Three of my great grandparents called Ukraine home before immigrating to Canada and I am ever grateful for this – if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here today. It breaks my heart to see what’s happening in Ukraine. Through my family research, I am reminded of how fortunate I am to live in Canada. Although we may have differing opinions, we are primarily a peaceful nation.
If you’re interested, here’s a little bit of history from this side of my family.
My great Baba (grandmother)
Olena (Paszczyn) Zyznomirski was my paternal grandfather’s mother. She was a strong Ukrainian woman. She was born in 1904 or 5 (immigration document says 1905 but tombstone 1904). At 18, she travelled from her village of Zhyznomyr (we believe the similarity to my last name is a coincidence as she had not yet met her husband Anthony Zyznomirski), in the region of Buchach, to Warsaw, Poland. She went on to the then-free-city of Danzig (now called Gdańsk, Poland) and travelled by ship to Bremen, Germany. From there she sailed to New York City and then to Hull, Quebec. She travelled by train to Winnipeg, Manitoba where she had a step-brother who was her sponsor. She had heard good stories about Canada and of the opportunities here, and there was a Ukrainian community in Manitoba.
She left her other siblings behind in Ukraine. Her father died when she was one and her mother died when she was a teenager. She was born in East Galicia (Buczacz or now Buchach), southeast of Lviv, which was part of the Austro Hungarian Empire. The West Ukrainian People’s Republic was in rule 1918-1919 until Poland took over in 1919-1939. Buchach was made up of Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish people, many of whom were murdered in WWII. Buchach is now part of present day Ukraine.
My great Dido (grandfather)
Baba met my great-grandpa Anthony Zyznomirski (my grandfather dropped the second ‘z’) in Winnipeg. He immigrated to Canada in 1912 from a village close to Olena’s called Ulaszkowce. They married in 1925, moved to Fort William shortly after, and then to a plot of farmland in Dunnville where they built their life. We’ve learned that at the time, farmland was priced attractively and there was also a Ukrainian community in Dunnville. They were hardworking caregivers of the land and were proud Ukrainians who passed down their culture and values to their children and grandchildren.
I was lucky to know Baba until she passed in her 99th year in 2002. While she understood English, she spoke Ukrainian so that made it difficult to communicate with her. I never did meet my great-grandfather Anthony – he passed in 1984.
My paternal grandmother’s mother, Rose O’Grodnik, was Polish-Ukrainian and her husband Edward Kuk, who identified as German, was born in Prussia. Edward travelled to Le Pas, Manitoba from the village of Kamionka, in present day Poland. When he arrived in Canada in 1928, he changed his name from Kuk to Cook, we assume to assimilate with Canadian culture. It’s a good thing he left in 1928 as he was a German soldier and would have most likely had to fight in WWII. Rose came over from East Poland in 1921, but she identified as Ukrainian (Ruthenian). They married in 1931.
Thank you Olena, Anthony, Edward, and Rose for this peaceful life I live in Canada. My family’s hearts are with those in Ukraine now more than ever.
