Stepanchenko Family - Tyro Family

[khewelt]

Looking for relatives still in Ukraine. My grandparents came to the USA in 1913-1915 (Terenty & Eufrocina Stepanchenko), who first came to Chicago, Illinois, USA, and later settled near Detroit, Michigan, USA. They were from an area near Kiev.

[Hannia]

During WW1 (1914-1918) immigration to the America's (Canada & USA) came to a trickle! The greatest numbers came between 1910 and 1914, then immigration started up again in post 1918.

I ran a wildcard search thru Ellis Island for 1910-1914, using only STE for surname, letter T for given name and clicked off RUSSIAN for ethnicity. The Kiev Gubernya was part of the Old Russian Empire in Grandfather's time frame. The idea is to get a feel for where other Stepanchenko's came from.

Map of Kiev Gubernya 1899 (lots of pop-ups, just delete as they come up)
Notes on Guberniya District Maps
http://www.angelfire.com/sys/popup_s...html?Category=

There were several variations of Stepanchenko that showed up. Most were from what would be Byelarus today...Plosk area. There was one that looked interesting. In 1913, Trifun STEPANCZENKO, 40yrs old, emigrated from PICHOWI, gubernaya Kiev> today Pikovets about 90 miles away from Kiev. He was heading for Chicago to friend N. Klemenz?. His closest relative was wife W? Stepanczenko in Pichowi. (Keep in mind that the only correct spelling of these Eastern European surnames is in its original language, using its original alphabet. In this case Cyrillic. CZ=CH sound identical. )

Were Trifun and Terenty related? Family followed family. Terenty/i and Trifun/on were not same person, since Terenty Stepanchenko was born June 21, 1891 and was only about 21 in 1913. Did your Grandparents immigrate together or separately? Where did they marry? Do you have any idea what port of entry was used?

Create more flexibility on dates of immigration. Start search earlier than 1910. Play with the possibilities. Stay very flexible w/transliterations of any names. Letter P is frequently letter F in records. Vary all vowels. Try just ST for starts with.
Searching Ellis Island Database in One Step
http://home.pacbell.net/spmorse/ellis/ellis.html
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Do you have any documentation for your Grandparents? What is the family oral history?
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Terenty Stepanchenko was born June 21, 1891 and passed away 1/1968.

For $27 you can do a SS-5 inquiry thru Social Security for Grandfather Terenty. Those records frequently contain the exact place of birth and names of parents, including GGrandmother's maiden name.

Do a Stepanchenko search here. For wider search do not use given name. Click on to Social Security, find Grandfather Terenty and then click on to SS-5, far right.
RootsWeb MetaSearch
http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/metasearch
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Since you are searching in a predominantly non-digitized world, the key to making the connection to any surviving family still in Ukraine is EXACT time and place of birth. You now have a birth date. Now you need to ascertain EXACT PLACE OF BIRTH. Once that is done, I can provide you with address for village.

Place of birth for Terenty and Eufrocina might also appear in Baptismal Records of their children!
Christian Orthodox and Greek Catholic Baptismal records provide that kind of info.

Shortly the 1920 Federal Census will be available online. Lots of interesting info re immigrant families can be found there.

Meanwhile talk to everyone and anyone in the family who might remember something. Nothing is trivial. Family stories are as important as documentation. Ask everyone to look in their attics for any old papers. You need as many clues as possible.

[khewelt]

Hannia, thanks for the information. Since my last post, I did locate my grandmother's Ellis Island record and then looked at the record for Trofun Stepanczenko, and the destination for both of them is "Chauncey/Chauncy" Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. I believe that Trofun might be my grandfather's uncle or cousin since I heard that some of his relatives had already emigrated to the U.S. by the time my grandfather came over. I really appreciate the information. It was very helpful. Thanks again!