Post Office: “I called it Wostok…”
For rural Canadian communities, a post office played an extremely important role:
In the small towns and villages … the post office stood as a tangible symbol of progress, prosperity, stability, and maturity. Conversely, a small town or village acquired a distinct identity by means of its post office. One of the most striking examples of the self-affirmation was the process of petitioning authorities in Ottawa for a new post office. When the members of a community filed such a petition, they were required to propose a name for the post office. In smaller villages, the community might never have bothered to choose an official name for itself so the decision to request a post office often became an exercise in self-definition.[i]
The first groups of settlers from Galicia and Bukovina arrived in Canada in the early 1890s. Very soon post offices with Ukrainian names started to appear. Theodore Nemirsky (1869–1946) (Fig. 1) {28} arrived in Canada in 1896, and claimed a homestead in the Edna-Star area in Alberta. He was educated in Galicia and served in the Austrian army before immigrating. Upon his arrival, Nemirsky learned English quite fast, and became one of only a handful of English-Ukrainian interpreters in the Edmonton area. He was an active community member, and later became one of the first “pioneer politicians”.[ii]In his Journal, Nemirsky recalled:
We were eager to have some word from the Old Country and the post office was altogether too far. I had to walk no less than 10 miles to the post office. The post office at that time was kept by Knowlton on the farm called Edna. Near the post office there was a store. In his store Knowlton skinned us heartlessly because there was no other store. If we did not buy from him, it was necessary to go to the city – Edmonton. It was then that I made a request and an application to have a post office. The request was granted. On 1 January 1899, it was already opened. I called it Wostok[East in Old Church Slavonic]. It was the first post office amongst our Galician settlers in the whole of Canada that was designated by a completely Ruthenian name. I was the postmaster of this post office and myself christened it Wostok and looked after it until 1912.[iii](Fig. 2) {26:large}
Already at the turn of the 20thcentury, post offices with Ukrainian names started to appear everywhere on the prairies, proudly representing the local settlers’ identity. To further promote this trend, a Winnipeg based Ukrainian newspaper Український голос (Ukrainian Voice) explained the importance of such an undertaking:
How to Establish a New Post Office or School
When at your farms or in your village they are opening a new post office, or organizing a new school and have not yet named it, then at the christening always give it a name that would show that you live there … People who settle in the area have the right to name the post office and school however they wish. And when your post office or school is already named with a foreign term that you do not understand, you can change it and give it a better name – your own. You only have to make an application to the government and gather signatures of local people who wish to make the change.
In choosing a name make use of the following names, or find another one, but so that the name will indicate that Ukrainian people live or lived there. For example, you can name a school, or a post office: Orly, Bohun, Taras, Maidan, Rada, Zaporizhzhia, Mazepa, Kyiv, Halych, Dnipro, Karpaty, More, Gonta, Kotsko, Orel, Franko, Ruta, Kalyna, Postup, Baida, Kuty, Dnister, Prut, Step, Tatran, Selo, Baidak, Lira, Boian, Smereka, Volia, Ostap, Rybak, Hohol, Levko, Voron, Osa, Mak, Lypa, Kosar, Revun, Sirko, Smutok, and so on. It is best to choose short ones.[iv](Fig. 3) {29} {small}
We don’t know much about the day-to-day life of the Wostok post office. There are, however, quite a few stories preserved about the Edna post office that was operated by Ed Knowlton. Young Iwan Nimchuk was a regular customer of Knowlton’s. He arrived in Canada from Galicia in 1897, and his family settled in the same Edna-Star area as the Nemirskys. In his memoirs, Nimchuk painted a vivid picture of the settlers interacting at the Edna post office. Ed Knowlton also ran a general store (where, as Nemirsky claimed, locals were skinned heartlessly), “and was in charge of a telegraph office, the only link with the rest of Canada”[v]. This post office also had a postmistress, a Ukrainian woman called Marysia. Marysia left her husband Mr. Temniak for Ed Knowlton. Nimchuk recalled meeting her abandoned husband, as well as Marysia herself:
… he talked about his wife, Marysia, who had left him and lived common-law with an Englishman who operated a store and post-office in Edna. His name was Ed Knowlton. One day I went to Edna post office and store where the above-mentioned Marysia was. They had a little supply of patent remedies on hand and I asked her if she could give me some kind of salve for my thumb. She looked through the assortment of tiny containers and picked one.[vi]
Nimchuk commuted to the post office regularly, bringing letters from Edna to his family and neighbours, all the while learning English and landing jobs on nearby farms. These visits to Edna even turned into a small business opportunity for Iwan and his father:
Often on my way back from the post office I stepped in to a homesteader and inquired if they had any shoes for repair. They would gather up all the worn out shoes and say, "here look them over, and see what you can do”.[vii]
In the pioneer period, post offices served a multitude of purposes. A post office was, of course, a place where letters from the Old Country, so eagerly awaited, were received and replies were mailed. It was also a place to meet neighbours and chat with them, both compatriots and members of other ethnic groups. From the post offices, networks were spreading through rural areas, connecting Ukrainian settlers with other homesteaders. Here casual employment could be found, or a deal struck. And in some cases, it could become a place where romance started and flourished, as it happened for Marysia and Ed Knowlton. Finally, of course, post offices with Ukrainian names played an all-important role in shaping Ukrainian-Canadian identities, and becoming visible signs of Ukrainian settlement in Canada. (Fig. 4) {31:large}
A “Bowing Letter” in Ukrainian Pioneer Culture in Canada
Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Canada in the 1890s and early 1900s were mostly peasants, many of them illiterate or semiliterate. Back home, they normally did not write or receive letters. Their extended families lived nearby. They celebrated the most important life events together and were ready to help in times of hardships.
The Ukrainian peasant in Canada was not, of course, totally unaware that such things as letters and letter writing existed. Generally speaking, however, these were looked upon as something exclusively reserved for the educated, upper classes: the clergy, the wealthy nobility, and assorted professionals. … The Ukrainian peasant, then, exhibited something of an awesome respect for letters and the ability to write them.[viii]
When a member of a family was absent for a long time, because of, for instance, military service, it was customary to write to the whole family a so-called “bowing letter.” Such letter was not meant to be informative; rather it was expected to follow a set form:
It begins with the religious greeting: “Praised be Jesus Christus,” to which the reader is supposed to answer, “In centuries of centuries. Amen.” The greeting has both a magical and a moral significance. Magically it averts evil, morally it shows that the writer and the reader are members of the same religious community. There follows the information that the writer, with God's help, is in good health and is succeeding, and wishes the same for the reader and the rest of the family. … Finally come greetings, “bows,” for all the members of the family, or from all the members of the family if the letter is written to the absent member. The enumeration should be complete, embracing at least all the members who still live in the same locality, if the family is already scattered.[ix]
Sending and receiving such a letter was a ritual. It confirmed that the family was still united despite the physical separation. It was written to, and therefore read aloud to, the whole family; in accordance with the letter-reading ritual, the listeners answered greetings and returned bows as if in person.
A noticeable feature of the Ukrainian “bowing letter” was a detailed description of the letter-writing process, emphasising the importance and even solemnity of it. The process was embellished with rare, for peasant everyday life, objects: an armchair, a writing feather, and white paper. It also drew on folk imagery, describing the letter’s long travels over the ocean and search for the addressee. A letter sent by Heorhii Nehro from Canada to his sister back home in 1913 gives a fine example of this type of writing.
From my first word I am sitting down in an armchair, taking out white paper, speaking with my sister, from behind the high mountains, from the deep waters I send this letter, go, letter, across the sea and over the mountain, and the blue waters, and bring news to my sister, go, letter, wandering, looking for my dear sister, and when you come to the yard, bow to your feet, and when you come to the lowlands, then bow as if from close by, and when you come to the threshold, then bow as if to God, and take your heart in both hands, [to show] that your brother is bowing to you, that you might be healthy, my dear sister, and I bring you news, that I am healthy, and that whatever health that I have, then that health I wish for you … my dear sister Domka, and I write to you Domka, that I sent you 30 Levs, that you asked me to send you, because you want to buy a kiptaryk[traditional short sleeveless vest] for Easter...[x]
Not everybody was as talented a letter writer as Heorhii Nehro. For those who needed help in composing their “bowing letters”, pre-printed letters were available from, for instance, a Ukrainian bookstore in Montreal. Two such letters survived, one is addressed to brothers-in-law, another – to a sister. It is quite probable that pre-printed letters to other family members also existed.
My Dear Brothers-in-law;
I am far from you behind the mountains, behind the seas; but there is not a day that I do not think or yearn for you. Today I am taking advantage of some free time I decided to write you a few words about my life and situation here abroad. Now I give You greetings, and I give You a firm handshake through this letter, because the long road [away from home] does not permit me otherwise. I also greet all our kin, neighbours, and acquaintances, and embrace You in my thoughts holding You closely to my heart and wish You good fortune and good health and the best of getting along and to live many years. The most urgent of my wishes is to return to You and live together with You. Because of this great distance I am unable to do this, because I wish to accomplish that I pursued in these beyond the seas lands – so I am taking a pen in hand and I am writing to You on the other side [of this page] about my life and adventures here abroad.[xi](Fig. 5) {32:large}
This pre-printed letter gives a distinct separation between the “necessary” elements of a “bowing letter” printed on the front side of the sheet, and the more personal “unnecessary” information to be written on the back.
The letter to a sister is different, it is written in verse as a song. The song, as if being performed face-to-face, gives an illusion of temporary reunion like the handshake in the previous example. This letter, however, doesn’t include a long list of bows: it is written to one of the younger female members of the family who doesn’t represent the whole kin.
Dear Sister
White swan, my dear sister,
That you might live your life with great luck,
In good fortune, unchanging, quiet, innocent,
Hot in love, not guilty in labour,
Bright like a star, beautiful like a rose,
Clean as the sun, like lucky fate,
Pretty like a violet, like an enchantment of rosemary,
This I wish You today.[xii](Fig. 6) {35:large}
Not all of the pioneer letters adhered to the traditional form of a “bowing letter”. The ritualistic value of a letter faded in the face of new challenges of Canadian life and a necessity to inform and warn fellow countrymen about the hardships of immigration.
My beloved wife!
I am writing to you my beloved wife, and to You, my dear son Georgy, greeting and wishing You happiness and good health and with my Holy Easter greeting: Christ is Risen! I send You news, that I am healthy here, and wish You the same. I am working here and care about You and am sending you 130 Levs. But I am writing to You, so that you know that no one here gives money away for nothing. The work here is so hard that I cannot sleep at night, because my hands hurt so much. Here a man does the work of a horse, and a horse does the work of a devil. There I was in winter at work in the forest and the skin on my feet peeled off because of the frost. You hear that money is sent [home] from these wages, but You should hear how many cripples there are because of the factories here and how many have died! And people will walk for jobs over 400 miles. Canada was glorified to us, but whoever came here has burst out crying here. And I entreat You, my wife, keep the farm there and manage, and don’t listen to anyone that [says] you should go to Canada, because there is no reason to be here. People who are on farms travel to work for wages; they do not have their own bread. Perhaps you might get a letter, [stating] that you should go to Canada, but don’t go, because there are speculators here, that might write for You [to come] and I would not even know about it. But I am writing to You, that You should not go, because I will return home. [xiii]
