The Ukrainian Connection

It's quite a coincidence that this week my notebook said write about Louis Polachek.

Louis was my great-grandfather and his homeland, now known as Ukraine, is in the middle of all out chaos right now.

I want to start by saying I've always felt drawn towards him as if he was a kindred spirit. Growing up, my mother would tell me they were having parades for me in Russia on my birthday. In reality, they were having parades for May Day - not my birthday! Two years ago I found some documents on Louis that left me shell shocked. We share a birthday, May Day babies. That might explain a few things!

Louis Polachek (C) flanked by sons Frank & Steve Polachek.

He was born Luka G Pawleczko in Staryi Sambir, Ukraine on May 1 ca. 1872 to Alec Polachek & Stella Storlecka. He was born Byzantine Catholic and his parents allegedly died at an early age. His marriage to my great-grandmother Yulia was arranged. At the time the region was known as Austria-Hungary aka Galicia.

Staryi Sambir is about 1 hour west, via car, from the Polish border. A good general history can be found here. 

Staryi Sambir's distance to the capital Kyiv.

Louis never attended school and could not read, nor write his native language.

He reportedly served mandatory military service for the Russian Empire. I do know that once he made his way to the U.S. he worked with an open hearth at U.S. Steel's Cleveland plant. A friend helped Louis secure a job as a palace guard and with the help of a Polish prince, he was able to save money to leave for the United States. He reportedly came first then sent for Yulia. They traveled from their village to Bremen, Germany and entered the Port of NYC.

This would classify them as first wave Ukrainian immigrants. According to Case Western Reserve's online database, those that came during this period, came for opportunity. They had seen jobs advertised with great salaries. Some came as strike breakers. Overall, most came to earn money and intended to return home. They never did. Louis & Yulia settled in Newburg Heights in Cleveland due to the large "Old Country" community.

Of his journey to America, not much is known. A cousin of my mother's may have some documents in her garage. His Smith Act Registration says he came in 1902 on the SS Moltke.

Smith Act Page 1

Smith Act Page 2

I do believe that he had sisters and that is something I am still working on. His grave has the original spelling of the family name along with an Eastern Orthodox Crucifix.

Eugene for a Car

Initially, I wasn't going to write this post. I was going to ask another family member to write it but I felt so compelled to share my stories of him.

The last family funeral I attended was the sudden death of my uncle in 2007, almost age 60. Although he was my uncle via marriage, he'd been married to my aunt much longer than I'd been alive.

He met my Aunt Linda while they were studying at Kent State. Writing this made me realize I'm not sure exactly how they met. How long did they date? Did he talk to my grandpa before proposing? Was it a long engagement? He had a knack for telling stories, I'd have loved to have heard his version of events.

Dave Morgan
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Sep. 19, 1948 Departed on Jul. 10, 2007 and resided in Cadiz,, OH.
Visitation:	Thursday, Jul. 12, 2007 - 9:00 pm
Service:	Friday, Jul. 13, 2007 11:00 am
Dave Morgan, 58, of Cadiz, died Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at the Cleveland Clinic. He was born September 19, 1948 in Pittsburgh, PA, a son of Lois Russell Morgan of Cadiz and the late Eugene D. Morgan.

Dave was an Exploration Geologist and a Land Agent for Consolidation Coal Company for 28 years. He was a member of St. Teresa's Catholic Church in Cadiz; the Harrison County Community Improvement Corporation; and he coached Hot Stove Baseball in Cadiz for many years. 

In addition to his father, he was preceded in death by an infant brother, Drew. 

Surviving, in addition to his mother, are his wife, Linda Miles Morgan; a daughter, Cherilynn Morgan of South Park, PA; a son, Dewey Morgan of the home; a sister, Bernadette (Dennis) Barrett of Pittsburgh; a brother, Dane (Debra) Morgan of Cadiz; eleven nieces and nephews; one great niece; and a special friend, C.D., a Jack Russell Terrier. 

His name was Eugene David Morgan, II. He was a husband, brother, father, uncle, friend, geologist, baseball coach, jokester, and over all - a great guy. Just don't call him Eugene - it was Uncle Dave, always Uncle Dave.

