 |
|
|
Regarding religion,
many of the Ruthenians who lived in this region accepted the
Greek Catholic/"Uniate" faith in the 17th century under
a compromise reached between the Roman Catholic Church and some
of the Eastern Orthodox Ruthenian bishops. This allowed the people
to retain their Eastern Orthodox liturgy and customs while paying
allegiance to the Roman Catholic Pope. Siemuszowa was an independent
Greek Catholic parish until 1813 when it became a "filial"
to the larger parish in Tyrawa Solna. Its wooden church ("tserkva",
or Greek Catholic church) was "Epiphany of Our Lord"
(built in 1841) and it was renovated in 1932 replacing the older
church. It still exists today and is now used by Poles as a "kosciol"
(Roman Catholic Church).
The Austrian Empire
In 1772, Siemuszowa and the Sanok lands with all of "Red
Ruthenia" passed into the hands of the Austrian Empire and
became known as the province of Galicia (or "Halychyna"
which was the ancient name for this area). The Austrian Cadastral
(census/property) Records of 1787 clearly indicate that the ancestors
of Mikhal Gburyk (Buryk) and his wife Julia Czerepaniak were
among the inhabitants of the village. There were a total of 31
Lemko families in this village at the time with one Gburyk and
one Czerepaniak family listed. Other Lemko families from the
village who intermarried to form the lineage of Gburyk/Czerepaniak
were Wojnarowski, Gbura and Hirniak (Horniak).
The Austrian Government required that local parishes begin keeping
birth, marriage and death records in the "Metryka"
registers. These records are written in Latin, Polish and occasionally
Ukrainian/Ruthenian and are extremely valuable as a source of
local information where they are available. The Church of Jesus
Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) has microfilmed some of
the Greek Catholic parish registers from the Sanok area, but
unfortunately the village of Siemuszowa has not been filmed although
the records do exist. All inquiries about Siemuszowa must be
made either through the Polish Consulate in New York City (where
each request for a single piece of information such as the names
of a person's parents costs $35), or by corresponding directly
with the civil archives which are located now in Tyrawa Woloska.
Response is slow and time consuming.
Copyright (c) 2007-2008, MtView Productions, Inc. - All rights reserved.