Gravestone Cleaning

Interested in having a gravestone cleaned? Please fill out the Google Form at the link below and I will be in touch soon.
I would be remiss not to give credit where credit is due: Thank you to Katie from A Grave Attraction for being the OG and spurring my interest in this. I attended a presentation she gave as part of an event at Genesee Country Village & Museum and learned all the right ways. Thank you for the knowledge and inspiration. Please give her accounts a follow!

valeria radwanska

I noticed this stone in the old St. Joseph cemetery and could only make out a few things. I knew this was a Polish name that was similar to Radzinski and that that woman died when she was 21. Once I cleaned it, I could finally read all of it and research dear Valeria.

As It turns out, she was a Radzinski! In Polish, girl's last names end in "A." So it would be Radzinska. Why this stone is Radwanska and not Radzinska will probably forever be a mystery. Through knowing her death date of January 5, 1902, I was able to find that she was born in 1880 to John and Felicia Radzinski. Problem is, there were so many John Radzinskis in Albion!! My great-great grandfather and his father were both John (or Johann). The younger John that is a direct relation to me had a brother, Joseph, who had a son John (both were quarrymen who died within a few months of each other from typhus. I previously cleaned their combined stone, which is located close to Valeria's). So I am unsure who John-married-to-Felicia-father-of-Valeria-Radzinski is and how the family fits into my lineage.

Polish immigrants in the late 1880's, early 1900's had a lot of children, and it seemed only a handful of names to go around. And changing last names or names written different ways makes figuring this out quite tricky. But, I am glad to have given Valeria her name back and to learn that she is somehow, someway, most likely a distant ancestor of mine. I plan to research further at some point.

The bottom of the stone is partially broken, but it says, "PROSI O ZDROWAS M." The "M" is abbreviated for the understood "Maryjo." The Polish phrase roughly means, "She asks for a Hail Mary." In other words, the stone is asking to pray to Mary for Valeria's sake. So now I know to stop and say a Hail Mary when I notice this on any stones in the future.