Ivan Palahniuk

From "From Lattimer to Ukraine,tracing a cowboy’s trail" by Peter Dutczyn in the Standard-Speaker:

http://standardspeaker.com/community/from-lattimer-to-ukraine-traci...

Family tree unraveled

It turns out that the history of the Palahniuks in Ivane-Zolote can be traced all the way back to Vasyl Palahniuk, born May 6, 1819. We know he had a son, Ambroziy Palahniuk, who was born April 2, 1846, and married Maria in 1869.

The couple had five children, but only three survived infancy. Son Yurko was born on April 24, 1882, but died still a child. Andriy, born April 15, 1880, passed away when he was less than a year old. