Rudy family · Francine’s family overview
On this page: A life in the records · Family connections · What remains unknown · Sources and evidence
Joseph S. Rudy lived with his wife, Frances Okulewicz Rudy, in Sayreville, New Jersey. Their household appears in the 1940 and 1950 censuses. Later records name the couple as the parents of Carol A. Rudy Samuel and Florence Felicia Rudy Scassera. [J1] [J2] [J4] [J5]
A life in the records
1923 · Marriage evidence. The New Jersey brides index records Frances Okulewicz with husband initials J.R. on August 26, 1923, volume 30, page 448. This supports the marriage date used in the family research, but the index does not give Joseph’s full name or either spouse’s parents. The full certificate has not been inspected. [J3]
1940 · Sayreville. Joseph Rudy is recorded as New Jersey-born in a household with Frances and their children. His age appears to read 46, but the handwriting is uncertain. [J1]
1950 · Sayreville. The census records him as Joseph S. Rudy, age 52, again born in New Jersey. His exact birth date remains unresolved. [J2]
1963 · Death and announced funeral. Joseph died at home in Sayreville on May 20, 1963, explicitly dated in the separate death notice accompanying his obituary. The obituary names his surviving wife, the former Frances Okulewicz, his brother Edward and sister Sophie Rhatican. The obituary does not identify his parents. Funeral services at St. Stanislaus Church and burial in the church cemetery were announced; a completed interment and plot location have not been verified. [J7]
Family connections
Frances is recorded with Joseph in both census households. Carol’s published obituary names her parents as Joseph and Frances Okulewicz Rudy. Florence’s Social Security applications-and-claims index names her father as Joseph S. Rudy and her mother as Frances Okulewicz. These later sources support the family relationships, with their source limits retained below. [J1] [J2] [J4] [J5]
See Frances’s Okulewicz family for the evidence connecting her to Charles and Anna.
What remains unknown
Joseph’s obituary reports Sayreville as his birthplace, but his exact birth date and his parents remain unresolved. It does not state an age. The differing census ages remain unresolved, including the uncertain reading of 46 in 1940 and the recorded 52 in 1950. Family compilations use Joseph Sylvester Rudy; the original obituary supports Joseph S. Rudy. Accounts of family origins in the former Yugoslavia do not establish his parents’ origins. [J7] [J1] [J2] [J6]
The Rudy family account discusses a possible earlier household and two delayed-birth-index candidates. These leads do not yet prove Joseph’s parentage.
Sources and evidence
[J1] 1940 U.S. census, Sayreville, Middlesex County, New Jersey, enumeration district 12-148, sheet 64A, lines 34–40; NARA T627, roll 2363, image 00075. Original image checked in the family research. The enumeration-date field is blank.
[J2] 1950 U.S. census, Sayreville, Middlesex County, New Jersey, enumeration district 12-241, sheet 20, April 6, 1950; NARA image 185424-0021. Joseph and Frances appear on this sheet; the household continues on sheet 21.
[J3] New Jersey brides marriage index, 1920–1929, L–O, archive leaf 663. Frances Okulewicz; husband initials JR; August 26, 1923; volume 30, page 448. Index only.
[J4] “Carol Samuel,” Daily Democrat, September 15–16, 2023, hosted by Legacy.com. Published obituary naming Carol’s parents; later family evidence, not an original birth record.
[J5] U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007, Ancestry, record 19772268, Florence Felicia Rudy. Indexed parents Joseph S. Rudy and Frances Okulewicz; alternate names Florence Felecia Scassera and Florence Scassera. Database transcription checked; original application not inspected.
[J6] Francine genealogy research handoff and master handoff, September 2026, Rudy and Okulewicz sections. Compiled family research supplies the fuller name and attributed oral history; it is not independent proof of Joseph’s parents.
[J7] “Joseph S. Rudy” and separate RUDY death notice, The Daily Home News, May 20, 1963, p. 14. Original newspaper page inspected from a ProQuest research copy. The death notice supplies the exact death date; burial language announces arrangements. The obituary does not state an age. Link access may require a library subscription; no newspaper scan is reproduced here.