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Joseph Dudzicz immigrated to the United States from Grodno, Prussia (which would later become Poland) about 1907, at the age of 19. He was the only know Dudzicz to make the trip to the New World. He settled in Buffalo, New York, and married Veronica Witkowski on April 29, 1912. They had six children(five girls, one boy): Irene, Joseph Jr., Veronica (more commonly referred to as Verna, Bernice, Rita and Mary. Each of their children had five children of their own. Sometime after 1925, the family name was changed from the traditional Polish spelling to the "americanized" Dudzick. The families grew up around the Seneca-Emslie-Seymour Streets area of South Buffalo. Some of the popular landmarks of the area were St. Patrick's School, where most of the Dudzick cousins attended Elementary School, Winkler's General Store, and "Big Joe's [Dudzick] Tavern. The experience of growing up Polish Catholic in this neighborhood in the 1950's has been brought back to life in the play, "Over The Tavern, written by Thomas Dudzick. This play has been produced in Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
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