Anna Petrosky Pollack Death Certificate

I have had this document since 2011. It is the death certificate for Helen Pollack's mom, Anna Petrosky Polak (Dorothy's grandmother).

Here is the information from it:

 Death Certificate for Anna Petrosky Polak. She died at 39 Brookfield Ave., in Masury, (Brookfield Township) Trumbull, Ohio. She had been in the U.S. for 53 years, 50 in that community. She died April 23, 1944 at 4:43 p.m. of coronary thombosis. She had been a widow of Michael Polak. She was born in 1872 in Czechoslovakia and died at age 72. Her mother's maiden name is Anna Mitrik (born in Czechoslovakia) and her father's name is George Petrosky (born in Czechoslovakia).  Anna is buried in Farrell, PA.

Henry Pollack

UPDATE 9/18: Henry is NOT Helen's brother. The info. below is irrelevant.


I have been meaning to look into the Pollack side of my family. August Kozub married Helen Pollack. (And their daughter is my grandmother Dorothy.)

It turns out, my guy from the FHC had helped me find an obituary for Helen's brother over a year ago. At that time, I didn't even know Helen had a brother.

It is from the Ohio Plain Dealer on June 14, 1957.

It reads:

POLLACK. Henry A., beloved husband of Rose (nee Scholnick): father of Renee Caplan, Melvine Klein and James F.; brother of Helen Pollack of Los Angeles, Calif.; also grandfather. Funeral services at the Deutsch Funeral Home, 1490 Crawford Rd., Friday, June 14, at 2:30 p.m. Internment Mayfield Cemetery. Family at 3140 Courtland Blvd.


So. . . I should
1) find his grave
2) find info. on his children and wife
and maybe that will lead me to more info. about Helen and Henry's parents?

Alexander Kozub's Obituary

From jtgen's notes, I came across another clue!

This is Alexander Kozub's Obituary. In it, I learn that besides a brother, Peter, living in Perth Amboy, Alexander had two sisters in America! From baptismal records, I know his sisters names: Catharina, Johanna and Maria. So which is married to a Risko of Manville, NY and which is married to a Repatsky of Youngwood?

Here it is:

Alexander Kozub Obituary. Perth Amboy [NJ, USA] Evening News. Thursday, May 23, 1935. "Alexander Kozub 77, died last night at his home, 173 Broad Street. He is survived by a widow, Irene, one daughter, Mrs. J. W. Obuck of this city; two sons, Anthony A of Rahway and Alexander Jr. of Cleveland, Ohio; one brother, Peter, of this city; two sisters, Mrs. J. Risko? of Manville, NY, and Mrs. B. Repatsky of Youngwood and eight grand children. Funeral services will be held Saturday morning at 9 o'clock from the home and 10 o'clock from St. John's church where a requiem high mass will be celebrated by Rev. Michael Iskats?. Internment will follow in the St. John's church cemetery."

Hazleton 4th Visit - Alexander Evans Kozub Birth Record

Today I went to Hazleton, Luzerne, PA to find government records for August Kozub's siblings I found in the church records (see previous post).

I went back to the Hazleton City Hall, which was where I discovered Amelia Kozub (who died at age six from diptheria) over a year ago.

Carol from the Administration Office handed me the two old record books and let me spend two hours with them. She even gave me a Krispy Kreme doughnut at the end.



















This is what I found:

1) I believe this is the Hazleton City birth record for August's older brother Alexander Evans Kozub, who was born on September 12, 1892. His birth record was not at the Luzerne County Courthouse because their records range from 1893 to 1905. Today at the Hazleton City Hall, I found his record on the first page of the birth records, which start in 1892.  (Click to enlarge)

Line 50 on one of the pages of the Hazleton record. There is no child's name listed. But the parents are listed as well as the birth date, which matches Alexander Evans Kozub.

A closer look at line 50. You can see here that Alexander Kozub is listed as the father.

Alexander Kozub's occupation is listed as printer???

Alexander's wife is listed as Therecia Kozub. Hmmm. . . not sure how they got that out of Irena. It says here that Alexander Kozub's child was born Sept. 12, 1892.

I believe the birth place says S.E. corner of Pine & Button[wood], third door from church. The Kozub family lived just doors away from that location.

First part of heading for Hazleton, PA' birth record book.

Second part of heading for Hazleton, PA's birth record book.

The name of the physician (or person signing certificate) was Anna G. Koehler.

2) I found a birth record for a Mary Kozub. This one confuses me. I thought August's sibling Mary Kozub was the same sibling called Maria Kozub, who was born in Slovakia in Oct. or Nov. 1885. But according to this record, there was a Mary Kozub born in Hazleton, PA on December 25, 1894. The weird thing is, on the Hazleton church records, I found an Irenea Cornelia Kozub born on December 24, 1894. So, is this Mary the person we were thinking was Maria? Or, was there a child born that they changed their mind about the name? Couldn't decide between Irenea Cornelia or Mary? So the church record had the Irenea Cornelia name and the city record had the Mary name. The city record was recorded on January 5, 1895. Here is another idea. . . maybe Mary is a twin of Irenea Cornelia? Next to the birth date, there is a "2" listed. Why? Also, why is the mother (wife of Alexander Kozub) listed again as Tresia? Did they get Irene wrong again? Or, is this another woman? Or the wrong family altogether?

