"YES!" Moments!

After connecting with another cousin online (I love meeting new cousins online!---if you follow this and are related, definitely contact me!), I did a new search last night for death certificates of a few family members. And, "YES," some new Pennsylvania records had been released and uploaded to Ancestry.com.  I found the death certificate of my great-great grandfather, Harry (Hryc/Gregor) Turenchalk among these newly indexed records.  The great part about it is that the certificate included his father's name and at least a clue to his mother's name!  I love the moments when I make a "new" discovery!  I didn't have this information before---so it was a great "hoorah" for me.  Unfortunately most of the records in the region he came from in Poland were destroyed during WWII, so I am not sure how much further I can go, but I am now hopeful that someone somewhere has a family bible or similar record that holds his father's name! 

Harry (Hryc/Gregor) Turenchalk was born in about 1868, most likely in Jablonki, Podkarpackie, Poland. His parents were John and Nste (likely a nickname for Anastacia---I am researching this still).  In 1898, he came to the United States for the first time aboard the ship, "Hercynia" which departed from Hamburg and docked at Ellis Island.  He died in Green, Indiana County, Pennsylvania on April 7, 1919.  His death certificate states he died of from "influenza" with a contributory cause of "bronchial pneumonia."  He is buried at St John's Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery, Dixonville, Green Twp, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania.

Death Certificate of Harry Turenchalk, 1868-1919.

PHOTO(s) OF THE WEEK (Week of 3/17/13)

PHOTO OF THE WEEK
This photo of the week features my great-great grandmother, Katherine (Catherina or Kata) Turenchalk (b. abt 1877, d. October 11, 1941).  Katherine was my grandmother Mary Oschip's maternal grandmother.  Katherine was likely born in the area of modern-day Jablonki, Podkarpackie, Poland.  Unfortunately most Greek Catholic records in Jablonki were lost during World War II and the cemetery is mostly in ruins, so it has been tough to find more information than what my research has already taught me.  However, I have been in contact with someone who was born and raised in Jablonki and will be helping me with more research in the future.  I have found several possible maiden names for Katherine.  They include Elko, Drahuszczak and Wolana---I am still researching all these possibilities---none are from a direct source.  If anyone has a better idea, please let me know!  (As I will share in a later blog post, Rusyn naming habits sometimes left people "changing" their surname to become more identifiable amongst other family members with the same name!)



Katherine Turenchalk (abt 1877-October 11, 1941)
(Thank you to my cousin Cheryl for recently sharing this photo with me!)
 

Katherine arrived in the United States on November 17, 1907 with my great-grandmother Piza, who was three at the time. They arrived via Ellis Island and made their way to her husband Hryc (Gregor or Harry) who had already arrived in the United States.  Family "lore" says that Piza and Katherine were sick when they came to Ellis Island and Piza was hidden in Katherine skirts so that it concealed just how sick Piza was at the time. I have included the "passenger record" and a copy of the original manifest from Ellis Island that shows Katherine's entry to the United States. The manifest does actually mark both Katherine and Piza as being sick, but then later admitted.

 



Certificate information of Katherina's entry to the United States from Ellis Island.  Record can be found at ellisisland.org or
follow this link directly: Kata Turynczak Passenger Record.
 





The original manifest of Katherina and Pisa Turenchalk.  This record can be found at ellisisland.org or follow this link directly: Kata Turynczak Ship Manifest.
Both "Kata" and "Pazia" were marked as sick first and then admitted.
 

Katherine and Piza joined Harry Turenchalk and settled in Indiana County, Pennsylvania where she remained until after Harry's death.  In the early-to-mid 1920s Katherine and some of her children moved to Yonkers, New York.



Front row (left to right): Mary, Harry Jr., Katherine Turenchalk (mother) with Katherine on lap, George.
Back row (left to right): John and Nick
(Thank you to my cousin Cassie for sharing this photo with me!)




From left to right: George, John, Katherine, Katherine Turenchalk (mother), Mary and Harry Jr.
(Thank you to my cousin Cassie for sharing this photo with me)

On a side note: If you are a MALE descendant of Harry Turenchalk WITH the Turenchalk last name---a possible mutual cousin would be interested in doing an Ancestry DNA test to confirm the connection between Hryc Turenchalk and a man named Wasyl Turenchalk to see if they were brothers.  Contact me and I will connect you with the possible cousin.  The testing is safe and results are as private as you want them to be.  Thanks!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK (Week of 10/14/12)

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

This photo is of John Oschip, Piza (Turenchalk) Oschip and Demetrius (Metro) Oschip.  John (Janos) was Metro's father.  John came to the United States from the present day region of Podkarpackie, Poland, an area in Southeast Poland. He came to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines in the early 1900s but could not convince his wife to come with him.  He died some time after 1920 after going back to Poland.  Metro was also born in the Podkarpackie region, possibly more specifically Jaworzec, Poland.  Metro was "arranged" to marry Piza Turenchalk and did so on September 16, 1916.  Piza came to the United States from Jablonki, Podkarpackie, Poland when she was about 2-4 years old.  When she married Metro, she was only 12 years old.  Piza and Metro went on to have 11 children, the oldest Mary Oschip (my Gram) was born in 1917.  I have put together much of this information on my own, but had some details filled in by my wonderful Aunt Jean via a family history project she completed years ago!  Thanks, Aunt Jean!

 

Left to Right: John Oschip, Piza (Turenchalk) Oschip & Metro Oschip
Circa 1916-1920