Deciphering the maiden name of Simon Bahula's mother [closed]

Question

Hello all!

I'm looking for help in deciphering the handwriting of a Michigan death certificate from 1911. It is for Simon "Sam" Bahula who was killed along with his son in a train accident.

I'm particularly interested at this point in his mother's maiden name (form section 12). It appears that it may be

"Cannat Say"

The first letter of the first name is difficult but it appears to be the same as the undertaker's first initial. Is it possible to find out who the undertaker was in Durand, Michigan in 1911?

The last letter of the first name is also difficult. It doesn't match nearby "t"s, but does match the "t" in "beet farmer" above.

I suppose another solution is to look for other documentation that may have the name on it. Previous research did not reveal any, but perhaps I'll try again.

Comments

Tim, it looks to me as if you are almost right, and the informant indicated that they "cannot say" who the mother was. Not very helpful, unfortunately.

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Doh! Of course, you are right. If I had just pronounced it, instead of being so intent on reading it, that would have been clear. Thanks for your help.

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I found two articles on My Heritage in the Detroit News and one in an Owosso paper using keywords Grand Trunk beet and Yohan. They say Simon, his son Frank and a man with the last name Yohan were killed and the two wives were severely injured. An article a few days later said the wives probably wouldn't survive, but a few days later it said they would attend the funeral at the Owosso Catholic church and the three would be buried next to each other in the Catholic cemetery. It said the brother of the wives, so it sounds like they were sister, was not with them. It also says that they had only arrived the month before. Since they died on June 8 or 9, it is fairly certain they arrived in 1911 at some time. The article about the funeral says Bahanla, if I recall correctly. That may be enough information to help.

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Also, there were articles later in the month in Minnesota papers, one short one in German and one I haven't found yet in a paper that may be in Polish, Czek or Hungarian (probably Hungarian)

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The Evening Argus printed on 11-27-1911 that the estates were finally settled and everything went to the widows, so the ladies (confirmed to be sisters) survived. The actual name of the second victim was Thomos Mikulik.

The other Minnesota paper was in Czech, at least it translated that way. They say the child was 5 years old. The wives' brother said they had arrived from Chicago a month earlier and they came from Uherské Hradiště in Moravia.

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Oh, wow, thanks, Peggy. You have gone above and beyond what I hoped for. I was aware of a Czech language article in a Minnesota newspaper. It was helpfully translated in another thread.

I don't have a MyHeritage account. Could you help me with copies and/or open-access links to the Detroit, Owosso, and Argus articles.

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Franz Bahula was born about 1907 and arrived with his mother, Anna, and 16 year old male cousin Frantisik? Palka, in New York 2-23-1909 on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Simon was already here in Chicago. Simon's father in law was Anton Palko. Franz and Anna last lived in Glacten, Moravia.

Martin Palka arrived 5-10-1911 on the Kroonland to join his Brother in law Seme Bahula in Lennon, MI. This is the month before mentioned in the initial article.

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You're welcome! I used to live in Durand and have a lot of family in the area, so this is interesting. I wasn't sure how to add them here, so I loaded the images to the profile.

Answer 1

"Cannot say"