LIving in Ukraine 100 Years Ago: Dealing with Sickness and Injury

Sickness was dangerous in Bila, according to my great aunt Katherine Rychly Pylitiuk. Bila was village bordering Ternopil', a city in eastern Galicia   She was born in Bila in 1904, grew up in there,  and immigrated to the United States, in 1922.  Later in life told her life story to her daughter, Julia Pylatiuk Lawryk.  That story is the information source for this blog post.

Map of Ukraine showing the location of Ternopil. Source: Bowdoin College

Katherine lived in Bila with her mother,  2 sisters and 3 brothers.  Her father, Sylvester Rychly was in the United States,  working to provide a better life for his family in Bila and hoping to bring them to America.  Katherine's older sisters, Anna and Pauline were in the United States, immigrating in 1913 and 1914.  It was difficult to make ends meet in Bila; the family had a farm, but it was too small to support a family of 6.  The younger children attended school, but everybody had to work so there was food on the table.  Since Sylvester was gone, Maria, Katherine's mother, had a heavy load of responsibility.

The family grew hemp and grain on their land, as well as fruits and vegetables.  Hemp was a versatile crop, it grew quickly and could be used for many things.  Its fibers were used for rope,  and could be woven into a fabric.  This fabric was used to make sacks as well as clothing for the family.  The grain was ground into flour that provided the family's bread. Cooking oil was extracted from the seeds. 

Cutting hemp in Ukraine.  Source: Library of Congress

One of Maria's responsibilities was to prepare the grain and hemp.  Before the grain could be sent to the mill, it had to be cut,  and the chaff separated from the seeds. Everybody in the family had to help with the grain harvest.  The hemp was cut, bundled and put into the neighboring lake to rot. After several weeks, it was dredged up and cut.  The fibers inside of the stalk were removed, combed and sent to the tkach (weaver) to be made into cloth.  The women were in charge of cutting the hemp stalks and preparing the fibers.  These jobs took a toll on Maria's health.  She developed allergies to the grain and the dust that came with the threshing.  The mold associated with the hemp also irritated her. She developed asthma.  There was no treatment for asthma except for bed rest, and often Maria was laid up in bed for several weeks.

Maria gave birth to daughter Ksenia in 1908.  In the village, women were expected to go back to work after giving birth.  She had to take care of the baby and her other small children as well as cooking, cleaning and farm work. This time she never recovered her strength.  Her asthma flared up and and she developed pneumonia.  She was sick in bed for weeks and the family thought that she might die.  The family wrote to Sylvester, who was working in Pennsylvania, asking him to return to Bila. By the time he arrived, Maria was feeling better.  He stayed for a several months, then returned to Pennsylvania, but Maria's asthma continued to affect her health.

A typical whitewashed house in Ukraine.

 In 1913, when Katherine's youngest brother Onufrey was two years old, he fell into a bucket of "vapno." Vapno is whitewash,  a type of paint made from calcium hydroxide and chalk.  It is very effective on surfaces made from clay because it absorbs easily and makes the clay harder.   Most of the peasant houses in Galicia, including the Rychly's, had walls made from clay on a wooden frame,  and were painted with whitewash inside and out.  Onufrey was sitting on a bench watching his mother mixing the vapno, and while she looked away for a second, he fell head first into the bucket.  The ingredients in whitewash can cause serious skin irritation, chemical burns, blindness and lung damage. For Onufrey, the results of this accident stayed with him for the rest of his life.  He could not see for the several months after the accident.  One eye was larger than the other, and did not focus properly.  I remember that one his eye bulged , but I never knew why, or that his vision was impaired.  He never saw a doctor for this injury, and was treated with home made remedies.

 In 1916, when Katherine was twelve, she and her younger brother Onufrey, who was four, came down with "prypasnytsia" an illness similar to malaria.  World War I was going on around them since they were living on the Eastern Front.  Malaria is a disease that comes with war.  Today, it exists in tropical areas, but 100 years ago, it was prevalent in many parts of Europe.  Since there were soldiers in the village, and they were staying in village homes, it is possible that the disease came with them.  It is caused by mosquito bites, and in those days, there was no cure. Its symptoms are a high fever, chills, shivering and fatigue.  After six months, Onufrey recovered.  However Katherine was sick for two years.  I wondered how this disease could last so long,  I found that an affected person can suffer relapses.  Since the family was so poor, they were reluctant to see a doctor.  But her mother was worried that the Katherine wasn't getting better, so she went to a pharmacy in Ternopil'.  It was recommended that she treat Katherine with "keenova voda," which means horse's water.  It was prepared by soaking rusty nails in water.  Katherine took this "medicine", which had a bad taste.  She recovered eventually.  I could find no evidence that iron oxide mixed with water has any effect on malaria.

Illness and injury were often ignored because of the cost of treatment and because the family could not get by without everybody working.  Katherine cut her finger harvesting oats.  She had to continue cutting the oats because the crop needed to be harvested immediately.  Her finger had a serious cut,  so it was bandaged and she went back to work.  A few days later, the family cow became sick.  In those days, sick cows were treated by blood letting.  They took the cow to have her blood let, but couldn't pay the bill.  Katherine had to work in the doctor's field in order to play the bill even though her finger was not healed.  Debts had to be paid right away.

Painting of women harvesting grain in Ukraine.

When Maria came to the United States in 1923, she was still suffering from the effects of a asthma.  Now it was possible for her to see a doctor who could treat her illness, but it was too late.  The doctor told her that there was nothing that could be done for her condition.  She died on April 12, 1925 at the age of 52.  According to her death certificate, the cause of her death was bronchial pneumonia.

Living in Ukraine 100 Years Ago: The Rychlyj Family's Story

Just outside the city of Ternopil’ is the village of Bila.  It was a farming village, about 3 km walk to the center of the city.  Most of the people of this village made their living from farming, but since their plots were small, many of them have to work at other jobs to help make ends meet.

Ukrainian newspapers had advertisements for jobs in America.  They promised plenty of land, enough food and drink for everybody.  There were jobs in the coalmines of Pennsylvania, and in the steel mills in Ohio and in factories in New England.  There were ads for farms in North Dakota, showing palm trees and lots of land.  Life was hard in Galicia, a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the whole family worked very hard and made very little. Why not go to America, work, for a few years and them come back to Bila, and live like a rich man? So in 1907, Sylvester Rychlyj decided to leave his wife and seven children and go to Tower City, Pennsylvania to work.  He traveled with another man from his village, Wasyl Boyko.  When he got there, he found work as a farm laborer.  It didn’t take him long to realize that life was better in America, and he decided that instead of returning to Bila, he would work to earn enough money to bring his wife and family to live in the United States.

So, what was he leaving behind? What was it like to live in a farming village in Galicia?  Why did so many people leave, and never return?  This is the story of my great-grandparents, Sylvester Rychlyj and Marya Bryniak Rychlyj, who were born in Bila.  It was told by my great aunt, Katherine Rychly Pylatuik, to her daughter Julia Lawryk, in 1988.

When Sylvester married Marya Bryniak in 1895, they moved into a one- room house with his parents and brothers and sisters.  It took him ten years to save enough money to buy a house for his family.  The house was built of wood covered with clay, with a straw roof.  It was old, and painted white like the other houses in the village.  The location was good, only a block away from the well. There was a “pryspa” around the outside of the house, a sloping ledge, in order to carry rainwater away. Sometimes the pryspa was used as a bench, but it really wasn’t comfortable.  In front of the house were some fir trees and an ash tree.  In back of the house were raspberry bushes and cherry trees.  Around the house was a wooden fence.  All the houses had numbers, from 1 to 350, and mail was delivered directly to the house.

Man sitting on a "prypsa"

 

Ukrainian house in Eastern Ukraine.

