They called him "Slick"

In the past two weeks, I have received more pictures from family members than I have in the past two years. I hope to receive more, and I will post them here with any additional information received.

 

The pics below are of Frank "Slick" Raykovitz (1896-1986), my maternal grandfather's brother.

 

Thanks, Damian.

 

 

Above: Damian Raykovitz & his Grandpa Frank "Slick" Raykovitz in 1950.

Below: Frank and Margaret (Oleniak) Raykovitz circa ~1970.

 

"I think 'Slick' got the nickname as a result of his being a slick pitcher for the Blackman's Athletic Club baseball team in 1917"

 

More to follow.

     

The Search for Karol Rajkowicz

I sent a search request and a check for $30.00 off to the Luzerne County Register of Wills office this morning. They have birth and death records for Luzerne County from 1893 to 1905. 

 

As I'm 99.99% sure Karol died before 1909, I only have to search four years of online data for the period between 1905 and 1909 if they find nothing in their database.

 

Off we go.

And Here They Rest

Below you will find the burial locations of my maternal great-grandparents, Stanley & Kathryn (Kras) Rajkowicz, and seven of their children and spouses.

 

Per my prior post, there is one more gravesite I have to find, that of Karol Rajkowicz. I believe he may be buried in an old cemetery in Wilkes-Barre Township, but based upon a call placed to the parish church, no records exist of the burials there. My next step is to search the records kept by the Luzerne County Courthouse.

 

I will post updates as my efforts progress.

 

I hope current and future descendants of Stanley & Kathryn Rajkowicz not only find this useful, but will take the time at some point in their lives to visit the graves of their ancestors. From start to finish, it can be accomplished in less than three hours.

 

May they all rest in peace.

  

 

In Search of Karol

 

I've now located the gravesites of the seven children of my maternal grandparents listed on the Certificate of Naturalization below.

 

Today I will start the process of trying to locate their eighth child, Karol, who died in his youth due to severe burns suffered in an accident at home.

 

More in a few.

 

 

 

  

 

March 3, 1949

First and foremost, thanks to my "long lost" cousin Damian Raykovitz for writing an email providing details regarding the location of his grandfather Frank "Slick" Raykovitz's grave. I hope to be able to post the GPS locations of all of the sons and one daughter of my/our great-grandparents Stanley & Kathryn Rajkowicz here within the next few weeks.

 

Last weekend, we finally emptied out the storage unit that we've rented for the past 4+ years. Yesterday, I started the slow process of going through boxes and sorting out the various items I removed from my grandparents' home in the Mayflower section of Wilkes-Barre, PA. 

 

The first small pic below is of my uncle Stanley Raykovitz, who will be turning 88 (?) later this year. As I always eventually do, I took the back off the picture frame and found there were two more photos behind it. The age of the young boy in the third pic below is about right to be my Uncle Stan, but I'll have to get some independent verification next weekend to be sure.

 

 

 

One of the other framed pictures I found was one that I had seen many times, that of my uncle Raymond Raykovitz and his brother Stanley in his Navy garb. 

 

 

When I took the back off both pics, I did find some additional photos, and I also discovered this written on the back of Raymond's photo: 

 

 

I called my Mom @ 7:30 this morning to verify a few things, and can confidently add this tidbit to our family's history; Raymond M. Raykovitz (1922-1944) was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, March 3rd 1949 - almost 5 years after he was killed on an island in the South Pacific in WWII. 

 

 

 

This our family history. Please keep the cards & letters coming.

 

To Damian: Aunt Soph had two small dogs over the years; Scotty - which was Stanley's ( the W-B Police Officer's ) dog, & Lucky ( Aunt Soph's ).

 

 

 

 

Found: Karol (Carl) Raykowicz

I set out last weekend with a goal of finding my great Uncle Carl Raykowicz's gravesite. I knew which cemetery he was buried in and, fortunately, I also knew his wife's family name - Ney.

Mission Accomplished.

I am now down to locating/visiting the gravesites of two of my grandfather's siblings, Mike and Frank, a/k/a "Slick". I know where Mike is buried, and I will be visiting that location soon.

If any of my visitors can tell me which cemetery Frank (Slick) is buried in, please send an email to djw444@gmail.com

Once I find that grave, I will post the location of all of the children of Stanley & Kathryn Rajkowicz.

Below: Rajkowicz Family plot in West Wyoming, PA.

In addition to their parents, John, Stanley (Jr.) and Sophia are buried here.

Below: St. Nicholas Cemetery is in Shavertown, PA.

 

 

 

 

 

Later.

 

CA Cousin comes to PA

We hosted a small gathering @ our home yesterday for my CA cousin John Galanti ( Rita's son ). He's been in for the past two weeks traveling from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre to Buffalo to Gettysburg and back.

 

He brought along these two pics.

 

From 50+ years ago...my sister and I are in front, and the Galanti brothers in the back.

 

From L to R: John, Frank, Bob and Chuck.

 

 

The pic below is of Frank and his family.

 

Put glasses on him and he could pass as another cousin's twin.

 

 

Glad we made the effort to get together.

 

Until we meet again.