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Paraskeva Mary Porsky Elskin.
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Siv, I don't know if you would be interested in all this information to be added to the family
tree,
but here it is anyhow.
Carl
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From: RUrekew1@aol.com
To: vikinggus1@msn.com
Subject: Cousin!
Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:39:37 EDT
It's good to hear from you, Carl! It must be about fifty years since we were last together.
I'm
your first cousin Bob, and I remember your parents rather well as my Aunt Rose and my
Uncle
Carl Evert. I have many good memories of holiday meals in Springfield, West Springfield,
Holyoke, Wilbraham and thereabouts. At this late stage in my life, I don't have many
regrets,
but one of them would be having lost touch with your side of the family.
I'd be very pleased to assist you with some of the information you are seeking. I'll try to
reconstruct what I know from my fallible memory.
First of all, your list of your uncles and your aunt is fairly accurate. You're only missing one,
as
far as I know, and that is my father, Charles. Your mother, Rose, and your uncle Nick,
were
born in 1908 and 1911, respectively, in a small stetl in what is now the Western Ukraine,
not
too far from the Polish border. The name of the town is, I believe, now Drohobych, or
Drogobych, depending on the Ukrainian pronunciation. If you want to find it on a map, look
SW of L'vov and SE of Krakow.
I've seen the emigration documents of our grandparents, Michael and Paraskeva. If I
remember correctly, the originals are either in the hands of my sister, Marleen, in
Northampton,
MA, or our cousin John, in Holyoke, MA. Those documents are written in Latin, German,
and, I
believe, Polish. I can read Latin and German, and some Russian, but I'm not very adept at
Polish. I was always told that the family spoke Russian, and my father had a Russian
Orthodox
prayer book that he carried in the Navy during World War II. I'll get to that later, but the
main
point is that the documents were written in German because the little stetl of Drohobych
was,
at the time of their issuance, under the jurisdiction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Our
grandparents traveled to Germany to board an ocean liner bound for the United States at
about the beginning of World War I, before the U.S. entered that war. I remember very
well a
photograph of your mother and Uncle Nick, apparently taken just after arriving in America.
They looked like typical Eastern European children, a classic study!
On those documents, I believe that the family name was Yorkho, and it was anglicized upon
arrival at Ellis Island. My father, who was born in 1917, in Springfield, and your mother,
were
raised in Springfield as children of what appeared to be Russian Orthodox Christians.
Because
I remember so much Yiddish being spoken by my father, I took the time to investigate. The
name Yorkho shows up on the database of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in the District of
Columbia. Every wonder why there aren't many Urekews in America? I believe that most of
our
relatives were killed in the Holocaust, because they were Jews. I have researched the
widespread persecution of Jews in the Ukraine, and it seems that many converted to the
prevailing form of Christianity in that area, which was Russian Orthodoxy, just to avoid
persecution. That same persecution seems to have driven our grandparents to do the
same,
and to escape to America before the suffering that would come to the area in World War I.
If
our family were originally from Poland, they would also have been persecuted, and they
would
have probably become Roman Catholics, which was and is the only prevailing religion in
Poland. But enough historical speculation!
This is probably what you want to know, from the best of my memory:
Michael and Paraskeva Urekew produced seven children. Uncle Nicholas, the oldest, and
your mother, Rose, were both born in the Ukraine. They had five more children on Carew
Street in Springfield: Aunt Mary in 1915, my father Charles in 1917, Uncle Pete in 1919,
Uncle
John, whose date of birth eludes me, and Uncle Paul in 1925. Here's what I know about
them,
but you must remember that I left home at the age of 19, and never lived in Massachusetts
again. I was overseas for quite a few stretches beginning in 1968, so my memory may be
faulty.
Nick married Aunt Louise, and they lived in Cambridge, MA. I visited them several times
when I
had the occasion to be in the Boston area. They seemed very happy together. Nick died in
1979, and having willed his body to Harvard Medical School, there was no service. Louise
was a very kind person. She was born in 1914 and lived until 1991. She had many friends
and
lived a full and good life. The last time I saw the old photo of Nick and your mother was at
her
home.
I remember your mother with fondness, for we sometimes exchanged letters when I was
overseas. I remember your father as a kindly gentleman, who always welcomed us warmly
into
his home.
Aunt Mary was born in 1915. I remember her as very kind. She married a man whose first
name
I can't recall right now, but whose last name was Grant. They lived in Agawam, where they
owned a nice home and had several children. I can only remember Deena, but I believe
they
had two boys as well, and one of them might have been named Dana. Mary was widowed,
and then remarried a nice guy named Charlie Mulcahy. She worked for a long time at the
Buxton factory, and I remember that she looked me up when I was living in New Hampshire
in
the 80's. We had a great visit. Unfortunately, my wanderings caused me to lose contact
with
her. I only found out recently that she died in 2004.
My father, Charles, was born in 1917. He married my mother, Kathleen, in 1942, and I was
born about a year later. They had six children, me, Charleen, Thomas, Marleen, Charles Jr
and
Laureen. My brother Chuck died tragically in 1998. My brother Tom lives here in Kentucky,
not
too far from me. My sisters all live in the Northampton area. My father died in 1982 and my
mother died in 1995.
Uncle Pete has an interesting story. He was born in 1919. He served in the Army during
WWII
in Italy. There, he met the love of his life, Aunt Sandra. She was a beautiful woman, as I
remember her. She spoke with an Italian accent of course. They had at least two children,
but
I can' remember their names. Speaking of names, Uncle Pete changed his name from
Urekew
to Del Raye, or Delraye. That may be a good piece of information when you do your
research.
Pete died as a young man, with a fatal illness, in about 1962, or earlier. I remember that my
parents went to the funeral, but I was not allowed to attend. His wife had some
complications
from being alone in a strange country, and I believe that she was institutionalized and your
mother may have taken in the children. You'd know much more about that than I would, I'm
sure. I believe that Aunt Sandra was born in 1922 and died in 1996. I regret very much not
knowing her better, because I speak Italian, and could have communicated with her.
Next, there was Uncle John. I remember visiting his home in Holyoke with my parents
several
times. It was close to Northampton, and would have been an easy day trip. John owned a
fruit
and vegetable stand on Route 5, and I believe that he was quite successful. He and Aunt
Mary owned a nice home in Holyoke, and they had two sons, John and, I believe, Michael. I
was in contact with our cousin John about ten years ago. He saw my name on the Web,
and
looked me up. We exchanged some genealogical information, but I've not heard from him
since. I don't have any information about the date of birth of Uncle John. I just remember
that
he seemed like a really nice person, as was his wife. I have only vague memories of my
parents discussing his untimely death sometime in the fifties, but I have no solid information
to
offer you. You can easily find our cousin John on the Web, if you need more information.
Last, there's Uncle Paul. He was born in 1925, and married our wonderful Aunt Ann. I guess
Paul was the baby of the family, and I remember many a visit to their home in Springfield.
They
had two children, Beverly and Frederick. For some reason unknown to me, the family
moved
out to California. They were living in Escondido, and I used to correspond from time to time
with Ann. Paul died in 1991, and I just learned that Ann followed him last month. I also just
learned that our cousin Frederick died last year. I believe that he was living in Vallejo. I
talked
to him on the phone when I was in the San Francisco area giving a lecture in 1980. He had
two children, whom I occasionally see if I do a Google search for Urekew. His widow is
Theresa, but I've never had the pleasure to meet her. I was in correspondence with
Beverly
about twenty years ago. Her married name is Watson, and I believe she was living in North
Carolina at the time.
So, Cousin, that's about all I know of the Urekew side of the family. I'm a teacher here in
Louisville, KY. It was at my University of Louisville email address where your letter found me
today. I can still remember being in the same room with you in your parents' home after
these
fifty years, but my memory about some of the above information may not be totally
accurate. I
just hope it helps, and I'm pleased to be in contact with you once again after all these
years.
Bob Urekew
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