Finding siblings of your ancestors

prismlizard — Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:00 pm

Author: prismlizard

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:00 pm

I decided to start a new discussion of ideas to finding siblings. To better illustrate this idea, let me show you an example in my family line. This deals with cemeteries and Family Plots. In St. Adalbert cemetery in Chicago, one of my lines has six graves in the Golinski Family Plot. There are two graves in this plot with the name Andrykowski. I first thought they were my great grandmother's parents. I later realized that they were my great grandmother's brother and his wife. My great grandmother's full name with original birth and marriages was Agnes Andrykowski Kruczkowski Golinski. Her first marriage was in Poland, had three children, husband died, immigrated to the US, and remarried. Now the descendants of the Andrykowski buried there never made the connection that Agnes was Antoni Andrykowski's sister. Years later, after finding these descendants, I proved our cousin relationship with Agnes's obituary mentioning Antoni as surviving brother. These cousins never made this connection because my great grandmother immigrated with the name Agnes Kruczkowski.
The lesson to be learned here with cemetery research, always check who owned the Family Plot with numerous graves. Always check who is buried in any family plot. They are all closely related. In this example, Antoni Andrykowski owned a farm in Wisconsin. For retirement, Antoni sold his farm. Antoni and his wife lived with their eldest son in Chicago. Upon death, with little money, the Golinski family offered the two graves. The Golinski Family Plot was purchased by Frances Golinski, one of Agnes Andrykowski Golinski's daughters. If there is a different surname in a family owned plot, that individual could be a related sister known by her married name. Never miss opportunities to find a hidden sister sibling and an unknown cousin line.

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Finding siblings of your ancestors