Tombstone Tuesday (Almost)

Growing up my grandfather didn't know a lot about the family his parents left behind in Croatia. When we were young he told us that his father had brothers that came over to the US and worked in the mines in Canada. One brother was killed in a mining accident there.

Fast-forward to a few months ago and my grandmother found an old piece of wrapping paper that my grandfather had filled with information on his father's family. My grandfather says that he did this late one night after he and his father had had a lot to drink! This piece of paper has many good pieces of genealogy information - and it confirms what my grandfather has always said - his uncle - Juso Umiljenovic - was killed in a mining accident in Canada in 1934 - just one week before he was scheduled to return home to his family in Croatia.

Since there was a specific year given, I decided to try to find a record of Juso's death in Canada. A quick search on Ancestry.com and I had it.



I sent away for the official death certificate that you see above. It shows that Joe Umiljenovich died on September 4, 1934 in Britannia Beach, British Columbia.

I did a quick search on Britannia Beach and found this website. Looks like it was most likely a copper mine where he was killed. I haven't had a chance to do any further research, but was happy to find proof of an old story that had been passed down from my great-grandfather.