pallister continued...

A close family member and spouse were in town this week for a family camping trip and wanted to hang out with me for the day on Tuesday (4th of July), since I had that day off.

I had asked before they came if they would like to join me when I visit Holy Sepulchre…and the graves of our ancestors (my bio-grandfather, bio-great-grandmother, etc.) and even though I know that they think my interest in this topic is strange, they agreed to come.

I had the map that the archdiocese emailed me but it is still a bit of a scavenger hunt.  But a much easier one when there are 3 people covering an area, rather than just me.  It wasn’t long before we found them; Matilda and Elphege Brouillard, Dorothy and Philip Slabouz, Clifford, George and the one I have been looking for, John Thomas Pallister.

Took pictures of the headstones to add to Ancestry.  Forgot Elphege, need to go back.

Later that day we took a drive by Pallister Ave.  What a BEAUTIFUL little street!  A gem in the city, for sure.  That peaks my curiosity in finding out more about which house was the first one on the block (whose owner was the namesake for the street and my paternal ancestor).

We spoke with a couple of neighbors and found that Pallister Ave was a preserved Historic district, protected by the nearby GM headquarters in New Center’s Cadillac Place.  It was the late 60’s when they decided to reroute traffic around the street so that the brick, tree-lined street could be preserved as a snapshot of what residential streets once were.

One of the neighbors, Tracy told me that I should continue my search by going to the Burton Society, the Historical Society and Preservation Wayne to find out more info about my ancestor.

Even though my family member thinks I’ve got a screw loose because I am interested in a part of our lineage that didn’t seem to want us, I think they were impressed by the street…however they still proclaimed at the end of our walk that they're a Koszewski!