LEIER/NOWASKY FAMILY HISTORY

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The Saint John's Cemetery Graves of
Bertha and Dorothy Kazalski

Photo courtesy findagrave.com volunteer D. Alma

Bertha and Dorothy's unmarked graves lie between the two Peritore monuments.

18-year-old Bertha, who was called "Birdie" like her aunt, died on March 20, 1931 during a series of tuberculosis epidemics that would also kill her 17-year-old sister Dorothy two years later on June 30, 1933. The epidemic also claimed the lives of their aunts Minnie Leier Fretz (1919) and Louisa Leier Lanzaro (1920), their uncle Charles Leier (1926) and another aunt Bertha "Birdie" Leier Hunter Saunders (1941).

The chart below shows the rate of mortality from 1700 to 2000. The disease peaked in 1800 and continued in decline through the end of the 20th Century. The exception is the small "spike" from about 1918 to 1940. It was this spike that claimed the lives of our ancestors.

Tuberculosis Mortality Chart

LEIER/NOWASKY FAMILY HISTORY

The Saint John's Cemetery Graves ofBertha and Dorothy Kazalski

The Saint John's Cemetery Graves of
Bertha and Dorothy Kazalski