Parents:
Wasyl Kondratiuk
(?–?)
Anne Waszczuk
(?–?)
Married (June 14th, 1891):
Anna Sul
(1873–1909)
Children:
Anastazia Kondratiuk
(1892–1946)
Pauline (Pelagia) Kondratiuk
(1897–1972)
Simeon Kondratiuk
(1902–1924)
Anna Kondratiuk
(1906–1978)
Married (February 28th, 1910):
Julia Macuira
(c. 1873–?)

Biography

Prokop Kondratiuk was born in Galicia (now Ukraine) on March 11, 1866. On June 14, 1891 he married Anna Sul. Prokop and Anna had three children born in Galicia: Anastazia (Nettie), Pelagia (Pauline) and Simeon (Sam). The family lived in the village of Uhrynów where Prokop probably worked on a farm. In 1906, when Anna was pregnant with their fourth child, the family emigrated to Canada. They travelled on the SS Mount Temple from Antwerp to Montreal arriving on May 22. The ship’s passenger list gives Prokop’s occupation as farmer. Their daughter Anna was born in Winnipeg in August 1906. By 1907 the family was living at 590 Stella Avenue in North End, Winnipeg.

In November 1907 Prokop arranged the marriage of his eldest daughter Anastazia, then age 14, to Martin Bobowsky who was also an immigrant from Galicia.

Prokop’s wife Anna died in Winnipeg on August 30,1909. Prokop became a single father to his three youngest children who ranged in age from 3 to 12 years. Six months later, on February 28, 1910 Prokop married Julia Macuira who became the children’s stepmother and caregiver.

The Winnipeg directory listings for 1909 and 1910 show Prokop working as a labourer in the Winnipeg city construction department. His place of employment was the City Repair Shops at Ross Street and Tecumseh Avenue where the city still has several facilities. The directories do not list Prokop’s home address for those years.

The 1911 census recorded Prokop, Julia and their two youngest children, Sam and Anna, living at 510 Manitoba Avenue in North End, Winnipeg. Prokop was employed as a labourer working 60 hours per week for a salary of $500 per year. Prokop was only employed for 36 weeks in 1910 indicating that he had been out of work for about three months for unknown reasons.

In 1912 Prokop purchased a two room house at 669 Boyd Avenue. 

In February 1914 Prokop arranged the marriage of his daughter Pauline, then age 17, to Joseph Galdzinski an immigrant from Galicia living in Cranbrook, B.C.

The 1916 census recorded Prokop, Julia, Sam and Anna, together with a boarder, living at 669 Boyd. Prokop was still employed as a labourer by the city. According to the census Prokop had become a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1913. Prokop was fully literate in Ukrainian but did not speak English.

Prokop Kondratiuk died on October 27, 1920 at 669 Boyd Avenue at the age of 53. His cause of death is not given on the death certificate. The death was registered by his son Sam who gave Prokop’s date and place of birth as March 11, 1866 in Galicia, and identifies Prokop’s father as Wasyl Kondratiuk of Galicia.

Prokop’s Estate

About seven weeks before he died Prokop made a will suggesting he did not expect to live much longer. Prokop’s will named his son Simeon, then 18 years old, as his sole heir and executor.

When he died Prokop’s estate consisted of the house at 669 Boyd Avenue, valued at $1,100 as well as some furniture and clothing. In early November, 1920 Simeon applied for and was granted probate by the court. 

Simeon did not immediately do anything with his inheritance. He continued to live at 669 Boyd with his stepmother Julia and sister Anna. However there were “unhappy differences” within the family. Anna left home and was taken in by Children’s Aid. Simeon did not have steady employment and relied on Julia for financial support. There was friction between Julia and Simeon. In the spring of 1922 Simeon decided sell 669 Boyd to Julia and move out.

Simeon then learned that he could not legally administer his father’s estate because he was under age. Manitoba estate law required executors to be at least 21 years old. Simeon was born in 1902. The probate granted on November 8, 1920 had been invalid. In 1922 Sam was still a minor. Selling 669 Boyd to Julia would require the appointment of a legally qualified executor.

Granting probate to the underage Simeon in 1920 was a simple administrative error. However correcting the error required considerable legal paperwork and filings. Simeon first had to petition the court to cancel the 1920 probate and remove him as executor. He and Julia then arranged for the court to re-grant probate appointing their lawyer, Clifford Murchison, as Prokop’s executor.

Once installed as executor Mr. Murchison proceeded on Simeon’s instructions to sell 669 Boyd to Julia. He engaged a real estate agent to assess the value of the property. Although the family had believed the house was worth $1,100 the real estate agent described it as “a two room dwelling that is out of repair” and valued it at no more than $900. Mr. Murchison also established that, although Simeon was Prokop’s sole heir, he did not inherit 669 Boyd outright. As Prokop’s widow Julia was entitled to a 1/3 ownership in the property under Manitoba inheritance law. Accordingly Mr. Murchison petitioned the court for Simeon to sell his 2/3 interest in the property to Julia for $600. The court ordered the sale on June 9, 1922.

The estate filings provide some insight into the Kondratiuk family situation in the spring of 1922, eighteen months after Prokop’s death. It describes the family home on Boyd as “a two room shack.” Anna, then age 15, was no longer living with her stepmother and brother. Simeon had been unable to find steady work and Julia was working to support them both. Althought the house at 669 Boyd had become run down Julia had balked at spending money to repair a house she did not own. These details confirm the family’s oral history: Julia and her step children did not get along.

 

Research Notes

  1. “Prokop” is spelled many ways in old records: Procopius on Prokop and Julia’s marriage certificate; Prokip on daughter Anna’s birth certificate among others; Prokys, on several Winnipeg directory listings. Prokop’s English illiteracy and the vagaries of transcribing the Cyrillic alphabet probably contributed to the variety of spellings.
  2. The passenger list for Prokop’s journey to Canada gives his intended destination as the farming community of Rosthern, Saskatchewan. However there is no evidence that the family actually travelled to Rosthern. About seven weeks after the family landed in Montreal Anna gave birth to a daughter in Winnipeg. Henderson’s 1908 Winnipeg Directory lists Prokop living on Stella Avenue in Winnipeg. The 1911 census also records the family living in Winnipeg. There is no record that Prokop applied for a Canada Homestead Grant.
  3. Prokop was clearly the product of a patriarchal society who subscribed to 19th century notions of male primogeniture. He arranged the marriages of his daughters Anastazia and Pauline in their teens and likely would have done the same with Anna had he lived longer. Although he had a wife and three daughters his will named his son as his sole heir and executor of his estate.
  4. Prokop’s will did not name his widow Julia as an heir. However it was common for many jurisdictions to enact “Dower Laws” that provided widows with a legal entitlement to a portion of their husband’s estate. This provided widows with some financial security at a time when it was common for the first born son to be sole heir to his parents estate.
  5. In 1922 Clifford Murchison was actually a law student and presumably junior partner at the firm of Arsenych, Heap and Murchison. He did not pass the Manitoba bar until 1923.
  6. Most or all of the court proceedings pertaining to Prokop’s estate were overseen by Judge Alexander Dawson, then of the Surrogate Court of the Eastern Judicial District.

 

 

Source Documents