New books explore two historic Catholic cemeteries
Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 15, 2006
Detroit — For Cecile Wendt Jensen, researching genealogy is more than just plotting out a family tree.
It's a way to reconnect with ancestors and better understand their hardships, and it's something of a spiritual journey, too. And recently, her love for her family history spawned three books — the two most recent of which, "Detroit's Mount Elliott Cemetery and "Detroit's Mount Olivet Cemetery," were released last month.
Jensen plans on using some of the profits from the two books on the Catholic cemeteries to buy headstones for her ancestors' unmarked graves, including her great-grandfather, Piotr Wojtkowiak.
Researching family history can strengthen a person's faith, said Jensen, who attends St. Anastasia Parish in Troy with her mother and St. Andrew Parish in Rochester with her nephews. "I think it really does give you a spiritual experience," she said.
It can be very moving for people to visit a church in Europe and touch the same baptismal font in which their ancestors entered the Church, she explained.
Retired from teaching, now a professional genealogist, one reason she doesn't do the work for people, but instead guides them, is because she wants them to go through the process themselves. "I think it's a heartfelt adventure to find your ancestors," she said. "I want them to have that spiritual journey."
The two cemetery books evolved out of her own interest in family history, which began in eighth grade and the traditional family history project, and her earlier book, "Detroit's Polonia." She made the book a mixture of both famous people and everyday people, including a Civil War soldier, a silent screen actor, and what is believed to be a picture from the funeral of Benny Evangelist and his family.
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 Hear Her
Cecile Wendt Jensen will speak and sign copies of "Detroit's Mount Elliott Cemetery" and "Detroit's Mount Olivet Cemetery" at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Dec. 16 at Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, Bloomfield Hills. RSVP to (586) 416-3300 or to historybooks@mtelliott.com
Visit: www.Mipolonia.net | She used photos from private collections, the cemetery association and Wayne State's catalogue of Detroit News photos. She tried to select images that would remind everyone who looked at them of their own heritage.
Among her favorite pictures in the book are several of the Capuchin friars (religious orders are featured in a chapter in each book), stories that come full-circle, and stories that are an example of the American dream.
"It's another type of history but it's a true history of the Detroit community," she said. "I think it's the history and the touching family stories that make it great to research and discover."
She said although her research dealt a lot with cemeteries and death, it wasn't depressing for her. She often felt she was being reacquainted with her ancestors and their stories, she said.
"I think you get a better understanding of the trials and tribulations our ancestors had here and in Europe," she said.
The Church also has a role to play in genealogy, she explained. Church records help people see how things were in that parish community, and priests would add into the sacramental records when there was an epidemic or when young men go off to war.
"You get a whole feel of what's going on in the parish by looking at the records," Jensen said.
Kari Wood, Mount Elliott Cemetery Association's marketing director, said that through Jensen's project, new information about the cemeteries was turned up. "We just think the interest in the cemetery is fabulous," she said. "It's part of the history of the city."
Jensen was born in Detroit and attended Epiphany Parish and Immaculata High School. She lives in Rochester Hills.
Among her next projects is a book on how to research Polish genealogy. "I encourage people of all ethnic heritages to find their own ancestors," she said.
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