MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
George Wyrostok was born in 1880 in the Village of Beleluja
But the urge to do better stayed in his mind, but being denied
Paraska Wyrostok was Andreaschuk, came from a
That was the custom. As a daughter-in-law she had
George sailed on the steamship "Lake Michigan", which
In 1911 Paraska and a daughter sailed on the ship
In the spring of 1913 - a son was born. Because
In August of 1919 another son was born.. So
In October, 1920 another son was born.
In the course of his work as a miner he found that
In the late twenties there was a drastic drop in the
Deliveries of milk from the new location to the
in 1933 another son was born. In 1938 the
In 1952, George Sr., Paraska and son moved from
George Sr., passed away on January 9, 1978 at the
There are seven of the family as named, eighteen
Galicia then under Austro - Hungary Frenz Joseph, in a peasant
family of 8 - Michael, the oldest, a half brother, George, Peter,
Kalyna, Varvara and Irena. He was fortunate to have five
grades of Village school and hoped to be a surveyor or some
trade where mathematics was concerned, but his parents
wanted him to be a priest, "because how can you measure
any more land, when already you can't even turn around with
a wagon? No priests, no surveyor, no school!" So at fifteen
he herded the village sheep.
here, the thought that beyond the ocean was the answer.
So plans were made. They dared not sell any land for
the fare because they could never buy it back, so
managed to borrow money to be paid back from
Canada. So he left for Canada in March of 1907.
family of seven; George, Michael, Katrusia, Paraska
and Andrew. She and Andrew were the youngest.
Their father died when she was ten and their mother
when she was fourteen, and the two of them were
cared for by the oldest brother until she married in 1904
and went to live with her husband and in-laws.
to bear the brunt for being an orphan without a dowry
and being another mouth to feed in an already large
household. But there was no immediate solution. In
the meantime, the first child was still born.
took 15 days to reach Quebec. From there he went
to Edmonton, his destination, where some of his
country-men were living. There he got a job on a
waterworks project. - mostly digging ditches for
sewers, but there were frequent lay-offs and each
time to get back on the job he had to pay $1.00. He
couldn't see how he was going to earn money enough
at that rate to pay off his fare and bring his wife over,
so a few of them walked to Strathcona and stumbled
on an employment office where they were told men
were needed in British Columbia on an extra gang.
The pay was very low, the hours long and after
dockage for food and other essentials very little was left.
He heard rumors of work in the Crow's Nest Pass in
the coal mines where pay was good, but found out
you had to "buy" a job just like in Edmonton, so a
few of them went to Femie instead. He came there
after the big Femie fire that wiped out the town in 1908.
Every able bodied person was called upon to help
rebuild and he got a job in the building of Triteswood
store. Later he went to Cranbrook to work in the forest,
later back to Crow's Nest Pass and finally in 1910 to
Lethbridge to work on the track with the car department
of the C.P.R.
"Montreal" to St. John on April 3 to Canada to
join George in Lethbridge to a home on lst Avenue,
North. In February 1912, a second daughter was
born A two roomed house was being built so that
by the end of 1912 the family lived in their
first Canadian home.
wages in the mine were higher, George became a coal
miner at the No. 6 mine in Hardieville. In January, 1918
another son was born. In 1919 George became
involved in the cause for better wages and working
conditions for his fellow miners. In order to attain this,
strike action was taken and due to George's union
activities he was placed on a black list which barred
him from further work as a miner in Lethbridge, so
resulted in plans to move to Coalhurst.
at the end of September, 1919 the family took up
residence in Coalhurst in the area known as Hamburg,
and later acquiring the house in Wigan. George
resumed his mining career in the Coalhurst mine
and because of his previous work with the C. P.R.
became track layer in the mine.
Getting acquainted with life in a mining town he found
many diversions for people that ridded them of their
hard earned money as fast as they got it. He was
more concerned with people of his own nationality so
went out of his way to get them together to read good
books, learn English, brush up on their own language,
Ukrainian, because many had no schooling in the old
country and some just managed to write their names
for necessary signatures. In 1920 in a part of an old
store, the first Ukrainian school was started and the
teacher was someone who could read and write best.
This started a need for other social gatherings, but
was far too small so a house was rented nearby
(Bertamini's) and gatherings were for school as well
as group singing, practice for plays, comedies, dramas,
some of which were staged in the Majestic Theatre
in Lethbridge, smaller ones in Coalhurst. All this
activity was the formation of the first educational
and cultural Ukrainian organization. Later the Miner's
Hall was the centre of activity where young and old
participated even in playing instruments and an
orchestra was formed. English classes were held
for adults and Ukrainian for old as well as young.
Similar branches sprung up in every town, city
and village from coast to coast.
the family required more income to supplement
the family needs so started a shoe repairing project,
renting a small building from Pavan but later continued
at home. Many times he came from work with a number
of pairs of miners' boots to be fixed that night to be
ready for next morning to give to the owners. Off
and on some chickens, ducks, geese and a cow or two
were kept to help feed the family, and some milk
was sold to residents in the area.
demand for coal and working in the mines became
part-time, laying off from early March till September.
This situation had a bearing on the family income so
it was decided to venture into farming. In 1927,
George purchased 40 acres of land and later added
5.76 acres adjacent to it. In 1930 there was a further
expansion of the farming with the purchase of S.W.
and N. W. quarters from Sam Wilkinson in the West
Lethbridge district (and actually just across the road
from the 45 acres). This property was purchased
in partnership with Plaraska's brother Andrew, so
shortly after, the family moved to the West
Lethbridge property from Wigan, with the retention
of the property in Wigan.
residents of Coalhurst continued. With the country
in the grip of the depression, most people had no
jobs and had to go on relief, and since there was
no money available most of the customers traded
groceries they could spare in exchange for milk.
With the farm product prices failing, this affected
the ability of the partnership to make the payments
on the Wilkinson property so the land reverted to
the owner.
partnership was forced to dissolve, requiring George
and family to move to--the 45 acre site, and
Andrew and family to Lethbridge.
the farm to Lethbridge to the former residence on 12
Street A, North.
age of 97. Paraska passed away on January 16, 1980
- at the age of 93.
grandchildren, twenty-three great grandchildren
and four great great grandchildren.
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