The Ukrainian Village of Nastasiv (Nastasów)

I’m just finishing a class in Research – Ukrainian Ancestors with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.

I took that course for two main reasons: my step-grandmother, Tekla Halaszyn, was from a village in Ukraine and some of my Polish relatives once lived in the territory that is now Ukraine and so their records are located there.

During the course, I tried to find the name of the village where Tekla Halaszyn was born. Her immigrant passenger manifest provided the answer: she was from Nastasów, now called Nastasiv, near Ternopil’, Ukraine.

I looked for the village of Nastasów in the Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavonic Countries) and found quite a lengthy description of the village.

Słownik Geograficzny Entry for Nastasów

Source:  Sulimierski, Filip, Chlebowski, Bronisław, and Władysław Walewski, eds., Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavonic Countries) – Warsaw 1885, Volume VI, page 927.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Slownik Geograficzny Entry for Nastasow. Translated from the Polish, the entry reads:

Nastasów, village (town?), Tarnopol Powiat [District], 16 kilometers to the south not far from Tanopol, it lies on a hill 195 meters above sea level, it borders with Łuka, Myszkowice, Czartorya, and Mikulińce on the east, with Zazdrość on the south, with Bohatkowce and Kupczyńce on the west, with Chodaczków, Draganówka and Bucziów on the north, it lies on the so-called Świniucha creek, which flows in the fields of this village and in Strusów it flows into the Seret river.

It has fertile soil, black-earth fields, treeless surroundings, vast territory.

In this part, which belongs to the main grange [large manorial farmstead] located in the village, there are wheat fields, while the Ludwikówka grange to the south of the village towards the border of Zazdrość borders with the so-called Strusowski steppes in which all the surrounding villages still have a considerable piece, also the land here is steppe despite the deep black earth, but is damp and cold, boggy and is influenced by the winds drawn from the east, and so there is rye.

The expanse has more than 1250 mórgs [1 mórg in the Austrian partition = 1.422 acres] of arable land, 149 mórgs of meadows and gardens, 15 mórgs of pastures, 20 mórgs of forests; the manor has 4928 mórgs of arable land, 244 mórgs of meadows and gardens, 119 mórgs of pastures.

There is population of 439 Roman Catholics and there is a parish there.

The origins of the church are uncertain, in deeds however it has become known that it already existed in the year 1701; in the year 1729 Stanisław Potocki expanded the grant.

Franciszek Potocki established a residence for the Jesuits here in the year 1728; a masonry church with amazing pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary was dedicated in the year 1839 under the protection of Our Lady Conceived without Sin.

To this parish belong: Bohatkowce about 7 kilometers away with 65 people, Buczniów and Serdynki about 7 kilometers away with 685 people, Chodaczków about 7 kilometers away with 1527 people, Józefówka about 4 kilometers away with 279 people, Kalasantówka about 10 kilometers away with 47 people, Kupczyńce about 10 kilometers away with 262 people, Maryanka about 5 kilometers away with 169 Roman Catholics; the overall number is 3468 Catholics.

There are 2056 Greek Catholics, there is a parish there belonging to the Trębowla deanery in the Lwów diocese.

There is a full-time school with 2 teachers; a second full-time school with one teacher in the hamlet of Ludwikówka; there is a lending bank with 1950 Rhenish złoty in Austrian currency; a pond on the creek and a mill on the pond.

The result of the calculation of the population on 31 December 1880 is as follows: total population 2944, among these are 1471 men, 1475 women, 1619 unmarried, 1155 married men and women, 441 Roman Catholics, 2400 Greek Catholics, 103 Jews; as for employment, there are 6 merchants, 60 craftsmen, 1703 farmers, and 54 servants.

According to the registrations of animals prepared at the same time, in Nastasów there were 18 stallions, 397 mares, 331 geldings, 85 moose cows, 49 mules, 1 donkey, 9 bulls, 364 cows, 12 oxen, 193 calves, 19 buffalo, 838 sheep, 340 pigs, and 521 beehives.

At this time there were in Nastasów 5 butchers, 1 grain merchant, 1 leaseholder, 3 tavern owners, 1 trinket merchant, 3 stall keepers, and 2 speculators.

This village was formerly located in the Ruś [Ruthenian] Województwo [Province], Halych Land.

Kuropatnicki in his Geography mentions this saying: “The village is very settled”.

After the Potockis, it [Nastasów] passed to the family of Count Jabłonski; in the end Ludwik, after the death of the only son Stanisław in the year 1882, ceded it to the property of his nephews residing in Tarnów.

                                                                              Bolesław Rozwadowski

That’s quite a lot of information. The translation still needs work, and I have to check the spellings of the names of the villages mentioned, since many of the village names were inflected in the Polish.

And I need to look this up on a map of the appropriate time period. And I need to check the Family History Library Catalog for microfilmed records, since the parish church was located in Nastasów. And I…

Well, all in good time.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko