The Andrew Kalyniuk Family - by Alexander Kalyniuk

The Paul Kalyniuk Family - by Alex Kalyniuk

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The Andrew Kalyniuk Family - by Alexander Kalyniuk

The Andrew Kalyniuk family came to Silver Creek Municipality from Sorotsko, Ukraine in the spring of 1900.  They homesteaded on section S.E. 1/4 22-20-26 the same year.  This section is situated near the village of Angusville.

The earliest settlers passed this one quarter up as it was covered with a large stand of white and black poplar, too hard to improve.  As my grandfather came from a country where wood and fuel was scarce, they were delighted with the timber.

Their first living quarters was dug in a bank of soil 15 feet by 12 feet with a roof put on in which they lived for two year.  By that time, my grandfather was able to cut enough logs and season them for a two-room log house.  This was quite an improvement from the first one.

There wasn't any railroad and most of the settlers went to Shoal Lake for their supplies by ox team or by horses.  But they had a post office and a store four and half miles away.  At that time it was known as Snake Creek on section 32-20-26.   It was owned by Mr. Newton.

Clearing the land was back-breaking work.  It was all done by hand with grub hoe and axe.  The first piece was cleared for the garden.  Then Mr. Kalyniuk went to work the first year at Oak River for a farmer.  His wages for the summer was a holstein cow and forty dollars.  Mrs. Kalyniuk used to go one mile south during the summer to work for the McTavish family in her spare time for exchange for a clucking hen and a set of eggs, as in those day hatcheries were unknown.

The second year Mr. Kalyniuk worked closer to home and in his spare time cleared six acres of land.  The third year was his first crop of wheat.  It was all cut by hand and tied.  It was threshed by a flail two sticks joined in the middle which were swung over the head and brought down upon the sheaf.

The Kalyniuk farm was across the road from Lizard Point Reserve.  The Indians wore their hair braided and some fancy costumes.  But they never gave our grandparents any trouble.  I remember one instance when I was visiting my grandparents on a weekend late in the twenties.  This one Indian got some fire water in town and on the way home to the reserve tried to come in the house.  He kicked on the panel in the door.   Then he tried to put his head in.  My grandmother laid him out with a piece of wood.  She did that a few times.  In the meantime, one of my uncles ran to town to get the law.

Mr. and Mrs. Kalyniuk raised a family of nine, six daughters and three sons.  Only three daughters and one son are living.  Mrs. Rose Zink, Angusville; Mrs. Agnes Yarmey, Melford; Mrs. Lena Franko, Wynyard and Frank on the old homestead.

The Andrew Kalyniuks were members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church at Lake Dale which they helped to build.  Mr. Andrew Kalyniuk died in 1928. Mrs. Kalyniuk died in 1945.

THE PAUL KALYNIUK FAMILY - by Alex Kalyniuk

Paul Kalyniuk came to Silver Creek Municipality in the spring of 1900 with his parents from Sorotsko, Ukraine at the age of 12.

At the age of 13, Paul went out to work for Anthony Seebach of Seeburn district where he worked for seven years.

Mrs. Katie Kalyniuk came to Canada in 1904 from Sorotsko, Ukraine. Mrs. Kalyniuk worked in the Queen’s Hotel in Russell for four years before they were married in 1908.

Paul Kalyniuk homesteaded nine miles northeast of Rossburn in 1908, the year the railroad came to Rossburn and Angusville.

In the year 1913 they sold their homestead in Rossburn Municipality, then moved to Silver Creek Municipality. They bought the S.W. 14 32-20-26 from Mike Mushmanski at the price of twenty
dollars per acre. They were faithful members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church at Lake Dale parish and later of Angusville.

They raised a family of six daughters and two sons which are all living: Mrs. Tony Drosdosky, Russell, Man.; Mrs.Pete Santa, Port Arthur, Ont.; Mrs. John Katchin, Angusville, Man.; Mrs. Alex Drodosky, Manitouwadge, Ont.; Mrs. Dan Kodlosky, Angusville, Man.; Mr. John Kalyniuk, Angusville, Man.; Mr. Alexander Kalyniuk, Angusville, Man., who still has the old Kalyniuk farm. Mr. Paul Kalyniuk died in 1951 and his wife in 1963.