Hanzel - Stofko Family - Johnstown

Let me introduce you to my Hanzel Family from 94 Barron Avenue - this from around 1928. From left to right: Mary (Hanzel) Bobko, mother Mary (Stofko) Hanzel holding Dorothy (Hanzel) Kinnel, Margaret (Hanzel) Toth standing next to father Joseph Hanzel (Muranska Huta, Slovakia). The three kids in front, Frank Hanzel, my grandmother Helen (Hanzel) Lenz and Clara (Hanzel) Pynkala. Missing from this picture is their brother Joe who was the one taking the photo. The building behind them is still standing. It used to house a dry cleaner on Fairfield Avenue.

This next picture is a wonderful photo of my Stofko great-grandparentsparents:

This is John Stofko (1868-1945) from Brezovcia, Slovakia and his second wife Mary D'Zembak also from Brezovcia, Slovakia. This photo dates to around 1930 in Minersville. John, his brother Andrew and sister Anna came over to Johnstown in 1885 and settled in the Minersville section of the city along Connelly Avenue - the area near what is now the Minersville Bridge. Working in the mill - he somehow survived the 1889 Flood - which living by the Conemaugh River probably saved him and first wife Susanna Timchak. They would have seen just how quickly things can go from bad to worse - since they saw the damages from an earlier flood (1887). I know living by a crick - you pay more attention to the weather - than a normal person does.

This is the young Stofko clan taken around 1910 in the backyard of their home along Iron Street. From left to right: Sue (Stofko) Stevens, Margaret (Stofko) Patrick, John, Stephen, Mary (Stofko) Hanzel, Andrew and Joseph. My great-grandmother Mary Hanzel lost her own mother in 1896 when she was only 2 years old. Her mother Susanna Timchak died as a result of childbirth complications. It is her mtDNA that I and many of my cousins share. Since I put the results in a data base. I have talked to two people in the last year - that have the same exact mtDNA. Pretty cool! Their house is still there - you can see it directly from the Giant Eagle parking lot.