Line 607 or 608 shows Mary Kozub's birth record in Hazleton, PA.

Mary Kozub's dad is listed as Alex Kozub, a musician (which fits with cantor), and her mom is listed as Trecia Kozub.

There is a 2 before the birth date for Mary Kozub. Does that mean she is a twin?? Her birth date is December 25, 1894. Her place of birth is 261 S. Pine Street. Her birth was recorded January 5, 1895. The physician is listed as A. [Anna?] G. Koehler. Mary Kozub's parents reside at 186 S. Pine.

3) I did not see a birth record (which would be Dec. 24, 1894) or a death record for Irenea Cornelia Kozub. I think she existed because of the church records. It does not mean it is not there. The books were unorganized. I didn't look at every single page. Could she be Mary?

4) I did not see a death record (which would be Sept. 13, 1897) or a birth record for Anna Kozub. I also think she existed because of the church records. The annoying thing was the records seemed to stop at Dec. 1894 and continue at January 1898. There did seem to be at least one page cut out of the book at that place.

5) Records are also missing during the time frame that my great-grandfather August Kozub was born. The Hazleton city records skip from March 1895 to April 1996. As noted earlier, I believe he was born March 20, 1897 instead of March 20, 1896. He is not listed in the March of 1897 Hazleton records. Luckily, I found his record at the Luzerne County Courthouse.

6) I was hoping to find a birth record for Amelia Kozub. The Hazleton City Hall record holds her death record. But I learned that it does not hold her birth record. The records start in 1892. According to the age she was when she died, and according to church records, she was born Sept. 8, 1890.

7) I did find a father in the records named Wasil Kozub. Could he be related?

Wilkes Barre 2nd visit

After a brutal winter, I finally ventured over to Wilkes Barre to see if I could find government documentation for the siblings I discovered at the Hazleton church. (See last post.) I went to the annex building of the Luzerne County Courthouse once again. It was a bitter cold day, despite the hints of spring we've had this week. After looking through the record books for two hours, I am sorry to say that I walked away empty handed. I had been hoping to walk away with some birth and death certificates:

1) Alexander Evans Kozub - I still need a birth certificate for him. Unfortunately, the Luzerne County records start in 1893. He was born Sept. 12, 1892.

2) Amelia (Emelia) Kozub. Again, no records before 1893. She was born Sept. 8, 1890. I looked again for a death record and again, found nothing. According to the Hazleton City Hall records, she died Dec. 31, 1896.

3) Irenea Cornelia Kozub. According to church records, she was born Dec. 24, 1894. But I found no government records. And I did not see any death record either. I don't know when she died, but she must have been very young.

4) Anna Kozub. According to church records, she died Sept. 13, 1897. But I found no government records. I looked for a birth record as well. I don't know when she was born. But again, I think she was very young when she died.

There may have been something there that I missed. It is hard to read the handwriting of those old record books. Also, they are organized in an interesting way. For the birth record books, You find the book with the right year range. Then you find the first letter of the last name. Then, it is the first names that are alphabetized. I tried different spellings (Amelia/Emelia). I looked at parent names to see if I could find Alexander and Irene (or Irenea or Rena).

Perhaps the only good thing that came out of the drive is that I was able to take a better picture of my great-grandfather's birth record. This picture more clearly shows how the writer could have mistakenly written the birth year wrong by using " instead of writing the year. Note that the date of record is a year later.

August Kozub is listed as Gustie Kocyoob, born March 20 in Hazleton. His parents were living at 222 Pine. He was born in 1897 but this record mistakenly writes " , indicating 1896.

August's parents are listed as Elexander and Arena. They are residing in Hazleton and he is a "W Teacher. The date of record is May 6, 1897.

Here is a review of what your experience is like at the Wilkes-Barre's Luzerne County Courthouse Annex Building:

Luzerne County Courthouse (Recorder of Deeds) Annex Building.

The Annex Building is across the street from the Luzerne County Courthouse.

These are some of the record books I searched through.

This is where I found August Kozub (Gustie Kocyzoob) listed.

This is the room that is open to the pubic.

My next stop: Back to Hazleton City Hall to see if I can find any more proof that Irenea Cornelia Kozub and Anna Kozub existed. Maybe I could also find a birth record for Amelia Kozub there? That is where I found her death record.


I am also going to mention that I found an Anthony Kozub. But the parents listed are Jos. and A. Kozab. He was born April 18, 1896. I don't think this is our guy. But I do think there may have been a Kozub sibling named Antony who lived from about 1900 to 1902. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for him too.