St. Francis Church - May Day

My cousin (first on the right) - May Day Procession at St. Francis Church in Morrellville I don't know the exact year.

Iron Street - 1915 - Minersville

A family photo taken from the Stofko home on Iron Street. You can just barely see part of the Ten Acre Bridge in the background. That is Joseph Stofko (my g-grandmother's brother) holding Joseph Hanzel (his nephew and my mother's Uncle) in his Baptism Outfit. Their old house is still there in Minerville. You can see it directly across from the Giant Eagle parking lot. I'd love to go in it, just to see what it looks like inside, but fear asking the people who live there now, because they might think me a nutcase. I feel the same way about the old Lenz house on Virginia Avenue.

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.

Sunnehanna Country Club - 1950's

This is my cousin Butch Pynkala and his date at the Sunnehanna County Club in the late 1950's.

Iron Street - 1916 - Minersville

You are looking at Joseph and Mary (Bobko) Hanzel spending some quality time with their grandmother Mary (d'Zembak) Stofko at her home along Iron Street - which was near the Ten Acre Bridge. These two are the children of Joseph and Mary (Stofko) Hanzel - my grandmothers older brother and sister.