For immigrant communities, a family photograph played a very similar role to a “bowing letter”. Evan Gushul, whose parents Lena and Thomas Gushul were running a photo studio in the Crowsnest Pass area in Alberta, remembered one very special type of service the photo studio provided:
… We did a lot of reproduction work, photo reproduction. People would bring in a picture from the Old Country, and they would say, “now look …, this is my brother, sister whatever or this is my wife and here is my kids I wanna be on the same picture. Put us together. I want you to dress us up in Canadian clothes.” So, he would bring along an Eaton’s Catalogue. And he says, “now look I want that dress for the girl, and I want this for this one.” There you go into the cutout business, and you’re dressing these people up. You’ve got unmatched image sizes and everything else. So, you’ve got to do all this type of work and bring them all to proper scale and then he might say as a last resort, “oh well, I would like that kind of a background, instead of just plain,” or something else. … When you composed them, when you put them together, once the images were all the right size, and the backgrounds laid, and everything, well then you did the copy. When the guy picks up his work and the tears stream down like this you know you’ve satisfied [him].[xiv]
The wedding photograph of Mariya Kurejczuk and Stefan Rusyn is a fine example of such “early photoshop” technique. Both Mariya and Stefan were from Galicia, Mariya from Zbarazh and Stefan from Wola Michowa. They married on May 11th, 1924 in Montréal. Shortly after the wedding, Stefan left to work in the coalmines in Timmins, Ontario and later in St. Colomban, Quebec. He died quite young from a lung disease, as many coalmine workers did. Genia (Jennifer) Boivin, a great-granddaughter of Mariya and Stefan, tells the story of this photograph:
The photo shows Mariya’s parents, Anton Kurejczuk and Franciszka Niewidoma and Mariya’s sisters: Aniela, Vikta (Viktoria), and Jozia (Jozefa – Josephine). It was taken in Ukraine in 1924 and sent to Canada by Mariya's parents. They purposely left a space in the back so Mariya and Stefan could “add on” their own photo, as if Mariya’s family was present at their wedding. This is the only photo we have of the entire family. Mariya never saw her parents and sisters again (Fig. 7 and 8). {37} {38}
Thus letters and photographs served as powerful media capable of overcoming borders and distances, and uniting families.
How to Write Letters
In 1914, the Ukrainian Bookstore in Winnipeg published Як писати листи (How to Write Letters), a guide for writing letters, both business and personal, with parallel text in Ukrainian and English. The book had a number of reprints, the last of which dates back to 1951.
This book was compiled by Rev. Maxym Popovych Berezynsky (1878–1948). He was born in the village of Yaseniv, Brody district, in Galicia. After graduating from the school in Brody, he continued his education at the Lviv university. In 1906, he arrived in New York City, where he was recruited by Ivan Bodrug, one of the leaders of the “Independent Greek Church,” which existed under the Presbyterian patronage. One of the most important goals of this movement was “to integrate or ‘assimilate’ Ukrainians into Canadian society,” as well as to “change the peasant immigrants’ values, perceptions and lifestyle for the better.”[xv]Berezynsky moved to Winnipeg, entered the theological department of the Manitoba College, and soon was ordained as a preacher[xvi]. He proceeded to translate to Ukrainian and compiled a number of publications under the name of Iasenivskyi(Ясенівський), intended to educate Ukrainian settlers in Canada. Among his works was the above-mentioned book, How to Write Letters[xvii](Fig. 9). {40}
For an immigrant arriving in a new country, mastering a new way of life may start with the simplest skills: how to write an address on an envelope or where and how to post a letter (Fig. 10). {43} How to Write Letters starts with elementary instructions: it explains the difference between white paper and, for instance, mourning paper with a black border; or between typed business letters and handwritten personal ones; it suggests the use of black or blue ink and instructs to reply right away. It also gives samples of different types of letters, in some cases quite specific for life in rural Canada, such as the letter “To the Secretary of the Department of Interior” regarding homestead fees (Fig.11). {45:large}
It also has a section dedicated to letters of love and friendship. This section is almost entirely borrowed by Rev. Berezynsky from Alfred B. Chambers’s The New Century Standard Letter-writer[xviii]published in Chicago in 1900. This book was still quite a new publication when Berezynsky arrived to the New World in 1906. He made only a few minor adjustments to Chambers’s letters: shortened some of them, replaced original names with Ukrainian ones, and added addresses.
