Cleveland, Ohio Connection

Note to self:

Irene Kelly Kozub had three siblings who lived in Cleveland, Ohio:  Michael Kelly, Konstant Kelly and Helena Kelly Elias. They all died there.

Perhaps that was the draw for Irene's son August Kozub and his wife Helen Pollack?

Irene's other sibling Augustin lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Only five of Petrus and Helena Kelly's 10 children (9 living) came to America.

Visiting the Graves

On April 4, 2013, I drove to Perth Amboy, NJ for the second time. This time, I knew exactly where to find Alexander and Irene Kozub. They are buried at St. John The Baptist Orthodox Church Cemetery. My parents, my brother and my children joined me in the outing. For me, this trek was the culmination of a year's worth of research. It was important to me that we visit the graves of the first people that came to America in the Kozub family. Although we have no record of the sacrifices they made to come here, we can at least acknowledge that they existed.

This cemetary is clearly marked and well taken care of.

View from the front gate. Note that there is an additional larger section of the cemetary across the street.

Alexander 1856 to 1935 and Irene 1866 to 1942.

Me with my great-great grandparents Alexander and Irene Kozub.

My dad with his great grandparents Alexander and Irene Kozub.

Alexander and Irene's youngest son Anthony was buried here too, but we did not find his grave. However, we did take a picture of another Kozub grave. I haven't figured out who Michael and Anna Kozub are yet.

We also went over to Broad Street. I showed my family where Irene Kozub was living in 1942. (Along with her neighbors: brother-in-law Peter Kozub and nephew Alexander.) We also checked out the church they attended (on Broad Street) where Alexander was a cantor:

St. John the Baptist Greek Cathothic Church.

This building is across the street from the church. It says, "Greek Catholic Carpatho-Rusin Ben. Assn. Liberty"

I wonder what this building was used for. It was across the street from the church.

Anthony Kozub's Death Certificate

Here is a copy of Anthony Kozub's death certificate. Anthony is August's younger brother. He was living with Irene Kelly Kozub when she died in 1942 at 173 Broad Street in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. It looks like he was living there still when he died only a year later, on December 29, 1943. He was only 41 years old! The certificate says he was single, as I suspected. It says he was born in Salem, Pennsylvania and that he is a postal clerk. The informant is his oldest brother Alex Kozub, of Cleveland Ohio. Anthony is buried in the same cemetary as his parents: St. John's Cemetary in Perth Amboy, NJ. He was buried Jan. 1, 1944.

Thanks jtgen96!

jtgen96 notes that in this death certificate, Anthony's date of birth is listed as 1902 and that his birthplace is Salem, Pennsylvania. She says, "So, the Anthony born in New Jersey in 1900 must have died as a baby." That makes sense. I was wondering at one point in my research if Alexander and Irene had two children named Anthony.

Later. . . . (August 30, 2013), jtgen96 notes the following:

"Since we discussed this I have gathered more information and now believe that the birth date on the death certificate is incorrect.  My research indicates that this is not uncommon.  If parents are giving the information, in modern times, it usually matches records.  However, if the information comes from others it may not.  I have a birth record for an Anthony born 21 April in Perth Amboy in 1900 to Alexander Kosup and Francis Kelly.  Why Francis?  We can only guess. The birthplace was 26 Division St.  Both parents were born in Hungary.  The mother was 33 and the father 39.  Alexander's occupation was laborer.  The courthouse records for New Salem reported they do not have a birth record for Anthony during the period 1900 to 1904.  I have requested information from the church in New Salem where Alexander served as cantor regarding the dates of his period of service there. Hopefully, this will help."

Irene Kelly Death Date

Do you like my stream-of-conscious research style? This blog is a work in progress. Someday, I will take the information I gather and post on this blog and make a book or something.

From Irene Kelly Kozub's gravestone, I learned that she died in 1942.

Looking at the notes from jtgen96, I see that I now know Irene's exact death date from a funeral note: December 11, 1942.

Joannes Kozub and Catharina Nizsayik

While jtgen96 has been helping me with August's mom's (Kelly/Kello) side, my family history guy, Les, has helped me move forward with August's dad's (Kozub) side. We were tipped off by patskanovo from the SLOVAC-ROOTS yahoo group. Patskanovo was responding to another researcher and had posted Alexander Kozub's baptism record, which lists Alexander's parents as Joannes Kozub and Catharina Nizsayik.

Les helped me to find that baptism record, as well as the baptism records of Alexander's siblings! Here they are!