Inside the house, there was one room,  painted white with the same material used on the exterior, which served as a living room, dining room, kitchen and bedroom.  In one corner, there was a stove and bread oven, made from bricks. Pots and pans were stored in the stove. There was a storage room next to the kitchen area. In another corner was a table with benches along the wall.  The table was a large wooden box, the top could be lifted and inside was a storage area, where clean clothes and linens were kept.  Just before he left for America, Sylvester built a small table and benches for the children.  There was one bed, which had a mattress filled with straw, that was changed every month.  On top of the mattress there was a sheet and a feather quilt.  Colorful embroidered pillows were laid on top of the quilt. On the walls next to the bed were hung with mats made of woven plant material to keep out the damp. 

The thatched roof sagged in places, it was so low that a child could touch it easily.  The wooden rafters were used to hang braided strings of onions and garlic as well as dried corn and dill.  Dirty clothes were thrown on the rafters until they were washed.  The floor of the house was hard packed dirt.  There was no bathroom or outhouse, everyone just went outside.

 

Painting of the interior of a Ukrainian house in Eastern Ukraine.  The bread oven is next to the stove. 

So, where did the seven children sleep?  Marya slept in the bed, along with the youngest child.  If a child was sick, he or she slept with Marya.  Two children, usually the younger ones slept on the stove. The older ones slept on the benches.  During World I, soldiers from the various invading armies were billeted in village houses.  As many as five soldiers slept on the floor. along with the family of nine people.

The Rychlyj family was poor, they had one cow, chickens, ducks and a dog.  They bought next to nothing—scarves for the girls, shoes and boots, and some items of clothing that could not be made at home.  They grew the food they ate, including the grain used for bread.  They rarely ate meat—and when they did it was chicken or fish.  Meat and white bread were special foods, eaten only on holidays. They bought salt, soap matches, naptha, and baking powder at a village store. Most of the village stores were owned by Jews.  There were two butcher shops that owned by Ukrainians, but the Rychlyj’s rarely bought meat, and when did they did, they went to Ternopil’, where things were cheaper. My grandmother told me that the first time she ate beef was in the United States.  There was a “root cellar”, an underground food storage area, outside the house, which Sylvester built it shortly before he left for America.  The walls were covered with stones, there were stone steps and a door that locked.  Theft of food, and other things, was a problem in the village.  Once before Easter, the family’s holiday foods were stolen.  Someone cut a hole in the wall of the house, and took the food.  This happened while the family was inside the house, sleeping.  The thieves must have been very careful, because nobody woke up, and the theft wasn’t discovered until morning.

 

Kitchen in a house in Eastern Ukraine. 

The family owned a Bible, written in Ukrainian, church prayer books, which were written Church Slavonic, school books in both Ukrainian and Polish (both languages were taught in the village school).  The children also had a few school supplies, which they kept in small wooden boxes.  Their toys were homemade, the girls had cornhusk dolls, and balls made from cow hair. The family also owned a sled for wintertime fun.  They had playing cards, which provided wintertime entertainment for the family.

 

Photograph of a house interior in Eastern Ukraine.

Life in the village was hard, but many of the other residents of the village were relatives, so visiting family was a favorite pastime of my great-grandmother.  Her mother and brother lives nearby and there were many cousins and other family close as well.  My grandmother left Bila   in June of 1914, just before World War I began.  After that, village life was never the same.

A note about the photographs:  The only photographs I have found of houses in Ukraine around the turn of the last century are of places in Eastern Ukraine, which was part of Russia at that time.

 

Sources: Kateryna (Kashka): Autobiography by Katherine Pylatuik Lymar, as told to her Daughter, Julie in 1988. By Julia Pylatuik Lawryk, copyright 1988.

Picture sources: Ukrainian Arts, ed. Anne Mitz, New York, 1955.

L’Arte Rustique En Russie, Edition Du “Studio”, Paris, 1912.

