This story is adapted from my essay The Resilient Jimmy Kalish where you can see photos of my grandfather and many other family members mentioned in this story--but the essay includes parts of the story yet to come in in the next episode, so keep that in mind before checking it out.

Below are the sources of information on which I built this story, remaining true to all essential facts, embellishing just a few things very slightly for the sake of clarity. Also for clarity, I use the Americanized names of many family members. For names prior to immigration, visit the Family History section at michaeldurbin.com (where you can also subscribe to be notified when I release new episodes).

Sources: Family History

Interviews

• Durbin, Lorraine
• Kalish, Bernice 
• Kalish, James L
• Kalish, James R
• Kalish, Lou
• Mahoney, Ann
• Mahoney, Jacqueline (Jackie)
• Volkmann, Beth

Family Resources

• Durbin, William P Jr : Random Notes on the Kalish Background (1996)
• Kalish, James L : Handwritten note with parent and grandparent birth dates and places (c1990)
• Kalish, Louis F : The Life of Louis M and Victoria Kalish (2001)
• Mahoney, Ann : Where we started, the stops along the way, and where we’re headed : For the descendants of Stefan and Kata Kalis (2012)
• Mahoney, Jacqueline : Letter to nephew Michael Durbin  (1976)
• Mahoney, Ann : Krokvica Family History in America (2013)
• Mahoney, Ann : The Malec Family: You bet your dupa we’re Polish (2014)
• Prebezac, Earl: Interview of Frank Kavalier (1996) 
• Walko, Ed : Memoir (2001)

More

• Death records for Kalish, Krokvica, Malec, and Walko family members
• East St. Louis City Directories, 1924 and 1926
• The East St. Louis Journal, via the fabulous Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library
• Franklin County Illinois Recorder of Deeds
• Immigration records for Stefan and Kata Kalis, Leonard Krokvica, Josephine Krokvica, Anna Krokvica, Maria Krokvica, Marie Krokvica
• Marriage records for Kalish, Krokvica, and Malec family members
• St. Clair County Illinois Recorder of Deeds
• US Archives: Military and pension records for William Gaul
• US Census rolls for 1910 and 1930
• US Social Security Applications and Claims Index
• US Army draft registration records for Louis Kalish, Mike Kalish (1917)

US and Illinois History

A Bloody Band of Bootleggers: The Shelton Brothers Gang by By Joel J. Hutchcroft, 2021
Booze, Blood And Bombs: Prohibition In Southern Illinois by Tara McClellan McAndrew, 2020
Legends of America: Cairo
Legends of America: Zeigler
Morality in an Era of Lawlessness: How the KKK and Organized Crime Attempted to Instill their Visions of America during the Prohibition Era by Tyler D'Ambrose, 2018

Books

A Knight of Another Sort: Prohibition Days and Charlie Birger by Gary DeNeal
Brothers Notorious: The Sheltons by Taylor Pensoneau
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of America by Mae M. Ngai
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore

Music and Sound Effects

Sound effects were licensed from Pro Sound Effects, and these musical elements were licensed by way of NEOsounds.com:

• Walking The Manifold (theme music) by Bjorn Lynne
• Behind the Screen by Alex Khaskin
• Chopin Preludes
• Chopin Waltz Op 69
• Criminal Obsession by Felipe Adorno Vassao
• Classical Passion Strings Etude 1 by Pawel Orlow
• Depression Song by Jonathan Geer
• Emotional Piano and Cello by Josh Kramer
• Few Moments by Adam Skorupa
• If I Had Known by David Flavin, Roland Rudzkis
• It Doesn't Matter by Francesco Giovannangelo
• Pay Day by Alex Khaskin
• Rising Sun by Bjorn Lynne
• Tomorrow's Reveries by Bjorn Lynne
• Too Blue by Zelimir Panic

Sound effects were licensed from Pro Sound Effects, and these musical elements were licensed by way of NEOsounds.com:

• Walking The Manifold (theme music) by Bjorn Lynne
• Classical Passion Strings Etude 1 by Pawel Orlow
• 13 Strings by Jeremy Sherman
• Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
• 1975 by Daniel Pasternak and James Zeigler
• First Spring by Jonathan Geer
• Road To The Past by Alex Khasking

For teaching me a million things about audio engineering I did not know six months ago, thanks go to Eli Webb and Steven Raets at Sonark Media in Hillsborough NC, Chris Wimberley and Hawthorne Weeks at Nightsound Studios in Carrboro, NC, and Brandon Grugle at Multitude Productions. I must thank Casey Emmerling at Defacto Sound and their podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz, for his immensely encouraging words of support, and Susannah Broun, the other podcaster in this family, for hers. And a very special thanks goes to my wife, the artist Becky Broun, for lending a hand at Nightsound, and for just supporting me every moment I was holed up in my study or away taking classes or doing interviews.

For the technically curious, here's the hardware and software I used to turn this idea for a show into an actualshow: A Shure SM7B microphone, Focusrite Scarlett Solo preamp, Rode Wireless microphones, Zoom H4 Essential digital recorder, Riverside for remote interviewing, the Rogue Amoeba Piezo, Avid Pro Tools on an Apple iMac with a Wavesfactory Trackspacer plug-in and the iZotope RX12 AudioSuite, VLC Media Player, and Transistor.fm for show hosting and distribution. If you're into audio engineering or podcast production, you'll know what all of those are.