For Ukrainian names, Berezynsky provided English equivalents: Mykhailo/Michael, Iosyfa/Josephine, Ivan/John, Iliarion/Harry etc.[xix]Through this, he promoted the adoption of Canadian names, which completely contradicted the Ukrainian Canadian intelligencia’s efforts to promote the use of original Ukrainian names. For instance, an article “Уживайте своїх iмен”(“Respect your Names”) in Український голос (Ukrainian Voice) instructed: “This is a sign of great ignorance when relatives call children Dzhan-ami [Johns], Mer-ami [Marys], Keid-ami [Katies], Dzhim-ami [Jims], Shtif-ami [Steves] etc. Why not call ourselves by our own names? Are foreign names better?”[xx]
While adding addresses, Berezynsky used both Canadian ones (in Winnipeg, Montreal, Saskatoon, Regina, Lethbridge, Fort William, etc.) and ones from the United States (Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Buffalo, etc.). In this way he attempted, on the one hand, to bring love letters and the Canadian style romance closer to home, on the other hand, to suggest an existence of a larger Ukrainian immigrant community in North America, and a possibility to find a groom or a bride beyond the Canadian borders but not necessarily in the Old Country.
Each letter in Berezynsky’s book is supplied with a favourable and unfavourable answer. The whole section leads a reader from the first meeting, to a request to address a lady by her Christian name, to expression of romantic feelings for her, and ultimately to a marriage proposal. There are also multiple scenarios presented and, therefore, different sample letters supplied: from “a gentleman of small means”, “a middle-aged gentleman to a young lady”, “from a widower to a widow”, “to a wealthy widow”, etc. And, of course, polite and reserved letters that courting couples exchange become affectionate and sweet after the engagement: the betrothed exchange gifts and photographs, call each other “dearest” or “my own darling” (Fig. 12 and 13). {47:large} {49:large}
Berezynsky’s book was quite popular. Numerous copies from different collections show that they were well used and well loved, and probably served not only to learn how to write letters, or how to write letters in English, but also as a courtship and relations adviser, or even as an entertaining read, sort of a love story in itself.
“Letters are to be addressed…”
During World War I, connections to the Old Country were interrupted for many Ukrainian Canadians: international postal service was disrupted, boundaries in Europe moved and addresses changed. The first letter that came from Ukraine after the war had a special significance: it came from “Ukrainia” – the Ukrainian National Republic. Український голос (Ukrainian Voice)[xxi]reprinted an article from The Montreal Daily Star, published on February 6, 1919:
Receives letter from Ukraine
The Montreal Daily Star, Feb. 6, relating the contents of a letter received from Ukrainia by Mr. Tatariwsky, says,
Mr. Tatariwsky, a licensed collector and claims agent of this city, has received what is supposed to be the first letter to come to the city bearing the stamp of the Ukrainian National Republic. It is also interesting to point out that the letter is uncensored under the new Government in that country. The stamp issued by the new republic is considerably larger than Canadian postage stamp and bears the inscription: “Ukrainian National Republic, 50 Shahi [Shahs[xxii]] November 5, 1918.” The reverse of the envelope, which appears to be an official one, has a picture of a soldier, evidently as a mark of respect and honour for the men who delivered Ukrainia and made her a free republic. The letter states that the labourers in the new republic get 15 roubles per day, or in Canadian currency about 7.50$. It is pointed out, however, that a pound of meat costs 10 roubles, a pound of soap 8 roubles, and so on, in ratio, so that the labouring man has no money for himself, after he has purchased the necessities of life.[xxiii](Fig. 14) {51}
Detailed instructions on how to address letters to the new Ukrainian National Republic followed:
It Is Now Possible to Write Letters to Halychyna and Bukovyna
The Post Office recently issued a notice that it is now possible to write letters and send them directly to Halychyna and Bukovyna. It is only possible to send ordinary letters, because neither registered letters, nor parcels will be accepted. Letters are to be addressed: Eastern Galicia, Ukrainia, or Bukowina, Ukrainia. For more certain delivery of letters one must clearly provide the village, last post office, as well as the povit [county] and province. The cost of a letter is 5 cents, when a letter is heavy 7 cents. It is necessary to provide the name and address of the letter sender on the envelopes. [xxiv]
Even though very soon the addresses changed again, this short period played an important role in the lives of Ukrainian Canadians. As for the letter writing, it survived interruptions of Soviet censorship and the Second World War, and continued to be a lifeline for the diaspora for years to come.
