Anna was the daughter of Frank and Elizabeth Brazinsky. The family resemblance to her mother is unmistakable. The form showing her father giving his consent to her marriage at the supposed age of 20 (in 1905) --- actually, she could have been 16 or 17 --- stated that her prospective husband, John Bernatonis, was filing the form with Schuylkill County.

Her birth year is uncertain, because (1) the newspaper that carried news of her sudden passing says she was 29 in 1918, which would make her birth year 1887 or 1888 ... but (2) the 1905 consent to marriage form, previously mentioned, says she was 20 that year. That would mean she was born in 1885, and was 33 when she died.

If she was 20 in 1905, it also meant she was 7 years older than her next-oldest sibling, Agnes A. Brazinsky Wasley. Agnes in later years would say she was the eldest child in the family; she may have meant "Oldest surviving child" since Anna died young ... as did a brother, Anthony, who was born in between Anna and Agnes, but who died at age 4.

Her birth date as given in that consent form, August 15, was almost certainly incorrect. Among the Lithuanians of Schuylkill County, PA, if a birth date was unknown, it was common practice to assign the date of August 15 --- which was, simultaneously, both the Catholic Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, and "Lithuania Day." But other records show her birthday actually was in September.

See the group photos that accompany this entry. The resemblance between mother Elizabeth and daughter Anna is especially striking in the family grouping taken sometime after her father's death in 1907. The man in the photo is her stepfather, Adam Kielus.

She married Jonas (John) Bernatonis, 10 September 1905. (Find a Grave #98598659); she was his second wife. His first wife had died just a few months previously, but he was a hotel keeper and, no doubt, had need of a helpmate.

In the old Lithuanian fashion, her last name became Bernatoniene, the -iene signifying she was a married woman. However, as she was living in the USA, her Americanized name was simply Bernatonis.

Children: Anna Bernatonis Hartzell (Find a Grave #98598198) and Violet Bernatonis Armon (#186998358). There were others, according to the aforementioned family tree: a boy and three girls, names unknown, who died in infancy; a girl, Theophilia, who died at age 3; and another girl, Mary, who lived to age 12. None of this has yet been confirmed or documented, but as it was written by a family member - possibly by a brother - it is probably safe to consider it as factual.

This meant that in 11 years of marriage - from 1905 to the year of her husband's death, 1916 - Anna had 8 children, only 4 of whom lived past infancy, 3 reached the age of 12, and of these only 2 lived to adulthood.

It was a short life for Anna, and was sad in many ways. The year of her death, 1918, the news article carrying news of her death, and most especially by her niece, J Brazinsky, who in 2021 confirmed that her Aunt Anna (or Annie) died suddenly as the result of the Influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. The sudden death was attested to by the Shenandoah newspaper article stating how her friends were shocked to hear of her death. While the paper said she died of severe laryngitis. the onset of the so-called "Spanish Flu" is likely the correct explanation. Strep throat may have been a contributing cause.

Family tradition confirms that 6 of her children died. That informal family tree, provided by Patti D. Hauver, agrees that Anna was actually born in 1888, not 1885.

Grandchildren: Violet's sons, John "Jackie" Armon, who moved to East Hartford, Connecticut; and Edward "Eddie" or "Cookie" Armon, who moved to Frackville, PA, served in the Army during the Vietnam War, died in 2016, and is buried at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery in Annville, Lebanon County, PA. (See Find a Grave #157943599.)

Great-grandchildren: Three daughters of Eddie "Cookie" Armon and Carol Pretko Armon: Christine Armon Lavrich (m. Daniel Lavrich) of PA.; Cynthia Armon Stitth (m. Michael Stith) of MD; and Carolyn Armon Ward (husband's first name is unknown), also of MD.

Great-Great grandchildren: Abigail Lavrich and Ashley Lavrich, Daughters of Christine Armon Lavich and Daniel Lavrich.

Sources: for most of the above, the source was the nicely-detailed Find a Grave site for Eddie Cookie Armon, #157943599. The Shenandoah Herald Republican dated 16 June 1918, as well as other Shenandoah and Pottsville newspapers, said she died suddenly and unexpectedly after a few days' illness, "an acute attack of laryngitis." However, niece Judith Brazinsky emphatically stated on August 21, 2021, It was actually the "Spanish Flu" epidemic. Otherwise it could have been a case of Strep Throat, which can close up the airway and necessitate a tracheotomy, and certainly requires treatment with antibiotics; of course, the latter were unavailable in 1918. Pneumonia is also a possibility, but since the niece was so adamant it was the Flu, that's the diagnosis we're assuming is correct .

Also, reference the Obituary for Anna Hartzell in the Shenandoah Evening Herald, 11 September 1978 (Find a Grave #98598198), saved in a scrapbook by the late H. Beatrice Wasley. The family tree was provided by Patti D. Hauver.