Records for Ostrytsya, Chernivitsi Oblast, Ukraine
My great-grandfather (John Warwaruk - John is his English name, we don't know his birth name) was born in the village Ostrytsya (outside of Chernivitsi) in modern-day Ukraine in 1886. When he emigrated, the village was part of the Austria Hungary Empire. His parents names were Maxim and Domnika Warwaruk.
My family is hoping to learn John's birth name, where his parents were from, if he had siblings, and what his grandparents names were. We've searched all available U.S. records about John, but it doesn't have any of that information. I believe we will need to get this information from the records of his village or Oblast. I have no experience researching records in that part of the world.
Does anybody have any suggestions of where I should look to find more about this Warwaruk family that lived in Ostrytsya in the 1800s? The family could also have roots in Bukovina. In John's U.S. naturalization papers it says he is from Ostrytsya, but in a 1910 census he says that he and his parents are from "Bukowina"; however, that could have just been the largest nearby city.
I greatly appreciate any help. Thanks!
Comments
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Hi Carter…I would start by trying to find out the religion of your ancestors. Back in the 1800's in Ukraine/Poland/Russia there were 2 main religions: Russian Orthodox and Catholic. Most people during that time were very religious, regularly attended church, and had a close personal relationship with their priest. These religions kept lots of records at their parish. Do a Google Map search of your g-grandfather's village (Ostrysya or Chernivitsi) and zoom in on the map to see if you can find all the local churches; then, do another "Google image search" of the name of each church to see if there is an image of the church that shows an adjacent graveyard. If so, then that church probably is pretty old and your ancestors might be buried there.
When you've narrowed down the churches (probably only 2-3), see if you can Google any contact information for that church (priest) and email him directly to ask if your ancestor is buried there and could they share any information with you. Don't worry about the language barrier because Google Translate will take care of that for you. If you get the run-around or they're reluctant to help, offer to make a generous donation to their church.
During the Soviet era (1917-1990) a lot of churches sent their records (marriage, birth, death, christening) to a national archive that likely still exists today and allows people to research their archives. A church priest would likely know about this and might be able to give you further contact information. If not, just Google Ukrainian archives or records, or other search queries that might find the archive/records center. I did this same thing for my ancestors in Belarus with a fair amount of success that is still ongoing. I'm even considering hiring a Belarusian to go to the archives and research my ancestors since none of these records are online or will likely be online anytime soon. Good luck!
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