Looking for trace and correct spelling of surnames

[Vlad Bohatjuk]

My surname is Bohatjuk/Bohatyuk/Богатюк. My family comes from village Ivachiv Horishnii, about 12km NE of Ternopil` city center. My great-grandfather, Alexius(Alexa), emigrated in 1918 from Ukraine to what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina/used to be kingdom of Yugoslavia. Only document i have that is from Ukraine is his Testimonium Baptismi. On that it is written that surname spelling is Bohatiuk. What for is this, latin or polish? It also says that his father was named Simeon and that his parents were named Mariae(Maria?) and Lucae(Luka?) Kowatuk/Kowaluk(i can not define which one it is because of unreadable letter). Can someone give me a clue why did they name him differently? It says that Simeons wife was named Anna whose parents were Josephi Redka and Mariae Jaremowicz. Can someone tell me where are these surnames from and are they polish or ukrainian? My grandfather said that he remembers his father telling him that he fought with Russian White Army during Russian civil war. Is this possible, knowing that he was from western Ukraine. He got a job as police sargeant when he came to Yugoslavia, so i assume that he had to have some kind of military education or earned some rank in war.
Thank you in advance!

[Jiggy]

To answer your questions about the baptismal document the Catholic church required the priests to record official documents in Latin. First names were recorded in their latin equivalents and not necessarily the name the child was named or called by his parents. As an example my grandfather Wasyl (Vasyl) is recorded in church documents as Basilius. His parents never would have called him that. Lucae as you indicated is most likely LUCAS on the baptismal docuemnt. Most likely called Luka.

Spellings of one's last name changed over time often being spelled phonetically in the new language. "w" in ukrainian is pronounced as "v" (as an example) so my grandfather's last name of SAWICZ (from church documents) is pronounced Savich (sa like in saw than vich). He maintained his origianal latin spelling but each of his brothers ended up with a "v" in their name rather than w. My grandfather had someone show him in english (most likely a priest) how to spell his name before he came over so that he could maintain his name. His brothers did not. Sometimes "how" the name was pronounced change too. My one family's last name was pronounced as it is writtin in latin with the "english w" however it should be pronounced as a "v'. So even though the name is spelled correctly if I went to Ukraine and started asking about my family I would be mispronouncing the name! LOL

Your baptismal record would be the most accurate (provided you can decipher the priests writing) spelling of your name at the time your family immigrated.

I don't have enough knowledge to know if names are Ukrainian or polish so cannot help you there. A clue can be their religion. Greek Catholic would most likely be Ukrainian and Roman Catholic would most likely mean Polish. I have family members who come from the same village, one is Polish (Roman Catholic) and the other Ukrainina (Greek Catholic). When they settled in a predominately Ukrainian settlement of Canada they were all viewed as Ukrainians and so that part of my family history was lost until I uncovered it this past year.

Hope that helps to answer some of your questions.

Sandra

[Jiggy]

I went to the LDS site to see if I could locate film for you and perhaps someone else can verify your villages name with more knowledge of Ukraine. I found the village of Ivachiv in the Zboriv district. LDS has some church documents filmed. Here is what they have:

authors: Greek Catholic Church. Iwaczów (Zborów), (Main Author)
format: Manuscript/On Film
language: Latin,
publications: Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2000
physical: on 1 microfilm reel, 35 mm.
title also known as:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes
Microreproduction of manuscripts at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in L′viv.

Greek Catholic Church records (births, marriages, deaths) for Iwaczów (Zborów), Galizien, Austria; later Iwaczów (Zborów), Tarnopol, Poland; now Ivachiv, Zboriv, Ternopil′, Ukraine. Text in Latin.

Record group 201, series 4A, file 2304.

For some years the records of this locality are mixed with the records of other localities.