Sources: Family History

Naturally, I draw on my personal observations and experiences as a member of this family for more than 60 years. And as I note in the audio, this podcast would have been impossible were it not for the work of others, starting with my late father, William Pius (Bill) Durbin, Jr., and his brother, the late Robert Emmet (Bob) Durbin. They spent years collecting and documenting precious family history, as did Robert Ross Durbin, a third cousin twice removed.

My mother, Lorraine Durbin, and her sister, Jackie Mahoney, have never tired of answering my questions about Mom’s side of the family. Last but not least, my cousin Ann Mahoney’s rich compilations of the Kalish, Krokvica, and Malec family histories were as priceless to me as they will be for generations to come.

Another source is the always-free, crowd-sourced, and community supported genealogical website WikiTree at https://www.wikitree.com

Unlike commercial Internet ancestry services (Ancestry, etc.) Wikitree has two great things going for it. One, it is entirely free to use. Two, it aims to compile a single, unified family tree for all of humanity—with countless contributors and editors, effectively checking one other’s work. To date it has millions of entries and is growing all the time. It is a priceless, forward-looking resource for the historian in any family.

Individuals
Here are individuals with whom I've corresponded or interviewed over the years in pursuit of family history:

• Degrassi, Michael
• Durbin, Ann
• Durbin, Dan
• Durbin, Dick
• Durbin, Ed
• Durbin, Ken
• Durbin, Leslie James (Jim)
• Durbin, Lorraine
• Durbin, Marty
• Durbin, Robert E
• Durbin, William P Jr
• Fields, Alex
• Fields, Justin
• Graybill, Barb
• Kalish, Bernice 
• Kalish, James L
• Kalish, Lou
• Kurowsky, John
• Mahoney, Ann
• Mahoney, Jacqueline (Jackie)
• Petterson, Catherine
• Volkmann, Beth

Family Documents
And here are key books, papers, and letters I have relied on, each of them unpublished:

• Durbin, Robert E : Durbins of East St. Louis & Related Families (2003)
• Durbin, Robert E : 29th Street (2000)
• Durbin, Robert E : The Line of William and Bridget (Fannie) [Leahy] Gaul (2007)
• Durbin, Robert Ross : A Durbin Heritage (2000)
• Durbin, William P Jr : Letters home during US Navy tour of duty (1948-1952)
• Durbin, William P Jr : Random Notes on the Kalish Background (1996)
• Durbin, William P Jr : The Durbin Family (A Narrative) (1997)
• Durbin, William P Jr : World War II: Billy Durbin’s Recollections (2000)
• Kalish, James L : Handwritten note with parent and grandparent birth dates and places (c1990)
• Kalish, Louis F : The Life of Louis M and Victoria Kalish (2001)
• Mahoney, Ann : Where we started, the stops along the way, and where we’re headed : For the descendants of Stefan and Kata Kalis (2012)
• Mahoney, Jacqueline : Letter to nephew Michael Durbin  (1976)
• Mahoney, Ann : Krokvica Family History in America (2013)
• Mahoney, Ann : The Malec Family: You bet your dupa we’re Polish (2014)
• Prebezac, Earl: Interview of Frank Kavalier (1996) 
• Walko, Ed : Memoir (2001)

More

• Death records for Durbin, Kalish, Krokvica, Malec, and Walko family members
• East St. Louis City Directories, 1924 and 1926
• Genealogical notes, artifacts, correspondence, and family memorabilia from William P Durbin Jr (including an extensive database maintained in Family Tree Maker), Lorraine Durbin, and Robert Emmet Durbin
• Immigration records for Stefan and Kata Kalis, Leonard Krokvica, Josephine Krokvica, Anna Krokvica, Maria Krokvica, Marie Krokvica
• Marriage records for Kalish, Krokvica, and Malec family members
• US Archives: Military and pension records for William Gaul
• US Census rolls for 1910 and 1930
• US Social Security Applications and Claims Index
• US Army draft registration records for Adam Malec, Mike Kalish, Robert Kutkin

US History

According to historian Joseph C Robert : Joseph C. Robert, The Story of Tobacco in America, 1949 

they outnumbered women by as many as seven to one... an opportunity for human traffickers known as spirits : Indentured Migration and the Servant Trade from London to America, 1618-1718, by John Wareing 

in the words of biographer Jon Meacham : Songs of America, by John Meacham and Tim McGraw 

defined by the United Nations : United Nations, Definitions of Genocide and Related Crimes 

In 1820, 120 thousand indigenous men, women, and children : A People's Histor...

Join Michael Durbin as he tells the story of the United States as seen from the branches of one family tree--starting with his own. His ancestors have been here since colonial times, living through every presidential administration, every war and social movement, and more. Each episode will share engaging stories of the people who witnessed every American era there ever was, simply by living when and where they did.

Subscribe and follow: Hit the follow button in your podcast app so you never miss an episode
Learn more: There is more about the show at the website at oneamericanfamily.com
Connect: Send an email to michaeldurbin919@gmail.com