Biata+Boguslawski

=Biata Boguslawski=

Biata Boguslawski was born in Kurow, a village in South Eastern Poland, in 1872. In that year her family, unemployed and with a loss of land, decided to immigrate to America, where solutions to their problems seemed to be located. Having made it to the "promise land" the Boguslawski family settled in a small slum in the city of New York. The tenement buildings were crowded and risk of fire was ever present. In order to escape homelessness, the family shared a small 2 room apartment at the tenement building on [|97 Orchard Street] with the Nowak family, another Polish family also struggling to find the prosperity that was promised to them. The Boguslawski family welcomed two new members to the family: Feliks and Fela, twins born in 1874. The area around the slums was quite dirty and repulsive in sanitation. Sadly, however, this was the only area for children to play. Feliks, while frolicking with his siblings, managed to cut his foot significantly while standing in a puddle of swampy sewage muck. Infection grew, and with a lack of medical assistance available, Feliks died in 1884. Casimir Boguslawski (Biata's Father), though a man of modest means, had always had the secret ambition to open his own Tailor Shop. He knew that coming to America empty handed, did not give him many opportunities to open a shop, but he believed that Feliks, his only son, could perhaps start this empire of Tailor Shops. With Feliks' death, Casimir saw his dream crumble before him, causing him to spiral into a damaging depression and alcoholism. The girls, already working in a sewing sweatshop, needed to work harder, faster, and for longer shifts in order to cover the amount of money Casimir was throwing away in his late night stays at the nearby saloons. Biata thought that it was her duty to provide the most that she could for her family, being the eldest. She arrived to work early, stayed as late as possible, and did as much work as she could. One day, little Fela fell ill, and her mother, determined not to loose another child, pulled her earnings together to buy the cheapest remedies to cure her daughter. Lusia (Biata's Mother) stayed home taking care of Fela, and Biata went to work in the sewing shop. Her father was sleeping off his hangover in his room, having lost his job at the steel factory. Biata came home late from her shift to find a burning building. Only a year after loosing her brother, Biata lost her whole family in a Tenement Fire in the year of 1885. With only her small wages to support herself and without a home, Biata found it incredibly difficult to manage without her family. She slept in the corners of churches and in the parks of New York, or just stayed up late roaming the streets, with only the clothes off her back. Despite the monotony of the sewing factories, Biata enjoyed seeing the change in fashions and touching the cloth that would be worn on the rich New York elites. The risk of getting injured and the miniscule wages caused her to rethink staying in this job. Biata decided to risk her life by leaving the City of New York for a new one. At the railroad station she jumped on a train hoping it was her escape from the horrors of New York.
 * Early Life**

The train just happened to be [|P.T Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth]! (1885) Thankfully P.T Barnum was in need of a new circus freak, and so Biata was hired as a [|"Circassian Beauty"], an example of the purest race of humans, said to have originated from an area in Turkey. Requirements to be one of the beauties was to simply have a pale face and dark hair, which, thanks to her Polish roots, Biata possessed. Being a famous beauty forced her to use beer as shampoo in order for her hair to be frizzy, giving her an exotic look. The idea of acting as this Circassian Beauty under the name of Zoraya Meezal (the beauties were oftentimes given names with the letter "z" in them, as this was considered an exotic letter) appealed to Biata, who was an actress at heart. Pay in this field of work was much higher than what she was used to, though still incredibly low. As is custom in Barnum's shows, the acts must be replenished and made fresh every so often, so it was that the Circassian Beauties were cut from the side show group of freaks. However, Biata's beauty and exquisite demeanor was not to be lost so quickly. Biata was kept as a singer and performer, and even mended a few costumes here and there. A man who worked in the Menagerie (Animals), Bartie Smith, was an admirer of Biata, though she refused his advances on several occasions. One evening, while preparing for a show, Biata was attacked by Bartie and raped. In tears, Biata fled the train jumping off in the city of Chicago, with a flask of what she believed to be arsenic in her hand, a potion taken from Professor Phinneas Peale, a man who worked at the Circus. Drinking this potion however did not kill her, it so happened that in her hurry she stole the wrong bottle. Still, she had a few dollars in her pocket and proceded to the nearest drug store to buy her dose of suicide.
 * The Circus - Zoraya Meezal**

There it was that she met that startling blue eyes of H.H. Holmes. Enticed by his charm and personality she fell in love with him. With his assistance she was able to land a job mending costumes of the performers of the Chicago World's Fair. Biata was suspicious of the man due to her frequent conversations with a visitor to the hotel Roy West, and thought him rather strange, still she was madly in love and they were married in the year. Together they moved to Omaha, Nebraska (1893 - later part of the year), where Holmes bought her a small ranch. Holmes left to return to Chicago to manage his "business", leaving an increasingly suspicious Biata in Nebraska. Brigham (Jack) Coyle, a runaway [|mormon], stumbled across her street one morning. Sympathetic of his poverty and loss of home, Biata took him in and cared for him. Jack was a charming man who found Biata beautiful. The two easily fell in love. After some time, the susupicious nature of Holmes caused them to figure the man was up to no good. Inorder to escape his wrath, Biata and Jack jumped on the [|Transcontintnetal Railroad], and fled Omaha towards San Francisco (1895). The pair decided to settle in the near by town of [|Salinas, California]where they bought a small farm, growing starches and dried food. Though not incredibly prosperous, the two were happpy and had a daughter named Lusia Coyle (1897), after Biata's mother who died in the Tenement fire, as well as a son named Tobias Coyle (1898). Biata and her husband Jack continued to farm their slice of land in Salinas, and encountered a bit more success with their mastery of irrigation. Within a few years of farming, Biata and Jack began to realize the lack of governmental representation, and resented the unfair taxes and wage regulations. Upon attending a speech conference with a Populist "People's Party" Advocate John Barlow II, they were opened to a new political faction which understood their needs.
 * Chicago, Omaha, and California**

In August of 1918, Tobias Coyle was drafted into the United States Army, by the Selective Service Act of 1917, which was altered in the next year to include all men 18 to 45. Tobias was sent to the Argonne Forest in France, fighting as part of the [|American Expeditionary Forces] under the command of General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing. Thankfully, Tobias was only slightly injured, having a bullet lodged in his left leg, but he was able to return home later that year after the end of the war. During WWI agriculture was in high demand, as farmers were required to feed the American Troops as well as the European Allies. Farmers had to increase production and land use, stopping the rotation of land that usually take place in order for the crops to maintain their natural nutrients. The Salinas Valley produced starches such as Sugar Beets and Wheat, as well as "Liberty Cabbage". However, after the war demand for crops fell incredibly. With bad land, a surplus of food, and no government support, Biata and Jack saw their wages drop rapidly before their eyes causing a worsening in [|farming conditions]. Biata and Jack however, were resistant to the struggles, understanding that with the worsening of the economy the best thing to do was stay with the necessities, which was food. The pair, along with Tobias who decided to stay and assist the family, worked on the farm with the help of a few hired Philipines or Mexicans. Though of course, they struggled monetarily, they were able to maintain their farm and keep it until their deaths. Biata Boguslawski Coyle died at the age of 65 (1937) of natural causes, Jack Coyle died two years later leaving his children, Tobias Coyle and Lusia Coyle Schott, a small inheritance. **
 * WWI and The Depression

=Pictures=







Biata Boguslawski's Bibliography