PERSPECTIVES: UNA Branch 102 - a hundred years! (09/29/02)

PERSPECTIVES

by Andrew Fedynsky

UNA Branch 102 - a hundred years!

Dmytro Szmagala was 16 when he left home in 1913 to come to the United States. With few jobs in western Ukraine and little land to go around, times were tough. America symbolized opportunity. Still, it took a lot of effort and an enormous leap of faith to get there. Emigrants first had to get to a port on the North Sea, then sail the Atlantic to Ellis Island and from there take a train to one of the 300 towns and villages in Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois and elsewhere that fellow immigrants had settled. Many thought they'd go home someday, but whatever their intentions, most never saw their relatives again.

For all the opportunity in America, life for the immigrant wasn't easy. You can see that from the reports that the Ukrainian National Association (UNA) issued to the members of Branch 102 in Cleveland. In December 1912, for example, the UNA reported 17 deaths, including four from industrial accidents. Two men in Johnstown, Pa., had been scalded to death, another in Perth Amboy, N.J., was crushed on the job. In New Britain, Conn., a worker was killed by a train. In each case, the UNA paid the widows and children $1,000.

Examining these 90-year-old reports, you'll find lots of tragedy: each month, at least three workers died in industrial accidents. In January 1913, there were five: "killed in a mine - $1,000"; "killed on the job - $1,000," etc. There were other tragedies: in Treskow, Pa., a man was shot to death. In Newburgh, Ohio, a woman died in childbirth. Two months later, a Pittsburgh woman died the same way. Many lost eyes or arms. There were also the usual deaths from tuberculosis, appendicitis, infections, typhoid, etc.

These reports, printed on a single sheet of paper, went to all the UNA branches. The ones I looked at had most likely been posted in the basement hall of the newly constructed Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church on West Seventh Street. That's probably where Dmytro Szmagala showed up soon after he got off the train.

Jobs were plentiful, but the saying that man does not live on bread alone was painfully apparent. Once in America, immigrants had to cope with the perversities of the English language, the indignities of crowded apartments and the taunts of neighbors who called them "greenhorns." The only English Mr. Szmagala knew was, "Please sir, need job."

In a hostile environment like that, it was only natural that immigrants would associate with those who spoke their language and worshipped in the same church.

Providing each other with moral and financial support, as well as friendship and social contact, the immigrants banded together in fraternal associations. Ukrainians formed several. The first and oldest one is the UNA, founded in 1894 in Shamokin Pa. The organization grew quickly. Cleveland's Brotherhood of Ss. Peter and Paul, founded on October 18, 1902, was the 102nd branch. By 1913 there were 350.

Membership was a $1 a month; 79 cents of that went for insurance; 10 cents was for the daily newspaper, Svoboda; 7 cents for a reserve fund; 3 cents for the Education Fund and a penny for the poor. You also received a colorful certificate that featured pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Taras Shevchenko, along with the stars and stripes and the blue and yellow banner of Ukraine.

Members also benefited from each other's company. Lifelong friendships were struck. People patronized each other's businesses, helped one another get jobs. They celebrated marriages and mourned at funerals.

Not long after he arrived in Cleveland, the UNA took in Dmytro Szmagala as one of its own. At first, times were good; then they got bad. A group picture from a Branch 102 picnic in 1935 shows Dmytro holding a little boy. This was at the height of the Great Depression. People were frightened and poor. No doubt, the branch members - looking serious and grim - supported and encouraged each other, getting many a brother and sister through a tight spot. That was true in UNA branches around the country.

By 1941, with war on the horizon, Mr. Szmagala was an established businessman. He also became an officer in the UNA, serving as a supreme advisor, a position he held for a quarter century. When he finally retired in 1966, his son Taras - the little boy in the picture - took over, serving as a UNA officer for nearly 30 years. Taras, Jr. - Dmytro's grandson - was a UNA Advisor for nearly 10 years.

Another one of Dmytro's grandsons, Daniel Bobeczko, is now president of Branch 102 in Cleveland. Dan's mother, Mary Szmagala Bobeczko, has been recording secretary for 102 for the past 20 years. As for Dan's father, Nicholas Bobeczko, his story and the story of Branch 102 are virtually one and the same. He has been a member since 1921 and financial secretary since 1947.

Branch 102 started in 1902 with eight members. A decade later there were 92. Today there are more than 300. Over the past century, there have been thousands. During that time, members provided leadership and service to Cleveland's Ukrainian community. They helped to build national homes, establish schools, churches, a senior citizen center, a cultural garden. Generously, they sent money to Ukraine for cultural causes like Prosvita and or educational ones like Ridna Shkola. After the second world war, they helped a new generation of immigrants get settled. A great number of those also became UNA members and just as many in the "old immigration" had done, leaders among the "new immigrants" stepped forward to dedicate their lives to the association.

This is a proud history, one that began in all the big and little places where Ukrainian immigrants first realized that they were a community and saw the benefits their families reaped, helping each other within the context of traditions and values they brought with them from the old country. That's why the original eight members started UNA Branch 102 in 1902 and why so many others joined them in the years that followed.

Soon, many UNA branches will be commemorating significant anniversaries. What an opportunity to celebrate and reflect! In Cleveland, Branch 102 will celebrate its centennial on Sunday, October 6 at 1 p.m. with a reception at the Ukrainian Museum-Archives. Please join - in person, if you can, or online at www.umacleveland.org, where documents, photographs and certificates referenced in this article are displayed.

So, happy anniversary, Branch 102! May your members continue to serve each other and the community for another hundred years.

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