Relatives in Ukraine

[Becki]

I am looking for surname Bombyk in Ukraine. Village of Lysyatchi, Stry District, Lviv Region. I have a Ukrainian friend who found 2 addresses for me one in Lanivka and one in Stebnyk. Are these villages close, and are they close to Lysyatchi? I have received a letter from Lanivka, but I don't know if this family is connected to mine, and I don't know how to make the connection between the families. The names of their grandfather and great-grandfather are not familiar ones. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Hannia]

Used Shtetlseeker to locate villages & figure distance.

All three villages in Stryjskij Raion/District.

Lanivka> 8.6 miles WSW of Lysatchi/LISYATICHI
Stebnyk> 17.4miles W of Lisayatichi

JewishGen ShtetlSeeker - Town Search
http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/loctown.htm

It is wise of you to question the connection.

Same surnames in immediate area do not necessarily mean that they are direct family. Could just be a completely different branch of same clan. In order to ascertain what the connection is, it is best to do an archival search & fully document Immigrant Ancestor. That will provide you with list of siblings and a maiden name for Great?/Grandmother, which will help widen the possibility of locating direct surviving families. (That is if immigrant ancestor was married upon arrival.)

What religion did Great?/Grandfather practice? If Greek Catholic or Christian Orthodox, inquiry can be done thru Lvivska Oblast Archives. If Roman Catholic, then the inquiry has to be done thru Polish Archives.

A simple Oblast Archival inquiry runs about $50 American, per surname search, subject to change of course...and depending on complexity of search. Turnaround time is about three months. Using Ukrainian for your inquiry is ideal, however English or German work quite well. There is no prepayment!

The archivists at the Polish Roman Catholic Diocesan Archives, on the other hand, like taking their time, especially if inquiry is not written in Polish.

Once you have a copy of all documents re Immigrant Ancestor, then I would suggest contacting village mayor, providing him with patronymics and names of siblings.

My experience has been that they have been very cooperative in helping out with search for surviving relatives. In one case, the surviving family members had actually moved to large city in a completely different Oblast, but the village mayor managed to come up with an address for them.

Re Lanivka letter. With archival info in hand, you will be able to figure out what the actual connection, if any, there is between families.

I took a quick look @ LDS (Mormon Genealogy Library) to see if the Lysatchi/LYSIATYCZI (note name of village from that timeframe) church records have been filmed. They have them, but they are not available on film yet. Those records generally predate 1870s, and go back as far as early 17th century in some cases.

LDS has completed filming #2600 something, and your village is #3004-3007. It might be another yr or so, before you will be able to view them.

In the interim, brush up on your Cyrillic.

Have you ever used a Family Search Center? Link is very user friendly.

FamilySearch - Family History Library Catalog
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Libr...rchcatalog.asp
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Bare in mind that you are trying to find surviving family in a non-digitized world. There are still large cities in Ukraine without a Telephone White Pages. You need to do this step by step and very patiently.

When you let me know what the answer my religion question is, I'll send you the address to appropriate archives w/instructions.

[Becki]

Hannia,
Thank you so much for your reply! My Great-Grandparents were Christian Orthodox. My Great-grandmother's maiden name was Slupecki (Slopecky). The ship's manifest on the Ellis Island website shows my Grandfather's sponsor was an uncle, Stanislaw Slopecky. My grandmother's maiden name was Shorobura.

I have been to the LDS site, and it is very user friendly! I will check out the websites you suggested this evening. Again, thank you so much for your reply!
Becki

[Hannia]

I am including newest zip code and e-mail address for the Lviv State Archives.

Lviv
vul. Pidvalna 13
Derzhavnyj Arkhiv Lvivskoji Oblasti
Director: Vyacheslav Kuchuba
Asst Director: Vera Potapova
UA 79008

E-MAIL dalo@mail.lviv.ua

Keep your inquiry simple! Provide names of Great Grandparent/s, including whatever patronymics u have, and date/s of birth. Use the CURRENT name of village, district center and oblast as place of birth. State that they were Christian Orthodox. Specifically ask for list of siblings and a copy of all documents re Great Grandparent/s.

I also strongly recommend including 2 IRC's with your inquiry. Given the economic situation in Ukraine, the Intl Response Coupon, which can be purchased at your local post ofc at nominal cost, will help expedite response time from archives. It will keep you off the wait list.

There is no prepayment!!! They will notify you in general terms what info they have. At the same time they will provide you with cost of search and foreign deposit acct number, making it easy & secure to make payment thru large local bank.

Once payment is made, turnaround time is approximately two weeks.

Then you can write village mayor and inquiry re any surviving family members. Make sure to include two IRC's w/that letter as well.

Lvivska Oblast
Strijskij Raion
s. Lisyatichi
Holowa Sela
UA

Will post exact/updated zip code for village after holidays.

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Other links which may be of interest:

UKRAINIAN RESEARCH - Genealogy -
http://maxpages.com/poland/Ukrainian_Research

Cyndi's List - Alphabetical Category Index
http://www.cyndislist.com/alpha.htm

Ukraine Genweb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukrwgw/research.html

Lists of things Ukrainian
http://www.saembassy.kiev.ua/links/Ukraine_links.htm

Probably one of the best Ukrainian Diaspora sites out there.
BRAMA - Gateway Ukraine
http://brama.com/

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Merry Christmas! Also wishing you everything you might wish for yourself in the New Year.

[Becki]

Hannia,
Again, thank you so much for your reply! I want you to know how much I appreciate your time! Just to let you know how far I've come in my search, a year ago last summer I discovered a cousin in Germany. His grandfather and my grandfather were brothers! His father is still alive and was able to provide the names of my grandfather's siblings and the villages where they lived. My cousin's grandfather "fled to Germany" in 1939 (this is how they described it). My cousin's father left Ukraine when he was 17 so there must be a wealth of information there, however my cousin says his father is reluctant to talk about his childhood. I am going to vist Germany next summer. Hopefully this gentleman will open up and share some of his childhood with me. One can only hope.

Again, thank you and may your Holidays be blessed!
Becki