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 upstairs to her bedroom. Mom took a lock of her mother’s hair and kept it. My grandmother had dark brown hair with auburn highlights. I always wondered where my auburn highlights came from until one day when I matched our hair. My sister, Sharon, has auburn highlights, too.
Many of Anna Anderson’s female grandchildren have “Ann” or “Anna” in their name in memory of her. My middle name is “Ann.”
According to my mother, my grandmother had a very sweet disposition. She was a good cook, sewed, and loved her flock of children. She spoke German with her siblings and father, and English at home with a few German words thrown in. She must have loved her husband, but sadly for her and her children, he was an abusive alcoholic.
After she died, the family broke apart, and no one seemed to have ever recovered completely from that tragic event.
[…] lot changed for Frank Pavlosk and his grandchildren when Anna Anderson died of a stroke on October 5, 1937. Within a few months, the children were scattered. The two […]