Polish, Austro-Hungarian, Russian....?

[Melnyk]

In the spring of 1914 my twenty-year-old recently widowed Great-grandmother boarded a ship from Antwerp to Ellis Island.  Her name was Parania Melnyk. She was born in the village of Niniow Dolny which at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and is now Western Ukraine.  At fifteen she was married to Yurko Goshovskiy, the man on horseback in the photo, who was 11 years older than her.  They had a daughter within a year. 

 

According to family lore she was forced to marry him and set out for America after he was killed.  She also watched her brothers being hung in the yard.  She left their four-year-old daughter behind with her parents.  They never saw one another again.

 

At the moment I am in Lviv researching the family history and have an appointment this afternoon at the Historic Archives.  I am trying to figure out anything I can about her first husband Yurko Goshovskiy. 

 

Do you recognize the uniform?  Do you have any insight into what was happening in this region in the lead up to the war that may shed light on the killing of her brothers?  Any tips would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thank you!

 

 

Edited 1 July , 2019 by Melnyk

[Martin Feledziak]

Hello.

the uniform does look Austrian Hungarian. But I am just guessing.

 

I have found relatives using the Ranklistings.

 

i will see if I can find him recorded.

 

What a horrible start to life for Parania.

[Martin Feledziak]

I searched for Yurko Goshovskiy but without any result.

 

 

https://library.hungaricana.hu/en/view/RanglistenHeeres_1918/?pg=0&layout=s

https://hungaricana.hu/en/

 

[AOK4]

Hello,

 

Of course he wouldn't have been in the 1918 list as he had died already before the war (since the lady was a widow already in the spring of 1914). I assume the pic may have been taken when Mr. Goshovskiy was performing his military service?

 

The man can't have been killed in the war as that didn't start until the summer of 1914.

 

Perhaps the man was in the KuK Gendarmerie? Note the belt buckle which is not in the middle. See: https://www.facebook.com/K.K.Gendarmerie/

 

Jan

[Andrew Upton]

He appears to be in Polish military uniform, the wavy lace on the collar is a distinction still in use today:

 

[Martin Feledziak]

looks good. here is one of mine from Krakow last year. 

[Melnyk]

Yes, I apologize.  I should have explained that she landed at Ellis Island on May 16, 1914 so she would have had to leave in early spring at the latest. 

 

They lived in Eastern Galicia just south of Lviv (Lemberg) so I would assume that the uniform could be Kuk Gendarmerie or Polish.  Both seem plausible.  The way the Kuk wore their belt buckles to the side seems similar to the photo, though the wavy lace collar of the Polish uniform is very similar as well. 

I am grateful for the efforts!  Off to the Lviv Historical records office.  If I learn anything interesting I will report back here. 

 

Thank you!

[AOK4]

Poland only became independent after the First World War, so they can't be Polish insignia if the picture is indeed from before 1914.

[Heid the Ba]

Is there anything to definitely date the photo as pre-War?  I discounted Polish for that reason, and I don't know enough about the other posibilities to guess.

[corisande]

6 hours ago, Melnyk said:

Her name was Parania Melnyk. She was born in the village of Niniow Dolny which at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and is now Western Ukraine.  At fifteen she was married to Yurko Goshovskiy, the man on horseback in the photo, who was 11 years older than her.  They had a daughter within a year. 

 

Why do you think that she travelled to USA under her maiden name?

 

Are you sure that she married Goshovskiy? And not say a Melnyk

Edited 1 July , 2019 by corisande

[Melnyk]

Just back from the archives.  It is well worth the trip

1 hour ago, Heid the Ba said:

Is there anything to definitely date the photo as pre-War?  I discounted Polish for that reason, and I don't know enough about the other posibilities to guess.

 

Good point.  He was killed before she left for America and she sailed in May 1914, so I guess that rules out the Polish army. 

 

1 hour ago, corisande said:

 

Why do you think that she travelled to USA under her maiden name?

 

Are you sure that she married Goshovskiy? And not say a Melnyk

 

Excellent question.  I am not sure why she didn't use her married name when she traveled.  It is possible that she did not have identity documents in her married name.  I know she did not want to marry him.  That may have had something to do with it. 

 

I just returned from the Lviv Historical Archives.  I went in last week and ordered the record books for Parania's village.  When I did so, I ordered them with a nice woman who happened to have the same surname, Melnyk.  Today when I arrived to view the books she told me that she became interested in the search and she had tagged twenty birth, marriage and baptismal records in four different books.  I was speechless.  She laughed and said, "We Melnyks have to help one another." 

 

I snapped photos of the few I could identify and ordered official copies of all of the records.  I do not read Cyrillic so I am going to have to figure out how to translate these. Below is Parania's marriage record.  It is difficult to read her husband's name.  He is the one on the horse in the photo above. 

