Peter KUZMICH was born January 28, 1865 and died around 1945. Little is known of

him except that his posterity lives somewhere in the Ukraine today. He had four

children with his first wife: Theodosk, Simon, Maksim and John.The second wife was a

widow with a grown up daughter. A son named Vladimir was born from his third wife

in 1930.

Son John b.1904 married the grown daughter of Peter's second wife and died in 1973 .

Ukrainian Immigration: Peter KUZMICH Line

In 1945, the Polish government reacted to the cruel Russian occupation of Poland during World War II by forcing its citizens who were of Russian ancestry to immigrate to Ukraine. Those who left voluntarily, could take everything they wanted to Ukraine. If not, they would be forced in 1947 to move but without any property. Therefore, villages like Snietnica and Stawisha which were primarily composed of Ukrainian people became ghost towns. The family of our ancestor Petrus/Peter Kuzmich, Half-brother of my grandfather Anthony Kuzmich, left voluntarily in June 1945 for eastern Ukraine of the Donetsk Region.

The Kuzmich relatives that immigrated to America had lost contact with Peter's relatives long before 1945, so these relatives now living in Ukraine were completely lost to us. In 1997, I found two dear Ukraine citizens in Kiev (Mrs. Lidiya Lyubarets and Mrs. Olga Roytsina). Mrs. Lyubaraets acted as my translator and Mrs. Roytsina agreed to search for my lost Ukraine relatives based on only three surnames and one incorrect death date for Ivan (John) KUZMICH. In only three months, Ms. Roytsina traveled to eastern Ukraine and found my relatives living in Maximilianovka in Maryinka district near Donetsk. What was so amazing is that there are no computer records in Ukraine and no published phone books to aid in doing family research. At one point she went to the Ministry of Defense in the Donetsk Region and demanded assistance. And to her surprise, they helped her and she soon found two relatives living next to each other in Maximilianovka, Maryinka district. She was given only a street but no house number. Once she found my relatives, Anatoly KUZMICH and Ivan KUZMICH, she spent three days living at Anatoly's home asking questions, searching pictures, new questions and so on. Here is her letter on what she found.

“ Ivan Petrovich's family and his brothers Vladimir, Semen and Maxim, his sister Feodosia, all had decided to move to Ukraine voluntarily. Though they had lived in Snietnica, they moved from the neighboring village of Brunary on June 18, 1945. They took with them: 2 cows, a wagon, some potatoes, grain, flour and everything they could carry. For the property that they left in Poland, they received a big money compensation in 1948. First they moved to the city of Krasnogorovak but then they were distributed to the village of Maximilianovka. Because only one truck was given to take things of newcomers to the place of destination, Ivan Petrovich KUZMICH used his own wagon yoked by cows to take their things about 40 to 45 kilometers. They were given a house and all of them began to work in the collective farms. They were given a better house which Ivan Petrovich bought for their property in 1952. Now this house is remodeled and Anatoly, Ivan's youngest son, still lives in it. He was born in that house on August 24, 1953. A kind of a small apartment is attached to their house. It belonged to Yaroslav Ivanonich. Ivan Ivanonich, Anatoly's brother, built his house on the next site. Ivan Petrovich was a very kind and good person. He was a good husband and father. He loved his family and took care of everyone. People loved him. Anatoly tells that many people used to come to his father, and also their friends from Luhansk Region of Ukraine. He was very hospitable.

Ivan Petrovich worked as a stableman in a collective farm. The cows that they had were of much help. They had cows before 1961. Not those that they brought from Snietnica. Then after Khrushchev's decree all the cows were taken to collective farms. It was done so that Russia could "Reach and Overcome" USA in meat and milk per capita. Those who kept their cows wouldn't be allowed to work. His daughter, Maria Ivanovna was warned that she would be fired from her position of an accountant because her father, Ivan Petrovich still kept his cow. It was very hard but they did it. People were taught not to keep cows at home. But in 1997, they can have cows, but people do not want to do that because they can't take care of them because of their laziness. Ivan Petrovich died the night of May 8 or 9th, 1968 because of cancer. He was suggested surgery but he refused saying he didn't want to be cut. He was buried at the graveyard in Maximilianovka. Now at that cemetery there are graves of six KUZMICH relatives. All the graves are in one line.

Ivan Petrovich KUZMICH - only a picture with no information on head stone, but lived 1904 to May 9, 1968

Eva Stepanovna KUZMICH - only picture with no information, but lived 1910 to August 21, 1979

Vasily Ivanovich KUZMICHI - March, 1946 to September 11, 1966

Marta Petrovna KUZMICH - 1883 to 1962 or 1965

Maxim Petrovich KUZMICH - August 25, 1910 to July 28, 1984

Yaroslav Ivanovich KUZMICH - August 25, 1933 to March 2, 1988

Maria Ivanovna Pugach (KUZMICH) is buried at the cemetry of the neighboring village, Georgiyevka, but lived May 2, 1936 to April, 1993.

Maria Ivanovna Pugach (KUZMICH) lived in Georgiyevka after her marriage. Her daughter, Elena Ivanovna PUGACH and her husband, Ivan Sviridovich PUGACH live in that villege in Maria's house.

Ivan Petrovich grieved a lot because of his son's death, Vasily. Vasily was kicked by a motorcycle and he got under a car and was run over and died.

