(Keith Kaszubik – AM-POL Eagle) The final resting place for many of Buffalo Polonia’s forefathers is at St. Stanislaus Cemetery on Pine Ridge Road in Cheektowaga which is associated with St. Stanislaus Parish in Buffalo.
Early interments for Buffalo’s Polonia (founded in 1853) took place at the nearby United German & French Cemetery. A cemetery association had been established in 1859 by six parishes, among them St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s in Buffalo. These two parishes is where Fr. John Pitass (1844-1913), who arrived in 1873 to become the founding Father of Buffalo’s Polonia, performed baptisms, marriages and funerals for our pioneers until St. Stanislaus Church was officially opened for business in 1874.
According to the 50th anniversary book for St. Stanislaus Parish, “In 1888 Rev. John Pitass was notified by the administration of the German Cemetery, in which Poles from their arrival were buried, that henceforth Poles can no longer be buried there.” However, this doesn’t appear to be accurate since microfilmed records for United German & French Cemetery reveal that Poles continued to be buried there, although in greatly diminished numbers, after St. Stanislaus Cemetery was established in 1890. Certainly there were a few prepurchased lots for couples and families (i.e., not all interments were single graves).
