Re: Research in Polish Ukraine (Levitsky/Lewicki)

Sophia — Fri Jan 12, 2024 9:36 am

Author: Sophia

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2024 9:36 am

gwlevits wrote:

Hello! It's my first time posting here. I am not sure where to conduct further research and am asking for help. I am fully fluent in English and Russian, understand some Ukrainian, and no Polish. This is what I have so far (a summary, but with many scanned documents):

My family, the Levitskys, are from the Kanev/Cherkassy region of Ukraine, specifically centered around the village of Derenkovets, but with records including several neighboring villages. Through a Ukrainian genealogical society, I was able to find many (Orthodox Church) records going back right back to the partitions, all in a sort of Russo-Ukrainian pidgin. Of course, beyond that point, the trail goes cold.

What gives me some hope is that my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather (Andrew Levitsky - I'm assuming "Andrzej Lewicki"?) and two of his sons (Philip/Filip (born c. 1724) and Joseph/Józef (c. 1730)) were Uniate/Byzantine Rite priests. Andrzej has a death recorded on February 23, 1772, and both sons were recorded as having been ordained in 1765 by Metropolitan Felicjan Filip Wołodkowicz of Kiev. Surely there would be clergy records of some kind?

Where would I start looking? Any information on our ancestry beyond them would be hugely appreciated. As I understand, there is a LOT of material on the Lewickis, but this was really a backwater area, so I am not sure if much has survived. I tried the Vatican Archives, but was told there were no results there, and received no reply from various Polish church authorities.

Thank you in advance!

Hi,
Welcome to this forum. I cannot give you any information specifically about your Levistky (Lewicki) family. I looked a bit at what is on the Polona website, and so I will mention these two finds which are tangential to your search but may give you a direction in which to head. I searched for Wołodkowicz and came across this which is specific to Felicjan Filip:
https://polona.pl/preview/e1e0953a-1fca-499d-ad63-cf653d26baf5 which is a book held by Biblioteka Kapituły Greckokatolickiej in the Polish city of Przemyśl. You may try to find out more about this library's holdings. Whether you will find something written by one of your Levitsky family members, or a collection of papers by someone in a position of authority over the church that might mention them, I don't know.
Also, I saw this https://polona.pl/preview/d90c2935-66dd-4b10-bb79-889a7d5c49d1 which is interesting only just to show how far and wide books about him were written (this one from Vilnius).
There are so many results on Polona for the search term "Lewicki" that you might try a more specific search (adding a first name), or just scroll through them looking for years that are relevant to you:
https://polona.pl/sets?searchCategory=objectSets&page=0&size=24&sort=RELEVANCE&searchLike=Lewicki&copyright=false
Best of luck in your search,
Sophia

Research in Polish Ukraine (Levitsky/Lewicki)

gwlevits — Fri Jan 12, 2024 1:05 am

Author: gwlevits

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2024 1:05 am

Hello! It's my first time posting here. I am not sure where to conduct further research and am asking for help. I am fully fluent in English and Russian, understand some Ukrainian, and no Polish. This is what I have so far (a summary, but with many scanned documents):

My family, the Levitskys, are from the Kanev/Cherkassy region of Ukraine, specifically centered around the village of Derenkovets, but with records including several neighboring villages. Through a Ukrainian genealogical society, I was able to find many (Orthodox Church) records going back right back to the partitions, all in a sort of Russo-Ukrainian pidgin. Of course, beyond that point, the trail goes cold.

What gives me some hope is that my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather (Andrew Levitsky - I'm assuming "Andrzej Lewicki"?) and two of his sons (Philip/Filip (born c. 1724) and Joseph/Józef (c. 1730)) were Uniate/Byzantine Rite priests. Andrzej has a death recorded on February 23, 1772, and both sons were recorded as having been ordained in 1765 by Metropolitan Felicjan Filip Wołodkowicz of Kiev. Surely there would be clergy records of some kind?

Where would I start looking? Any information on our ancestry beyond them would be hugely appreciated. As I understand, there is a LOT of material on the Lewickis, but this was really a backwater area, so I am not sure if much has survived. I tried the Vatican Archives, but was told there were no results there, and received no reply from various Polish church authorities.

Thank you in advance!

PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Research in Polish Ukraine (Levitsky/Lewicki)

Research in Polish Ukraine (Levitsky/Lewicki)