Biographical sketch written by a granddaughter -FindAGrave member - ForgetMeNot - and memorial administrator of Alex and Katie Zaremba Gayda from decades of extensive research in American and Austrian-Controlled Galician church and civil records. Please be so kind as to retain the original attributions for the many photos of the Gayda/Zaremba families which were posted on this site.

Oleksa "Alex" M. Gayda was born 31 March 1887 near the hamlet of Gajdy near Czerce, Sieniawa, Jaroslaw District, Galicia, Austria under Austro-Hungarian Empire -controlled region of what is now Poland. The current day Ukraine border is only a short distance-about 10 miles- to the East. His parents were Mathias (b 1845 in Czerce- d: unknown )

and Marya neé Chodan (b: 1855- d: unknown; born in Leżachow, Jaroslaw District, Galicia, Austria) . While there is no proof what Alex's middle initial "M" stands for, it is highly likely it is "Mathias" after his father. Many area church or civil records for the 1880's were lost during the wars in the 20th Century, but research continues to find existing records.

In 1902, sixteen-year-old "Oleksa Gayda" who is listed as having resided at Manasterz (in ship's manifest and naturalization documents) departed Hamburg, Germany aboard the new express steamship of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie, the "SS Fürst Bismarck" boarding on the 14th of May 1902. It sailed out of the Hamburg harbor on 15th of May, and via Cherbourg and Southampton and arrives only 10 days later in New York's Ellis Island on the 24th of May, 1902. Oleksa, according to the ship manifest, is traveling with a cousin, Eva Doda, also from the same village of Manasterz, and Oleksa states he is joining his 'cousin' Mihaly (Michel \"Mike") Doda (also spelled Duda in the manifest) in Northhampton, Lehigh County, PA. The Mike Doda family and the Alex Gayda family eventually live near each other in Billings Cty ND. It appears that the other family he is traveling with is the Dymitri Choden family of Manasterz, perhaps as Oleksa was just 16 years old. Further research has revealed that Oleksa's mother was a Chodan, so the Chodan family is possibly an uncle or cousin to Oleksa. Another interesting manifest detail is that Oleksa Gayda age 16, Eva Duda age 17 , her sister Marya Duda 19, Dymitro Choden and wife Maria (who lists Michal Duda as her brother) and their son Ivan, ALL listed Michal Duda of Box 128, Northhampton PA as their destination, and all were temporarily detained for no ticket to their destination and lack of funds to pay for travel. Meanwhile, immigration agents sent a telegram to Michal "Mike" Duda to send funds for all 7 travelers to Northhampton. They were released on 28th of May, so spent 4 days detained on Ellis Island till these funds arrived from Michal Doda. One has to make the assumption that Michal Doda was somewhat affluent in order to have the significant funds available to send money for all seven relatives coming into America.

Proof has been found that the Michaly (Mike) Doda/Duda family left the US and returned to Galicia about 1903 where two of their children are born. The Doda/Duda family then returns about 1908, where they are found near Alex and Katie Gayda in Spring Creek Township. Billings County, ND in 1910. It is not known where Alex lived between 1903 and 1907, but is very unlikely he would have returned to Galicia with the Doda family, as he would have been subjected to Austrian Army Conscription after age 16, and penalties were very extreme for any male who left or tried to leave the country in order not to serve a mandatory term in the Austrian Army.

In 1907, Alex lives in Allentown, Lehigh County, PA at 146 Bridge Street . According to detailed historical maps, this was company housing for employees of the Allentown Coal Co. and the Crane Iron Company which was only 1 block East on the river. His future wife, Katharine Zaremba, also lives in that housing only a few houses away at 138 Bridge Street . Katharine "Katie" is a cigar factory worker as a cigar roller according to her marriage certificate and according to stories handed down by Katie personally as oral family history. Katie always enjoyed rolling cigarettes and cigars for her sons and sons-in-law during her lifetime-and beamed with pride when giving them a perfectly rolled cigar or cigarette.

Alex and Katie are married 20 July 1907 at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, 1343 Newport Ave, Northhampton, PA by Fr. Nestor Dmytriw, who was the first Ukrainian/Ruthenian clergy/scholar in both Canada and America to serve the religious needs of the Carpatho/Rusyn, Ruthenian, Ukrainian immigrants who still wanted to adhere to the Eastern Orthodox Catholic traditions.

The couple lived in Allentown, PA until August of 1908, when they moved West to Minneapolis, oral history is that Alex worked in the Milling district of Minneapolis as a "fireman" (one who shoveled coal or fuel into large industrial boilers or furnaces) and Katie worked at a boarding house at 22 19th Ave S, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA (address found in naturalization papers- it no longer exists today). Their first child, Mary, is born there in October of 1908. Second child, Anna, was born 10 Jan 1910 .

Soon after, the family moves West yet again, and appears in the 20 May 1910 census in Spring Creek, Billings County, ND. Very nearby is the Michal Mike Doda family, oral history is that Alex and Michal were half-brothers, however, immigration information on the ship manifest said that Oleksa called Michal/Michaly Duda "cousin", but no established proof of any familial relationship is known to date.

Alex and Katie arrived in North Dakota on 26 March 1910 according to Alex's official ND-filed naturalization application. Their third child, Tatiania, is born in Spring Creek Township in Billings County, ND, on 11 May 1911. In 1912 a son is born, John Donald Gajda, on the 19th Sept 1912. Alex filed his 'First Papers" in May 1912 in Billings County North Dakota for a second time. His first filing of First Papers- Letters of Intention to Naturalize, was in 1909 while they lived in Hennepin County, Minneapolis , Minnesota. Eight more children are born in Spring Creek Township, Billings County, ND. Alex filed for his first homestead in section 34-T142-R98, but that homestead was foreclosed upon in 1925 by a bank. Alex filed for another homestead on section 23-T142-R98 where he built another home and barn. In 1928, their barn was burned, also the first St. Demetrius Ukrainian Orthodox Church at Ukraina, ND and the first St. Peter and St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church at Ukraina was burned. While never proven as arson, oral history from the area recalls there had been much animosity and dissension in the region between the local and immigrant Latin Rite Catholic communities and the Eastern (Byzantine) Rite Catholic communities. Ironically, religious persecution was one of the biggest reasons Galician Ruthenian ethnic immigrants had for emigration, other motivations for emigration were military conscription at age 17 for all males, the lack of freedom and to own land. Alex and many other church community members helped to rebuild the two burned out churches which were completed about the time of Alex's sudden death in 1932.

Regarding Ethnicity: In almost all official documents i.e. census, naturalization, marriage, etc, Alex and Katie self-identify as "Austrian" and "Ruthenian", ethnic Ukrainian peoples under the rule of Austrian Empire (after the partitioning of Poland in 1772 see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitions_of_Poland)

between 1772 and 1918. They are not Polish, while technically not "Ukrainian" either. Ruthenian seems to be more associated with a Lithuanian subculture of the region, it had its own dialect which is very similar to Ukrainian. More research is necessary into this issue for more clarity. Ethnic Ruthenians were usually Eastern, or Byzantine, Orthodox Catholic by religious affiliation. (See: 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenians, 2.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenia )

Sources: The village name of Manasterz, Jaroslaw District, is found in his application for naturalization in the USA, and in the marriage license and marriage certificate of his marriage to Katharina neè Zaremba in 1907 in Lehigh County, Allentown, PA. Katie's village name of Czerce, Jaroslav District, Austria is also in their actual church marriage record and the naturalization application papers. Katie's parents names are Jacob and Katharina (nee unknown) Zaremba.

Regarding the steamship "SS Fürst Bismarck" of the Hamburg-Amerika Line -more information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Fürst_Bismarck_(1890) and

manifest

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1068/images/K_1774_080533-0334?pId=1051141

Name: Oleksa Gajda

Gender: männlich (Male)

Ethnicity/NationalityÖsterreich (Austrian)

Marital Status: ledig (Single). Departure Age:16. Birth Date: 1886

Residence: Manasterze

Departure Date: 15. Mai 1902 (15 May 1902)

Departure Place: Hamburg, Deutschland (Germany)

Arrival Places: Southampton; Cherbourg; New York

Occupation: Landmann (farmer), Tagelöhner (day laborer)

Ship Name: Fürst Bismarck. Shipping Clerk: Hamburg-Amerika Linie (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft aka: HAPAG)

Shipping LineHamburg-Amerika Linie (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft)Ship Type: Dampfschiff (Steamship). Ship Flag: Deutschland. (Germany)

Accommodation: Zwischendeck (Steerage)

Volume373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 131

Household members

Name. Oleksa Gajda Age 16

Alex M. Gayda (Gajda) died at his farm home on 2 October 1932 of a heart attack at the young age of 45. He left a wife, Katie Zaremba Gayda, and 11 surviving children ranging in ages from 2 to 24 years old at a time when the Great Depression years were just beginning. One daughter, Tatiania, died in 1925 after a fall from a horse. Alex was buried near her grave in the Saint Peter & Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery near Fairfield, Billings County, ND. The cemetery still exists there, but the St. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church was moved to Belfield in 1951, and is no longer a functioning parish.

Bless his memory.