Part 1: Geffert Family of Wilkes-Barre Township PA

At some point in the future, I'm sure some descendant of John and Mary (Geffert) Raykovitz  - generations removed from today - will want to know who their ancestors were and where they lived and/or are buried. Hopefully, this blog will still be online and will be a useful resource.

My maternal great grandmother - Helena ( Maslyck (pronounced Moss-wick )) Geffert - mother of Mary Barbara (Geffert) Raykovitz,  lived in Georgetown ( Wilkes-Barre Township ) as is buried in the old St. Mary's of the Maternity Church cemetery...only a few hundred feet from the family homestead on Center Street.  She died in October 1916 at the age of 53. Her brother-in-law, Andrew and his wife, Katherine, are also buried in the same cemetery. Per a prior post, her husband - Frank Geffert - is buried in the newer St. Mary's of the Maternity Cemetery in West Wyoming, as he died 21 years after Helena in 1937. 

 

Above: Geffert family pic circa ~1902

L to R - Helena, Frank ( holding Josephine ) and Andrew Geffert

Back Row: L to R - Sally H., John and Mary B. Geffert

 

Lat: 41.223546      Long:  -75.873611

 

 

  

Above/below: Location/pics of old St. Mary's Cemetery.

 

 

 

Above/below: Helena (Maslyck) Geffert's gravestone

 

 

 

Above: View of St. Patrick's ( now St. Andrew's ) Church on Parrish Street

Below: The Geffert family homestead on Center Street.

 

 

More to follow. 

 

Presidential Citation - First Marine Division

  

More Pics of Raymond

Here are a few more pics I've stumbled upon recently.

More to follow.

Above/below -front & back of pic on South Street Bridge.

 

 

 

 

Above/below: Pic in downtown Wilkes-Barre

 

 

 

 

Above/below: Pic of Letterman dance @ GAR

 

 

 

 

Ray & friends @ GAR - May 1939

  

 

29 Oct 1944 - "Stardust"

The following is a 5-page letter written by Miss Dorothy "Dot" O'Regan to John Raykovitz in October 1944. In it, she talks about meeting Ray Raykovitz while he was stationed in New Zealand in July 1942.

FYI - Ray's favorite song in 1942 was Stardust.

 

 

 

 

  

Ray & Friends

Found another pic of Raymond & his closest wartime friends on an old hard drive. Still looking for the originals.

  

 

A Gathering of Cousins: CA Style

In Glendale CA on May 17, 2012 - a very rare gathering of cousins.

 

Hopefully, it won't be the last.

         

Agreement of Sale from 1927

May 25, 1911

  

This original document is over 100 years old. More to follow.

 

FYI - Any redactions on docs/pics posted online are mine. 

NB: Both G-grandfather Stanley and his son John were listed as 5' 8" tall on documents found so far.
Both were also described as having dark or ruddy complexions.

Pics of Ray: Mini-Intermission

Well, with three external hard drives containing pics/folders spanning a decade+ that were downloaded from multiple long-since recycled computers...I am having a challenge finding all of the pics of Ray that I scanned in ~2005.

I know I'll find them together in some folder on one of the drives...but not this morning.

Here's a pic of Mary Barbara Geffert taken in 1916 when she was ~24 years old and 2 years before she married John T. Raykovitz per the original marriage certificate above.

 

And here's a pic of John T. Raykovitz from his time in the service. First row, far left.

 

They definitely were a good-looking young couple.

 

 

Here's the one additional photo of Ray I was able to find this morning.

Note the "For Ladies" sign under his arm.  

 

And here's a pic of (Uncle) Frank on his First Holy Communion day.

    

 

And for my generation of cousins...the pic below is of the Geffert family circa 1901; our great grandparents Helen and Frank Geffert are in the front row, along with Aunt Josie (Geffert) Gutkowski.

    

There is an ongoing debate between my Mom and Aunt Helen as to which of the two young ladies in the back row are Sally and our grandmother Mary. The gentleman on the far right is Frank's older brother, Andrew. Evidently, they were very close.

 

More about that in a future post.

 

 

Pic taken of Geffert headstones @ Georgetown Cemetery.

 

 

 

Helena Geffert ( our maternal great-grandmother ) died years before her husband did. During that period, the cemetery in Georgetown ran out of space, so our great-grandfather Frank Geffert was buried in "new" St. Mary's of the Maternity Cemetery in West Wyoming next to his daughter, Sally (Geffert) Adamczyk.

 

 

More in a few.