Aunt Bronisława Has Been Misplaced

Somehow my family misplaced my Aunt Bronisława .  Granted, she died 93 years ago, but how could the family misplace her?  Years ago, my Aunt Helen had prepared a family history and listed a sister called Bertha with no birth or death information, just a notation (Hope Cemetery) Worc. Ma.  This entry was the first time I had heard about this child .  Soon after I read this, my cousin Joe told me that this child was supposed to be buried in an unmarked grave in Hope Cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts .  He had visited Hope Cemetery, but the cemetery had no record of her burial.

On one of my trips back east, I visited both Hope Cemetery and Notre Dame Cemetery in Worcester (the two cemeteries are right across the street from each other) .  I inquired about Bertha in both cemeteries, but both told me they had no record for her .  In fact, Hope Cemetery had no record for anyone with the surname Danko .  I’m familiar with both cemeteries since I have relatives buried in both, although most of my relatives are in Notre Dame Cemetery .  I have a map of Notre Dame Cemetery, and even an aerial photo of the cemetery .  Several of my relatives are buried there including my grandparents, Michael and Mary (Dziurzynska) Danko.

 

I visited the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records in Dorchester and looked through the birth and death indexes there .  Sure enough, I found the child and obtained copies of her birth and death certificates . Â On the birth and death certificates, Bertha’s name was listed as Bronisława Danko .  She was born in Worcester on 03 January 1912 and died on 13 January 1913 of broncho pneumonia .  The death certificate stated that she was buried on 15 January 1913 in Worcester and the undertaker was Lucian Karolkewicz .  No cemetery was listed.

Now, I knew that most of my relatives were buried by Henry Karolkiewicz (Lucian’s son?)who ran Karolkiewicz Funeral Home (later called the Henry Funeral Home) .  Relatively recently, Henry sold the business and the funeral home is now called Henry-Dirsa Funeral Service .  I wrote to Henry-Dirsa and asked if they had any records for the burial of Bronisława .  I enclosed my phone number, email address, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to be sure they had everything they needed to get in touch with me .  Six months later, I still hadn’t heard from them .  I wrote a second time, and a few days after I sent the second request, I received a call from the funeral home .  They told me that they had no records of burials before the 1950s, but they called Hope Cemetery and Notre Dame Cemetery to try to find where Bronisława was buried .  They received the same response that Joe and I had received:  no record of her burial .  I thanked the gentleman for his efforts and hung up .  A few minutes later, I received a second call from Henry-Dirsa Funeral Home telling me that Notre Dame Cemetery had just called them to let them know they found Bronisława!  The surname had been spelled “Danka” instead of “Danko” .  What luck!

But here is where the story really gets interesting .  Bronisława is buried in Notre Dame Cemetery in a single grave in Section 3, Lot 1464 with two other infants!  The cemetery had no record of ownership of the Lot, but had the following information:

Notre Dame Cemetery No. 01 – Owner: Owner, unknown
Lot – Sec-3 Lot-1464 Grv-1A-1C
UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
3                                         3
3                                         3
3                   1C                  3
3                   1B                  3
3                   1A                  3
3                                         3
3                                         3
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAU
Space Deceased/Reserved  Burial Date     Age  Container
1A       Kurpiel, John            12/21/1912    1Month
1B       Danka, Bronislawa    01/15/1913   1
1C       Stonia, Franciszek    08/30/1914    8Months

AAAEnd of ListAAA  Perpetual Care Unpaid — No Activity Allowed Until Full Payment

So here is the great mystery .  Who are these two other children buried in the same grave with my aunt?  Why are they all buried together in a single grave?  And who purchased the lot?

Well, I’m still working on this mystery .  There is no stone on the grave, so I’m planning to have one set in place this year .  I paid the perpetual care fees that had been accumulating for over 90 years, so now I’m the legal owner of the lot .  The cemetery requires that I place the names of all three children on any stone I place on the grave, so I’m trying to find the birth and death dates for the other two children .  I have had some limited success.

John Kurpiel was born on 30 October 1912 .  Since he was buried on 21 December 1912, I assume he died a few days before he was buried, although I haven’t yet found a death record for him.

Franciszek Stonia is a more of a mystery .  I haven’t found a birth or death record for him, yet .  He was buried on 30 August 1914, so he probably died a few days before then .  He was 8 months old when he died, meaning he was probably born in December 1913.

The last time I was in Massachusetts, I visited the Vital Records Office in Dorchester again .  Unfortunately, they had just transferred all the records from 1910-1915 to the Massachusetts Archives .  So, I went over to the Archives .  When I arrived there, they told me that they had just sent all the 1910-1915 death records out to be microfilmed!

I’m planning to be in Massachusetts in July, so I’ll stop by the Archives again and try to find the missing records .  In any case, there will be a stone on Aunt Bronisława’s grave by the end of the year.

Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko