MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
Both my father and mother came from Beleluya, Galicia,
My parents were married in Edmonton on April 23, 1923, and
They then went to Coalhurst where my father was employed.
We continued to live in Coalhurst until December 1935, and
My mother, who died at the age of eighty-five was the last of
Unfortunately, I do not remember my father at all, the only
My memories of Coalhurst are varied. Good 'ole' school days!
The winds, dust storms, the hours we spent helping my mother
which was Austria at the time, and is now the Ukraine.
My father came to Canada first, a single man, and after
several jobs was employed in the Coalhurst Coal mine.
He then sent for my mother, who arrived in Edmonton
March 21, 1923. Having left her Village on February 7,
1923 with an older sister and her eleven year old daughter
who was joining her husband in Edmonton. They left their
Village by horse and wagon, then on the train to Kiev, to
Warsaw. From Warsaw on a boat (for three days) to Gdansk.
Then by steamship from Gdansk to Halifax, which took eleven
and a half days. From Halifax to Edmonton by train. Their
trip from when they left home, took forty-two days!
had a typical Ukrainian wedding which lasted about 3 days.
They bought a house in Wigan which was home until we were
to move to Medicine Hat. Their first child was born in 1924,
a girl that only lived two days, then another girl, born 1925,
and finally in 1926, a son.. Their marriage shortlived, however,
as my father was seriously injured in the Coalhurst mine on
February 6, 1928, and died from these injuries on February 17,
1928.
were in the process of moving to Medicine Hat, when the big
explosion in the Coalhurst mine that claimed sixteen lives
occurred. The same mine that claimed my fathers life! How
well I remember that terrible mine tragedy, and the massive
funeral for the sixteen miners!
her whole family, having outlived all of her six sisters and one
brother. She was predeceased by her sister Mary Zmurchyk,
who with her husband Mike had farmed west of Lethbridge.
She was an avid gardener, and had even dug her whole garden
over in the fall of 1981. She passed away February 14, 1982.
My only regret on her behalf, that she never got back to visit
her place of birth.
memories are the ones that my mother left me of him.
The only strap I ever got was from Miss Tennant, (along with most
of the class).
pick coal from the dump, and then haul it home in a child's wagon.
There were good times too, many friends, and good neighbors.
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