The Genealogy of Marya Bryniak Rychlyj

Marya and Sylvester Rychly in May 1924

Marya Bryniak, one of my great grandmothers was born about 1872 in Bila, Ternopil'.  She was a courageous woman who worked her entire life to provide for her family.  She raised eight children on her own, protected them during World War I, all the time suffering from asthma.

Bila is a village just outside the city wall of Ternopil', at that time a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Ternopil', located west of the Russian border, was a old city in Galicia,  a part of The Kingdom of Poland until the first partition of Poland in 1772, when it became Austrian Crown-land.

Marya was the eldest child and only daughter of  Fedko (Theodore) Bryniak and Varvara (Barbara) Steciuk, also spelled Stechiw. She had three brothers, Kasian, Panko and Timko.  Marya, Kasian  and Panko immigrated to the United States, I don't know about Timko.

At the age of 22, in 1894, Marya married Sylvester Rychlyj.  There were questions raised about this match, since the The Rychly family was very poor, and Marya's family was wealthy and educated by village standards.  But Marya was already 22, and considered old,  so she accepted Sylvester's proposal, believing that he would be a good husband and father.  She was right about that, Sylvester was a hard worker, and brought his family to the United States, helped them to get established here, and was a leader in the Ukrainian community in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After their marriage, Marya and Sylvester moved into a one room windowless house in Bila with his family, which was customary at that time.  The house was crowded with Sylvester's parents, brothers and sisters and small children. After 10 years and the birth of four children, Sylvester bought a house for his family. It had one room house with a thatched roof and the family lived there for about 10 years.  Four more children were born to Marya and Sylvester in this house.

This house in Ukraine about 1910, is similar to the house that Sylvester and Marya lived in, except that their house was much smaller.

Sylvester and Maria were the parents of eight children; Anna (1897-2001), Paranka (Pauline) (1898-1997), John (1902-1982), Stephan (1903-date unknown), Katherine (1904-1995), Helen (1906-1996), Ksenia (1908-1991) and Onofrey (1911-1975), five daughters and three sons.  John and Stephan stayed in Europe, but all the other children immigrated to the United States. John immigrated to the US in the 1920's.

When Sylvester immigrated to the United States in 1908, Marya became a single mother, raising  eight children on her own.  She was fortunate that she had family nearby to help her out, but she was ultimately responsible. Although Sylvester sent money to Marya in Bila,  she had to work.  Her daughters helped with childcare and housework, but when they were old enough, they started to work outside the home to supplement the family income. Stephan was a shoemaker in addition to farming.  All the children worked on the family's farm lots, where they raised wheat, rye and hemp. They also maintained a vegetable garden.  They had a cow, chickens and ducks.   They rarely bought any food, because they raised almost everything they needed themselves.  All of this work took a toll on Marya's health.  She suffered from asthma, and other respiratory problems.

Marya cut the hemp with a wooden knife, after it had soaked in a lake for seven weeks.

Harvesting grain in Ukraine. 

In 1908, she had a slow recovery after the birth of her seventh child, Ksenia.  She contracted pneumonia which was aggravated by her asthma.  Things were so bad that Sylvester returned to
Bila from the United States.  By the time he arrived, she was feeling better, and he returned to Pennsylvania in 1910. She did not see him again until 1923.

When World War I broke out in 1914, Marya's life changed.  Her two oldest daughters were in the United States, but she still had young children to care for.  The city of Ternopil' changed hands 7 times during the war, and various armies came through, taking food and animals from families and living in their homes.  There were as many as five soldiers living in the house with Marya and the children.  There was no news from the United States, or money, until they war ended in 1918.

After the war, communications opened up and the Rychlyj family finally heard from their family in the United States.  It took several years to bring the remaining family over; Katherine and Helen came in 1922, and Marya, Ksenia and Onufrey came in 1923.  By this time, Marya's health was poor and she lived for only 18 months after she arrived.  She died on April 12, 1925 and is buried in St Mary's Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN.
I am very lucky to have a wonderful oral history from my great Katherine Pylatuik Lymar, which was written by my cousin Julia Lawryk.  There is so much information packed into this memoir, that it will take me several blog posts  to tell the story of my family in Bila, Ternopil', Ukraine.