Growing up the adults would wager us kids if we named our first child after Uncle Dave, he would buy us a car. No, not Dave. Uncle Dave's real name the adults would say "Eugene?". When we would accept they would all laugh. Uncle Dave would say bring him a child and then he'd pay up. As Aunt Robin liked to point out, he never said what kind of car it would be. For all we knew it was a clunker that would be be hauled off of Uncle John's place.

He built "bunny mobiles" for his property and pet bunnies. He would offer to pay me $20 if I could hold the electric fence for 60 seconds - I never could.  Uncle Dave told very funny stories about his in-law's aka my grandparents. He loved to bust my grandmother's chops. Once, I saw this personally and I'll never forget the look on her face .... his heart was always in a good place with his jokes.

Each time he would smile and give that salt of the earth laugh from deep down in his belly.

It wasn't until after he died, several years later in fact, I learned he'd been sick. The death wasn't as sudden as I thought or had been lead to believe. It was cancer. Of what, I'm still not clear.

I painstakingly recorded the time of his death in my journal. I remember thinking I did not want to forget a single, no matter how small, detail. Tonight I realized how glad I was that I did that. As I was re-reading my journal I read things I'd forgotten about.

He (Uncle Dave) was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic's ICU last week. He had liver & kidney failure. They had to insert a breathing tube and he began aspirating bile. One of his eyes was dilated but they didn't know why. The next day his blood pressure was uncontrollable and Aunt Linda was given "the talk", as my father calls it, by hospital personnel. Aunt Linda thinks he is improving but I attribute that to her positive nature. The thought of her beloved leaving her is surely incomprehensible right now. Uncle Dave took his last breaths around 2am. My cousin Cher says he passed peacefully. I hope to god that is true.

I'd of course love to ask him about meeting & marrying Aunt Linda. When or how did he know she was the one? (Side note: I am biased but Aunt Linda is pretty special!) Was he on campus during the Kent State Massacre? What did he remember? What propelled him toward geology?

My biggest regret is not talking to him more, especially in the time leading up to his death, but I was lucky enough to call him my uncle.

I found this photo after his death & shared it with most of my family. It brings a smile to my face & is in a frame on my dressing table. I look at and remember him each day.

Left to Right: Grandpa Miles, Uncle Dave (holding Cher, Cher is holding me), Dewey,  Uncle Tom (holding Emily). Circa 1988 - 855 Roanoke Rd Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Happy Valentine's Day Uncle Dave! I miss you & love you.

Along Came Anna Mae

My grandmother was a "change of life" baby. Her older sister Edith gave birth to her first child in January 1922. My grandmother, Marge, followed in April 1922. Although the pair were technically aunt & niece, they were more like sisters.

Marge & Anna Mae

Anna Mae died in 1996 and I did attend her funeral; however, I don't recall ever meeting her personally. Growing up we did have a steady relationship with her son, "Uncle" Pat &  (his wife)"Aunt" Martha Finn.

It was at the funeral that I met many of my extended cousins, including Anna Mae's sister Lois. To this day, I can still recall the tenderness in which each of the elderly relatives recalled my deceased grandmother.

Then talk turned towards a spooky event.

Anna Mae Age 68

A few days before Anna Mae's passing she stopped talking. Towards the end Uncle Pat & Aunt Martha's dogs stood sentry. During the last hours of her life she began talking to the ceiling and the dogs watched, heads facing the ceiling. Synoptic flashes of a dying person?

It was then that she began calling my grandmother by name and saying things like " Marge? Is that you Marge? I've missed you! " according to the Finn family.

Marge & Anna Mae's Prayer Cards

They died 21 years and 1 day apart.

In the years since, I've spoken with various relatives about her & my grandmother. Anna Mae's granddaughter told me that she used to take out old photo albums and share stories of times with Margaret. My mother isn't sure what hijinks the two would get into but they were always giggling about something or other. I'd love to ask her about their "adventures" and if Lois ever took part!

The proof is in the DNA

Much of what I have been working on, in regards to the DNA research within my family, has been kept off of Facebook. I'm sure I've driven quite a few nuts.

If we are related (biologically not via marriage) this may or may not apply to you. I haven't made any decisions on who I will be asking, if they are willing, and when I can afford to test others (unless they want to test themselves and share results - I'm not made of money!).

