My grandfather, William Chomiak, son of Теодор & Анастасія (—) Хомяк [Teodor & Anastasiia], was born 2 February 1882 in Nahuievychi, Ukraine as Василь Хомяк [Wasyl Komek], and died 7 November 1965 in Willimantic, Connecticut. He married 16 February 1907 in Ukraine, Katherine Fusiak, who was born 19 November 1887 in Luzhek Verkhniy, Ukraine as Катерина Фюшяк [Kateryna Fusiak], and died 22 October 1943 in New London, Connecticut, daughter of Konrad & Ludmila (Karasek) Fusiak.
The Galicia area of Ukraine was occupied by different powers at different times in history. When my grandparents were born there it was part of Austria-Hungary (Austrian-Hungarian Empire), until 1918. Then it became part of Poland until 1945 when it became part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine didn’t become an independent nation until 1991. This history explains why on some documents my grandparents said they were born in Austria, and others, like my father’s birth certificate, said they were born in Poland. But they spoke Ukrainian and identified as Ukrainians.
My grandmother, Katherine, died long before I was born. I’ve always been curious about her because she is the one grandparent I never knew. My Aunt Lil showed me how to write her name in Ukrainian.
Katherine’s parents were land-owning farmers. When her husband William, the son of peasants, left for America, she was pregnant with her second child and they already had a small daughter, Mary. According to my Aunt Mary, who grew up with her grandparents in Ukraine, Katherine’s father, Konrad, did not approve of his daughter’s marriage, and was furious about not hearing from William. With great resentment he sold a cow to buy passage to America for Katherine and her new nursing baby boy, Jon. At the tender age of 22, on 19 February 1910, Katherine and 5-month-old baby Jon sailed to America on the SS Finland from Antwerp, arriving in New York City on 4 March 1910. She had no ticket, but was in possession of $19 which she used to pay passage for herself and her son. She was 4’11” tall with a fair complexion. She was identified as a “Ruthenian” on the passenger arrival record, a term used to refer to a group of Ukrainians living in Ruthenia and eastern Czechoslovakia. Mary stayed behind with her grandparents and so Katherine did not see her firstborn daughter again until Mary was 18, when she finally joined her family in America after World War I.
Katherine was a devoted mother who admonished her eight children to stick together no matter what, as she believed that family was all they would have in this difficult world. Her grandchildren called her “Baba.” Three of her children did not survive into adulthood. Jon Stephen died when he was 9 years old, of appendicitis. August was about two when he got into something under the kitchen sink that poisoned him. Olga, a toddler, met her death by scalding when she pulled a pot of boiling water off the stove, a horrific accident that my Aunt Lil was old enough to remember first hand.
In the portrait above, my Aunt Mary is missing because she was still living in Ukraine. Jon, August and Olga had already died. My Aunt Jean is on the left, my father is the little boy, and my Aunt Lil is on the right. My Aunt Em was not born yet.
Eleven months before Katherine crossed the ocean, William, age 26, had left for America from Hamburg on 19 March 1909, arriving in New York City on 1 April 1909. He could read and write (I have his journal!), was in possession of $12, and paid his own passage. He was 5’6″ tall with light brown hair and brown eyes and was identified as “Polish” on the passenger arrival record. He was planning to stay with his brother Samuel in Brooklyn.
Samuel and his wife, Anna, had come over in 1905. According to the 1910 census, Samuel was a tailor who owned his own shop, and William was working as a tailor there. Katherine and baby Jon had joined him when they arrived and were members of Samuel’s household, too, in 1910.
William worked at many jobs in many places moving his family frequently. According to my father, one of William’s first jobs was in a lumber yard in North Carolina. The family was living in Buffalo, New York in 1919 when their son Jon died. In 1922, he was working as a butcher in New Jersey, according to my father’s birth certificate.
On 2 October 1923, when the family was living in Harrison, New Jersey, William became a naturalized American citizen. He did this to “enable him to bring his daughter Mary to this country.” On her 18th birthday, 19 January 1926, Mary sailed to America on the SS Leviathan from Southampton, arriving in New York City on 27 January 1926.
William & Katherine bought a farm on January 11, 1928 in Montville, Connecticut. Katherine’s brother-in-law lent them $1,000 for the down payment. The mortgage was for $3,000, and they paid it off on July 22, 1944. When the Great Depression hit they were grateful to be in a position to farm and live off the land, even thought it was a hard life. William was a harsh, bitter man, who regretted leaving Ukraine and was apparently very unhappy in this country. But at least he owned land now, which was very important to a man who grew up as a peasant.
William was artistic and loved to draw and carve wood. I have two very practical things he carved, a cutting board which I fondly remember my father using often when I was a child, and the lid to a glass sugar bowl. I was told the glass lid to the sugar bowl had broken and he carved the wood one for my grandmother to replace it. It fits perfectly on top. My grandfather lived with us until he died in 1965. I don’t have any fond memories of him as he apparently didn’t have much use for girls. He used to spend his days gardening and keeping the woods around our house tidy, chopping down brush with his ax and making neat piles of wood. If we disturbed any of those piles he would holler at us in Ukrainian and wave his ax menacingly at us. Of course, these were my childish impressions.
The family survived the Great Hurricane of 1938 on September 21. No one was expecting it. My father and Aunt Em were still living at home. My father was 16 years old and walking home from high school when the storm quickly got very violent. When he got home he had to help his father shore up one of the walls of their house to keep it from blowing in. My aunt was 10 years old and remembered that she had stayed home sick from school that day. But my grandmother had gone to visit a neighbor and decided to stay there when the hurricane suddenly arrived, not wanting to chance going out into the dangerous winds. Her family must have been very worried about her. None of the hurricanes that affected Connecticut after that one impressed my father much.
My father always spoke of his mother with great fondness and missed her dearly. Even during his last illness he asked for her. He had enlisted in the army during World War II on 4 February 1943. Sadly, only eight months later, on 22 October 1943, his mother died. Only 22 years old, he came home on leave for her funeral and then returned to duty.
My father often credited his mother with raising him to respect women and appreciate their strengths. As an example, he often told the story of her ability to drive a hard bargain. A butcher came down from Norwich to the farm in Montville three times trying to buy a calf for less than the price Katherine wanted to sell it for! But she got her original asking price, impressing her son, and the sale was finally made!
Katherine died of a strangulated hernia at the age of 55. William died of a pulmonary embolism nine days after having prostate surgery at the age of 83. Katherine & William lie buried together in Comstock Cemetery in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Katherine & William were the parents of eight children:
1. Mary Chomiak, born 19 January 1908 in Luzhek Verkhniy, died 23 November 2004. She married (as her first husband) Michael Andreychuk, who was born 30 November 1894 in Slobodka, Austria, and died 28 November 1938 in New York, New York, son of Nicholas & Anna (—) Andreychuk.
Mary married (as her second husband) 21 December 1939 in New York, Vladimir Riback, who was born 25 February 1907 in Ukraine, and died 27 July 1961 in Kiev, Ukraine, son of Paul & Antonina (—) Riback. Mary & Vladimir were the parents of a son.
2. Jon Stephen Chomiak, born 19 September 1909 in Luzhek Verkhniy, died 15 March 1919 in Buffalo, New York. (I wrote a little about Jon here: Augusta Jean & Jon Stephen)
3. August Chomiak, born c. 1911 in Brooklyn, New York, died c. 1912.
4. Augusta Jean Chomiak, born 19 January 1913 in Brooklyn, died 26 November 1986 in Miami, Florida. She married (as her first husband and as his first wife) 24 December 1935 in New York City, John Kononchik, who was born there 17 April 1913, and died 20 July 1997 in Wilmington, Delaware. Jean & John were the parents of a son and then were divorced.
Jean married (as her second husband) c. 1956 in New York, Joseph Francis Hereth, who was born there 5 April 1921, and died 18 June 1980 in Fort Myers, Florida, son of Louis & Madgelena (Keim) Hereth.
5. Lillian Elizabeth Chomiak, born 30 January 1915 in Brooklyn, died 27 October 2016 in Storrs-Mansfield, Connecticut, age 101. She married 30 November 1934 in Montville, Connecticut, Leo Oscar Rioux, who was born 11 March 1913 in Fall River, Massachusetts, and died 5 June 1957 in Oakdale-Montville, Connecticut, son of Joseph Enoch & Lumina (Lanoüe) Rioux. Lil & Leo were the parents of two sons.
6. Olga Chomiak, born c. 1920 in Harrison, New Jersey, died c. 1921.
7. Dr. Theodore William Chomiak (my father), born 13 March 1922 in Harrison, died 19 September 2013 in Storrs-Mansfield. He married 28 January 1956 in Harwich, Massachusetts, Elisabeth Joan “Betty-Jo” “BJ” White, who was born 17 October 1931 in Mineola, New York, and died 27 May 1991 in Willimantic, daughter of John Everett & Emma Freeman (Thompson) White. Ted & BJ were the parents of two daughters.
8. Ludmila “Em” Chomiak, born 23 August 1928 in Montville, died 19 December 2023 in Elkins, West Virginia. She married 18 June 1948 in Montville, Andrew Sabatiuk, who was born 4 May 1920 in Detroit, Michigan, and died 28 June 2002 in Sykesville, Maryland, son of William & Anna (Gerych) Sabatiuk. Em & Andy were the parents of three children.
Last Revised: 10 September 2024