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There’s plenty of people in eastern Europe that didn’t leave the town where they were born in 1900, and yet lived in 4 or 5 counties over their lifetime.
That reminds me that I still haven’t figured out which country my ancestors emigrated from. I know the town and the year, but I haven’t found a reference that could tell me which country it was actually in at the time.
Are you being serious? What’s the name of the town?
Actually, I might have been misreading the census document I was getting this info from: it lists place of birth, not necessarily where they were most recently living before emigrating.
One great-grandparent was born in Kalisz, the other in Volhynia. They emigrated in 1902. The town I was thinking about was Kalisz, but they appear to have been living in Volhynia circa 1902 because one of their kids was born the same year, and that birthplace is listed as Volhynia.
Also, they were German-speaking, not Polish or Russian or whatever.
I’ll be honest: the main reason I was interested was to check if I were eligible for EU citizenship by descent, and once it seemed like the answer was “no” for this branch of my ancestry (regardless of which country they were previously citizens of), I kinda stopped trying to figure it out.
Probably the Russian empire
Having some time to look at this, for the Kalisz-born ancestor, you would probably have to claim Polish citizenship if anything (unless your surname suggests something else). The family might have been all over Europe during WWI, and very likely their parents from Austria-Hungary given the proximity to that part of Poland and speaking German. So you would be looking at doing a lot of census tracking, before and after WWI for any deeper info.
If you looked at Ukraine citizenship right now you might end up getting conscripted (though I doubt that).
The family might have been all over Europe during WWI
That part of my family was already in the US well before WWI, in 1902. Their surname is German, BTW.
There was a different great grandfather who was naturalized in 1933, but for him I have the naturalization form that just tells me he was from Poland.
I really ought to continue with it, and look into the ancestry on my mom’s side.
Mukachevo in the 20th century:
- -1920 Austria-Hungary
- 1920-1938 Czechoslovakia
- 1938-1944 Hungary
- 1944-1945 Czechoslovakia
- 1945-1991 USSR
- 1991- Ukraine
And whose fault was that?
Well, the Ottomans to start with…?
and why can’t i put my feet up in my computer chair and is it their fault too?
100% yes
Godsdammit someone should get to the bottom of this or Osman the first, long may he reign, will surely make heads roll.
get with the times old person, they’re making office chairs with footrests now, and they also make XL chairs that you can sit cross-legged in. and if you have enough money you can also just hire somebody to make you a unique exclusive chair. clearly your issue is no money.
… and if I had also been born in 1780, perhaps we could’ve banged each other…
And they’d be right to do it!
