Anonymous No More - Michael Pereksta - Tombstone Tuesday

Cast iron cross marking grave of Michael Pereksta

Last month I wrote about all the newspaper reports of unnamed "Hungarians" killed in slate mining accidents in the late 19th and early 20th century. I came across the articles while looking for information on Michael Pereksta, who was reported to be my grandmother's cousin.

Today I am, thanks to the kind assistance of the Slate Valley Museum and their volunteer extraordinaire John Jones, able to pinpoint the date and cause of his death, and to share photographs of his grave marker.

He did die in a mining accident as we'd been told. John found two small news articles in local papers reporting the accident, though again omitting his name.


I shall write more about his life, death and the help I received from John and the Slate Valley Museum, but today I focus on his burial at the Saint Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Granville, NY. 

Plaque attached to cross.

TU 

SPOCIVA

MICHAEL PEREKSTA

ZOMREL 12 JUNIA 1905,

30 ROKOV STARY

Here

Rests

Michael Pereksta

Died 12 June 1905,

Age 30 Years

John sent pictures illustrating the placement of the marker, its condition, as well as the above translation. He pointed out that it was near several other iron crosses, all sharing the same laurel wreath emblem near the base and speculated they had been provided by a burial society. I suspect he is correct. 

St. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Cemetery, Granville, NY

Michael's cross is in the back, tilting strongly to the right, in the above picture.  If you look carefully you can see other crosses nearby.

Image Credits

The photographs were taken by John A. Jones and are published here with his permission. 

Father's Day 2012

Thinking of the fathers and grandfathers who bless our lives.

Graduation, 1920 - Wordless Wednesday

East Tennessee State Normal School Graduation Program, dated June 1, 1920.

Johnson City, TN 

Source: Iva Williams Sawyer Papers; privately held by Susan Popp Clark [Address withheld], St. Louis, MO. 1999. Part of the papers belonging to my grandmother, Iva Sawyer, received from estate of my mother, Carolyn Sawyer Popp, upon her death.  

The Anonymous Dead

I spent another day lost in the images of old newspapers at Old Fulton NY Postcards, skimming through news reports of slate quarry accidents for mention of a mystery Pereksta cousin reportedly killed in a mining accident in Vermont in the early 1900s.

While fatalities in the slate quarries of New York, Vermont and Pennsylvania weren't reported daily, there were dozens and dozens of reports. My first two search requests yielded over 500 hits each. I got a manageable list of 154 articles on my fourth try. It was very dangerous work. The demented genealogist in me perked up, thinking that there would be ample occasion to find my Pereksta mentioned.

Wrong. Lots of fatalities. Lots of news reports. But almost all the Eastern European immigrant fatalities were reported as unnamed Hungarians.

CAUGHT BY A CAVE IN

Five Workmen Probably Killed in an Accident in a Slate Quarry

Allentown, Pa., March 1 - While seven quarrymen were at work this morning in the slate quarry... the top caved in, burying Joseph Reamley, Samuel Kreitz, Griffith O. Pritchard, William R. Jones and three Hungarians....

(The Brooklyn [NY] Daily Eagle, 1 March 1894, p. 1, col. 4)

This next report adds the insult of scant vocabulary to fatal injury when compared to the adjective laden report of Mr. Williams' death.

Fatalities at Granville 

Rowland Williams, a native of Wales, while at work in Norton Brothers' slate quarry at Granville on Wednesday afternoon, was instantly killed by a huge stone which fell from the ledge and crushed him. His body was terribly mangled. He leaves a wife and four children.

A Hungarian working in Hughes quarry at Granville was struck on the head by a falling stone and killed on Tuesday afternoon. 

(Glen Falls [NY], The Morning Star, 30 July 1897, p. 8, col. 2)

There was a widely reported collapse in 1905 that killed several men - though reports of the numbers range from eight to 14. I read thirteen accounts of the accident. Most read like this one.

Cave-In Fatal to 14

Awful Accident in a Vermont Slate Quarry This Morning

Troy, N.Y., Oct. 6 - Sixteen men were buried this morning in a cave-in of the Vermont Slate company's quarry, about two and a half miles from Granville, N.Y.  

David Cadwallader and Fraser Queen, foremen of the quarry, were rescued. The latter is expected to die. The 14 dead include J. B. Williams, president of the company, and Hungarian laborers. 

Four bodies had been removed by 11 o'clock.

(The Auburn [NY] Citizen, 6 October 1905, p. 5, col. 8)

Only two papers, The Syracuse Journal and The Binghamton Press, named the immigrant laborers, Stephen Banois, John Illnetakie, Joseph Illnetakie, Netro Demsic, John Toronco and Joseph Wasick. The next spring there was another accident nearby.

Two Men Killed in a Quarry

Troy, N.Y., June 22 - John Hasoyd Roberts of Warren's Switch, and an unknown Hungarian were killed by a cave-in in the slate quarry of Beecher & Company.... Robert Jones of Granville and two Hungarians were injured, the former probably fatally....

(New York, The Evening Post, 22 June 1906, p. 1, col. 2)

I suspect this accident warranted a full paragraph because young Norton was injured. 

Slate Quarry Accident

Hungarian Killed and Granville Resident Seriously Injured. 

A falling rock in one of the Norton Brothers' slate quarries at Granville Tuesday afternoon killed a Hungarian and seriously injured Hiram Norton, son of James Norton, village president of Granville, and senior member of the firm of Norton Brothers. The block was being lifted when it slipped from the chain, and falling struck a rock in the side of the quarry, breaking into two parts. One struck the Hungarian on the top of the head, killing him instantly; the other struck Mr. Norton on the side of the head and shoulder, bruising the head and cutting open his shoulder badly. His injuries, while serious, are not thought to be dangerous. 

(Glen Falls [NY], The Morning Star, 13 February 1908, p. 8, col. 5)

This article names the Welsh miner who could not rescue the victim, but neither the victim nor his friend.

A Fatal Dive

A young Hungarian was drowned in the Mettowee river while swimming Friday near the Sheldon slate quarry in Granville.... [He] was accompanied by another Hungarian, who called for help. His cries were heard by Myrddin Jones, at work in a quarry. Jones dived in....

(Glen Falls [NY], The Morning Star, 4 August 1908, p. 8, col. 4)

This article actually named two Hungarian men, though not the two or three others who were still missing.

BURIED BY CAVE-IN MAN STILL LIVES

Was Covered by Tons of Slate Rock and Earth

... A remarkable escape from death was that of Phabbeus Drewseitch, who, with four or five other Hungarians, was buried in a cave-in of rock and earth at Owen Brothers slate quarry near Granville on Tuesday morning....

The dead body of Steve Sautjes, another victim, was recovered....

(Glen Falls [NY], The Morning Star, 15 April 1909, p. 8, col. 6)

There were more, but I'd seen enough. I'll have to find another avenue of investigation to see if I can locate documentation supporting or disproving the family story of a mystery cousin's death.


Image Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [ LC-USF34- 045884-D [P&P] LOT 1246 ]

Day is Done - Memorial Day

In honor of all our family who have served in the military, but especially in memory of those who died during that service.

James Conway, born about 1751 in Prince William County, Virginia and died 28 December 1776 near Trenton, New Jersey. 

Matthew Judson McAdams, born 15 August 1835 in Washington County, Tennessee and died 19 June 1863 at Nashville, Tennessee.

Elisha T. McComas, born about 1840 in Sangamon County, Illinois and died 6 January 1863 at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Ralph Eugene Williams, born 10 October 1895 in Comers Rock, Grayson County, Virginia and died 9 October 1918 in the Argonne Forest, Meuse, France.