Anyone who was born in the Ukraine in years past when under the jurisdiction of other nations, was not recognized as a Ukrainian but rather was said to be a subject of the nation that controlled him. In 1928 when our parents asked to become citizens of the United States their nationality did not indicate that both were Ukrainian by birth. From the copy of my fathers birth and christening certificate indicates that he was born under Polish rule, however when he was in his teens the ruling power was Austria-Hungary and she still was in control when he emigrated and applied for citizenship in the United States. Consequently, his naturalization papers identify him as a citizen of Austria-Hungary. He was born in Uscia, a village southeast of the city of Lviv. This document tells us that it is the testimonium of birth and baptism of my father and that it was prepared by Roman Wotoszczak, the parish priest in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Uscia on the Dniester river in the district of Zydaczow. This area lies in the eastern part of Galicia, a former province of Austria Hungary under the rule of Franz Joseph who ruled at the time father lived in the Ukraine. This document goes on to say that it was prepared from the official archives of the Orthodox Church and is recorded in the Church Volume IV on page 219.
It declares that Gregory Zdebski is a boy and of legitimate birth, born January 15, 1887, that he was the son of John Zdebski whose father was John Zdebski and his mother’s mother is Catherine whose maiden name was Turkowa and that they were farmers in the locality of Uscie. Gregory’s mother was Paracaceva and she was the daugher of John Jancyzyn and his wife Helen whose maiden name was Kuryachowa and they too were local farmers.
The birth was attended by a local midwife from Uscie and her name was Pelagia Senyszyn. The baby was then take to be baptized by Vladialaus Sietski, the local priest. The Godfather was Basil Zdebski and the Godmother was Catherine, the wife of Andreas Maciejowski, also local farmers.
The document concludes that the testimony it contains is affirmed by Roman Wotasaziak, priest who signed and sealed it at Uscie on July 23, 1928. The document was prepared to assist my father in obtaining his US citizenship.
Pop was the eldest of five sons: Gregory, Nickolas, Stephen, John and Michael. My father was the only one of the brothers who emigrated to the United States. When father become of age for military service, he left for the United States. He did not want to serve in the Austrian-Hungarian Army. He arrived in New York by steamer in 1908 or 1909. He was aboard the ship for two weeks which he boarded in Hamburg, Germany.
He arrived in Ellis Island unable to speak any English[1]. When he was asked for his first name, he answered in Ukrainian that it was Hrehory. The clerk took that to be Harry from its Ukrainian sound and when he heard the name Zdebski, he thought he heard Zdebski with the letter “p” and so he wrote father’s name as Harry Zdepski. And when Pop and Mom became citizens of the US in 1929 they were immigrants from Austria Hungary named Harry and Eva Zdepski. And so it became the spelling given to father and mother – this American spelling to our family.
[1] Editor’s Note: Pop Zdepski never saw his father alive after leaving Ukraine. His father stood and wept at the front gate as Pop was leaving. The day of his father death, Pop saw an apparition of his father in a kitchen doorway in Brooklyn. He learned of his father’s death in due time, slowed by the communications systems of the time.
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