Flight from Scarcity. Why They Came.

A translation of Mr. Wasyl Ewanciw’s words from the “Free Cossacks Anniversary Jubilee Book of the Ukrainian Civic Center of Rochester, New York”, pages 261-262, published in 1970, can be read below:

In 1902, the first emigrant, Hrynko Pakula, who with his courage crossed the bridge between Putyatyntsi and Rochester, encouraged others to do the same. A total of 320 people arrived in Rochester. It is possible that a certain number, in addition to the number mentioned, settled in other cities in the United States, but in general, it can be said that there was not a house in the village from which one or even two members of the family did not leave.

A small part of our peasants went to other countries in search of work, mostly Germany, but their stay in those countries was not long. After six months or a year, having earned some money, these people returned to the village.

Others left the village with whole families, on so-called parcellations. Large landowners sold their land in distant villages at cheap prices, so someone who had too few acres in a high priced region (like Rohatyn County) would sell those and move, as a way to increase his landholdings.

However, there was a risk in this action, because the acquired land did not always turn out to be fertile. Sometimes the newly acquired land would have to be sold again and the peasant family would return to the village with a loss. Everyone was looking for their own happiness or rather a way out of the poverty our peasants were in. This explains the mass migration of people to foreign countries.

The situation at that time was such that only a small part, that is, a few people, had larger fields, and the rest consisted of medium and very small farms. There were also many who had no fields at all, but only a hut and a garden near it. Peasants with limited or no land were plentiful. In contrast, the Polish Lord in Putyatyntsi, surnamed Torusevich, had twice as much land as the entire village combined. He opportunistically scooped up even more land when the peasants were forced to sell due to their great need. The Polish Lord did not care at all how the disenfranchised and defenseless peasant would live on.

The hopeless situation pushed people to emigrate. They left their native village with the idea that after a few years, having earned money, they would return, buy land and build a house to replace the old one, which was completely falling apart. Truthfully, these dreams were not realized, for the most part.