Impact of Ukrainian events on Ukrainian Village

[baileyvpotter]

Originally Posted by marothisu

They really are. That's pretty interesting stuff. My grandfather's surname was changed from a Ukrainian one to something that is very commonly Polish because the surname started with "Pole."

My great grandparents, grandfather, etc were planning to come to America and then the Bolshevik thing started literally days before their planned departure. Only my great grandfather made it to the US where he lived for a few years while the rest of the family lived like nomads and walked to some country (forgot which) to come to America. Before that, my great uncle got sick and they dripped hot candle wax on him to stop something from happening, forming a small hole on his neck. When Ellis Island people saw it, nobody could speak English to explain it so they thought he had some weird flesh eating disease and kept him there for a year.
My family actually knew 0 words of English for the first ten years in the US. My grandfather taught himself English and taught his family. Of course he went on to learn about 6 other languages LOL

When my parents came (they didn't come together but met in Chicago) they came into Boston.
Neither knew English & my grandmother never did. She never wanted to or had to because everything
she needed or if she had to speak to someone she was in UV and all merchants spoke Ukrainian.
Same situation with names when they arrived. They would change their first names to more
of an American name, even though today many of their original names are common.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by middle-aged mom

My husband is 100% Ukrainian and grew up in the village. He attended St. Nicholas back when classes were taught in Ukrainian.

When his family arrived here in the 50's, they rented one room in an apartment shared by several other Ukrainian families in a building owned by Ukrainians. They worked and saved every penny till they could buy their own 3 flat and rented out rooms to other Ukrainian immigrants.

His parents lived an isolated life within the village to the point they never learned English because they rarely ventured out of the village. His mother was a commercial cleaning lady and worked for a Ukrainian supervisor.

That generation is long gone and their children have, for the most part, left the area. I would be surprised if there were 250 people of Ukrainian descent left in the area and they are not likely going to rent out rooms to immigrant families.

Having said this, the area, especially the churches and museum, remain a part of Ukrainian cultural history.

I agree with this post.