Andrej Stefan Fillo was born in Kerestur, Czechoslovakia in 1894 and immigrated to the United States arriving January 20, 1921 at Ellis Island aboard the Vedic. He went by his middle name, Stefan rather than Andrej perhaps because his first born child, Andrej, died in Europe in infancy. Some other siblings immigrated around the same time and some of them went to Cleveland, Ohio. The spelling of the surname was originally "Filo" and the
Cleveland "gang" maintained the original spelling. The Customs folks at Ellis Island felt that there should be a double consonant between vowels, hence the "Fillo" spelling. Stefan served in World War I and was introduced to his future wife by one of his war buddies. Settling in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Stefan worked for United States Steel, National Tube Company as did most immigrants to the area. He and his wife raised three daughters and one son through the Great Depression. He spoke Slovak, English, and Hungarian, using the latter when he and his wife did not want the children to understand what they were discussing! Stefan died at age 55 of a heart attack on the sidewalk just outside of his home in 1950.
Cleveland "gang" maintained the original spelling. The Customs folks at Ellis Island felt that there should be a double consonant between vowels, hence the "Fillo" spelling. Stefan served in World War I and was introduced to his future wife by one of his war buddies. Settling in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Stefan worked for United States Steel, National Tube Company as did most immigrants to the area. He and his wife raised three daughters and one son through the Great Depression. He spoke Slovak, English, and Hungarian, using the latter when he and his wife did not want the children to understand what they were discussing! Stefan died at age 55 of a heart attack on the sidewalk just outside of his home in 1950.
Andrej Stefan Fillo was born in Kerestur, Czechoslovakia in 1894 and immigrated to the United States arriving January 20, 1921 at Ellis Island aboard the Vedic. He went by his middle name, Stefan rather than Andrej perhaps because his first born child, Andrej, died in Europe in infancy. Some other siblings immigrated around the same time and some of them went to Cleveland, Ohio. The spelling of the surname was originally "Filo" and the
Cleveland "gang" maintained the original spelling. The Customs folks at Ellis Island felt that there should be a double consonant between vowels, hence the "Fillo" spelling. Stefan served in World War I and was introduced to his future wife by one of his war buddies. Settling in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Stefan worked for United States Steel, National Tube Company as did most immigrants to the area. He and his wife raised three daughters and one son through the Great Depression. He spoke Slovak, English, and Hungarian, using the latter when he and his wife did not want the children to understand what they were discussing! Stefan died at age 55 of a heart attack on the sidewalk just outside of his home in 1950.
Cleveland "gang" maintained the original spelling. The Customs folks at Ellis Island felt that there should be a double consonant between vowels, hence the "Fillo" spelling. Stefan served in World War I and was introduced to his future wife by one of his war buddies. Settling in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Stefan worked for United States Steel, National Tube Company as did most immigrants to the area. He and his wife raised three daughters and one son through the Great Depression. He spoke Slovak, English, and Hungarian, using the latter when he and his wife did not want the children to understand what they were discussing! Stefan died at age 55 of a heart attack on the sidewalk just outside of his home in 1950.