Marya and Slyvester's children and spouses and a grand-daughter, Anoka Minnesota 1960's.

 The information for this post came from Kateryna (Kashka), an Autobiography by Katherine Pylatuik Lymar as told to her Daughter, Julie in 1988, by Julia Pylatuik Lawryk. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Copyright 1988.

Sylvester Rychlyj, My Founding Father

Sylvester Rychlyj outside St Michael's Church, 1940

Ninety-nine years ago, on July 4, 1914, my grandmother, Pauline Rychlyj arrived in Minneapolis, MN, the last stop on her journey from Bila, Ternopil', Ukraine.  She was accompanied by her aunt and uncle, Constantine (Stanley) Rychlyj and Maria Bilan Rychlyj and their daughter Jenny. New York Harbor was crowded with steamships the day their ship arrived, so they were processed at Castle Garden instead of Ellis Island.  They left New York on a train for Minnesota and arrived on July 4.  What a day to arrive at their new home!

This story isn't about my grandmother, or her aunt and uncle, it is about  my great-grandfather Sylvester Rychly,j the person I consider my founding ancestor.  Sylvester first came to the United States in 1908 and settled in Tower City, PA.  According to his immigration documents, Sylvester was an agricultural worker, and his contact person in the United States was Wasyl Boyko, listed as his brother-in-law.  Wasyl is a mystery, since I can find no Boykos in the Rychlyj family.  My guess is that he and his wife were friends from the village, perhaps cousins.  Sylvester left Tower City for Ukraine in 1910 because his wife Maria was very ill. When she recovered, he returned to Pennsylvania in November 1910, with his brother Constantine. This time Sylvester was listed as an non-immigrant alien.

Eventually Sylvester moved to Minneapolis, and brought his wife and seven of his 8 children to this country.  The first child to come was Anna, followed by Pauline.  World War I intervened, and the rest of the family came in 1922, 1924 and 1926.  This in itself was an amazing feat, since the average immigrant laborer earned about $1.00 per day, and had to work for about a year to pay the fare of one person to come to the USA. Why did he invest so much time and money  bringing his family to the United States?  My grandmother Pauline said that he didn't want his children to have a life with no opportunities to better themselves.  In the old country, poor people stayed poor, they worked very hard to feed and clothe their children.  Children worked at young ages and schools taught only the basics.  He knew that he could provide a better life for his children in the United States.

Sylvester did more than bring his family to this country.  Although he had an accident at work and lost his hand, he continued working.  He bought two houses in Minneapolis in 1924.  He was a founder of two churches, St Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church, and later, St Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church.  He also served as the first president of St Michael's. 

When he lived in Europe, he played the violin for events in the village, after his accident, he could no longer play, so he sang.  He served as the Choir director for many years at St Michael's, and also as a Diak (cantor). He was a member of the Ukrainian Folk Choir in Minneapolis, which performed all over the Twin Cities area. 

Sylvester helped his children to get settled in this country, providing them a place to live when they arrived and later helping them to purchase homes of their own.  Several of his children and grandchildren lived in the same neighborhood in southeast Minneapolis, around Como Ave. After the death of his wife, Maria, his life was devoted to his family, his church and to the Ukrainian community of Minneapolis.  His descendants live all over the United States.  He died in 1944 of cancer. I was born in 1946, so I never met him, but I am proud to be one of his  descendants, and his great-granddaughter.

Sylvester (seated) with daughters Pauline (bride) and Anna, 1916

Sylvester with daughters Katherine and Ksenia in 1935

The Genealogy of the Rychly Family

I am related to the Rychly( also spelled Rychlyj or Rychlij) family on my mother's side.  Since I knew nothing about my father's family until I started to do genealogy research, this was "my family".  Most of the anecdotal information I have came from my grandmother, Pauline Rychly Koshuba Haydak, my great aunt, Anna Rychly Romanchuk and my mother Julia Koshuba Noznick.  I have more recent information from an oral history from my great aunt, Katherine Rychly Pylatuik, recorded and edited by her daughter Julia Pylatuik Lawryk, and from my cousin, Mairanne Pylatuik Theis.

