The Birth and Death of Aunt Bronisława

My Aunt Bronisława Dańko died when she was one year old and was buried with two other infants in an unmarked grave in Notre Dame Cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts .  In order to erect on monument on the grave, the cemetery requires that the names of all three infants be included on the monument .  The cemetery provided the following information on the three infants:

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

Since the cemetery had misspelled my aunt’s surname and did not have the dates of birth or death for any of the three infants, I set out to find the birth and death records for the children .  In the blog entry Aunt Bronislawa Has Been Misplaced, I described my efforts to find the vital records for the trio.

During my recent trip to the Massachusetts Archives, I found the records for all three children .  The birth record of Bronisława Dańko was recorded in a ledger in January 1913, although she had been born almost a year earlier.

The Birth Record of Bronisława Dańko – 1912

In the image above, I cropped the ledger just under the entry for Bronisława, so it appears that she is the last entry on the page, but the original image included quite a few more entries below her name.

The entry states that:

• Bronislawa Danko was listed as entry number 961 in Massachusetts Births, volume 608, page 486
• She was a female child, born in the City of Worcester, Massachusetts on January 3, 1912
• Her father was Mike Danko and her mother was Mary Ginsky who resided in Worcester
• Her father was a laborer
• Both her parents were born in Austria
• Her birth was registered in the City of Worcester in January 1913

Note that her mother’s maiden name was actually Dziurzyńska, not Ginsky .  This error was likely due to difficulties of hearing and spelling the polish surname or to transcription errors .  The entry were made a year after the event and the family was probably not present at the time the birth was recorded in the ledger.

The death record of Bronisława Dańko was recorded on a standard form which was completed at the time of death.

The Death Record of Bronisława Dańko – 1913

The Death Record states that:

• Bronislawa Danko’s death was recorded in Massachusetts Deaths volume 107, number 290
• She was a single, white female, born in Worcester on January 2, 1912 and was 1 year, 11 days old at the time of death
• Her father was Michal Danko who was born in Austria
• Her mother was named Mary and was born in Austria
• P. H. Nichol, M.D. attended her from January 7, 1913 until January 13, 1913
• She died at 2:30 PM on January 13, 1913 at the family home at 3 Moran Court in Worcester after suffering for 6 days with broncho pneumonia
• Michal Danko of Worcester was the informant
• The statement of death by P. H. Nichol, M.D. was made on January 14, 1913
• She was buried in Worcester on January 15, 1913 by the undertaker Lucian Karolkewicz of Worcester
• The Death Certificate was filed by the registrar on January 20, 1913

Note that the date of birth on the birth record is January 3, 1912, while that on the death certificate is January 2, 1912.

Tomorrow:  The birth and death of John Kurpiel.

Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko