The Sich Society

The Koshuba family in Butsniv, Galicia.  Joseph, in the second row has a Sich sash

There are several photographs of my ancestors wearing sashes.  Their children and grandchildren had no idea  why the person was swearing the sash or what the sash meant. I have pictures of my grandfather, John Koshuba and his brother Joseph wearing a uniform with a sash.  My great aunt Kathrine Pylatiuk and her husband Olexa wore the sashes on their wedding day. I have a family picture of the Kociuba (Koshuba) family, wearing sashes in a picture taken in their village, Butsniv in Galicia, and the sashes looked like the ones worn by family in Minnesota.  A  helpful person was able to read the Ukrainian letters on the sash, and told me that it was a Sich society sash. Was this the same Sich society as the one in Minneapolis?  My research told me the answer is yes.

Joseph(left) and John Koshuba(right), wearing Sich sashes.

The Sich society was started in 1900 in Shiatyn County in Galicia by Kyrylo Tryliovskyi, as a physical education and firefighting organization. Members of the Ukrainian Radical Party were instrumental in starting the group. Its mission was to promote national consciousness and patriotism, and to raise the educational and cultural level of the peasants and people of the working class. Members wore Ukrainian folk costumes and a crimson sash over their shoulder, inscribed with the name of the wearer's village.  They also wore a hat with a red feather and a star-shaped badge on it.

Katherine and Olexa Pylatiuk wearing sashes

 In 1912, the Sich Society was renamed the Ukrainian Sich Union (USU).    It grew quickly and by 1913,  there were over 900 branches and 80,000 members in Galicia and in Ukrainian communities abroad.  The group published song books, annual almanacs and a magazine, Zoria. The Ukrainian Sich Union was a parent of the Legion of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Austrian-Hungarian army during World War I, fighting Russia on the Eastern Front. After the War, the unit became a regular unit of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.  In 1919, The Ukrainian Sich Riflemen became part of the Ukrainian Galician Army, participating in the Polish-Ukrainian War.  It was disbanded in 1920.

Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. Photo: Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine

The society continued after World War I, when Galicia became part of Poland. In 1924 it was abolished by  Polish government  authorities.
In the United States, The Sich Society began as a physical education and rifle society in 1915.  By 1920, there were 60 branches and 3,000 members.  From 1918  to 1923 they put out a biweekly publication, Sichovi Visty. In Minneapolis, a group called the Zaparhrozia Sich Social Society was organized in 1915.  My grandfather and uncle were members.  Other than the pictures above, I have found no other information about this group.

Sources.
"The Sich Society", Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine
"Ukrainian Sich Riflemen" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Photo credits:
The Koshuba Family, collection of E. Wons
Joseph and John Koshuba, collection of Pauline Noznick
Katherine and Olexa Pylatiuk, the Pylatiuk Family.

The Story of Four Churches in NorthEast Minneapolis

This post is about Ukrainian immigrants to Minneapolis, Minnesota and their efforts to establish a place of worship in one specific area of the city, Northeast Minneapolis. One of the first things that immigrant groups did after they became established in the United States was to start a place of worship.  The first Ukrainians came to Minneapolis in the 1878 from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.  At that time they were called Rusyns or Ruthenians, a name that came associated with the place of their origin, the Kievian Rus.  Most of the immigrants in Minneapolis were from Galicia, the eastern-most area of the Austrian Empire and were Greek Catholics, who followed the Eastern Rite, which is similar to the Orthodox Church. Other Ukrainians/Rusyns came from Transcarpathian Ukraine, which bordered the Carpathian Mountains, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.  In 1596, Orthodox Ukrainians in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, merged with the Roman Catholic Church, but kept the religious practices and beliefs of the Orthodox Church, including marriage of priests. This new church was called the Uniate or Greek Catholic Church. The fact that the church allowed married priests, as in the Orthodox Church did would cause conflict in the Ukrainian community in the United States.



The first  Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest in the United States, John Voliansky, came from Lviv to start a church in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in 1884.  Shortly after his arrival, he  traveled to Philadelphia to present his credentials to Roman Catholic Archbishop Patrick Ryan.  The Archbishop refused to see him because he was married.  He was told  by the Archbishop's chancellor to return immediately to Lviv. Voliansky ignored this, realizing that only his superiors in Lviv could end his mission.

Northeast Minneapolis is the area within the red line

  Ruthenians establish a Church in Northeast Minneapolis.

Northeast is the oldest part of Minneapolis.  The city is divided in half by the Mississippi River.  It is divided again into quarters.  On the east side of the river is North East and South East. North and South are on the west side of the River. Ruthenian/Rusyn immigrants settled in Northeast Minneapolis, an area with many industries and businesses where they found work.

At first they attended a Polish Roman Catholic Church in the neighborhood. By 1889, there were enough Ukrainian/Ruthenian/Rusyn Greek Catholics in Minneapolis to start their own church. Rev. Voliansky came to Minneapolis from Pennsylvania to help the immigrants to organize their church.  Reverend Alexis Toth, a widowed priest from Transcarpathia, came to Minnesota to be the pastor  of the new church. He also had problems with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. When he arrived in Minnesota, he introduced himself to the Bishop of St Paul, John Ireland.  When Bishop Ireland found out that Rev. Toth had been married, he told him that there was no place for married or widowed priests in the Roman Catholic Church and to leave Minnesota.  Toth decided to stay in Minneapolis, and the first Greek Catholic Church was established in Minneapolis.

The First Greek Catholic Church in Minneapolis: St Mary's Greek Catholic Church founded in 1889.

St Mary's Orthodox Cathedral built in 1906

Father Alexis Toth

St Mary's Greek Catholic Church at 1701 5th St N.E. was founded in 1889, Father Toth  was the pastor there from 1889 to 1891.  Because he had been married, the Roman Catholic Church would not support Father Toth and his new church, so he started a grocery store to support himself and the church. The church grew, but eventually Toth realized  since there was no place for him in the Roman Catholic Church, he would convert to the Orthodox faith.  At that time, there was no Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States or anywhere else in the world, so he joined the Russian Orthodox Church.   He started a return to Orthodoxy movement and over 7000 Greek Catholic Rusyns joined him. He received pastoral and financial help from  the Russian Orthodox Church, based in Moscow and from the Tsar. St Mary's became a Russian Orthodox Church in 1883 with Father Toth as its  pastor. In 1905, a Russian Orthodox seminary was opened at St Mary's, the first in the United States. The original church, built in 1887 burned down in 1905 and was replaced by a much larger building in 1906, funded by the Russian Orthodox Church. By 1916, there were almost 100,000 members of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States, and 80% of them were Ukrainian. 
Because of his leadership in establishing the Russian Orthodox Church in Minnesota and starting the first Russian Orthodox Seminary in the United  States, Father Alexis Toth became a Russian Orthodox saint in 1994.

St John the Baptist Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, founded in 1907. 

St John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church. It is the second building, built in 1926.

When St Mary's Church became a Russian Orthodox Church, many Rusyns chose not to worship there.  Along with new Ukrainian immigrants to Minneapolis, they started a group, St John The Baptist Lodge, which organized a Greek Catholic Church in 1902.  Land was acquired and a house was converted into a church at 2215 Third St NE.  By this  time, relations with Bishop Ireland had normalized, and St John's became associated with the Roman Catholic Church.  However, there were conflicts within the church between members from different parts of Ukraine, immigrants from Galicia and those from Transcarpathia.  The members from Galicia left and started new Greek Catholic Church, St Constantine Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, at 6th St N.E. and University Ave about a mile from St John the Baptist Church.  The split devastated St John the  Baptist, for three years there was no priest assigned to the Church.  All religious functions were performed at St Constantine's.  When a priest from Transcarpathia came to St John's in 1915, it began to function as a church again. After the first building burned down, a new church building was built in 1926. Today it is known as St John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church and is part of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

 

St Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church, founded in 1912.

St Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church, built in 1972.

By 1913, Slavic immigrants made up 25% of the population of Northeast Minneapolis.  Ukrainian immigrants from Galicia who left St John the Baptist Church, started St Constantine Ruthenian Catholic Church in 1912,  the first services were held in a rented hall on 5th St NE and 22 Ave. In 1913 land was acquired on Sixth St NE and University Avenue and  a church building was constructed. 
World War I was a difficult time for Ukrainians in the United States, since many of the battles were fought in Galicia, their homeland. Since many had family members still living there, they followed news of the war closely.  Although World  War I ended in 1918, fighting continued until 1920, when Galicia became part of Poland and Transcarpathian Ukraine became part of Hungary and Romania.
Ukrainian immigrants opened the Ukrainian National Home in Minneapolis, a social club and a place where they could keep Ukrainian traditions alive.

After the collapse of  Russia, Ukrainian immigrants were inspired by the short lived independence of Ukraine. When Ukrainians broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church and started a new church, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church in Ukraine in 1921, immigrants in Minneapolis followed these events closely. So when Archbishop John Theodorovych of the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church spoke at the Ukrainian National Home in 1925, his speech inspired several members of St Constantine's Church to meet and discuss the possibility of establishing a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Minneapolis.  One concern of many immigrants was that The Greek Catholic Church was becoming more and more like the Roman Catholic Church and that Ukrainian cultural and national traditions were neglected.  This new church was going to be different, it would continue Ukrainian religious traditions, but it would also work to develop Ukrainian nationalism and and preserve its culture.

 

St Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church is founded in 1925.

Archbishop John Theodorovych

St Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church was founded for several reasons.  According to Alexander Granovsky, who wrote a history of the Church on its 50th anniversary in 1975:

First, there was dissatisfaction with the progressive Latinization of their own and of the Uniate Church. Second, it was a move to have the opportunity to maintain their own correct national identity and to carry on their Ukrainian patriotic life and to help their kinsmen in Ukraine...and to continue their fight for national freedom. Third, The undoubted stimulation of the power of the rebirth of the ancient Ukrainian National Orthodox Church in 192. It was not like erecting a church for an old parish--it was creating the first church for one of the first new parishes of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America!

The Church became the center of the Ukrainian Community in Minneapolis, provided not only religious guidance, but also cultural and educational leadership.

St Michal's Ukrainian Orthodox Church at 505 4th NE, one block from St Constantine's Church

Explaining Ukrainian Surnames Part Three

1740 Map showing Ukraine in Yellow.

This post is the third part of my summary of Greg Gressa's article "The Origins and Meaning of Ukrainian Surnames."   I found this article on the Ukrainian Genealogy site at least 15 years ago and it has disappeared.  Greg Gressa compiled this information from texts by Jeff Picknicki of the University of Manitoba, and works by John-Paul Himka, Frances A. Swyripa of the University of Alberta and others.  He included a short biography of sources of information about the history and meaning of Ukrainian names.  I would be happy to share this list with interested people.  Please email me at pauline.noznick@gmail.com or leave a comment at the end of this post and I will get back to you.

Structural Classifications of Ukrainian Surnames.

Ukrainian surnames can be classified according to their grammatical structure and morphological features as adjectives and nouns.

Adjectival Surnames

Most Ukrainian surnames that behave like adjectives have the following suffixes:

 –sk,-ck,-zk , as well as the endings yj /ij, (masculine ending) or a/ia, (feminine ending).

In the Ukrainian language, adjectives must agree with nouns in number, gender and case.  Adjectival surnames will have a masculine, feminine and plural form.  In the United States, the “j” was dropped from many surnames that ended with yj, and many times the feminine ending was no longer used.

Adjectival surnames are formed from the name of a place where an ancestor lived or originated.

Ukrainian root word	suffix	Adjectival ending	Masculine form	Feminine form	Plural form	English Meaning
More	sk	yj	Morskyj	Morska	Morski	Lived near the sea/shore
Brod	sk	yj	Brodskyj	Brodska	Brodski	From the city of Brody
Halych	sk	yj	Halytskyj	Halytska	Halytski	From the city of Halych

Adjectival Surnames which formed from first names.

Ukrainian first name	Suffix	Adjectival ending	Masculine form	Feminine form	Plural form	English meaning
Pavlov	Sk	Yj	Pavlovskyj	Pavlovska	Pavlovski	Children of Pavlov (Paul)
Fedir	Sk	Yj	Fedorivskyj	Fedorivska	Fedorivski	Children of Fedir (various forms of Theodore)
Tomko	Sk	yj	Tomkivskyj	Tomkivska	Tomkivski	Children of Tomko

Nominal Surnames

Nominal surnames behave like nouns. This type of surname makes up one of the largest groups in the Ukrainian language.  Most are based on nicknames.  The origins of many of these names are obscure and how they came to be is anyone’s guess. The actual reasons behind the formation of the surname probably will never be known.

Surnames from names of birds:

Soroka                                                      magpie

Vorona                                                      crow

Derkach                                                    crake

European Crake

European Magpie

Surnames from names of animals:

Baran                                                            ram

Buhaj                                                            bull

Vovk                                                             wolf

Medvid                                                          bear

Kovbe                                                           type of fish

Kotyk, koshka                                                cat

Surnames from plants and trees

Kulbaba                                                dandelion

Bereza                                                  birch

Kalyna                                                  cranberry

Surnames from names of foods

Maslo                                                        butter

Maslianka                                                  buttermilk

Smetana                                                   cream

Kapusta                                                    cabbage

Surnames suffixes that indicate progeny, regional origin or regional characteristics.

The following suffixes are added to first names to indicate progeny

-chuk            -chak            -uk             iuk            -ak-            -ych            -evych            -ovych            -ets                -iv               -yn            -enko                       

 Nominal Surnames with suffixes that indicate Progeny

First name	Suffix	English meaning	Surname
Sava	chuk	Progeny of Sava	Savchuk
Maksym	chak	Progeny of Maksym	Maksymchak
Taras	uk	progeny of Taras	Tarasuk
Pavlo	iuk	progeny of pavlo	Pavliuk
Harasym	ak	progeny of Harasym	Harasymak
Roman	ych	Progeny of Roman	Romanych
Danylo	ovych	Progeny of Danylo	Danylovych
Mykhailo	evych	Progeny of Mykhailo	Mikhailevych
Prokip	ets	Progeny of Prokip	Prokipets
Fedir	iv	Progeny of Fedir	Fedoriv
Pavlo	yn	Progeny of Pavlo	Pavlyn
Vasyl	enko	Progeny of Vasyl	Vasylenko

Historical Regions of Ukraine

The following surnames indicate the place name where an ancestor may have originated.

Place name	Suffix	Meaning in English	Surname
Podillia	chuk	From the region of Podillia	Podolianchuk
Polissia	chuk	From the region of Polissia	Polishchuk

Although this is a French map, the Ukrainian Oblasts are clearly labeled.

Suffixes that indicate regional characteristics

Western Ukraine: Surnames with the following suffixes are most common to
Western Ukraine, especially in the oblasts of Volyn, Roven,Ternopil’, L’viv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Mykolayiv.

–chuk, -chak, -uk, -iuk, -skyj, ckyj, zkyj.

Central and Eastern Ukraine: Surnames ending with –enko are most common in central and Eastern Ukraine, especially in the oblasts of Kiev, Cherkassy, Poltava, and Kherson.   Greg Gressa states that “Surnames with the –enko suffix are said to be the most typically Ukrainian.  They are common only among surnames of Ukrainian origin and are not found in any other Slavic group.” 

Surname suffixes that are common Ukrainian and other Slavic groups.

Surnames ending in the following suffixes are also found among Russian and Polish surnames, but are spelled differently.

-chuk, -chak, -ych, -ovych and –evych. 

Surnames that are combinations or root words

These surnames combine two root words.

Adjective + noun                             Bilodub             white oak

Noun +verb                                    palyvoda           person who could burn even water

Pronoun + verb                               samokhval         person who praises 
                                                                              himself

Numeral + noun                              sorokolat           forty years

Ukrainian Surnames of Foreign Origin                 

Some Ukrainian surnames have foreign origins, but these are small in number. There are  several ways  that Ukrainian surnames show foreign origins.  One way was when a foreigner settled in a Ukrainian area, he/she might be named for his/her foreign origins. Some examples include; Besarab/Besaraba, from Bessarabia, Moskalyk, from Russia or Shvedyk, a Swede.

Sometimes he/she would have a name that came from his/her native language.  Lahenza and Bonk are from Polish, Shpot, German; Halibey and Murza are of Tatar origin and Lupul and Dzera are Romanian.

In the case foreign origins of Ukrainian surnames, there is a family story that some of my ancestors were Czech.  The family name was Rychlyj, and in my genealogy research, I have come across this name many times, especially in immigration records.  The few times I saw this name attached to a Ruthenian(Ukrainian) immigrant, it was to a member of my family.  All the other immigrants were either Bohemian or Moravian, which are regions in the Czech Republic today,