A Memorial to the Coal Miners that mined the Bituminous Coal seams of the Mammoth No. 1  & No. 2 Mines & Coke Works, Mammoth, Mt. Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Compiled & Edited by
Raymond A. Washlaski

Raymond A. Washlaski, Historian, Editor,
Ryan P. Washlaski, Technical Editor,

Updated Oct. 28, 2008

Andrew (Andy) Martin Mischick, the second son of Michael and Susan (Safko) Mischick, was born January 13, 1884 in Hubosovce (near Presov), Saris, Slovakia. He had one brother, John, who was two years older and a sister, who died in infancy. John and Andy’s father died in 1893, when Andy was nine years old. After fulfilling the country’s mandatory military enlistment and in order to escape further military service, Andy came to the United States in January 1909 and joined his brother John in Mammoth (Westmoreland County), Pa (near Mt. Pleasant, Pa). Both brothers worked in the Mammoth Mines. In Westmoreland County the largest concentration of Slovaks at the turn of the century was in the Mt. Pleasant area and most of those Slovaks came from Eastern Slovakia, which is defined as anything east of the Tatra Mountains. There was work in the Westmoreland County area. In 1880 there were about 7,000 coke ovens in Westmoreland County but by 1900 there were more than 20,000 coke ovens. It was common for representatives of companies to go to New York and recruit immigrants coming through Ellis Island.

When he first came, Andy boarded or “hot-bunked” with Michael John and Mary (Tomko) Urda, the parents of Mike Urda, who later married Mary Mischick, Andy’s oldest child. The term “hot-bunk” refers to the fact that a bed in a residence was used by two boarders—after a 12-hour shift in the mine or bee-hive coke oven, a boarder would come home and use the bed; when he awoke to go to work, another boarder would be coming off a shift and take over the bed, which was still warm from the previous occupant—thus the term “hot-bunk”. Andy worked as a blacksmith, shoeing the donkeys that pulled the carts at the coal mines in Mammoth.

Pauline Margaret Kocis was born June 5, 1884 in Mt. Pleasant (Westmoreland County), Pa, the oldest daughter and second oldest of eleven surviving children of Jacob and Kathryn (Puskar) Kocis. Pauline’s siblings included Anna and Steve, who died in infancy, and John (b. August 9, 1892, d. January 9, 1981), Mary (Matuzek) (b. March 28, 1896, d. March 1966), Anna (Safko) (b. July 21, 1898, d. March 1953), Veronica (Stefanek) (b. December 12, 1900, d. April 7, 1969), Jacob (b. August 6, 1903, d. January 26, 1985), Kathryn (Frazier) (b. March 23, 1906, d. February 9, 1988), Elizabeth (Mook) (b. August 4, 1908), Andy (b. November 7, 1911, d. December 2, 1992), Edward (b. August 14, 1914, d. June 1967) and George (b. May 4, 1918). When Pauline was fifteen years old she met Andy Mischick at a wedding. They were married on May 31, 1910 at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, Mammoth, Pa. Once he was sure his younger brother was settled, Andy’s older brother, John, returned to his home in Hubosovce, Slovakia in the fall of 1910.

Andy Mischick and Pauline Kocis Mischick first two children, Mary and Joseph, were born in Mammoth, Pa. Andy continued to work in the coal mines until the strike of 1910-1911. This strike, which was known as the “Slovak strike” became an important event in the history of American labor. It started in March 1910 and went on for 16 months. Sixty-five mines were closed and 22,000 miners, one third of whom were Slovaks, went out on strike.

Andy and Pauline and their children relocated to Farrell (Mercer County), Pa