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In Search of "Dead Relatives"
Very often the
search for "dead relatives", as genealogy is sometimes
jokingly called, takes some unusual twists and turns. My paternal
grandfather Mikhail (Mike) Buryk is a perfect example of this.
The virtual blackout that has engulfed the Buryk family's collective
memory of my grandfather Mike's past in Galicia left no traces
of his origins. We knew that he and my grandmother Julia Czerepaniak
were already married when they sailed to America in the early
1900's. There was even talk of a baby who died while Julia was
en route on the ship. But no one knew the name of the village
where they came from. Austria. Galicia. That was it.
Mike and Julia were Ukrainian and Greek Catholic. Julia sometimes
mentioned "Sianik" to Uncle Wally (her second oldest
son). Where that was, no one knew. All the kids were too young
(Aunt Helen Kost, the oldest child of the original Buryks and
the only living female, was 10) when Mike died due to injuries
from the mine cave-in over in Forestville, Pa. And after that,
no one spent much time asking about the past while they were
struggling just to survive in the present.
Baba Julia had already gone to her eternal rest 6 years before
when I wrote Aunt Helen in Pennsylvania in 1978 and asked for
the umteenth time where her parents came from. Back in the mail
came the first hint of the past -- a copy of Julia's baptismal
certificate. Not like any baptismal certificate from around here,
it listed Julia's date and place of birth, names of parents and
grandparents complete with the maiden names of the women. All
in Latin!
Ok. This was a start. Julia "Terpanek" had now become
Julia Czerepaniak from Siemuszowa, Poland. Where was that? And
did Mike come from the same place? No clue. Another year passed
before I could locate a map that pinpointed where Siemuszowa was. North of Sianik.
Southeastern Poland -- home of the "Lemkos". Great.
Who were they? Ukrainians? Poles? Rusyns? Don't ask, they don't
live there any more! The more you know, the less you understand.
Confusion...