[i] Chantal Amyot and John Willis,Country Post: Rural Postal Service in Canada, 1880–1945 (Gatineau, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2003),44.
[ii] William A. Chumer, Recollections about the Life of the First Ukrainian Settlers in Canada (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1981), 61, 97.
[iii] Theodore Nemirsky’s Journal, UF2005.022, Box 10, Porayko-Kyforuk family collection, Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 129.
[iv] “Як закладаєте нову почту, або школу,” Український голос (Winnipeg, MB: Trident Press), Квiтень 10, 1916.
[v] Reminiscing with Dido. A Diary Written by John Nimchuk, 2002, Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 100.
[viii] Robert B. Klymasz, “The Letter in Canadian Ukrainian Folklore,” Journal of the Folklore Institute6, no. 1 (1969): 40–41.
[ix] William Isaac Thomas and Florjan Znaniecki, The Polish peasant in Europe and America (New York: Dover Publications Inc.,1958), v. 1, 304.
[x] З “Нового краю”. Листи українських емігрантів з Канади.Зібрав і упорядкував, написав передмову О.І. Сич (Едмонтон: Видавництво Канадського інституту українських студій, Альбертський університет, 1991), 48.
[xi] Ibid., insert between 28 and 29 / вставка між сс.28-29 / insertion entre les pages 28 et 29.
[xiv] Interview with Evan Gushul, July 2, 1981, Glenbow Archives, Rct-356.
[xv] Orest T. Martynowych, Ukrainians in Canada: the formative period, 1891–1924 (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1991), 214, 215.
[xvi] Олександер Домбровський, Нарис історії українського євангельсько-реформованого руху(New York – Toronto, 1979), 254.
[xvii] M. B. Iasenivsʹkyi, Letter Writer, or How to Write Letters, or, The Newest and Most Practical Ukrainian and English Letter Writer/ М.Б. Ясенівський. Українсько –англійський листовник, або Як писати листи (Winnipeg: UkrainianBookstore, 1914).
[xviii] Alfred B. Chambers, The New Century Standard Letter-writer: Business, Family and Social Correspondence, Love-letters, Etiquette, Synonyms, Legal Forms, etc.(Chicago: Laird & Lee, 1900).
[xix] Iasenivsʹkyi, Letter Writer /Ясенівський, Листовник,54–55, 70–71, 74–75, 82–83, 60–62.
[xx] “Уживайте своїх iмен,”Український голос, червень 6, 1917.
[xxi] In 1919, Українськийголос (Ukrainian Voice), as many other newspapers published in “foreign” languages, was still printed in both Ukrainian and English to provide easy access for censorship purposes (20 “enemy alien” Ukrainian newspapers were closed completely). Jeff Keshen, “All the News That Was Fit to Print: Ernest J. Chambers and Information Control in Canada, 1914–19,” Canadian Historical Review73, no. 3 (1992): 336.
[xxii] In 1918, the Ukrainian People’s Republic issued the karbovanets, a new currency that consisted of 200 shahs.
[xxiii] “Отримав лист з України,”Український голос, лютий 19, 1919.
