Sunday, October 3, 2010

Family history and graves


Here is the grave of my great-grandmother, Maria Beer (sometimes spelled Ber, but pronounced just like that lovely drink we are all so familiar with), who was born in Myslava, which was village outside the historically important (to the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) town/city of Kosice (Koh-shits-ze, with the emphasis on the first syllable, Koh). Her family, the Beers, is still evident in Myslava, which is now a suburb, but still has the little "downtown" area of small houses near the church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, built in 1788.
Maria Beer's grave needs some work on it. First, the plaque itself could simply be made more noticeable and readable by having some black paint put on the letters (the bottom bit says "rest in peace") . Second, a new plaque could be made, which gives her birth name AND marriage name, and her birth and death dates. The vast majority of women's graves give both their birth and marriage names, but Maria's only has the marriage name. When she died, the people around who took care of her did not have money to do the typical plaque.
Third, the grave itself is collapsing.

The concrete that covers her is has crumbled and the whole thing is caving in. It could either be fixed, or she could be placed in the grave with her husband, Jan Tomaskovic, my great-grandfather. Normally, this is what is done--husbands and wives are placed together.

You see here my great-grandfather's grave, which is in much better shape, but which also needs a better plaque, with more information on it, and with gthe letters blackened so they are more readable. This is something that people typically do, I guess, when they visit the cemeteries: they bring blackening or gold paint with them, to touch up the lettering.

The Tomaskovic family had moved down from Bankov Mountain, from the village of Vyzne (pronounced Vizhny) Klatov, or at Jan's parents and siblings had. Some Tomaskovics were obviously still in Vyzne Klatov, as there are more recent graves up there with the name on them. I haven't figured out yet how they are related to us.

Jan's father, Stefan, who sounds like a dreadful man, did not like the wife his son Jan had chosen (Maria Beer) and so he cut them off, refusing to see them or his own grandchildren, who included my grandpa, John. He was mean and spiteful, from the stories I've heard. My great-grandparents left Myslava for Michigan, where Maria's brothers had moved, and, just as most European non-Jewish immigrants did, they moved back and forth between America and Slovakia many times. My grandpa was born in Michigan, becoming an American citizen, but moved back to America as young man. One time while his parents were staying in Myslava, Jan died, and Maria decided to stay there when her now-adult children all moved back to America. The Tomaskovic family refused to take care of her, their son's widow, and her own family had moved to the States. So she moved in with her best friends, who were also her next-door-neighbors, the Solar family, who were also her daughter, Margita (Margaret)'s in-laws (Margaret had married Jiri/George Solar).
Now I know that's more than most of you want to know, but it explains who Gita, the woman in the photo we posted last time, is. She is a Solar, one of the family who took in my great-grandmother, and therefore takes care of the graves of my great-grandparents. MArion, my father's cousin who met us there, is also a Solar, the daughter of Margaret (born Tomaskovic) and George Solar.From left to right are Gita, me and Marion.

Anyway, I am thinking that the family needs to take up a small collection to fix the grave/s. I know that most of my family will never go tho Myslava to see these graves, but it feels bad to me to have my great-grandmother's grave crumble and cave in, and to have their plaques not say when they lived and died, and that they were married.

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