Cantonese, Chechen, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Modern Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Kazakh, Korean, Kurdish, Norwegian, Polish, Scots-Gaelic, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.
I am meeting with Oksana Lisetska, who by the way is a fabulous tutor, once a week. The University also produces its own interactive language software. The Ukrainian language is very challenging, just like I thought it would be, but I am also pleasantly surprised that I am actually retaining a lot of what I learn.
Why Ukrainian?
My great-grandfather Arseny Melnik was born on February 28, 1895 in Stara Ushitsia, Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine. His parents were Stah Melnik and Marja Jaroshevska. On June 11, 1912 he traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I have not yet found any information on what he did during his three plus years in Canada. On January 29, 1916 he arrived in the United States through the Port of Entry in Buffalo, New York. He indicated upon his arrival that he was to join his cousin, Isidor. His daughter my grandmother, told me that her father had a cousin which they called вуйко for uncle, but she did not know his true name. Possibly вуйко could be Isidor?
Arseny married my great-grandmother, Rose Patek, around 1925. Rose was also a recent immigrant from Slovakia. So far I have not been able to locate a marriage record either in the civil marriage records for Mahoning County or church records. Supposedly they married at a Russian Orthodox church located on Arlington Road in Youngstown, Ohio. The church was torn down many many years ago. My aunt, Olga, suggested that I try the Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church in Youngstown. She said that my great grandmother Rose also made something that was hanging on the wall near the front of the church. I left a message and the priest personally called me back. He had recently transferred to the parish and he said that he could not find their marriage record. He said the records were in disarray, so that did not mean the church did not have the records. He told me he believed that my great-grandmother had sewn a burial shroud that was still hanging in the front of the church. I stopped by the church while I was in Ohio last month, but unfortunately, it was closed at the time. I hope to stop by when I am in town again next summer.
Arseny and Rose had five children - Arseny, Alexander, John, and twins Helen and Mary. He worked at a steel plant in Youngstown, Ohio like many other recent immigrants. Arseny naturalized on February 2, 1928. He died on August 30, 1932 at the age of 37. His youngest children, the twins, were only 16 months old at the time. This photo is both amazing and heartbreaking at the same time. This was a photo taken at Arseny's funeral. My grandmother is the little blond girl in her mother's arms behind the casket.
My grandmother has no memory of her father. Arseny's wife Rose, raised her kids alone. She raised them Roman Catholic and passed down some Slovak traditions. I do not recall any Ukrainian traditions being passed down in the family. However, my extended family did keep in touch with some relatives that remained in Ukraine. Last year, I had the privilege of meeting my third cousin who lives on the East Coast. He immigrated from Ukraine to the United States several years ago. I had a wonderful time exchanging old photos and stories. He is approximately the same age as me and we both have kids of similar ages.
When I started working on my family genealogy six years ago I did not know much about my Ukrainian roots. Now, after learning some of the language, speaking to my relatives, and reading about the history of the region, I feel much more connected to my roots. I hope to continue to become more proficient in the language and someday visit my great-grandfather's hometown.
