Category Archives: Dziurzyński

My cousin and I attempted to use The Scientific Method to answer the question of where Bertha Danko is buried. In the first iteration of The Scientific Method, we tested the hypothesis that Bertha Danko is buried in an unmarked grave in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, Massachusetts. We were not able to prove the first hypothesis, and so we conducted a second iteration where we tested the hypothesis that Bertha’s death record includes her place of burial. We were not able to prove the second hypothesis, but we learned that Bertha Danko’s name was actually Bronislawa Danko, and that Bronislawa was buried by the undertaker Lucian Karolkiewicz. Continue reading →

My cousin and I attempted to use The Scientific Method to answer the question of where Bertha Danko is buried. At the end of the first iteration of The Scientific Method where we tested the hypothesis that Bertha Danko is buried in an unmarked grave in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, Massachusetts, we concluded that either Bertha Danko is not buried in Hope Cemetery, there is an error or omission in the cemetery records, or the clerk at the cemetery did not conduct an accurate and thorough search. Continue reading →

I started off this series with a description of The Scientific Method and posed two questions. When should a genealogist apply The Scientific Method to a genealogical research problem? How does one go about doing so? What follows is a description of how my cousin and I used the scientific method to answer a question about our own family: Where is our Aunt Bertha Danko buried? Continue reading →

Kimberly Powell described genealogy as “North America’s Fastest Growing Hobby.” While that is probably true, I personally consider genealogy to be more than just a hobby. When considered as an academic discipline, genealogy is generally classified with the humanities (studies of the human condition). Academic studies in the humanities often rely on observation, analysis, and speculation to achieve their goals and, indeed, genealogy appears to fall into that category. Continue reading →