As a female I am only able to have an autosomal test. Although I can access my genetic information it still begs the question - exactly what did I get from each parent? Conventionally we think we get 50/50 from each parent - wrong. What segments are my mother's versus my father's? I need to explore this more in order to make the testing meaningful. I also need my male Y line (that as a female I can't be tested for).

For starters I can test both of my parents; however, the problem then multiplies. How do I know what segments my mother got from her mother versus her father? The same applies to each side/generation of the family.

My Grandpa Polachek (Frank) is the only member of my family that has an outlying ethnic group. I know for certain my Eastern European results come from his side of the family and his side only. I have zero Eastern European roots except for him. He was a first generation Ukrainian American making him an Eastern Slav. Russians, Belorussians, and Ukrainians are Eastern Slavs that are closely related. If you look at the chromosome map below this shows individuals I match with on certain segments, notice we all overlap each other? We are all likely to be distantly related to each other. Every result is someone that is exclusively or primarily Eastern European - or I share no other common regions with them. Although speculation, I can only guess these overlaps on chromosome 2 are from my Grandpa Frank's family. If they are relatives of his father Lukas or his mother Yulia - that remains to be seen. 

Since my remaining three grandparents all have either Scottish, Welsh, or Irish ancestry - that overlap, that alone cannot help me rule some results out. 

My goal for testing will likely be something like I'm about to list below. I've not asked individuals if they would consent to a test, so please do not be alarmed as this is just an idea I'm working on.

If any of you are interested in testing please let me know. Again, it'll take me a bit to get the money to pay for all of this so if you'd like to test on your own & pay for it instead of waiting on me - message me so we can chat about it. I will take responsibility of administering & protecting (privacy) your results. It's a painless saliva test. This is not inclusive & I welcome anyone wanting to be tested. Testing is $50-$200 depending on what website & platform you test.

My mother's side:

First test: Test my mother or one of her siblings.

Second test: Test one of my mother's first cousins, preferably a male Polachek that is a descendant of a male Polachek. In this case that would be one of Uncle Steve's or Uncle Mike's sons as they carry the Y-Polachek line. That will then isolate what DNA came from my Grandma Marge as the cousins will not share her DNA. Note: I could use my mother's brother for the Y line but that won't help me filter my Grandma Marge's genes.

My father's side:

First test: My father or his brothers.

Second test: My paternal Aunt Linda or my paternal first cousin Cher. They both carry my Grandma Dorothy's mtDNA. Depending on the type of testing my father & his brothers complete I may or may not need a mtDNA test from my aunt/cousin. 

Third test: One of my father's first (maternal) cousins. They are male children of my grandmother's brother. This will give me access to determine what markers belong to the Leisenheimer's (Grandma Dorothy's family) - including the Y line that none of my uncles & aunt can test for.

Fourth test: Have one of my distant (3rd or 4th) Holan cousins test.  (My Great-Grandma Miles was a Holan.) Although limited, it will narrow down the Czech line leaving any other results to belong to my Grandpa via default. 

Legacy Names

Many moons ago it was quite popular to rename a child after a deceased child.

If your little Janie died at age 3, well then the next little girl that came around --- say, two years later? She would likely be a Janie too. This causes complications in record keeping for obvious reasons. It forces you to often guess which Janie is yours in the records.

My father's family is primarily buried in the historic Monroe St., Harvard Grove, or Erie St. Cemeteries of Cleveland. As we have such a common surname looking at the list of Miles' in the area is expansive.  A few years ago I found two unknown gems.

Matching them up with other family grave sites and cross checking the names:

Estella May Miles d. 1894 Age: 7 Diphtheria

Jessie Dixon Miles d. 1899 Age: 8 Croup

Estella & Jessie were my great-grandfather's younger sisters. He would have been in his early 20's when they both died. As a side note, I think it's possible Jessie's middle name of Dixon might be another branch of the family that I am not yet aware of.

I previously attributed my Great-Aunt Jessie's name to various family members - our great-great grandmother Jessie and her own mother Estelle. Alas, I think it's simpler than that.

My great-grandfather was sentimental. He named his only daughter in honor of his lost little sisters, he named her Jessie Estelle.