(Copyright (c) 2010 Cynthia Shenette) A while back, in my post What's In A Name? (An Ongoing Series): Kowalewski, I mentioned the frustration I was having tracking an ancestor, Wladyslaw Kowalewski. I was at Notre Dame Cemetery in Worcester, MA planting flowers for my grand-parents and great-grand-parents for Memorial Day when I decided to look up Wladyslaw, who is also buried at Notre Dame. When I stopped at the cemetery office to ask for the location of Wladyslaw's grave, the people in the office kindly provided the information requested. I was somewhat surprised to notice that they listed his age as 53 at the time of his death. The funeral notice in the Worcester Telegram mistakenly, or so I thought, listed his age as 53. All along I'd suspected the Telegram funeral notice was incorrect, but now I was starting to wonder. I thought he was 63 when he died. Hmm... After planting flowers at my grandparents grave, I drove around a bit and found Wladyslaw's grave without too much trouble. An interesting side note, even though Wladyslaw's wife Antonina (buried 14 Feb 1933 at age 63) is also buried in the same plot, her name is not listed on the stone. A John Kowalewski, a son I believe (buried on 19 Sep 1932 at age 39) is buried in the plot as well and is also not listed. As you can see from the photo above the stone reads the following, "Wladyslaw Kowalewski, 1865-1928, Prosi o Zorowas Marya." Hmm again... 1865-1928. Wouldn't that make him 63? My guess is the family, who actually knew how old he was, put the correct end date on the stone. Clearly my next stop is to Worcester City Hall to get a copy of the death certificate.
Poor Wladyslaw. Spelling issues followed him throughout his life and apparently into eternity as well. Look at the inscription on the gravestone, "Prosi o Zorowas Marya." I had trouble translating Zorowas, so I asked my cousin Marek for assistance figuring it was another misspelling of some sort. Marek told me the word should be spelled Zdrowas. Aah. The inscription should read, "Prosi o Zdrowas Maryjo" translated, "Please say Hail Mary." That's about right...
2 comments:
Cynthia - Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for reading Everything's Relative and your kind words related to my scrapbook. I've been on a bit of a hiatus because school has been out but I'm looking forward to getting back into the mix after next week. I'm also writing because I see you have Comeau in your surname list - My Great Aunt (Rachel Roe) was with a gent named Rene Comeau in the 20s. They had a son named William in 1924. Might you have any connection to this family? Seeing Holyoke on your list as well, I'm sure you're probably familiar with Adams, which is where they were from. Best run, thanks again and I look forward to reading your blog!
Hi Cindy from Cindy! Thanks for your comment.
Your scrapbook pages really are lovely. Truly a work of art. I love to scrapbook, but never seem to make the time. Believe me, I appreciate the hours that went into your pages.
I know about the summer hiatus thing. My blogging has been sporadic this summer. We've been away a lot, and when we're not away I'm busy entertaining my seven-year-old. They are exhausting little people.
I'm not sure about your Rene Comeau. Comeau is like Smith or Jones. Very common name. Where does Rene originate from in Canada? Mine are St-Ours, Quebec, though they were originally from Acadia (Nova Scotia). Maybe if I know more, I might be able to help.
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