Elizabeth (Adams) Chute, my first cousin, 1x removed, inherits the ancestry research done by her sister Sally and gives it to me. Sylvia “Sally” (Wentworth) Adams was the first “Beth,” but she was a paper and pencil genealogist, and communications were more infrequent. She did incredible work and was meticulous about details. She writes that both of my Great-grandparents were buried three days after their deaths at St. Cyril’s Cemetery. John on 27 MAY 1941 and Mary 26 AUG 1936. The dates are quite specific, and that by itself is rare information to have. Beth has walked the cemetery many times and has not seen the gravesite. And we know that the church records on the Internet don’t have this information. There is some logic in thinking John, Jr. would be in the same cemetery as his father. If Junior is there, why not Senior?
Covid-19, notwithstanding, Beth and her friend Earl Williams at the Historical Society, have located my Great-grandparents’ gravesite.
[To sweeten the story, Earl and I are cousins. We both have accounts at MyHeritage. While using their Messenger service to communicate, we learn of an estimated relationship, 3rd-5th cousins, DNA Match quality, 0.6% (39.3 cM) Shared DNA, 3 Shared segments, 16.9 cM. This DNA discovery is my 3rd: Judith, Zlatica, and now Earl.]
Earl credits the burial dates, along with the dates of death, as being essential clues. Earl traveled to Lewiston to find the Church records. The gravestone identifies the correct name and spelling of my Great-grandmother’s name as Maria Anna Pelcarsky. This ID is a correction from Mary to Maria Anna and a confirmation of spelling for Pelcarsky. I have long suspected that Mary was a construct of “Marie E.”
Beth writes, asking, “ Did you notice the spelling of Elcik at the bottom of the gravestone as Ilcik?… I plan to help Earl clean it up in the Spring, and hopefully, we’ll be able to get better pictures after doing that.” I had not and immediately asked her to send me a better photo. Beth has located the “smoking gun.” We have the first evidence of an Elsik using the Ilcik spelling. There, in raised letters on the tombstone, are the letters, “Ilcik,” Wow. We believe this to be the most significant find of all. And it is in stone.
