Four Sets of Twins: Two Families, Remarkable Stories, and Missing Records

For Week 45 of #52Ancestors – Theme: Multiple

Twins run in my family—or more accurately, they ran through two branches of my family tree in ways that shaped both joy and heartbreak. My maternal great-grandmother Anna Hurkala Marcisak reportedly gave birth to three sets of twins. My paternal 2x great-grandmother Julia Clarke Smith gave birth to one set. That’s potentially eight babies arriving in pairs across two generations.

But here’s the genealogist’s dilemma: I can definitively prove only three of those four sets. The fourth remains hidden in that frustrating gap between family memory and documentary evidence, where fragile records and fleeting lives slip through our fingers.

The Plunkett Twins: Brooklyn, 1851

Let me start with the twins whose story I can piece together with more certainty: Bernard and James Plunkett, born either on February 10, 1851 or on February 14, 1851 (depending on which record you look at) to my paternal 2x great-grandparents Julia Clarke Smith and Peter Plunkett in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1850, the Plunketts lived in Brooklyn’s Ward 5, a waterfront neighborhood by the Navy Yard. This ward had no Catholic church of its own yet. Local Catholics probably walked to neighboring parishes for Mass and sacraments. The nearest options for the Plunkett family would have been the Church of the Assumption and St. James Church.

Churches

Church of the Assumption (York Street and Jay Street) – Just one block outside Ward 5’s border, this was likely the closest option. Founded in 1842 specifically to serve Catholics in the northern waterfront districts near the Navy Yard, Assumption drew many Irish “Irishtown” families for baptisms and weddings in the 1840s-1850s.²

St. James’s Church (Jay Street and Chapel Street, Downtown Brooklyn) – Founded 1822 as the first Roman Catholic church on Long Island, St. James’s became Brooklyn’s pro-cathedral when the Diocese of Brooklyn was created in 1853. This flourishing parish maintained sacramental records from the 1820s onward and served many Irish families from the Navy Yard area.³

Tracking down baptismal records from either of these two churches would provide the smoking gun for the twins’ births. But there are additional challenges beyond church records.

Side note: Interestingly, the Church of the Assumption had to move due to the building of the Manhattan bridge. Below is the same map above, superimposed with a current map.

Civil Records

Documenting births in civil records holds its own difficulties. In 1866, New York City began issuing official birth, marriage, and death certificates, but civil records from earlier years are patchy at best.⁴ Some scattered Brooklyn birth records exist from 1847-1851, thanks to a short-lived law requiring school districts to collect vital statistics—but compliance was inconsistent, and the practice faded quickly.⁵

For these twins, census records become our best guides. The 1850 U.S. Census, taken months before their birth, naturally excludes them. But the 1855 New York State Census should show the boys as four-year-olds—two children of the same age living in the household, a telltale sign of twins.

Both twins survived to adulthood: Bernard became a priest and died in 1886, while James lived until 1915. In pursuit of documenting their story, I’ll search:

• NYC Municipal Archives’ Historical Vital Records (1847-1851)
• Baptismal records from Assumption or St. James’s churches
• The 1855 New York State Census (to confirm both twins survived to age four)
• City directories for evidence of family residence in Ward 5

The Marcisak Twins: Documented and Mysterious

Anna Hurkala married Vasilius Marcisak in September 1903, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.⁶ The 1910 census provides a key clue: census takers asked mothers to report both the number of children born and the number still living. Anna’s answer—”2 children born, 2 children living”—becomes a crucial timestamp, proving her first set of twins had not yet arrived by that time.

Here’s what the records do show:

• Anna (born 1905) and Michael (born 1909) — single births
• Eva and Adam (twins, born 1911): Eva, my grandmother, lived a long life; Adam lived a few months after birth
• Paul and Pauline (twins, born February 15, 1922): Pauline died two days later from atelectasis neonatorum (a complication of premature birth).⁸ Paul lived until 1959.

In both documented sets, only one twin survived infancy. The randomness of which child lived and which child died must have been devastating for Anna and the family. According to Eva’s account, Adam lived for a few months—long enough to have a name, long enough to be remembered, but not long enough to leave a paper trail.

The Seven-Year Silence: A Gap That Speaks Volumes

Between Stephen’s birth in 1913 and Magdalena’s in 1920, seven years of silence stretch across the family timeline. In a family where babies typically arrived every couple of years, such a canyon is impossible to overlook.

These were tumultuous years for immigrant families in Pennsylvania coal country. World War I (1914-1918) disrupted lives and livelihoods. The devastating 1918 influenza pandemic swept through mining communities, killing thousands. Economic uncertainty, wartime rationing, and the constant dangers of coal mining created an atmosphere of stress and fear. For a family like the Marcisaks—Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants working in the coke ovens and mines—survival itself required every ounce of energy.

