1st Great Grandparents
Married November 7, 1876 Kitsman, Bukovina, Austria
Searching church book records for this time period, religion and geographical area is extremely difficult because the records are hand written in various languages in Cyrillic script. Also none of these records are indexed so each page must be manually reviewed. House numbers also play an important role in searching these records.
Eftemiu Pihuliak was born on June 21, 1856 in Kitsman, Bukovina, Austria. It is unknown for certain who his parents are as a church book record of his birth cannot be found. There is a strong possibility that his parents are Georgiu Pihuliac and Zankhira Morgotch as they are listed as being married on February 26, 1850 in house 378, which is the house number where Eftemiu later raised his family.
Anastasia Moroz was born on May 20, 1856 in Kitsman, Bukovina to Iftemi Moroz and Maria Grigota. Eftemiu and Anastasia were married on November 7, 1876 in Kitsman. They had 6 children:
George: September 2, 1878 Kitsman - March 28, 1960 Selkirk, Manitoba. George immigrated by himself to Manitoba in April 1903. He went by Pihulak. George married Mary Myslywka Hryhoriak on August 12, 1906 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They had 6 children: Thomas (1910-1997), Michael (1911-1994), Annie (1913-2005), John (1915-2000), Nicholas (1917-1999), and Steve (1919-1994). All the children remained in the Gonor, Manitoba area.
Anna: May 27, 1880 Kitsman - before 1960. Her first marriage was to Vasilie Kosteniuk (1864-1908) on November 14, 1900 in Suchowerchow, Bukovina. They had 7 children: (1901-?), Irina (1902-1902), Teodor (1903-1903), Leontie (1904-?), Dimitrie (1906-1906), Maria (1907-1907, and Vasilka (1909-?). Her second marriage on October 21, 1910 in Suchowerchow was to Daniel Kovblek (1885-1918). They had 2 children: Ivan (1911-?), and Domna (1913-?). Research showed that Daniel went to Ontario by himself, where he died in a mining accident on December 31, 1918. Anna had to obtain his death information from Ontario in order to marry her third husband John Tiura on April 25, 1924 in Suchowerchow. Anna and John did not have any children together.
Dimitriu (Mike): September 7, 1882 Kitsman - December 21, 1968 Edmonton. Our maternal grandfather
Catrina: November 7, 1883 Kitsman - January 19, 1884 Kitsman
Savina: December 6, 1884 Kitsman - August 29, 1885 Kitsman
Alexandra: January 3, 1887 Kitsman - March 10, 1890 Kitsman
Anastasia died young on February 12, 1887 in Kitsman when Mike was only about 5 years old. Eftemiu married his second wife, Raifta Zhuchkan (1867-1931) on May 24, 1887 in Kitsman, 3 months after Anastasia died. Eftemiu and Raifta had 12 children:
Catrina: November 23, 1888 Kitsman - February 3, 1890 Kitsman
Catrina: March 6, 1890 Kitsman - after 1970. No information was found on Catrina other than a reference on her brother's Michael obituary in 1970 that she was still alive.
Wasyl Bill: July 16, 1891 Kitsman - May 16, 1967 Winnipeg, Manitoba. Bill married Glikeria Lucy Skovskyi (1895-1970). They had 1 known child Lucy (1924-1946)
Maria: March 6, 1893 Kitsman - April 30, 1907 Suchowerchow, Bukovina
Paraska: October 16, 1894 Kitsman - March 30, 1973 Selkirk, Manitoba. Paraska married Peter Sandelovich in about 1913 in Manitoba. They had 2 children: John (1914-1993) and William (1915-1999).
Michailo (Mike): August 26, 1896 Kitsman - November 16, 1970 Selkirk, MB. Michailo's first marriage was to Annie Hutuleac (1900-1966) on September 17, 1917 in Rainy River, Ontario. They had 2 children: Mary Theresa (1920-1964) and Helen Ann (1926-2011). They divorced sometime before 1929. He then married Paraska (Polly) Markowski (1901-1981) on November 9, 1929 in Fort Frances, Ontario. They had 2 children: Lillian (1929-2017) and Marko (1931-1941).
Ivan: August 13, 1898 Kitsman - unknown. Ivan married Domna Costeniuc (?) on February 3, 1922 in Suchowerchow. They had 8 children (including 2 still born births): Alexandra (1922-1922), Ana (1923-1923), Ana (1927-1929), Eugene (1930-1930), Ivan (1931-?), Maria (1933-?).
Nikolai: April 19, 1900 Kitsman - November 19, 1909 Suchowerchow.
Alexandra: February 8, 1902 Suchowerchow - after 1970. While she married Stefan Andriciuc on May 26, 1922, no other information was found on Alexandra other than a reference on her brother's Michael obituary in 1970 that she was still alive.
Teodor: January 21, 1904 Suchowerchow - unknown. Thomas married Maria Procopet in 1933 in Suchowerchow. They had 2 children: Olga (1934-?) and Elisaveta (1935-?)
Maria: Mary 15, 1907 Suchowerchow - unknown. Maria married Nikolai Zaharia. No information on children.
Eftemi: October 6, 1908 Suchowerchow - January 9, 1909 Suchowerchow
Raifta died on January 2, 1931 in Suchowerchow. Eftemiu died on December 12, 1918 in Suchowerchow. His birth date is recorded on the death church book record.