Vargas, and they had six boys: Augie (August), Alec, Mark, Luke, Paul and George (Georgie). Out of all these big strong boys, they only had two sons to carry on the Lukasko name. Luke has a son named Joey, and Mark has a son named Mark Alec. I seem to keep in touch with Francie and the boys (my cousins) on a regular basis. I've been back to the farm in Brookfield, Ohio, twice in the last few years. I have pictures of the brothers (my dad and yours and the other brothers) when they were probably in their late twenties or early thirties, and at that time they would have been formidable opponents in most any situation � a powerful, good-looking bunch of brothers. Send me your address if you like, and I will send you more photos. That's all for now.
John Lukasko February 12, 2012

Hi!

Actually the grandfather's name was Janos. I will check John's memo to you to see if it is spelled correctly there. It is definitely Janos on John's father's birth certificate. I can fill in some of the names and dates that you need, and I will get more photos to you. Do you need me to send John's memo to you again, or were you able to get it the first time? I will get back to you in a couple of days with more info. I am really impressed with your genealogy section. I imagine that some of the other Lukaskos could help fill your chart in, too -- i.e. Alec Lukasko and his brothers, Francie Lukasko, and perhaps Richard Lukasko and his sisters, Carol and Susan. Any way, I will get more info to you shortly. Again, thanks --
Frankie

Carl just brought me a photocopy of our father's birth certificate. It lists his father's name as John Samuel Lukaesko (birthplace some unreadable scrawl in Hungary) and his mother's maiden name as Helen Mary Hannel (birthplace listed as Austria-Hungary). Apparently, they acculturated somewhat after emigration. I'll digitize the document and send you a copy -- I can't get a clear copy with my camera, so I'll have to figure out how to use the scan feature on Carl's multipurpose printer.
Greg

I've finally started to amend lukasko.org (BTW never write to lukasko.com -- it serves only as a spam trap). At your convenience, send me what you have on the name including alternate spellings and sources. I'll make it all fit. That's it for now. Good health. I'm off to gym; it's leg morning.
gl

According to documents in the possession of my brother and cousin (both birth certificates), our John (Janos) was born in Hungary and Ilona was born in the Autro-Hungarian Empire. TWO of their children, John and August, were born in Europe. BTW, the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914; they had left Europe in or about 1900. John/Janos/Johan spelled his name Lukaesko. His sons all dropped the "e" by consensus. The names of their children you list are NOT those of my aunts and uncles. How strange that two women named Ilona would marry into the families. I have emailed Lukaskos in western Ohio who said they had California relatives, who had shortened the mess to Lucas. Okay, so we've each got separate Johns (or some variation) and an Ilona amongst our fore bearers. Which means the divergence had to be at least one level higher (maybe they were cousins). Find out your Ilona's maiden name -- mine was Hennel (or something very similar). Okay, give me a few days and I'll draw up a pedigree to put on lukasko.org. There'll be a lot of question marks and tentative bridges. Oh yeah, in the nineteenth century (and for sometime before) the area around Prague was a German-run duchy or department called Bohemia. Czechoslovakia was created after the First World War and dissolved in 1991 into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Actually, looking at the dates you have listed, I don't think that they -- or we, either -- were/are of the same generation, maybe your John was mine's nephew? You can see the names and the dates on the site. I'll work on it.

I noticed the parallels that you mentioned with John marrying an Ilona. How weird, right? My Ilona's maiden name was Bandik. I'm going to schedule another weekend to go up north and interview a few elders in my families. Hopefully that is sooner than later. Keep digging on your end...I bet we'll find a connection eventually. The next thing I send you will probably be names and dates for everyone on my Lukasko branch.

George Lukasko 1:46pm Mar 11
PLEASE TAKE OUR LUKASKO MAP AREA OF THE FACE BOOK AND INTERNET THERE IS TO MANY SICKOS OUT THERE THAT SCAN THE INTERNET I AM VERY PROTECTIVE OF WHERE ME AND MY FAMILY LIVE THERE IS OTHER WAYS THEY CAN GET A HOLD OF YOU TAKE THE MAP OFF THANKS GEORGE LUKASKO

Busy-ness is a good way to put it! I'll be heading back up north next weekend, and should be able to gather a good amount of data for us then. Until then, I've got nothin! Interesting to hear that you are keeping fit on almost an obsessive level. I'd look into the trend to see if Lukaskos in general are pretty excellent athletes. Athletics is a big deal for our branch of the Lukasko family. My cousin Andrew Lukasko played for the UW Badger football team for five years; he played special teams and made plays when he played. He graduates this semester. He was also an excellent state champion wrestler in high school, as was his father. A couple more of my uncles were excellent sprinters. My grandpa Lukasko was also a strong football player. It would be interesting to see if this theme continues on your branch, and perhaps see how far back it goes and how it became that way! Let me know what you think about this! Until then, look forward to my email full of photos and data for the website.
Stephen