Family lore insists there was a third set of twins during this period. Given what happened to Adam and Pauline, it’s likely that if this set existed, both died quickly—perhaps stillborn or within days of birth. In rural Pennsylvania, especially among immigrant communities during these chaotic years, such losses often went unrecorded, lost to history except for whispers handed down in family stories.

The Challenge of Proving What We “Know”

The 1910 census confirms Anna’s first twins were born after that year.¹⁰ But the unexplained gap between Stephen and Magdalena suggests something is missing. If Anna truly had three sets of twins, the missing pair would fall here.

Complicating matters, Anna’s 1943 naturalization petition lists only six children and omits Adam (who lived a few months after birth, according to Eva’s account).¹¹ This raises questions: Did the form only ask for living children? Was Anna unable or unwilling to record children who died young? Or does this mean the family legend of a third set was just that—a legend?

Where Records Hide (and Why They’re Missing)

Pennsylvania Birth Records (1900-1920)

Pennsylvania began statewide mandatory birth and death registration on January 1, 1906, but record-keepers achieved only scattered compliance until approximately 1915.¹² Statewide registration of births and deaths has occurred since 1906, although compliance with the law remained scattered for at least the first ten years.¹³ This gap period means clerks created notoriously incomplete records from 1906-1915, particularly for rural populations, home births, and minority communities. For births in Unity Township between 1913 and 1920, the Pennsylvania State Archives should hold records—if families reported them.

The Byzantine Catholic Church Records Challenge

The Marcisak family attended Byzantine Catholic churches serving Westmoreland County’s Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant community. Based on Pauline’s 1922 death certificate listing burial at Trauger Greek Cemetery, the family likely attended St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Trauger (Latrobe), Pennsylvania. However, locating these records presents unique challenges: unlike Roman Catholic diocesan records, many Byzantine Catholic baptismal and burial registers from this era remain scattered across individual churches and archives—accessible primarily through direct contact or in-person research.

What Stillbirths and Infant Deaths Mean for Records

For stillbirths, they typically appear in records as “Baby Marcisak” with no individual name, and rural areas achieved notorious underreporting, especially for home births without medical attendance.

For infant deaths—babies born alive who died within hours or days—separate birth and death certificates should exist. But again, rural areas achieved poor compliance, especially before 1915.

Where I’m Still Looking

Church burial registers (separate from baptismal records) often documented stillbirths and unbaptized infants who received church burials. Contact St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Trauger (Latrobe) or the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh.

Cemetery records may show small graves in family plots that lack individual markers but appear in sexton records. St. Mary’s Nativity Cemetery in North Union Township served the Byzantine Catholic community.

Pennsylvania State Archives holds death certificates from 1906-1973 and birth certificates from 1906-1918. The free downloadable indexes can be searched systematically.¹⁴

County courthouse records at Westmoreland County may hold delayed birth certificates or orphans’ court records documenting family composition.

The Lesson in Missing Records

The challenge isn’t just to find records—it’s to understand the context when they’re missing. Rural underreporting, language barriers, and the shifting definitions of what warranted a certificate all contribute to the genealogist’s heartbreak and humility. Sometimes the paper trail just isn’t there, and we find ourselves relying on the strength of memory and the integrity of family storytelling.

What Multiple Sources Really Means

The story of Anna’s twins teaches an important lesson about genealogical proof. Having multiple mentions of the same “fact” doesn’t equal multiple independent sources. Family memory, repeated across generations, is still essentially one source—unless each person had independent knowledge of the events.

What I need are independent, contemporary records:

• Birth or baptismal records that officials created at the time of the events
• Death certificates or burial records
• Census records showing family composition
• Church records documenting sacraments or burials
• Newspaper announcements of births or deaths

These would be truly independent sources, created at the time by different people for different purposes, that either confirm or contradict the family story.

The Emotional Weight of Unproven Truth

There’s a special ache in “knowing” something happened but being unable to prove it. Anna’s 1943 naturalization form, omitting Adam, makes me wonder: What else might be missing? The evidence for the Plunkett twins and the Marcisak twins Eva/Adam and Paul/Pauline is strong. But the story of the third set rests heavily—perhaps solely—on my grandmother’s testimony and the shadows cast by that seven-year silence.

As genealogists and family historians, we walk a line between honoring oral tradition and pursuing documentary proof. Both matter. Both are forms of truth. But sometimes, the gap between them weighs heavily on the heart as well as the mind.

If Only I Could Ask…

Anna Hurkala Marcisak lived until 1975, outliving her husband by over two decades. She knew great-grandchildren (including me!) and, surely, carried stories that will never be written down. I wish I’d been old enough to ask her directly: “How many children did you have? Tell me about all of them, even the ones who didn’t survive.” But I wasn’t. So I do what genealogists do—following the paper trail, honoring family lore, and accepting that some truths may remain forever unproven.

