My maternal grandfather is Iwan Mulyk. He was born on July 6, 1906 in Horozhanka in Western Ukraine, right on the line between Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions. Iwan died on September 22, 1994. He died when he was 88 years old.
Before Iwan left Germany, he fathered a daughter, Anna, in 1946, who is my mother. Iwan then arrived from Europe in New York City in 1950. I’m not sure exactly what he did from 1950 to 1994. He died in 1994 in Chicago, Illinois.
Ancestry says that when Iwan died he had a wife, Kateryna, and a son, not named. That son would be my half-uncle. He would be my mother’s half-brother. I believe that son might be John Mulyk, born 1955. I think John then had a daughter, Nicole Mulyk, about 1980, who married Josh Skelly in 2013. Nicole would be my half-cousin. I have contacted Josh Skelly to figure out the details. Note that the area the Mulyk family lives in in Chicago is the “Ukrainian Village” area near the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic church.
Here is my information on Iwan Mulyk.
Iwan Mulyk arrived in the US from Germany in 1950, departing via the port at Bremerhaven, Germany (the same port my mother and grandmother left from, although my grandmother and mother didn’t get to leave until July 1, 1951 on the USNS General Sturgis). Iwan’s ship departed Bremerhaven on March 26, 1950 and arrived in New York on April 4, 1950. They made a rough guess at the birth year here.
In New York, he settled in at 223 East 7th Street, New York City. He was 43 years old at the time. Note that the ship details say that Iwan was “Widowed” here.
Here’s another version of Iwan’s ship records. In it he says he was widowed. I don’t believe Iwan ever married my grandmother Eva, and she was certainly still alive. So maybe Iwan was widowed before he met Eva. It would seem unlikely (although not impossible) that in the short years between 1946 and 1950 he met another woman, married her, and then she died.
This part of New York City was called the “Ukrainian Village”.
Going back in time, Ivan was in Augsburg working on a German farm. You can see the birth date of July 6, 1906. This registration card is from 1949.
This next record from 1948 says that Iwan Mulyk was born on July 9th, 1906 in Horoschenka. In situations like this it’s common for a person giving a verbal answer to a question to be mis-interpreted. We assume the Germans mis-heard, due to his accent, the July 6th, 1906 birthdate answer he gave everywhere else. This is especially true because they wrote down “Horoschenka” as his birth location which is not an actual town.
For a while I thought Iwan had actually said “Horodenka” as that is what we had in our records. However, after more research, I think what he actually said is “Horozhanka” which is a better phonetic match. Horozhanka is also in western Ukraine, it’s about two hours (by car) north of Horodenka, but more importantly, it is well known for the Mulyk family line.
Here is info on Mykhailo Mulyk who was born in this area in 1920 (so 12 years after Iwan) who was considered a national hero. Mykhailo’s father’s name was Ivan Mulyk. I don’t think “our” Iwan fathered Mykhailo, but it seems likely it was the same family group. Mykhailo wrote eight books and died in 2000 at the age of 99. The family is long-lived.
We also have another “son of Ivan Mulyk” from this same region, Myron Mulyk, who is the CEO of the PRYKARPATY REGIONAL CLINICAL CENTER OF MENTAL HEALTH. So he may be part of this same family.
https://declarations.com.ua/en/declaration/nacp_0bb26b0f-d612-42bf-8658-091731c97b0a
Which then leads us to a younger Myron Mulyk from this same region, who may be related.
https://www.facebook.com/mulikmiron
This next record says Iwan was from “Horozonka”. Again, the Germans writing this down are trying to interpret his accented words. It again makes it likely that his actual birth town was ” Horoschenka”. They also got his birthdate incorrect as June 6, 1906 (instead of July 6). This record appears to be from 1949.
Going back a bit to 1944 Iwan Mulyk was in Regensburg Germany. Regensburg was about a two hour drive from Augsburg, to the northwest of Augsburg.
I’m not sure where Iwan Mulyk was from his birth in 1906 in Horoschenka Ukraine to his arrival in Regensburg, Germany in 1944. That is 38 years.
