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After searching Homestead Records of my Grandparents, Greatgrandparents and Great greatgrandparents of my Mother and visiting the house in Hilliard that they lived in, I'm ready to visit Ukraine and walk on the land that they walked on.   My Grandmother, Mary Diduch age 13 came with her Father  George or Yuri (40) and Mother Wasylena Diduch(36) along with Wasylena's parents  Ivan Tofan (54) and Maria Tofan (54).  They left Rusiw near Sniatyn southwestern   Ukraine in March 1900 and sailed out of Hamburg and arrived in Halifax on April 14, 1900 aboard S.S. Tunisia along with their 5 children Mary 13, Helen 10, Mike 6, Kate 3 and John 1 year.  I can only imagine that their crossing was long and tedious.  They traveled west via Canadian Pacific train to Strathcona Alberta.  They were met by friends, who were former neighbours in Ukraine, with a wagon and a team of horses, and they took them to their already established log cabin home near Hilliard, Alberta.   While they were at the immigration building in Strathcona, they bought a cow which they tied behind the wagon.

Mary remembered this long, tedious journey over bumpy trails and wondered out loud if indeed they had come to a better country.   I remember my Baba (Mary) telling me that she was very sad to leave Ukraine as she had many friends and enjoyed going to dances with them.

Also in the spring of 1900, my Grandfather Wasyl Yeremy or Jyrymij which is how his name was spelled on the Homestead papers left Kniaze, south western Ukraine at the age of 19 years with a couple of friends and arrived in Halifax May 18th, 1900 on S.S. Assyria.  After clearing Immigration, he boarded a train heading west and went to the Fort Saskatchewan area, where he worked for a German farmer.  Then he heard about the Diduch family, who were from his area in Ukraine, and had settled 3 miles north of Highway 16 and south of Hilliard.  Three years later on Feb 9, 1903, Wasyl and Mary were married and lived on the Diduch homestead until 1906.  There were no homesteads available for them at that time, so they moved 80 miles away to Myrnam.

On Feb. 27, 1906, they obtained their own homestead near Myrnam and had three children there before they moved back to the Hillard area in 1912 where they purchased a half section of land only 1 mile south of the Diduch homestead.  My Mother Jean was born at this homestead August 6, 1918 along with 7 more children.

I feel that most of my questions have been answered and it's time to see the villages that they came from along with my Husband Carl's Grandparent's villages.  I've researched my Father's Grandparent's villages and have discovered that my Father's Grandfather and Carl's Grandfather came from the same village Boldury near Brody Ukraine.   We understand that Boldury is a small village and possibly they knew each other.  That thought will be with us when we visit the graveyards.

We are looking forward to visiting these villages next month in the middle of May.

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