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RESEARCH TRAIL: The Search for Anna’s Missing Twins

✓ COMPLETED:

• Pennsylvania State Archives birth index (1913-1920) – systematically searched
• Pennsylvania State Archives death index (1913-1920) – systematically searched
• 1910 U.S. Census – confirmed Anna had 2 children before twins arrived
• 1920 U.S. Census – reviewed family composition
• Pauline Marcisak death certificate (1922) – obtained and analyzed
• Anna Marcisak naturalization petition (1943) – obtained and analyzed

○ IN PROGRESS:

• St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church (Trauger/Latrobe) – records request sent, awaiting response on burial registers 1913-1920
• Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh – inquiry about scattered parish records and possible centralized holdings

☐ PLANNED:

• Westmoreland County Courthouse – delayed birth certificate search
• St. Mary’s Nativity Cemetery (North Union Township) – sexton records review for unmarked infant graves
• Local newspapers – Greensburg Daily Tribune, Latrobe Bulletin death notices 1913-1920
• FAN network – obituaries and records for Marcisak/Hurkala neighbors who might mention lost children

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Your Turn

Do you have family stories you can’t quite prove? Are there missing records for children who died young, or gaps in your family’s timeline that suggest untold stories? How do you honor both family memory and documentary evidence in your research?

The search for Anna’s missing twins continues. If you have experience researching Byzantine Catholic records in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (particularly St. Mary’s in Trauger/Latrobe), or tips for finding stillbirth and infant death records from the early twentieth century, I’d love to hear your strategies and stories. Together, we keep searching, piecing together the threads of memory and history—one twin, one family, one story at a time.

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1. “1855 Brooklyn Ward Maps,” Steve Morse Brooklyn Genealogy Info (https://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Ward/1855.Bkynwardmaps/1855.3.html : accessed 11 November 2025), Ward 5 map showing vicinity around the Navy Yard. ↩︎
2. “History of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn,” compiled from Henry R. Stiles, History of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn (https://www.panix.com/~cassidy/STILES/CATHOLICCHURCHES.html : accessed 11 November 2025), section “Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” ↩︎
3. “History of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn,” compiled from Henry R. Stiles, History of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn (https://www.panix.com/~cassidy/STILES/CATHOLICCHURCHES.html : accessed 11 November 2025), section “St. James’s Church.” ↩︎
4. “New York Vital Records,” FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/New_York_Vital_Records : accessed 10 November 2025), section “1866: New York State Legislature created the New York City Metropolitan Board of Health.” ↩︎
5. “Birth, Marriage, and Death Records,” New York State Archives (https://www.archives.nysed.gov/research/birth-marriage-death-records : accessed 10 November 2025), section “An 1847 law required the school districts in each town to collect vital statistics. They ceased doing so after a few years.” ↩︎
6. Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Marriage License Dockets, volume 32-34, page 193, Vasilius Marcisak and Anastasia Hurkala, 12 September 1903; imaged, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriages, 1852-1968,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61381/images/TH-1-159316-182593-45 : accessed 11 November 2025). ↩︎
7. U.S. 1910 census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, North Union Township, Mt. Braddock Mining Town, enumeration district 53, sheet 5B (penned), visited 85, family 82, Annie Marchechok household; imaged, “1910 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4450032_00880 : accessed 11 November 2025). ↩︎
8. Pennsylvania, Division of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, file no. 17576 (1922), Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Paulline Marcisak, died 17 February 1922; imaged, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/41381_2421406259_0590-00633 : accessed 11 November 2025). ↩︎
9. Kirsten M. Max-Douglas, “Birth Timeline of Anna Hurkala Marcisak’s Children (with possible gap),” timeline diagram created in LucidSpark, 11 November 2025; image file privately held by author. ↩︎
10. U.S. 1910 census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, North Union Township, visited 85, family 82, Annie Marchechok household. ↩︎
11. U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Petition for Naturalization no. 392347, Anna Marcisak, filed 10 December 1941; imaged, “New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2280/images/31301_168775-00691 : accessed 11 November 2025); citing Roll 1351, Petition no. 392347-392868. ↩︎
12. “Pennsylvania Research Tips and Strategies,” FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Pennsylvania_Research_Tips_and_Strategies : accessed 10 November 2025), section “The statewide registration of births and deaths began in 1906 and had compliance for registration by 1915.” ↩︎
13. “Pennsylvania Vital Records,” Rootsweb Wiki (https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Pennsylvania_Vital_Records : accessed 10 November 2025), section “Statewide registration of births and deaths has occurred since 1906, although compliance with the law was scattered for at least the first ten years.” ↩︎
14. “Vital Statistics Records,” Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (https://www.pa.gov/agencies/phmc/pa-state-archives/research-online/vital-statistics-records/ : accessed 10 November 2025). ↩︎
15. George Dubinsky, photographer, photograph of Anna Hurkala Marcisak, Eva Marcisak Dubinsky, and Kirsten M. Max-Douglas, December 1970; family photograph, colorized and repaired using MyHeritage Photo Tools; copyright held by George Dubinsky (deceased), used with permission of George’s daughter; held in personal collection of Kirsten M. Max-Douglas, Cincinnati, Ohio. ↩︎