The oldest known ancestor of the family, is Pawlo Rychlyj, who was born about 1850, possibly in Bohemia or in Bila, Tarnopil, Austria, now Ukraine.  He married Varvara Wojtuik, who was born in Bila around 1850.  Pawlo may have been previously married to Maria Manchouri, but I can find no verification for this person except  in an unsourced family tree.  The source  for Varvara Wojtuik is my grandmother's baptismal certificate.

Pauline Rychliy's Official Baptismal Certificate, 1933

Pawlo and Varvara married in Bila,  Tarnopil, around 1870-1871.  They had five children: Sylvester born 1872, Katherine born 1879, Constantine (Stanley) born 1886, Pelagia, born 1890, and Oleksa, born in 1892.  The All of the children immigrated to the United States except for Oleksa, who went to Canada.  Pawlo and Varvara stayed in Europe.

Pawlo's place of birth and ethnic background is a question--according to my grandmother, Pauline Haydak, and aunt, Anna Romanchuk, the Rychly name is Czech.  Anna Romanchuk told me that the Rychly family left Bohemia after losing their property and moved to Bila.  From what I have read, there was movement of people within the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and Bohemians often found employment in other parts of the Empire.  In my research on Ancestry.com, I have found many Rychlys, none of whom are listed as Ukrainian or Ruthenian (an old name for Ukrainian) except for my ancestors.  Most of the other Rychlys were listed as Bohemian. I do not know if Pawlo  or his parents or both moved to Bila. The Rychly name means quick or fast in Czech.

In Bila, the Rychly family were farmers, growing hemp.  Hemp was an important agricultural product, used for making rope, and various fabrics, including burlap and a type of linen.  The custom in Eastern Europe was to divide property between sons when the father died.  By the end of the nineteenth century,  many family farms were so small, often only 2 acres, that farming couldn't support a family of 5 or more children. Many farming families were impoverished, and immigration was a viable alternative for many.  My great-grandfather, Sylvester Rychly, said that he left Bila in 1907 because he didn't want his children to work like slaves and never get ahead.  In other words--they came for a better life.

The two oldest of Pawlo's sons, Sylvester and and Constantine came to Pennsylvania, to the town of Tower City, because there were other immigrants from Bila living there. They worked as farm laborers. Eventually sister Katherine's husband, Michael Domelko immigrated, and was followed by Katherine in 1912.
The pattern of immigration was for the husband to come to the USA first, work and save money and eventually send for the wife and children. The Rychly family followed this pattern.  Although the fare to the USA seems inexpensive to us today, it often took an immigrant man over a year to save enough money to pay for passage for his wife and several more years to save enough for fares for the children.
Katherine and her husband remained in the Reinerton, Pennsylvania, area. Anna Rychly was the first of Sylvester's children to come to Pennsylvania in 1912-3. Sylvester, Anna and Constantine moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota around 1913-4. Pelagia's husband, Dymytro Popko, came to the USA and was followed to Minnesota by Pelagia and daughter Stefania. Oleksa immigrated to Canada, probably to the Winnipeg, Manitoba area.  Pauline Rychly came to Minneapolis with Constantine, his wife Maria and daughter Jenny, in July of 1914, just before World War I began.  No more Rychlys were able to immigrate until the 1920's because of major anti-immigration changes in American immigration policy.

I will be taking a break from eeroots for three weeks.  Next post will be Friday May 10.

Pauline Rychly (bride), John Koshuba, Anna Rychly and Sylvester Rychly (seated), 1916




For more information about the reasons why Eastern Europeans immigrated, click  here
 Take a virtual tour of a New York City tenement and see how immigrants lived, click here

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