KORNOWSKI
Below is a story about the search for my Great Grandfathers grave. He was born in 1839 in Riewalde,West Prussia and baptised at St Katherines Church ( Sw.Katarzyna) in Klonowka,West Prussia. Riewalde is now know as Rywald, Poland. Rywald is located approximately 30 miles south of Gdansk, and a little east of Starogard, Gdansk. This town is not shown on most maps, you need a detailed road map to locate it.
Grave search: Michael Kornowski 1839-1891
By Edward William Kornowski, December 1997
I first estimated year of Michael's death from census records. He appeared on the census for 1880 but not 1892. Buffalo City hall had a death certificate on file.
His death date listed as: May 2,1891 Place of burial: St. Adalbert's Cemetery
Upon calling St. Adalbert's Cemetery, I was asked which one? There are three cemeteries. When I told them the date 1891, I was told that he most likely would be in the Old Cemetery on Dale Rd. Cheektowaga, NY. They also told me that the records for this cemetery were lost in a fire, and that they only have records for after 1933. At this point I figured the only way to find him was to physically read all the gravestones in this cemetery. I was told for that time, 1891 he would have had a wooden cross. Also that it would have rotted away. There was an open field of grass where there were no markers. Great I know where but not the spot.
I checked St. Adalbert's Church microfilm at the Buffalo and Erie County Main Library. What I discovered was that during the months of March to September 1891 no entries were recorded in the church ledger for deaths. Great!
Months later at a meeting of the Polish Genealogy Society, I met other people who were researching this Cemetery. They had been to St. Adalbert's church Rectory on Stanislaus St., in Buffalo. I was told that they had the viewed church records there. I figured I’d go there and physically look at the ledger, just in case parts were not filmed.
St. Adalbert's not being in the best of neighborhoods, naturally it is bolted up like Fort Knox. After a bit of pounding on every door and window I was greeted by Father Ted. After explaining my research, I was allowed to view the Death Ledger, which was precisely the same as the Microfilm. No entries were found March to September 1891. Father Ted who was recently assigned to St. Adalbert's, sensed my frustration and offered me another book. "The St. Adalbert1s Cemetery Daily Journal". Together we searched for my Great Grandfathers name. Zip, nothing, nada! Nothing listed under May 1891. Father Ted apologized, here look for yourself
I sat and flipped the pages. Maybe I'll find another relative. While scanning the book I noticed that the entries were arranged by Sections, rows, and lines. This was the actual list of burials. Supposedly lost in a fire? I began to see that 1891 came up numerous times, for each section. A last there he was! Michael Kornowski, section "K" no line number, grave 30. Jackpot!
Back to the Cemetery, I stopped at the caretaker's shop. Where is section "K”, I asked the workers? "We don’t know", was the answer. They showed me a book that they made, by writing down all the names from the gravestones. Kornowski was not in the book. They said to check with the main office at 6200 Broadway, Lancaster, NY. Maybe they can tell you where section "K" is.
I visited the main office and spoke to Terry Gladkowski, superintendent. He never heard of a section "K". He showed me all the maps they had. He told me that some older graves were located where the rail tracks are now, and those graves were moved. He did not know the section letter of that area .I promised to keep him informed because I would want to put a marker on this grave.
At this point I decided I would again visit the cemetery and record some names and dates of graves around the 1891 time period. I would get a few from the open field and try to match them up with the book at the Church. I walked around recording names and dates. I found the infant grave of my cousin Leonard and wife Kathy Kornowski's son Leonard P.Kornowski d. 1971. This is located in the tree area known as the baby section.
I returned to St. Adalbert's rectory to compare my notes to the ledger. I was able to confirm at least six names as being in section "K" .1 wrote down the location numbers, went back to the cemetery and put a paper with the number on the six known graves. As it turned out section "K" was just beyond the baby section on the left side. The first row being right after the trees. At this point I still had not determined which line Michael was buried in. The book left the line blank. Judging from the entries, I figured it was going to be one, two or three. Line one had few markers, only one large stone near the road, which was weathered and hard to read. Enough for today, finding the section was thrill enough for one day.
My plan now was to try to establish graves in the number 30 spot. If I got enough, I could stretch a string to line one and go from there. Too bad I didn’t copy the name on the large stone on the end, I could use that as a reference point.
After working on Saturday, I decided to stop by the cemetery on the way home and try to get the name off the large stone. This would be needed for my visit to the church on Monday. I was planning to bring some colored chalk to rub on the letters to help bring them out for easier reading. But as I was coming from work I had none. Now I want you to know that it snowed that Saturday, but I figured that as long as the road was plowed I'd get the name quickly. The bottom part of the stone was partially covered with snow. As I rubbed it off, parts of the stone remained damp and slightly darker than the rest. This made the letters stand out and I could make out "owski". Now being Polish this did not excite me, because many polish names end that way. But I began to smile, and then laugh, as I rubbed more snow, there staring back at me were the letters M.KORNOWSKI.
Jackpot, not only did I find the grave but it already had a marker! There is quite a bit of writing on the upright portion, which is weathered, and in Polish. I will make a return visit to decipher it and photograph.
This is how I found the grave of my Great grandfather, the "Emigrate”, Michael Kornowski. He arrived here in America April 20,1880. Today 106 years after his death, he rests in peace only 25 feet away from his “Great Great Grandson”.
page update 26 Aug 2001
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