*I am continually revising & updating this*

I am the product, I suppose, of a classic mutt-like family bringing together a variety of nationalities. I’m half Old Immigrant (northern & western Europe) and New Immigrant (eastern & southern, after 1880). Many in their families hear certain stories, passed down through the generations by word of mouth. Usually, as any good genealogist knows, these are often not true or have a kernel of truth only. One such story in my family, on my dad’s New Immigrant side was that some in the family were bootleggers during Prohibition in the 1920s. Only very recently have I been able to prove it. Here is the story.

My last name is Charles, but it should be Pavlovic. My great grandfather, Stojan, an ethnic Serb from the center of Croatia, came to the U.S. at the turn of the century. He settled in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, which unlike today was a big, thriving, populated industrial metropolis rivaling Pittsburgh, its neighbor. One could get oysters in fine hotels, there, then. Like with many New Immigrants, close & extended family members came as well. There were a lot of Pavlovics in McKeesport.

Left: Stojan “Stephen” Charles Pavlovic & his brother Vajo Pavlovic. (Pretty sure they’re brothers, they look alike.)

1916: The family all living in McKeesport.

The Pavlovics were something of an entrepreneurial family, owning bars, cafes, hotels, and pool halls. From 1914-1918, Stojan worked as a bartender in his brother Vajo’s saloon. Vajo acquired the liquor license from Hugh McCloskey & presumably the bar in 1910. By 1919 he bought 2 lots next to the bar, then the building housing the bar in 1920 for $6,000. Between 1918 to 1920, Stojan left to operate his own pool hall before moving to a neighboring county.

 

 

Then national Prohibition became law in 1920. Vajo still applied for a liquor license in 1921 & 1922 as he had done yearly since 1910, which was in the papers. Apparently this was because PA didn’t pass a Prohibition enforcement law until 1923. The 1920 census lists Vajo as operating a “hotel,” as does his First World War draft card. It must have been a bar with rooms above. Still, the 1922 McKeesport City Directory lists him as selling “soft drinks,” working & living at the same address.

 

The problem for him, of course, is a newspaper story on July 30, 1922 of a liquor raid of his establishment where authorities seized 3 cases of beer.

By October 1923, Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot declared his intention to padlock all saloons in the state, giving rise to a renewed effort to clamp down on illegal saloons.  “I want to put a padlock on the doors of every saloon in the state,” Pinchot declared.

 

Then on 22 October 1923, in line with the governor’s declaration, came another liquor raid. This one involved authorities seizing 2 half barrels of beer & a gallon of wine from Vajo’s saloon in McKeesport.

 

On July 31, 1928 came another raid. This time law enforcement raided Vajo’s Saloon and arrested & held on $1,000 bond his 20 year-old son “Pepe [Peter] Pavlovic.” They also seized beer, liquor, & wine.

The Prohibition administrator, Pennington, claimed in July that over $800,000 had been taken from bootleggers. The bootleggers were upset and tried to get rid of Pennington.

 

 

 

 

By the end of August, 1928, the Prohibition administrator won the temporary closings (“padlocks”) of various establishments for selling booze, including Vajo’s saloon.

On Pittsburgh and Prohibition enforcement, read this article, “LET THE FEDERAL MEN RAID”: BOOTLEGGING AND PROHIBITION ENFORCEMENT IN PITTSBURGH,” by Julien Comte, University of Pittsburgh

In June 1929, Vajo appealed to a federal court to have the padlock removed from his business so he could open a billiards parlor instead & sell cigars, cigarettes, & candy. The news story noted Vajo, given his past Prohibition problems, had “been severely punished for past offenses,” learned his lesson, & now wanted to be an upright businessman. His appeal must have succeeded as the 1930 census shows Vajo running a pool hall in McKeesport (bottom of document).

My great grandfather, Stojan, had moved in 1920 to Aliquippa, PA, (Woodlawn) where he ran a pool hall, cigar-selling business, and Turkish bath. It was owned by his in-laws. Family stories have it he sold booze, too. But who knows?

Stojan sold it in 1922 after his wife, aged 30, died of an illness that today antibiotics would knock out.

But my favorite story, though, is when my great grandmother in 1920 sued her neighbor for stealing her ducks!  She lost, no doubt because she was a non-English speaking New Immigrant. I also wonder about this since it was 1920 when they also moved out of there to Aliquippa.

Always something with the family. Vajo’s daughter-in-law in February 1940 committed suicide by jumping from the Jerome Ave Bridge after a fight with her husband. He must have been a real piece of work.