Theodosiy Talpash

 - Luka's eldest son

Summary:

·    born on 28 October 1859, in the village of Labowa

·    served four years in the Imperial Austrian Army

·    2 April 1884 arrived in New York's Ellis Island immigration centre

·    4 April 1884 travelled to Shamokin, Pennsylvania 

·    worked as coal miner, bartender/bouncer, grocer, hotelier

·    married Anastasia, had five children: Olga, Jennie, Helen, Ann and John

·    active initiator of church, social and community organizations

·    4 February 1894, in Shamokin, was elected founding President of The Ruthenian National Association, later known as the Ukrainian National Association

Biography:
Theodosiy Talpash was born on 28 October 1859, in the village of Labowa, in the Polish-administered province of Galicia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At age 20 Theodosiy began his compulsory military service; he served four years and two months in the Austrian Army and in the Gendarmerie. He saw action as Austrians put down unrest in Bosnia between Moslems and ethnic Serbs. He finished off his service as a personal servant to a Brigadier-General.  When Theodosiy was completing his military obligations, his General stated that if he himself were a young man, he would leave to seek adventure and fortune in America.

On 13 March 1884 Theodosiy left Labowa for good. On 2 April 1884 he arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Rugia, of the Hamburg-American Line, its point of embarkation listed as Hamburg. (Information from "New York Immigraton Passenger Lists 1820-1943, a book of the Church of Latter Day Saints which lists the National Archives Microfilm Roll 474 Passenger Lists 11 Mar 1884-12 Apr 1884 FHLibrary Film 1027044") Among the 1167 passengers on board, the handwritten Passenger List included Passenger #406, Theodor Talpasch, age 25, Farmer, Citizen of Austria, in cabin II, carrying 1 bag, in transit to points west. (Note that this date, his given age, all correspond well to census dates and ages, so the dates and ages in his "Recollections" are inaccurate.)

After clearing Immigration at Ellis Island, he set out for Shamokin, Pennsylvania on 4 April 1884.  Theodosiy worked as coal miner for Baumgardner and Douty, at the Enterprise Colliery for a number of months, but soon took up other employment. Because of his size, strength and natural street-smarts, he became a bartender-bouncer in the Vanderbilt Hotel. Furthermore, his decent, fair and congenial nature earned him the trust of his fellow immigrants. He came to be very active in social and community organizations.

Self-help welfare programs were needed for the young coal miners who frequently had terrible injuries in the pits, and were far from their family support systems. After several unsatisfactory attempts at social organization by the Pole-dominated Roman Catholic Church, a Ruthenian (Lemkian, Ukrainian) grass-roots initiative called The Ruthenian National Association, later known as the Ukrainian National Association, was founded 4 February 1894 in Shamokin, Pennsylvania. Theodosiy Talpash was elected its founding President; he spent the next year organizing workers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey at his own expense. He promoted unity, education and improvement of material security of members through insurance policies managed by their own organization. In the next term, 1895-96, Theodosiy served as the RNA Vice-President, and sat on the Board as Councillor after 1896. He was still active and highly regarded, well into the 20th century, because he presided over the 13th Annual Convention of the Ukrainian National Association, held in Buffalo, N.Y. on 7-12 Sep 1914. The official organ of the organization was the first Ukrainian language weekly Svoboda, which became influential and very widely read. Svoboda, and the English-language Ukrainian Weekly, are still published under the auspices of the Ukrainian National Association. (Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol V. University of Toronto Press. pp403-404.) Theodosiy was also one of the organizers of the Ruthenian (Ukrainian) Catholic Church in Shamokin.

In the mid-1880s, Theodosiy brought brothers John and Benedyk to Pennsylvania, and finally, when their father Luka died in 1887, he helped bring the rest of his siblings except for his married sister Maria, to America. He was a sportsman of note and loved to go on big-game hunts.

Vol. I, line 3646, in the Catalogue of Naturalization Papers for Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Index A-Z 1854-1913 FHL 961534, lists Thalpash, Theodore, Age 30, Declared Intention 22 Jan 1890, Admitted (Naturalized) 19 Sep 1892.

About 1891 married Anastasia, a 19 year old recently-arrived Ukrainian girl. They lived in the north half of a two-storey duplex at 244 Pearl Street, and ran a boarding house/restaurant in the south half of the building. (There is an amusing advertisement in a Ukrainian language newspaper promoting the T. Talpasz restaurant and hotel at 246 Pearl Street, for its friendly service, tasty sheep cheese, and beer, at low prices).  In the US Census of 1900, Pennsylvania Enumeration District 151 Sheet 22 Line 21, he is listed as Talpash, Teodore, White, Oct 1859, age 40, living at 244 Pearl Street, Shamokin with wife Annie age 26, and daughters Holga, Eugenia, Ellie, and sister Stefinea, born July 1880, age 19. In the 1910 Census he is listed as living at 320 Sunbury Street, Shamokin. This is one of the two entrances to a handsome three-storey brick building which was the former Vanderbilt Hotel, 318 Sunbury Street. When the owner of the Vanderbilt Hotel went to England in 1912 he happened to book passage back home on the Titanic and never returned. Theodosiy helped the widow run the tavern, but soon took proprietorship. At that time Shamokin was a boom-town, with several coal mines, many banks, full employment and steady flow of cash. Saloons were open 24 hours a day to accommodate the three shifts of miners.

He and Anastasia had five children: Olga, Jean (Eugenia), Helen, Ann and John. Jean's twin brother (Eugene) died shortly after birth, and another unknown son died of diphtheria.

In the 1920s, Shamokin coal mines suffered from strikes, and the Great Depression of the 1930s furthered the economic decline, which has continued to today. The Talpash familly moved to New Jersey. The daughters left home for school, entered professions, and married. Theodosiy and Anastasia Talpash moved to Brooklyn, New York City, to where daughter Jean lived. Jean and her husband  owned brownstone apartments near the Greek (Ukrainian) Catholic church there. Theodosiy  helped with the gardening and care of the rental properties. He died in 1937; Anastasia in 1948.

At some point the spelling of the surname changed from the Polish rendering of 'Talpasz,' to better conform to English orthographical conventions; in the US Census of 1900, and in all documents after that, the spelling was  'Talpash.'

(Information and documents available from US Census files, in historical documentation of Businesses of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, a book on Pioneers of New York, and oral reports of nephews and granddaughters.)