Subjects
Austria, Galizien, Iwaczów (Zborów) - Church records
Poland, Tarnopol, Iwaczów (Zborów) - Church records
Україна, Тернопіль, Зборів, Івачів - Метричні книги
Ukraine, Ternopil′, Zboriv, Ivachiv - Church records


Film Notes
Note Location Film
Volume 201-4A/2304 Births, marriages, deaths 1835-1850 -- Births, marriages, deaths 1855-1865 (some years missing; includes other localities) INTL Film 2202522 Item 7

About this record
This screen shows the complete catalog entry of the title you selected.

If this title has been microfilmed, see the Film Notes section. It contains a description of the microfilm or microfiche numbers.

Generally, catalog entries are written in the same language as the original record they describe.

You can order microfilms through your nearest family history center. You can also use the microfilms, books, and other items at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

To order a microfilm, you need to know the microfilm number. Again, to obtain the microfilm number, see the Film Notes section. Before ordering microfilms or microfiche, please check the Notes field. Any restrictions on the use of the item will be mentioned there.
.

Is this your village? If so you can order the film for a nominal fee. You can find out more about ordering at www.familysearch.org You must view the film at a local family history center (info on the website) or perhaps your own local library can bring it in for you. They must have a microfilm viewing machine.

Sandra

[sylvie]

Ivachiv Horishnii = Івачів Горішній. It is located in the Ternopilskyi raion (Тернопільський район) Ternopilska oblast (Тернопільська область). Postal code 47226. Population - 261 persons per census (2001) Ternopil Regional Administration as of August 26, 2010 - 243 persons.

There are still Bohatiuk/Богатюк individuals living in Ivachiv Horishnii/Івачів Горішній. Two of the older men are, Petro, son of Paul, born 1930, and Bohdan, son of Vladimir, born 1932

Івачів Горішній = Ivachiv Horishnii (Upper) - in Ukrainian

Iwaczów Górny = Iwaczow Top/Upper (Polish); Верхній Іванів = Verkhniĭ (Top/Upper) Ivaniv. So I would assume that the LDS records you need (I could be wrong), would be:

Title
Metrical books, 1835-1865

Authors
Greek Catholic Church. Iwaczów Górny (Tarnopol) (Main Author)

Notes
Microreproduction of manuscripts at the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in L′viv.
Greek Catholic Church records (births, marriages, deaths) for Iwaczów Górny (Tarnopol), Galizien, Austria; later Iwaczów Górny (Tarnopol), Tarnopol, Poland; now Verkhniĭ Ivaniv, Ternopil′, Ternopil′, Ukraine. Text in Latin.
Record group 201, series 4A, files 2305-2306.
For some years the records of this locality are mixed with the records of other localities.

Subjects
Austria, Galizien, Iwaczów Górny (Tarnopol) - Church records
Poland, Tarnopol, Iwaczów Górny (Tarnopol) - Church records
Україна, Тернопіль, Тернопіль, Верхній Іванів - Метричні книги
Ukraine, Ternopil′, Ternopil′, Verkhniĭ Ivaniv - Church records

Format
Manuscript (On Film)

Language
Latin

Publication
Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2000

Physical
on 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

Film Notes
Note - Location [Film]
Volume 201-4A/2305 Births, marriages, deaths 1836-1843 (some years missing; includes other localities) - FHL INTL Film [ 2202522 Item 8 ]
Volume 201-4A/2306 Births, marriages, deaths 1845 -- Births, marriages, deaths 1857-1865 (some years missing; includes other localities) - FHL INTL Film [ 2202522 Item 9 ]

[Vlad Bohatjuk]

Thanks a lot! This really helped and it will help even more since i am planning to go to Salt Lake City over the summer to search these documents. I still need to find name origins and my great-grandfathers military records though. Thanks for helping me!

[Jiggy]

Military recrods are very difficult to locate. After the collasp of Austro-Hungarian empire records are lost/misplaced etc. I found a gentlemen on another site who has written a blog about finding military records. Here is blog and might offer you a place to start. I, too, would like to find my grandfather's records and with the help of this site hoping I can uncover his or his father's records.

Austro-Hungarian Army Records: A Guide for Locating Austro-Hungarian Military Records by Carl Kotlarchik