 

The archivist also found the old map of the village from the church archives and is having a copy of that made for me as well.  Most of the birth records list the house where Parania and her brothers were born as parcel #65 in the village of Niniow Dolny.  We will be renting a car and driving to the village on Friday.  The map will be invaluable.  

 

 

Edited 1 July , 2019 by Melnyk

[Martin Feledziak]

You are making great progress.

 

When I put Niniow Dolny into google Earth it changed the name to Dolishnje - could be right as this appears to be about 50 miles from Lviv.

Don't trust me though this is a difficult topic. Many places share the same name a little villages are very tricky to identify.

 

When I needed help with birth records I enlisted the help of these kind volunteers at Polish Origins.

I think they have a Cyrillic thread.

https://forum.polishorigins.com/

 

 

[Melnyk]

Niniow Dolny caused a bit of trouble for the Archivest as well.  She had a Soviet era book of village names that told her the name of the village had been changed to Dolishnje. 

 

Polish Origins, great tip.  Thank you!!!

 

If anyone is interested, I just posted a few videos and photos of the archives on our instagram account @vwvags 

[corisande]

1 hour ago, Melnyk said:

Excellent question.  I am not sure why she didn't use her married name when she traveled.  It is possible that she did not have identity documents in her married name.  I know she did not want to marry him.  That may have had something to do with it. 

 

What a remarkable series of helpful people you have met, and the records you have unearthed. It is almost like a fairytale

 

Presumably you can now confirm both the marriage and the birth of the daughter.

 

I assume you are a descendant of the woman who went to USA?

 

The daughter left behind, what Surname did she have ?

 

[Melnyk]

Yes, I can confirm both the marriage and birth of the daughter.  Unfortunately, I cannot decipher the father's/husband's name from the records above. The name I posted in the first post was given to me in 2012 by the grandchildren who were in Ukraine at the time, though I am having difficulty contacting them now that I am here.

 

Yes, I am Parania's Great-grandson from her second marriage which happened after she arrived in the United States.  After Parania passed away my Grandmother found photos of her sister (Parania's first daughter, Anna) among her mother's possessions.  I've been reading the history of this region Galicia, Lviv (Lemberg in German and Lwow in Polish) and can only imagine the difficulties that poor woman endured. 

 

She was abandoned by her mother at four years old.  The region she lived in was captured by Russia in 1914 then retaken by Austria-Hungary the following year.  Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after the war prompted the forming of the West Ukrainian People's Republic which was immediately at war with Poland.  When Poland invaded they began the Lwow pograms, looting and killing Jews and Ukrainians.  Then in 1920 the region was invaded by Russia again during the Russian-Polish war.  Then in WWII her husband was killed.  Then the Soviets. 

 

Amazingly, she lived to 99 years. 

 

Edited 1 July , 2019 by Melnyk

[seaJane]

Can you flag where the names are on the documents? I find myself confused because some of the writing is in Latin script and I can't pick out any names in Cyrillic so far.

[corisande]

24 minutes ago, seaJane said:

I find myself confused because some of the writing is in Latin script and I can't pick out any names in Cyrillic

 

Yes, I have the same problem

 

Her husband and the father of Anna both appear to be Georgius (clearly the same man)

 

You need to get a clear typescript and then translation

[JWK]

Georgius Hoszowski, legitimate son of Gregoris and Anna Wihak

and

Paraseeva, legitimate daughter of Josef Melnyk and Eufrosina Hirmiak

 

 

Edited 1 July , 2019 by JWK

[seaJane]

Thanks, I should have persisted with the Latin!

 

Looking again I think she is named Parasceva, after St Parasceva /

Paraskeva of the Balkans.

 

Could his surname be Hosrowski?

Edited 1 July , 2019 by seaJane

[Melnyk]

Incredible! 

 

It makes sense that the church would write in Latin.  Would they translate everything including proper names into the Latin version?

 

Thank you!  A million times, thank you!

 

Just minutes ago I was able to make contact with the family through Skype.  We will be meeting this coming Saturday.

Edited 1 July , 2019 by Melnyk

[seaJane]

13 minutes ago, seaJane said:

 

Could his surname be Hosrowski

On second thoughts, Hoszowski looks more likely.

[Melnyk]

Here is the third record I photographed.  I believe it to be the birth record of Parania. 

[JWK]

Eh, no, on first sight.

 

Paraseeva/Parasieva Kowalchuk was the midwife ("Obstetrix") for both Anna (Scztawage?) and Nicolaus Szmigielski.

 

Edited 1 July , 2019 by JWK

[Melnyk]

Ugh!  She made it so easy for me by tagging the pages and I still messed up by photographing the wrong record.  Fortunately she will be making the official copies which I will receive on Wednesday afternoon. 

[JWK]

Ah, excellent! Let us know if you require help reading them.