Maxim Petrovich was born on August 25, 1910 in Snietnica, Poland. Germans occupied Poland in 1939. Maxim was an adult. In either 1939 or 1941 or 1942, Maxim, according to Ivan Ivanivichi's words, went to work in Germany voluntarily. From there he got into Austria in a village called Nurish near Vienna. There he met a Ukrainian girl from Sumi Region, Ukraine. Her name was Alexandra Yefimoovna Kulish. They fell in love. They became husband and wife without being officially married. There first daughter, Maria was born there on May 11, 1943. Their landlords were very good to them. Maria was christened for the first time in Vienna. The landlord's wife insisted on that. She was christened for the second time in a Russian Orthodox church in Ukraine. Before his daughter was born, Maxim had vacations and was able to go to Poland. His father, Peter Fedorovich KUZMICH, was alive at that time. And when he returned home after the war, his father was dead. Ivan Ivanovich states that Peter died in 1943 soon after Maxim's departure back to Austria. Soon after the war, Maxim Petrovich came back home to Snietnica and had to move to Ukraine together with his family. Maxim brought Alexandra and their daughter to Maximilianovka. On October 14, 1947, their son, Nicholay, was born. Maxim Petrovich and Alexandra Yefimovna were officially married in May, 1954. They were a good family. They lived in peace and understanding. Alexandra told many good things about her husband. He was very careful about her needs, very helpful, very kind and loved to work. He worked as a stableman in a collective farm. He loved horses and died because of a horse. Ivan Ivanovich KUZMICH was the oldest son of Ivan Petrovich KUZMICH. Ivan is very shortsighted from his birthi. In Poland, the doctor promised that his eyes would be alright after the wore three pairs of special glasses. But he managed to wear only one pair of glasses. The war began and they stopped his treatment. His is still shortsighted and wars glasses. Now it is more difficult because he has a cataract. Doctors say he is not ready for surgery. As a result, he is an invalid. And the surgery costs a lot of money. His pension is 30 dollars a month. His wife, Anna Alexandrovna, has a pension of 28 dollars a month. But because of the economic difficulties, even pensioners do not get their pension in time. And if they are paid, they get 60%. Fortunately, they have a vegetable garden, a goat, and a chicken. They bake bread themselves. It is expensive to buy bread for them. They sell some vegetables from their garden and buy what is the most necessary. They live bad. He can't see well, and she can't hear well. She wears a deaf-aid wich is very bad she says. They have the one daughter, Olga. She was born on September 11, 1960 in Maximilianovka. She graduated from the institute in Bila Tserkva, Kiev Region. She is a veterinarian. But she didn't work much according to her profession because there people can't afford to hire here and the responsibilites for cattle are very high. So she decided to work as an accountant. She married Victor Dmitriyevichi Chernikov. He is a driver. They went to work according to the institute distribution to the village of Charivne, Kirovograd Region. They have two daughters, Elena (born July 2, 1984) and Natalia (born July 5, 1988). She comes once a year to visit parents in Maximilianovka. Ivan Ivanovich worked as a cattle-farm worker. He can't carry heavy things because of his shortsightness. But he had to. To feed cattle, he had to carry food which is very heavy. Then he had some other jobs. Then he was prohibited to work and he was given a category of invalid.

His brother, Anatoly Kuzmich, lives next to him. His family consists of his wife Natalia, and two daughters: Tatiana and Margarita (Rita). Tatiana graduated from a secondary school with a gold medal. She wanted to study foreign languages but she failed the entrance exams for the University of Foreign Languages. Anatoly was told to pay a bribe of $3,000. After considreation, Antoly decided that he cannot pay so much money. He decided that she would enter the institute of light industry to study management. Both girls are very good. They are very close to one another and all of them love to work. Each of them have their own responsibilities in the house and in the garden. They have a very big garden with fruit trees and vegetables. It is very helpful because they can have a food supply. They also have ducks, pigs, geese, chickens and bees. They bake bread as most of the people in the villages do. They work in the former collective farm which is now called a cooperative farm. Anatolyi's wife, Natalia, works at a pig farm. Anatoly also works as a bee-master. He keeps his own bees with the farm bees. So they supplied with honey. Anatoly is a very good master. He can do nearly anthing. He is a helicopter mechanic. While serving in the army, he was an airplane mechanic. When he came back from the army, he worked as an agricultural machine mechanic on the collective farm. Then he studied at the school of welders. Then he was a collective farm storage keeper. The last two years, he also works as a bee-master. He made most of his home equipment himself. He has a steam boiler for heating. He can do many things. That is why he is wealthier than his brother, Ivan Ivanovichi. He spent all of his life in this village of Maximilianovka with the exception of two years in the army where he served in the Far East.

Ivan Invanovich remembers Snietnica and his life there. He was 15 when he and his family left Poland. He remembers very well that they had a big farm, a mill, fields, a forest, pastures and more. When his family moved to Ukraine, they left eleven hectares of land. Six of those eleven hectares were used to grow grains. Before 1932, all the family including Peter Fedorovich's family lived in a large old house. In 1932, they built an outhouse. The total size was 510 square meters. It was built of wood with a tiled roof. In 1924-25, some storages were built in the yard. In 1934, they built a mill. Everything was new and firm. They had horses. But Germans took them during the war. Two of the cows were brought to Ukraine. And a cart. Even Anatoly remembers that cart. It stood in the yard for a long time. In Snietnica, there were two churches: Greek Catholic and Russian Orthodox. Kuzmich's are Ukrainians by nationality.”