When Was Great Aunt Mary Born?

My Great Aunt Mary, the sister of my grandfather Michael Danko, was the only one of my grandfather’s siblings to come to America .  When I first started to assemble information on my family, I contacted Mary’s daughter Fran and asked her for the names, dates, and places for births, marriages, and deaths in her family .  Fran had already assembled a wealth of information on her side of the family and generously provided me with anything for which I asked.

According to Fran, who has recorded vital events for her family for years, Great Aunt Mary was born in Nienadowa, Galicia (Austria-Poland) on March 12, 1887 .  She married Paul Golinski in Barre, Worcester Co., Massachusetts on October 4, 1915 .  She gave birth to six children from 1916 to 1928, and she died in Fairlawn Hospital in Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts on September 18, 1975 .  She was buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts .  So far, so good .  Now it was time to verify the information Fran provided me with documented sources.

The easiest place for me to look for verification of the information Fran provided was in the cemetery .  I visited St. John’s Cemetery and obtained a copy of the computerized burial record for the Golinski Plot in 2002 and I visited the grave .  I returned and obtained an updated computerized burial record for the Golinski Plot in 2005 and noticed that the format had changed .  The new format did not provide the ages of those interred .  In any case, the record from 2002 showed that Mary Golinski was buried on September 22, 1975, and she was 88 years old when she died .  This information meant that she was born in 1886 or 1887 and died before September 22, 1975, all consistent with the information Fran gave me .  Upon visiting the grave, I noted that the tombstone inscription read:  1887 MARY DANKO WIFE 1975.

Golinski Monument – Obverse

SOURCE:  Golinski Monument – Obverse (Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 09 September 2005.

Golinski Monument – Reverse

SOURCE:  Golinski Monument - Reverse (Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 09 September 2005.

As you may recall, I obtained a number of church records from the Church in Dubiecko, the church of my Dańko ancestors .  One of these was for Great Aunt Mary .  One bit of information that I had obtained was that in Poland the names Maria, Marja, Marya, Marianna, Marjanna, and Maryanna were all the English equivalent of Mary, and sometimes the spellings were used interchangeably for the same person .  Great Aunt Mary’s birth and baptism listed her name as Marianna.

The Birth and Baptimal Record for Marianna Dańko – 1884

SOURCE:  Parafia pw. Niepokalanego Serca Najświętszej Maryi Panny (Dubiecko, Przemyśl Powiat, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary), “Baptismal Records,” Nienadowa 1884: entry 5, Marianna Dańko, 12 January 1884; Dubiecko Parish Office, Dubiecko, Republic of Poland.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Marianna Dańko .  The record provided the following information:

• Marianna was born on January 12, 1884 and baptized on January 14, 1884
• She was the fifth child born that year in Nienadowa
• Her parents lived in house numbers 122/207 (I’m not sure why two house numbers are listed here)
• She was a Catholic girl, and the birth was legitimate
• Her father was Jakub Dańko son of Pawel Dańko and Agnieszka Szymańska, farmers, legally married
• Her mother was Agnieszka Sawa, daughter of Maciej Sowa and Katarzyna Jach, farmers, legally married
• The godparents were Antoni Sowa and Marianna, wife of Andrzej Giergont
• The midwife was Marianna Szymańska
• The priest was [Achesej?]

Since the original image did not provide column headers, I created those headers myself, based on what I knew should be in the record, and created a PDF of the composite record for the Birth and Baptism of Marianna Dańko.

There are a couple of problems here, right off the bat .  First, Great Aunt Mary was supposed to be born on March 12, 1887, not January 12, 1884 .  Second, Jakub Dańko’s mother was Zofia Szymańska, not Agnieszka Szymańska.

Is the the birth record for my Great Aunt Mary, or is this a different child?

Tomorrow, more records and more questions.

Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko