Send Up A Flare, Mystery Bride Identified! - Mystery Monday

(Original Image and Text, Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia ShenetteIt has finally happened!  Someone has actually recognized one of my mystery brides AND was kind enough to contact me!  I posted a photo of this lovely couple back in October of 2010 for Mystery Monday.  Today, I am happy to report the couple has been identified by their grand-daughter as Mr. and Mrs. Walter Shenkowski.  The bride is the former Sophie Choronzak, one of the children I mentioned was orphaned in my post Flu 1918 (Part 1 of 3).  According to Sophie's grand-daughter, her grandparents' wedding took place at Our Lady of Czestochowa in Worcester, MA in November of 1928.  Wow!  How about that!

Sophie was the daughter of Antonina and Josef Choronzak, the couple who died during the flu pandemic leaving seven children orphaned.  Sophie's grand-daughter remembers my aunt Helen Bulak, and I learned that Sophie worked at my aunt's store, Helen's, on Millbury St. in Worcester for many years. Sophie's grand-daughter said she Googled "Antonina Choronzak" one night and was more that a little surprised to find her great-grandparents name pop up on my blog.  She was even more surprised to find her grandparents wedding picture on my blog!  What's even more amazing?  She has the same photograph in a frame above her computer at home! 

We started a nice little e-mail correspondence over the weekend.   Maybe together we can learn a little more about Sophie, Antonina, and our respective families.  She said she suspects that between her and her mom, they can help me to identify many of the mystery photos in my collection.  Sophie's grand-daughter's final comment to me was so poignant.  She said, "I'm so glad that Antonina brought us together.  Their remarkable story continues..."  Indeed it does.   


Other Posts You Might Like:

A Comedy of Errors: My Family in the Census (Part 1 of 3)
(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: WWI Red Cross Volunteers
What's In A Name? (An Ongoing Series): Kowalewski
The Stories My Grandmother Told Me

11 comments:

Kristin said...

That's wonderful! How lovely to be found by someone with information to share. For both parties!

Cynthia Shenette said...

You are right, Kristin! I think we'll both learn from this! Thank you for your comment.

Susan Clark said...

I am in a hyper-emotional mood today, but this brought me to tears. A joyful result.

Dorene from Ohio said...

What a wonderful blessing! Awesome!

Barbara Poole said...

Wonderful!! Every paragraph got better, it's better than made up. Maybe some of the other mystery brides are siblings. Wow, you have a lot to think about. How did this person happen to come across your post, esp. since you didn't have the bride's name. Way to go Cindy.

Amy Coffin, MLIS said...

I love it when a mystery gets solved. Congrats on the connection!

Cynthia Shenette said...

Thank you all for your comments! I really am thrilled about this, and so is Sophie's grand-daughter.

Barbara - You are so right! The more I do genealogy and family history, the more I believe that real life IS more interesting than fiction!

Greta Koehl said...

This is great news, and the fact that your contact may be able to help you with other photos is even better news! It's like finding something dear that you had lost.

Heather Kuhn Roelker said...

Another example of the best part of blogging...making terrific connections. Congrats!

Debi Austen said...

Amazing! Congratulations on solving the mystery. And I can't wait to hear if more of your photos are identified.

Cynthia Shenette said...

Thank you all for your comments!

Connecting with Sophie's grand-daughter has been amazing. I'm hopeful that between the two of us, we can put some names to some of the faces in my mystery collection. She has quite a story to tell as well.