Alexander Kozub
Born: Oct 22, 1859 (baptized Oct. 24)
Place: Malcov, Bardejov, Slovakia

Catharina Kozub
Born: Nov. 21, 1862 (baptized Nov. 23)
Place: Malcov, Bardejov, Slovakia

Petrus Kozub  (I think this is the Peter Kozub of Broad Street in Perth Amboy!!!!)
Born: July 12, 1865 (baptized July 13, 1865)
Place: Malcov, Bardejov, Slovakia

Johanna Kozub
Born: April 2, 1868 (baptized April 5, 1868)
Place: Malcov, Bardejov, Slovakia

Maria Kozub
Born: August 19, 1871 (baptized August 22, 1871)
Place: Malcov, Bardejov, Slovakia

On all of the records, the Kozub family lived at house #110. They say "Greek Catholic" is their religion. And Joannes Kozub's occupation is "Cantor and Docens" (reader).



Of course, Slovakia did not exist in those days (1859 to 1868). Malcov was actually under control of Hungary until 1918. The baptism records actually say "Malyzzov," the Hungarian version of Malcov (if I heard right).

These days,
Malcov is a town/village in the district (okres) of Bardejov.
Bardejov is one of 13 districts (okres) in the region (kraj) of Presov.
Presov is one of 8 regions (kraj) in the country of Slovakia. And, the town of Presov is the seat of the Presov region (kraj).

Remember all my talk about Zegiastow? Well it just so happens that Malcov is very close to Zegiastow. (Google maps driving directions say 35 kilometers, 53 minutes away.) Both towns have Greek Catholic Churches. So it is very likely that Alexander's dad Joannes went to the church in Zegiastow at some point. These days, Malcov is in Slovakia and Zegiastow is in Poland.

From the baptism records, I learned that Alexander, who was a cantor for the Greek Catholic church, had a father who was also a cantor for the Greek Catholic church.

Here is the cool thing. These records just recently became available. Slovakia became its own country again in 1993. The LDS Church has gone in and not only microfilmed the records that are now in Slovakian hands, but they have digitized them as well. So, records are free, searchable and online!

This is how you get to them:

www.familysearch.org
Click on catolog
Select place names and type in Slovakia, Bardejov, Malcov
Click on the one result. Then, click on Cirkevna matrika 1768-1895 (the only option at this point).
Then halfway down the page, you will see red writing directing you to "click here" for the online Slovakia, Church and Synagogue Books.

At this point, you can do your search. If you enter the name "Kozub," you will see 18,319 Kozub records listed. Do we have the right part of the world? YES!

We can now do some homework and go back generation after generation. . . finding baptism (listing births), marriage and death records.

Wow! And when I started this project, I thought we were at a dead end. Thanks to all those who are helping me move forward!

So Excited

I have connected with jtgen and am so excited! She has spent six years researching the Kelly line. Her husband is the grandson of Irene Kelly's brother Augustin. jtgen is so awesome! She is putting together a book. She has sent me copies of her notes from the Irene Kelly/Alexander Kozub family. She mentions there that the Alexander and Irene Kelly Kozub family was most difficult and took the most time to research. I thanked her on behalf of the descendants of Alexander and Irene's son August.

Her notes validate the information I have gathered and I see that she has used many of the same sources that I have used. She has additional information and sources as well. I need to spend some time really looking closely at her notes.

One thing I learned is that Alexander Kozub was a Cantor for the Greek Orthodox Church and got transferred quite often with that profession. jtgen knows of other places besides Perth Amboy where he worked.

In addition to jtgen's research, I understand that my family history guy, Les, has hit a "jackpot" and wants to talk to me.

I am excited that I am receiving so much help after all the time and effort I have put into this. . . just in time for my dad's visit this month. It will be fun to talk about his grandfather August and his great-grandfather Alexander with him.

I need to ask jtgen. . . does she have information on Irene and Augustin's parents? She mentioned going to Slovakia during her research.

Alexander Kozub's Death Certificate

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I have been searching for this past year!

Now I know that Alexander Kozub died on May 22, 1935. This is also a source which confirms the names of his parents: John Kozub and Kathryn Neznik. The informant is his son Anthony Kozub. It says that he was living at 173 Broad Street in Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey and that he was married to Irene Kelcy [Kelly]. He died of chronic myocarditis and arterio sclerosis. And it confirms that he was buried at St. John's Greek Church Cemetary.

Thank-you jtgen!!