Hi Genners -

I'm looking for a suggestion as to how I can find a missing baby >from early
in the 20th century.

My grandmother was chased >from her home by her husband who was wielding a
knife. Inside the home were her children. The next day her husband turned
on the gas to commit suicide, and the children died as well, except for
possibly one or two. I grew up knowing one as my Uncle Abe, who must have
been in school when this happened. Two of the children are recorded as
having died. But when my grandmother came to the US she had four children,
the youngest being an infant. I know they were all hers, because on a
subsequent Census she was asked how many children she had, and her answer
was correct counting her more recent children.

Her husband's name was Leo Pranikoff, a musician in Chicago. The children
that died were Ettel and Massie. There was Abraham, who survived, and then
there was the infant, Moses. This occurred on April 30, 1905, in Chicago.
The inquest says they are buried at Ridgelawn Cemetery, but when I called
them and spoke to them they don't even have a record of any Pranikoff in
their cemetery. I'm not sure if this is because of suicide or not. It
seemed that the records were so difficult to even find I did not have any
help.

There is no further record of Moses Pranikoff, who would have been born in
1904 in Russia. He would have probably been about a year and a half old
when he died. Even if he was buried in his father's coffin, there should be
a record of his death in the Illinois Death Index. I found a Moses
Pranikoff record in Ohio, but the family claims they know his origins, and I
believe his age doesn't match.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Lois Levick
Bensalem, PA