I lettered in Track -- long jumped twenty two nine, and the one time they made me compete in the hundred ran a ten six. Carl played football in high school, but had to fore-go it in college. He says he remembers our cousin John (Frankie's husband; Lake Tahoe area) was high school all state for California and possibly All American in football (he doesn't recall at which position) back in the late fifties. Whenever I google (or any web-search) "Lukasko," Andrew is always near the top of the hits -- even bumped lukasko.org for a while. I also get hits for some people in the Carolinas and on the Gulf Coast -- none of whom are on your list or mine. Temporarily, I've bumped my mother's line from the site -- it's still there, just no links to it. I was planning on buying at least one (.org) domain dedicated to them, but there is again no consensus on spelling. Her father spelled it Tarkanich, but - except for my mother - all his children dropped the "h," some then added a "k," some did not. My oldest brother Joe was a natural athlete. Loved baseball; a pitcher. Got signed by whatever the St Louis team was in the mid fifties. Almost immediately tore tendon in throwing arm; career over. Nowadays, it's an outpatient procedure to reconnect. He'd have been out about six weeks. . . . As for my other California relatives (remember about half the brothers headed west in the '30s), I can't say; don't know them. Maybe I should break down and start a Lukasko page on Facebook; maybe I'll talk Frankie into doing it. Frankly, I'm surprised I don't get more response from lukasko.org -- only three or four per year. It's at the top of "results" for practically any web-search. I remember when I was at UCI, people were always "vanity searching" their own names. My brother claims that our father once deadlifted over seven hundred pounds raw (no belt, no grips) on a dare after he was forty -- with no training.. When I was thirty two I did six seventy five with a crowded, hushed gymful of spectators. It took me several years to pack on the requisite muscle. My Ohio cousins I don't correspond with; no idea about athletics. Don't forget that Czechs are a type of Slav, who have a tendency toward corpulence. A few manage to overcome this. When I followed bodybuilding (late '80s) I noticed a disproportionately large fraction of them in the winner's circle -- or at least on the podium. Naturally big chests and calves. I'll (probably tomorrow) convert your info into a pedigree. If you like, i (maybe we) can back-fill -- on separate, linked page -- some of your Kaiser genealogy.. I'm sure that all possible domains long taken.
Greg

wer zun teufel bist du... [who the devil are you (informal)]

Enschudigingen Sie, bitte, aber mein Deutsch nicht so gut ist. Es ist zwanzig Jahren seit ich es gespoken habe. Ich glaube wer sind Volken (?) von ein gro�e Familie. . . Ich lebe in Kalifornia, ein gro�e Staat, der sebenzig Leute genammt "Lukasko" haben. Lesen Sie ../ -- Sie sehen da� ich ein Familie "Baum" gemachen habe. . . . Wenn Lukasko ist nicht Ihre Familie Name, es tut mir Leid. Gibt da viele Leute (unter ein hundred, vieleich) im Norten Amerika Lukasko genammt. I wolle ein Konnektion mit die europaishe so genammt. [Excuse me, please (formal), but my German is not very good. It's been twenty years since I've spoken it. I believe that we are people (commonly) of a large family. I live in California, a large state, where perhaps seventy people surnamed Lukasko live. Look at ../ -- you'll see that I've done a family tree. . . If Lukasko is not your family name, I'm sorry (to have bothered you). There are perhaps fewer than a hundred in North America named Lukasko. I wish to make a connection with Europeans so named.]

ich spreche Deutsch..Wer ist du ? ..Wisst du mich ? [I speak German. Who are you? Do you know me? (informal)]

Wer bin ich? Ich glaube, da� wer, vieleich, in andere Teilen ein gro�e Familie sind. (Entschuldiigungen Sie mich, bitte -- es ist fast zwanzig Jahre seit ich Deutsch gesprocken habe. Ich bin stark konfuziert.) Ich habe ../ anfangen. I wuensche die chechisch und slovakien (und so weiter) Lukaskos auch haben. Ich lebe in sud Kalifornien mit meinem alterem bruder. In norden Kalifornien gibt da vieleich vierzig Lukaskos (und Lukaeskos). In Norden Amerika umgefelt (?) siebzig. Wenn dieses machs nichts zu Ihnen, da� "okay" ist -- ich Kommunikazierte nicht weiter. Ach! Deutsch ist ganz verrukt bei Englische Sprechers. Ich kann auch ein bi�chen vietnamisch; gibt da vielen herum. Sie koennen die "Baum" der Familie so fern sehen. Haben Sie kein Interest, es tut mir leid. Ich stehe still.

