Ruth Anderson was born on March 13, 1928. She was the fourth child of Clarence Anderson and Anna Pavlosk. Aunt Ruth, (“Annie Ruth” my toddler version) was my godmother, and my favorite aunt growing up. I saw her every couple of months when my parents made trips to Elizabeth for shopping and visits. Those trips always included a stop to her apartment in 331 Elmora Avenue, in the Elmora section...
Grace Monica Anderson Townsend
Grace Anderson was born on November 23, 1935. She was the younger twin. Her older sister was Gertrude Emily Anderson. Gertrude died on April 15, 1936 of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Aunt Grace said that she missed her twin all her life. Grace Anderson was the youngest child of Clarence Anderson and Anna Pavlosk. When she was born, her parents lived at 13 Atlantic Avenue, Elizabeth, New...
Clara Marion Anderson Abbott
My aunt, Clara Abbott, turned 88 a few days ago. She was born on February 25, 1933, during the depth of the Great Depression. She was a teenager and young woman in 1940s and 1950s America. Those years were dominated by World War II, McCarthyism, post-war conformity, and social mobility. They also seeded change in the decades to follow by the exodus of families from cities to the suburbs, and...
Anna M. Pavlosk
The Elizabeth Daily Journal published a story about Anna Pavlosk’s sudden death on page 8 of the February 9, 1912 edition. The headline read: “Heart Attack Fatal in Downtown Woman.” “Mrs. Ann M. Pavlosk, of 246 Fulton street, while on her way to a store last night shortly before 8 o’clock, was stricken with heart failure in Third street near Marshall street. She was carried into the...
John F. Paloske
John Francis Paloske was born on February 6, 1902 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was the first son and second child of Frank Pavlosk and Annie Pitoff Pavlosk. John Paloske was a first generation American; his father was born in Prussia and his mother in Germany. The family name has been spelled in various ways: Pavlosk, Pavloske, Pavlosky, and Paloske. John had three siblings. Anna...
Clarence Anderson
Clarence Anderson was a complex and wounded person. He was capable of great charm, and savage emotional and physical violence. He told my mother, “Always remember we are descended from kings.” Researching his life is like walking on dead end streets and dark alleys. Clarence’s life took a downturn after his father, Carl Anderson, died in Elizabeth General Hospital on September 16, 1930 of a...
Mom’s Anniversary
January 8, 2021 is the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death. Helen Louise Anderson Doherty was born at home in Elizabeth, New Jersey on September 10, 1923. She spent most of her life in New Jersey, and her later years in Vermont and Florida. Mom was the third child and second daughter of Anna Pavlosk and Clarence Anderson. She was probably the least liked of her siblings since she was selfish...
Grandmother’s Hair
This lock of hair is from my grandmother, Anna Pavloske Anderson. She died in 1937 and is buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Linden, New Jersey. At that time, wakes were held in homes. She lived at 13 Atlantic Street in Elizabeth, NJ. My mother was 14 years old when her mother died. She told me that she went downstairs during the night and held her dead mother’s hand until she was chased back...
Buffalo Bill
I know of very few personal belongings of my great-grandfather, Karl Andersen. He was born in Grimstad, Norway in the 1850s, a second or third son of the family. Karl became a ship’s carpenter and ended up in Elizabeth, New Jersey in the 1870s or 1880s. My mother, Helen Anderson Doherty, told me about his beautifully carved sea chest, his massive canopied oak bed, and his Buffalo Bill photo. ...