QUESTIONS FOR YOU including TRAVEL
STORIES
1. Have you visited my ancestral villages, who, when,
where, how and why? I would like to include your paragraph here?
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I was born in Buckley, Washington, a small logging and mining community. Both sides of my family worked in the coal mines. My maternal grandparents came from Scotland and England, and their ancestors were accounted for. But my paternal grandparents, Stephan and Lena Kates, were secretive about their past. They would only say they came from Austria. No further discussion. One time my sister attempted to question Grandma Kates about whether she had any brothers or sisters, and she began crying. Never again would anyone ask a question to make Grandma cry.
My inquisitive mind could not let it go, but I did not know how to begin finding out the secrets from the past. It was only in mid-life, after I had begun working in a civil servant position, did I realize that there were many public records available to people willing to ask. Most of my queries were futile. But on one visit to my Aunt Mary, she told me that she was born in Mayfield, Pennsylvania. I contacted a genealogical society in Pennsylvania and found a man who agreed to visit the Orthodox Church in Mayfield and request baptismal records. With that first record, our ancestors began to reveal themselves. I now had my great grandparents' names and their place of origin.
Throughout the next ten years, I stumbled through numerous websites and public records to no avail, satisfying myself with finding all my cousins, aunts and uncles from our fractured family who are still living.
One day in June 2002, I punched the word "Swiatkowa" into the internet yet one more time, and the first hit was a posting by Gloria Elston announcing she had just returned from Swiatkowa and had photos. I nearly fainted. I wasn't even sure Swiatkowa still existed as anything more than a name on a map. I immediately contacted her, and throughout the next few months figured out a course of action. After 58 years, I was ready to go to Poland and see for myself!
My husband and I spent a year planning. We decided to use the Maleccys from Bobowa, guides recommended by the Elstons lemko_tour@poczta.onet.pl. We spent two weeks in Poland, centering our tour around southeastern Poland, the Lemko villages. We were not interested in making a tour of large cities, although we did spend two days in and around Krakow.
The Maleccys were wonderful guides who helped us find records that otherwise would not have been made available to American tourists. We spent two days in Prszemysl at the record center, and the Mallecys pitched in and helped my husband and I search records. Halina and Andrzej are both well educated and were extremely helpful in our research. In addition to pouring over records with us, they were skilled and tactful ambassadors.
Besides finding pertinent genealogical data of my family, I also found two maps from 1851 of the two villages from which my grandparents came--Swiatkowa (both Mala and Weilka) and Zydowskie. With those in hand, we returned to the villages a second time and were able to find the exact site where my grandfather's home once stood. The disturbed ground surface where the foundation lay was apparent, and there were still a few ancient apple trees standing in their orchard.
In Swiatkowa we found the general area where my grandmother's house once stood, but could not figure out with precision the exact site. But we were able to attend a vesper service in St. Michael the Archangel's Church one evening. The service was Roman Catholic and in Polish, but the familiar cadence, verse after verse, with each petition of the prayers transcended language.
From this once-in-a-lifetime journey, I was able to make a firm connection with my past. The family traditions and customs I experienced as a child in my grandparents' home now make sense. It is with thanksgiving and a sense of deep pride that I am now able to say, "I am Lemko." www.lemko.org
Vera N. Croitoru veracroitoru@libcom.com writes:
Visiting My Lemko Homeland in Poland, August, 2003, A Personal Experience
Two very important events occurred for me during this most
exciting and memorable trip: visiting the villages of my grandparents and
researching the Przemysl Archives.
Having previously visited Lemkovyna in 1997, when the
opportunity to find the villages of Swierzowa and Swiatkowa was not available,
and nor were we able to enter the archives, I just knew this tour was going to
be successful for me. And indeed it
was! More so than I could ever imagine!
Our Lemko hosts, Halina and Andrej Malecki, were not
only gracious, but went out of their way to see that everyone on the tour would
find their family village, if possible.
During a conversation with Halina about my two villages,
she informed me that her best friend from high school’s mother lived in the
last remaining house in Swierzowa, a small village which was totally destroyed
during Akcja Visla in 1947 and when the Lemkos were sent to northern cities in
Poland. Several of my cousins were victims of this movement. Halina said that we would be served freshly
caught trout for lunch at a tavern owned by this woman’s son, Jan Gracon. This was a name I knew!
Our visit was a
treasure of coincidences. Anna Gracon’s
deceased husband is related to a woman who has lived across the street from my
mother in Monessen, PA for over 55 years. Anna remembered some of my family
names and said they had all moved in 1947. She was charming and sweet and our
interview was delightful. Later,
Marilyn Barbetta and I talked with her daughter-in-law, Gracyna, and Marilyn
discovered that Gracyna is related to her by marriage. Gracyna was filled with
tears when she learned this. What a joy
for us to have met these simple people living a rather remote area of
Poland! After lunch, Halina and Andrej
drove a mile away to the village cemetery. Alas, I was able to find only one
gravesite with the Dziadyk name.
Nevertheless, this day will be forever etched in my memory.
Twenty-one of our group spent one full day archiving
in Przemysl, affording us the pleasure of actually touching the records of our
forefather’s births, deaths and marriages.
The staff was extremely helpful in interpreting the Poland letters and
language. Tables with lamps were set up
for us and the hours flew by quickly as we researched and recorded our
findings. Lucky for me, I didn’t have
to share my precious box with anyone.
Unfortunately, I could not find my mother’s paternal grandparent’s
records. Ewona Dakieniewicz, our
genealogist, suggested the records might be in Skolysyn and offered to research
that archive. Two days later, I
received a 9-page fax from Ewona with my great grandparent’s marriage records
and information about other family members.
My visit to Poland was now complete!
I couldn’t ask for anything more!
2. Can you help me with these names
of Slovak villages that are on the 1869 census for Hrabovcik? I can’t find them on any map and I would
like the correct spellings I am
assuming that they are within a few miles of the village of Hrabovcik?
Turkovdya, Felso Piszank,
Szcrocsin, Czerina, Czermina, Cznerne (Zemplin), Orduto, Lipocze Gacsorszag,
Gribo, Szoracsin, Felso Piszana, Saris Driesna, Nyizeay Lazak, Kerejocze I have gotten some
help here. Please see the notations on
the 1869 Hungarian Census.
3. In 1947 Greek Catholic villagers from Dudynce were deported to the USSR. Is there any record of where these people were moved?
From Philip Semanchuk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bukowsko_triangle/message/367
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