Mein Name is Lukas ...Vorname ist �u�ka ...nepatr�m do tvojej rodiny... [My name is Lukas ...First name is Suska ...(unknown language)]

Enschudigingen Sie, bitte, aber mein Deutsch nicht so gut ist. Es ist zwanzig Jahren seit ich es gespoken habe. Ich glaube wer sind Volken (?) von ein gro�e Familie. . . Ich lebe in Kalifornia, ein gro�e Staat, der sebenzig Leute genammt "Lukasko" haben. Lesen Sie ../ -- Sie sehen da� ich ein Familie "Baum" gemachen habe. . . . Wenn Lukasko ist nicht Ihre Familie Name, es tut mir Leid. Gibt da viele Leute (unter ein hundred, vieleich) im Norten Amerika Lukasko genammt. I wolle ein Konnektion mit die europaishe so genammt.

nene meine famillie name ist arvai...aber kein problem passt schon.. [(unknown language) my family name is Arvai, but no problem, 'sokay.]

Also, Lukasko ist Seine "du" Name? Es ist meine Familie Name. Gibt da viele Leute mit Lukasko von seine erste Nmae dort? Zum bei�piel, meine erste Name ist Greg (von Gregory), durch meinem Leben habe ich nur vier andere Man so-genammt. Da gibt ein wenige Craig und Gregg hei�en. Ganz interessant, beide von uns hei�t Lukasko, aber in anderen Namen. Ach, ich denkte da� ich ein Konnektion gefunden hatte. Guten Tag, Freund. Tschu�!

Where do you live these days? PA or GA?   So what do I want? Well -- a firm email address for you and one for Marge. And please look at ../lukasko/oh-ca.html and see if you can help me with some of the question marks; maybe ask Aunt Francie for her sons' DOBs and their spouses' DOBs and maiden names, and grand-children's names and DOBs. I've been helped with the California branch (one of them anyway) by Cousin John and (mostly) his wife Frankie -- do you know them? As much as I hate to, I've been using Facebook to find people with the same, or similar, surnames. Found about a hundred, more or less, Lukaskos (or variations), only about half of which I can account for; most people I "friend" just not that interested in family history. BTW -- a similar search for Bakmaz yields thousands of results, mostly with Moslem given names. I've even tried writing to Lukaskos (and Lukaskovas, etc) in Europe, mostly in German; man, am I rusty. I'd also like to add "maternal" lines back -- and forward -- a few generations. I know Grandpa (and mom) spelled the name Tarkanich with an "h." And Steve with a "k." How does Uncle Joe spell it? If you don't mind, mine him for info on his sibs and children -- or have him or Aunt Anna (did I remember that right?) email me. Oh, and who is Steve Tarkanick in Brookfield? He's obviously too young to be Stevie (who is/was my age), who I last saw in '96 (?), and he never mentioned a son.
Greg

Nice to hear from you. My daughter Cassandra and her husband Chris have two adopted children...Gavin 8 and Jovilin 4. Gavin made his first Communion Sunday and Jovilin is having her first ballet recital this Saturday. Brian has 3 children, Michael 14, Daniel 13 and Lillian 8.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary Tarkanic spelled with a C. and Joe and Anne Tarkanick with an K. Uncle Joe has 3 kids...Jim...he is about 67. Jim and his wife Elaine have two kids. Darlene...she just moved to TX and her brother is Steve...he is about 30 and he is the one you asked about in Brookfied OH.

Then Roseanne Axtell...she is 64...she has 4 kids. Then the youngest of Uncle Joe's is Robert...a few years younger. He has 3 boys. I just saw Jim and his wife two weeks ago...Elaine and I go places together...shows, etc..

Aunt Anna told me the reason they all changed the spelling on their names is because when Anne and Joe got married they lived in a little house ,the one we all remember in Burghill, next to Grandpa Tarkanich (which later became his garage) and they all got each others mail, as they were all on the same mail route. So to differentiate they changed the last letters in their surnames. !!! I was surprised to hear that and wonder if it worked????? LOL

There is a Stephen Tarkanic in TX, that is Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve's son. I am in touch with all of the above so I know correct spelling,etc. I will answer more when I am home. Bakmaz is a Croation name...when we were in Europe, many people told us it could be Turkish too. Means...those who cannot see or those who choose not to see.
Jo

I'm interested in using your site - are you still actively working on it? My Great Grandmother was Anna (Lukasko) Plesh. I have information on all of her siblings, as well as some basics on her mother and father. Her father I have as John Joseph Lukasko (1868-1945) , and her mother was Mary (Krelik) Lukasko (1875-7945). This line of the family mostly settled in Western Pennsylvania, and the Plesh line is still there. One of Anna's brothers, Michael Lukasko, moved to California, and there is still a line of Lukasko there. She had a number of sisters, who all took the last names of their husbands, including Bobik and Gdula.
Does any of this sound familiar?