Memoir of Mrs Wasylyna Koshman Gorman Stuartburn Manitoba Canada

Memoir of Wasylyna Koshman Gorman

A good friend and helper to my Great Grandmother Wasylyna Gorman of Stuartburn, Manitoba were Mrs. Anne Sherman and her husband, Alec.

In April of 1974, Mrs. Sherman honored my Grandmother by written down her story and then publishing it in the Carillon News over two issues.  Just recently I requested permission from the Carillon News to publish this story and was given the go ahead.

     There are many stories of the early pioneers in southeastern Manitoba.  Ours, after all, is a new land.  But while everyone is vaguely familiar with a few of the hardships encountered by our forefathers, we forget that living among us today there are still some who were here from the very beginning.

     Mrs. W. Gorman of Stuartburn is one of these.  She experienced the trek from the Ukraine to the Canadian wilderness in 1899 as a 14-year-old girl and participated in the settling of a new country.  Today, still in good health despite her 89 years, she lives in her neat cottage in Stuartburn where she still carries her own firewood and water.  Her life story is simply told here by a close friend of Mrs. Gorman’s.  The Carillon’s Stuartburn correspondent, Mrs. A. Sherman.

A Dedication to the Oldest Pioneer of Stuartburn District.

Wasylyna Koshman Gorman &
Great-Granddaughter Mary Katherine May
1974

Carillon News, April 10 and 17, 1974

Transcribed by Mary Katherine (Koshuba) May, great-granddaughter of Wasylyna Gorman

     Mrs. Wasylyna Gorman celebrated her 89^th birthday January 20 at her home.  Her immediate family, of whom most live in the U.S.A., were unable to be with her for this occasion but some neighbors visited with her that afternoon.

     Having got to know her real well over the past 16 years as a neighbor and dear friend, we along with other old and new, hold a great deal of respect for this dear old lady.  

     Though a small lady only four foot ten, she has a charming personality, is broad minded and always very considerate.  She still has a wonderful memory and is a talkative person, thus a few hours visit with her at any time always goes by all too fast, whether it be everyday conversation or facts about her life or that of others in the past, it is always very interesting.

     Because there are so few people with such clear recollections of the past 75-80 years, I decided to write in brief about her very interesting life.

     She was born in the village of Synkiw, Ukraine, and as a young child she used to babysit with her two younger sisters, a tiresome job for a child who just loved to get outside and play with the neighborhood children while her parents worked in the village fields, planting, hoeing, and later harvesting the garden.  A small garden was planted at home, the balance of the gardens were put in outside the village.  The poor people worked for those better off.

     Being so tired of caring for her sisters at home, Mrs. Gorman used to wish she’d be old enough to go out working in the fields.  That day came soon enough.  When she was 10 years old, she was asked to go along with her father.

     After a day of hoeing she decided that staying at home was much easier, but that was not to be, as her father said this was only the beginning and would continue for the season.

     There were daily pangs of hunger, before mother brought their dinner, consisting of borscht and kulesha (cornmeal mush) or bread, or something similar.  Certainly there wasn’t much variety.

     Mushrooms were picked throughout the summer in the wooded area owned by the rich man of the village, which was also guarded.  To get these mushrooms or a small bundle of kindling one either paid for it or took a chance to get into the woods without being caught (the latter was done mostly).  Fish was plentiful and used a great deal as other meats such as pork or chicken were hard to come by.  Fish was dried for winter use.

     Almost everyone owned fruit trees and the fruit was oven dried for winter use.  Potatoes, beets, dry beans and peas—if they had barrels, sauerkraut and dill pickles—were the winter’s source of food supply along with cornmeal.

     Wheat flour did not exist in the poorer homes too often but Stephan Koshman (Mrs. Gorman’s father) was a hard-working man and he always found something to do (which included encouraging his young daughter in a pleasant way to keep her on the hoeing job every day) and so kept his family well fed and comfortable.

     His jobs included cutting silage at 20¢ a day, brick laying (bricks made of clay plaster), thatching roofs, hoeing, harvesting (scythe cutting) and he was very good at making Easter eggs, so that before Easter he always had quite a job on hand.

Leave Ukraine in 1899

     In 1899 Mr. and Mrs. Stephan Koshman with their three daughters, Wasylyna, 14 (Gorman), Anna (Mrs. Strimbitski), mother of Mrs. Effie Klan of Emerson) [and Miss Mary Strome of Winnipeg], Maria (Mrs. Feniuk of Roseau River) [mother of Wasyl], along with 12 other families left the village with such necessities as dried bread, clothing, pillows, heavy home-woven covers, and vegetable seeds.  They were taken by horses and wagon to Chernovtzi, the nearest town with a railway station.

    Traveling by train Mrs. Gorman recalls the cities of Crakow, Lviv, Berlin (in the latter city they were treated to buns and oranges; oranges they had never seen before) and on to Rotterdam from where they boarded a ship and were Canada bound. Records show point of departure as Liverpool, England

     Families that made the trip together to the new country were Mr. and Mrs. Wasyl Tanchak (Tanczuk) and three children, Mr. and Mrs. Wasyl Firtash and two children, Mr. and Mrs. Tanasko Wakaruk and three children, Mrs. Vasylyna Firtash, widow with two children, Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Zoporozan and one child, Mr. and Mrs. Hnat Ewonchuk and four children, Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Kohut and four children (Willie Wachna’s maternal grandfather, Ridgeville), Maksym Smook (single, Mr. and Mrs. Wasyl Maruschak, newlyweds (Mrs. Alex Buck’s parents), Mrs. I. Pupeza (elderly widow), Mr. and Mrs. Mihay Toffan and two children (Mrs. Wm. Chubaty’s parents), Mr. and Mrs. Petro Maruschak (Petro served as elder in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Stuartburn for many years), and Mr. and Mrs. Stephan Koshman and three daughters.

All Sea Sick on Voyage

     During the two weeks ocean voyage all were sea-sick.  On the ship their food consisted of potatoes in jackets, boiled or baked, meat, butter, buns and coffee.  Mrs. Mahay Toffan had a keg of cheese along, and she handed out bits to others aboard the ship, which Mrs. Gorman says was a real treat.

     Upon their arrival in Winnipeg, June 1899, the newcomers with their families were given lodgings in the Winnipeg Immigration Building which was infested with lice.  For their beds they had hay on the floor to sleep on for a couple of days and then were sent by train 11 miles out of Sifton where three large tents were set up (there were several other immigrant families) and three large stoves for cooking.

     No one had ever seen a cook stove before (in the old country they were hand made out of mud plaster) and seeing plenty of room in the oven, this is where they built the fire, until they were shown different.

     Here again they had hay in tents for their mattresses with a few families sharing the tent.  The tents were set up next to a railway station and store house on high land, while all around they were surrounded by deep water.  Here they stayed for three weeks with a very meager supply of food.  This consisted of flour and salt.  The flour was rationed to them and all they could buy was a soup canful of flour at 5 cents a can.  Three times a day a family was able to buy this, to make a dough, pinched into pieces and boiled in salted water for food.  Smaller families shared their supply with larger ones.

     After three weeks they were brought back to Winnipeg.  They argued with the immigration officials who were bound to send these immigrants to the Dauphin area but they insisted on coming to the Stuartburn district as this was where some of their former friends and neighbours had taken up homesteads two and three years earlier, and had written letters saying they were well off and happy.  Having stayed another two days in Winnipeg they were then sent by train to Dominion City.

     There they were met by John Kulachkowsky and Wasyl Bzovey (grandfather of  Paul Bzovey of Tolstoi) by ox teams to further transport their families and belongings.  Upon their arrival in Stuartburn, middle of July (12) each family was taken in by a family already previously settled in small, crudely built homes, mostly one room and none too big.  There were wooden beds and hay for mattresses.

First Homes Built of Logs and Clay

     Those first homes were built of hand cut logs, clay plastered, sod covered roofs and no ceiling.  Sod roofs were a protection against grass fires.  Windows (two or four small glass panes) were bought in Dominion City and doors were handmade, mostly to keep down the cost.

     The new arrivals found out that their friends were far from being well off, but all these folks had high hopes, strong determinations to make the best of it; they were willing hard workers, and happy because they were close together again.

     The Koshman family was taken in by Mr. and Mrs. John Kulachkowski (Mrs. Elsie Smook’s grandparents of Vita) who came to Canada two years before and themselves were a family with five children to share their living quarters till the following spring.

     Some began to build homes immediately while others chose to go to work for farmers, harvesting out of Dominion City and Letellier  way.

     Lucky were those that had a milking cow for they had some milk.  Coffee, bread, sugar, kulesha, rice and home-made macaroni was the food that winter.  Flour was brought in by oxen and wagon (only a few owned them then) from Dominion City or Emerson, at $1.10 a bag of flour plus 10 cents a bag for transportation, a 20 or 30 mile haul, 20 bags to a load.  A day to get there, one day to rest, and the third day to get back.

     Hand made wooden traps were set out in the bush to catch a prairie chicken which would be attracted by some food set in the trap.  This was a means of acquiring fresh meat.

     To begin with, gardens were still very small as it took a while to get settled.  Poplar trees were cut and carried by shoulder for building a hut to live in.  A shelter was built in preparation for a cow or two and a team of oxen soon as one was able to afford to buy.  Wood had to be cut for winter’s supply of fuel, and gardens had to be made.  Before long, ploughs were bought by some and these in turn were hired by others to break land for gardens and gradually some grain seeding.

     Mrs. Gorman recalls how one lady brought six cloves of garlic to Canada, planted it and had six heads, this she shared with other ladies for future planting.

     Mr. Koshman put up a winter’s supply of hay by hand and scythe, and bought a cow in the fall of the same year they arrived for $30.

     The first wedding that Koshman’s attended after their arrival in Canada was in the winter.  It was when Mr. and Mrs. John Ewonchuck (Anastasia Salamandyk) were married.  For this wedding they were able to buy meat from the Indians for 50 cents a bushel measure, which was cooked in broth and real tasty. 

     The couple married were the parents of Mike Ewonchuk, formerly of Rosa (there are many others in the family, I’ll mention one).

     Flour that those people in the early days bought was nutritious and turned out lovely bread.  Mrs. Gorman, though only a child of fourteen, learned the art of making kolachi (braided round bread) from Mrs. John Kulachkowsky.  This she has done all her life and still makes them very well.

     The first post office here was built and operated by James Ramsey and the first small grocery stores were owned by a Frenchman named Houle and another by Frances Yeo.  Those early Ukrainian settlers patronized Yeo’s store as here they were able to buy either big or small quantities (mostly it was the latter) of sugar, salt, rice or flour, coffee were also  available, and salt pork.

     One day that first fall here Mrs. Koshman alone with her three children while the husband was out working, cooked a big batch of kulesha.  Taking it and the children with her they went to visit the home of Michael Panisiak (parents of Mrs. Dokia Bozyk, Gardenton).  It was noon hour, so Mrs. Panisiak milked the cow, heated the milk and they all enjoyed kulesha with it.  This is how the neighbors constantly shared what little they had, says Mrs. Gorman.

     In the spring of 1900 Stephan Koshman took a cancelled homestead for $30.00, the farm where the Plankey Plains Ukrainian Catholic Church is now situated, built their home on the south half and moved his family from Kulachkowsky’s.  Their new neighbor was Frank Millar (Fern Horobetz’s Dad) who farmed the place later owned by John Bialkoski.  Mr. Millar was a very good neighbor, he also spoke Ukrainian so that it brought a real closeness between him and the Koshman’s who could not speak any English.

The Early Years Were Hard

     While Stephan cleared land and began ploughing it, his wife began digging the plentiful Seneca roots with her older daughter, while the younger ones herded the few head of cows.

     They covered a lot of ground digging these roots as far as the Hosick and Grier places out Woodmore way and other directions.  After a day of digging they would have a flour bag full plus an apronful to carry home.  This they dried in the sun and sold it at Jack Ramsey’s, 2 pounds for 25 cents cash.  Later when Theo Wachna’s had opened their store here, they were able to get 15 cents a pound when buying groceries or other goods.

     Wachna’s had a room where the Seneca root was stored, and at times the customer was allowed to dump the Seneca root out of the sacks. However if the weight seemed heavier than it usually was, it was tended to by the Wachna’s.  In one such instance there was a nice-sized rock found in the roots when they were dumped and someone’s face turned red.

     A stove was built of clay with a length of pipe split open for the top unit a better stove was bought.  Outside bake ovens were used for baking delicious bread.  Small gardens were planted and the following year a bit of seeding was done.

     It was also in the spring of 1900 that Sam Gorman, 22, a former acquaintance of the Koshman’s arrived from the Ukraine and came to visit them.  Before long he asked to marry their daughter Wasylyna who passed 15 in January and she was betrothed by them without having any say herself and there were no courtship days.

She Delivered Her Own Wedding Invitations

     Sam worked away from home during the summer months, returning in the fall to be married.  Mrs. Gorman’s matron of honor was Mrs. Kost Machnee and her bridesmaid was Anna Panchyshyn (later Mrs. Mihaj Rybuck).

     On November 8, one and one-half years after coming to Canada, Wasylyna remembers wearing high-laced boots (then the style) which she had bought at Wachna’s store for $1.40, having sold Seneca roots, set out with her bridesmaid, to go form home to home (on foot) over icy patches but not snow, inviting neighbors and friends up to eight miles away from home. The invitations were done three days before the wedding.

     For her wedding day Wasylyna wore a cross stitch embroidered three-quarter length gown (sorochka) with a woolen wraparound skirt called horbotka.  Her headpiece was of dried flowers and green leafed sprays picked in the bush (Barvinok) decked with a gold paper-like substance called pozlitka, braided into a fine wreath to fit her head.  Beads and fine beaded choker (Gordian) were her jewelry.

     Being a cool time of the year though there was no snow, she also were a three-quarter length embroidered leather (sheepskin inside) coat brought from her native country (a kozuch).

     Sam Gorman’s attendants were Steve Horbul (Mrs. Nowolski’s dad) and Bill Toffan, a cousin.  They were married by Rev. Fr. Polywka  in the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

     The first church built by the early Ukrainian settlers was on the site of the present cemetery alongside the highway two mile east of Stuartburn.  Inside the church was a small altar with a holy picture and two candles.  The church log wall cracks had been filled with moss to keep out the wind by Mrs. Wasyl, Mrs. John Probizanski, Mrs. Nazarko Panchuk and Mrs. Sam Pidhirny, (the latter Mrs. John Rekunyk’s mother).

     Since a priest in these days came only a few times a year, there were 11 couple coming her from many miles around to get married that day.  All traveled by ox team.

     Those that Mrs. Gorman knew that day were Mr. and Mrs. John Salamandyk, nee Vasylyna Panchyshyn (mother of Mrs. George Lakusta of Vita) she still lives in Winnipeg, and Mr. and Mrs. Fochak (nee Paraska Saranchuk).

     A wedding reception followed at the Koshman home that Sunday with about 10 couples attending.  A pig had been butchered for this occasion, also borsch, holuptci, bread, and boiled prunes served as dessert.  Generally, three kolachi (braided bread) and a decorated evergreen of about 2-1/2 to 3 feet in height were set on the wedding table and if this was not available then a substitute like a cherry or other tree was used.  Marigolds or other dried flowers were used as tree ornaments.

     The couple were presented with $14.00 by their family and friends.  Refreshments were made of browned sugar, vinegar, and water.  For three and a half years the newlyweds shared the small dwellings with her parents.  It was here that their daughters Kay (Katherine) and Anne were born.

     Sam worked for farmers during summer months to make a few dollars while his wife dug Seneca roots.  Later she had to give up working on the side like this as the family came along and she to keep house and cook while her mother and sisters did the earning.

     Her thoughtful father would dig some Seneca root while he took a break to graze the oxen and when he came in for his dinner he’d watch over the babies so that Wasylyna  could get away for an hour’s digging near the home.  Before long she would have a few pounds of Seneca to sell at Wachna’s store and she’d buy three yards of material for a much needed skirt.  Happy she was with it.

     Girls went to work during the first years in Canada.  In Winnipeg they were paid form $1.50 to $3.00 a month for housework. Mrs. Katherine Probizanski  (Jean Horbul’s  mother), when still single worked for these wages.

     Presently the bush is bulldozed; the early settler used an axe and grub hoe to get the tree out root and all at 50 cents a day.  A few years later when the steam threshing machines came into operation, the mean earned $1 a day.

     Summer meant employment, but winter months brought single men and those that left their families behind in Ukraine, turning to relatives and friends to spend the winter months with.  These boarders usually paid $5 a month for room and board.

     I’d like to add here, that I too recall these boarders at our home.  One winter there were four men boarders besides our family of five.  Often I think back how mom scrubbed those long fleece lined combination underwear on a scrub board and pearl naptha bar soap, and boiled the white clothes for whiter appearance.

She’d make high stacks of pancakes for breakfast that disappeared within minutes.

     About 1903, men of the surrounding neighborhood held meetings in the homes in regards to choosing a spot for a cemetery.  Men attending included Nick Didychuk, Harry Goy (grandfather of Mrs. Mike Tkachuk), Steve Horbul, S. Koshman, Jack Pawloski, father of Pete Pawloski, Winnipeg, N. Polischuk (Mrs. Cherwaty’s father), Mike Nawolski, Oliksa Tkachuk (Jack’s dad), Dan Horbul, J. Gorman and Sam Gorman (husband of Wasylyna).

     Jack Pawloski agreed to donate an acre of land and so did Stephan Koshman, but they soon were to find out that there was a road allowance between the two farms.  The first membership fees were 25 cents and another acre of land was bought from Jack Pawloski where the land was quite a bit higher.

     After three and a half years living together with parents a home and other buildings were put up on the north half of the Koshman farm.  This portion of land was given to Wasylyna by her dad and so Gorman’s moved into their own home.

     Hard work continued in clearing land, and so did the digging of Seneca root, summer and fall, five days a week.  Saturdays were set aside for washing, baking bread, mending, sewing a garment by hand for children’s everyday  wear.  Some of these jobs got done during the week if there was a rainy day.  Butter too was churned and taken to the store four miles away (walking) and sold at 10 cents a pound.  The cost of breaking land was $3 an acre, one week’s wages working out for a farmer.

     The wife always helped the husband in the field during the haying or harvest time.  Small children were left alone and checked on every so often.  K. Machnees let Gormans have the use of their tin heater until they were able to buy a cookstove.

     Hordes of mosquitoes were discouraged by smudge [pots] built for cattle in the corral and in a a pail set next to the house door.  Working in the field, poplar or other branches were carried in hand to brush mosquitoes off oneself, and the team of oxen or horses, often times one of each made up a working pair.

     Besides a cow that they had, a heifer was bought for $20 and a team of young oxen at $14 each. A team of 3 year-old trained oxen were $90, a great deal of money at that time.

     The first telephone system put up from the Morden-Sprague highway towards Roseau River going past the Plankey Plain school to the Tom Pott residence was in the year 1910.

     A blacksmith shop (a small shack) in Stuartburn, was first set up by Frank Pawloski on the spot where Al Schnieder now have their garden. Later he set up shop where Joe Horobetz has his blacksmith shop now.   Mrs. Pawloski did sewing for others, charging 25 cents for a blouse or skirt and 15 cents for children’s shirts.  People did a lot of walking in those days and Mrs. Gorman says that her sister, the late Mrs. Maria Feniuk, often walked the four miles to Stuartburn over rough country roads with her child in the baby carriage.  Taking butter and Seneca root with her, she brought back groceries on returning.

The rest of the Gorman children were born on this small homestead: Bill, John, Peter, Mary and Harry.

     In 1920, Gorman’s decided to buy the former Jack Pawloski farm from Theo Wachna which was $2,100, with a $500 down payment.  Luck was against them when 30 acres of wheat was a failure due to rust, for two years in succession.

     The third year they had 40 acres of rye which yielded well.  Mr. Gorman left for Ontario to search for a job in early spring, while his wife tended to the farm chores with the children.  Son Bill, 16, with the aid of his uncle Feniuk harvested the rye crop.

     With the $100 sent out by her husband Mrs. Gorman sold geese $1.00 - $1.25 each, some chickens and pigs to pay $116.00 interest on the money still owing for the farm also buying winter shoes and clothing for the children, and awaiting her husband’s return with more money.  Very disappointed she was when he got home with 34 cents in his pocket.  This meant losing the farm, so they sold their horses and cattle and left for the U.S.A. in 1923.  Stephen and Michael Gawronsky, friends went in search of jobs too.  The family boarded a train at Tolstoi for Emerson, crossed at Noyes, Minnesota, and on to Minneapolis where they rented a two story home at $25.00 a month and besides their family of six (Their daughter Kay was married to Sam Wakaruk before they moved) they took in 10 boarders to mention a few they were, Sam and Bill Wakaruk (the latter now lives in Winnipeg), Stephen Lobur, Pantaley Pupeza, Mike Hrabchak and Harry Machnee.

     For Mrs. Gorman it meant getting up at 5 a.m. to get breakfast and lunches ready, and the days work was spent with the usual household routine, baking, washing over a scrub board and tub, ironing with the old type sad iron and getting supper ready for all. Gas stoves were in use then.

     Mr. Gorman worked in a coal foundry for $20 a week. Son Bill got a job at the paper factory and John with a box factory.   (Bill stayed with the same company till 1969, when he retired.)  Two years later Mrs. Gorman was convinced by neighbor ladies to send her washing out to a laundry (damp wash) to lessen the work load at home and to take a job at the recycling paper factor. She still rose at 5 a.m., had supper ready before she left for work at 4 p.m. till midnight.  Working  6 ½ days a week at $12.00 a week.

     As the saying goes, “It was the last straw that broke the camel’s back” and after working two years at the factory, Mrs. Gorman too seriously ill.  That ended her working out and also had to quit keeping boarders.

     After five years in the U.S.A. where they had gained new friends and good neighbors (I might add Mrs. Gorman was a helpful neighbor too, for when called upon in her little spare time she used to go help the Panchyshyn family pick cucumbers to be delivered to the pickling factory.)

     Mr. Gorman said that they would be moving back to Canada. Only their two younger children, Mary and Harry, came back to Stuartburn with them to buy a farm from Joe Nawolski 2 ½ miles NW of town and to begin farming again, with horses.  They bought cattle, raised pigs, geese, ducks, chickens, (always had plenty of soft, plump feather pillows for herself and the family) and living next to the river it was ideal soil for a bountiful garden, along with a lot of hoeing to keep the weeds down.  There was always plenty for their own use, to sell some and to hand out to needy neighbors.

     Potatoes were had by a couple of double boxful (wagon).  One load sold at Nick Dolynchuk’s store at Tolstoi at 25 cents a bushel.   When unable to sell they were fed to livestock.  Cabbage grew up to 16 lb. heads and sold at 5 cents a head, onions 1 cent a pound, never less than 2-3 jute bags.

     By this time Mrs. Gorman had learned to make sweet pickles and the always abundance supply of cucumbers were also put up into 40 gal. barrels of dills. (Mothers of a large family knew where to go for dills in late spring when their supply round out.)  Done up in a barrel they had a taste that the jar dills cannot compare with.

     Sauerkraut was also done up in a barrel for winter use.  Beets, peas and carrots grew well too, and Mrs. Gorman recalls one year in earlier life when she planted 10 lbs. of dry beans that yielded 7 sacks-full.  Threshing them by hand was quite a job for her.

But working hard was what she knew all her life, her children were all born at home with the presence of a midwife and every case with plenty of suffering.

     Those attending her at different times were Mrs. Romaniuk of Tolstoi, Mrs. Wasy Sirman, Mrs. Kost Machnee.  While milking a cow one day she was kicked and sent flying.  Shortly after, her son Peter was born. He became badly swollen.  Mrs. Johann Toews (mother of the late Peter Toews) was present and suggested that this baby be kept in a tub of warm water and that the water be splashed over his head and face constantly.  Within two-day’s time the swelling disappeared and the baby was a healthy boy.

     Mrs. Gorman was very often called upon by neighbors and friends to assist in cooking meals, whether for a wedding or a funeral.  After her eldest daughter Katherine passed away at the early age of 29 years, Mr. and Mrs. Gorman took in their two motherless grandchildren.  Then in her fifties, she looked after the children, sending them to school, trying to raise them right.  She did a lot of cooking, and baking (money used to be scarce) but food was always plentiful in their home though getting it through milking, gardening and assisting her husband in the field during haying and the harvest season was far from easy life.

     These youngsters turned into fine people now living in Minneapolis.  Both Tony Wakaruk and his sister Eleanor (Mrs. Anderson) are always thoughtful of their dear grandmother.

     Despite marriages, the family still kept a closeness and the summer months in latter years on the farm always brought out vacationers.  They enjoyed the country sunshine, fresh air, and Mom’s good cooking.

     Twice Mrs. Gorman was involved in horse and buggy accidents.  In 1910 she was thrown off the buggy against a bar wire fence, receiving a deep cut to the throat and lesser cuts to the arms and shoulders.  This happened on the ridge at Woodmore.  A farmer’s wife put on a bread poultice to stop the bleeding and then she was taken home.

     A few years later, riding with son Peter, the horse bolted at the sight of a cyclist.  Peter was knocked unconscious and Mrs. Gorman had a dislocated shoulder and bruises.  The shoulder was set by Mrs. J. Toews. This time Mrs. Gorman had been on her way to help the ladies with church cleaning but she never made it there as the accident took place a short distance past the Stuartburn bridge.

     She has had her share of sadness, losing her father due to a tragic mishap, when an early spring grass fire swept into their farmyard, burning the stack of hay and barn. Mr. Koshman (her father) went into the burning barn to try and get the livestock out and he was burned very badly about his head and on his arms.  Dr. Waldon of Vita was called, but was unable to do anything except to bandage the affected part of his body.

     Mrs. Gorman changed the bandages and bedding (at her parent’s home) and prepared meals to serve to those visiting her ailing father.  The incident took place in the early night hours of Tuesday.  He passed away on Good Friday and was buried Easter Sunday afternoon.  No funeral home or undertaker service in those days, April, 1930.

     In September of that same year they lost their daughter, Mrs. Katherine Wakaruk of Senkiw, mother of two children.  In 1950, daughter Mrs. Anne Coates of Minneapolis who was here on a summer holiday, had a stroke and passed away within a couple of day.

     Retiring from farm life, the Gormans bought a home in the town of Stuartburn and moved in June, 1957.  It was Thursday that they brought some belongings and more on Friday, a very wet spring with water everywhere.  Early Saturday, as they sat at breakfast, Mr. Gorman had a bad stroke (his second) and passed away at his newly acquired home.

     Here now was Mrs. Gorman in a strange home amid unpacked boxes and everything in a turmoil.  But life goes on, and with the assistance of neighbors she gradually settled things after that sudden blow.  Six weeks after her husband’s death her granddaughter’s husband, Joe Koshuba, passed away in Minneapolis, and Mrs. Gorman made a train trip to attend that funeral.

     On Dec. 10, 1970, a telephone message from Minneapolis brought a deep sadness to her heart with the news that her oldest son Bill had passed away.  An airway strike prevented the 85-year-old mother from going to his funeral.  Instead, Mrs. Gorman with her neighbors, a few friends and nephew, Mr. and Mrs. Wasyl Feniuk, attended a memorial service at the Rosa Ukrainian Catholic Church with Rev. Fr. M. Dawydko officiating.

     Mrs. Gorman has never been hospitalized (she dreads hospitals) but goes in for medical check-ups.  Arthritis is bothering her but she does not give up easily and still plants a fair sized garden and is particular about the yard and that it is mowed regularly.  She manages to rake up the fallen leaves in the fall and harvests the garden by herself.  She likes cooking and baking.

     It’s touching to see her acquaintances of 50 and 70 years ago visit her.  They have had a great admiration for this lady throughout the years.  Only a few of these friends are left, among them: Mr. and Mrs. Steve Ewonchuk and Mrs. And Mrs. Andrew Pohrebniuk of Rosa who call on her for old time’s sake and admiration. 

     Among Mrs. Gorman’s many recollections are these.  The first year in Canada at Stuartburn a priest came to the home of Peter Majkowski’s (later owned by my father Sam Salamandyk) where people of the district came for confession one day, and attended a service and holy communion the following day, before Easter.

     One day Mrs. Gorman’s parents while grocery shopping at Wachna’s store heard about a certain young couple with three children (the wife was very ill) and they went in to see her.  They found the husband washing clothes without soap, as they had none and not much food, either.  Koshman’s went home to return in the evening with a supply of bread, meat, flour, etc., for this poor family and found them sitting in the dark.  The young mother being laid up in bed said they had no coal oil, that’s why no lights, but they were grateful to the Good Lord for the light of the moon and the shining stars.

     In those early years, this area had a lot of open spaces.  Trees were only in patches, and short brushes so that one could see a fair distance around, not like the well-wooded areas we have now.

     She also recalls one instance when a bride’s parents prepared for a home wedding and the groom never turned up.  There were no telephones, so the guests came, the food prepared was served and all went home.

     Another similar incident took place when the bride was making the personal home-to-home invitations.  A young man, being a guest at a neighbor’s home, took a liking to the bride to be (love at first sight) and with the aid of his host and wife they convinced the young lady not to go on with her marriage (a suitor chosen by her parents).  She agreed and did not even return home.  A team was hired to take the couple to Dominion City.  Taking a train, they eloped to get married in Winnipeg--a surprise indeed to all and worried parents when their daughter did not return home.  They found out soon enough, though, as news of that kind has a way of getting around.

     Because money was scarce and wild fruit including blueberries in this district around the 1900s was abundant, women picked the fruit, cooked it sugarless, and made it up into small quantities of jam, as they were able to afford the sugar.

     Mrs. Gorman’s son, John and family live in Warren, Michigan.  Daughter Mary and John Tallent and family in Sparks, Nevada, and son Harry in Winnipeg.

     Mrs. Gorman is unable to carry on a conversation in English but she gets along with daughters-in-law and sons-in-law.  Now she has 13 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren.  Many of them come out to visit grandma for a few hours or a few days and truly enjoy the time spent with her.  Former and present neighbors and friends, we too thing that Mrs. Gorman is a grand person.

Family of Sam Gorman and Wasylyna Koshman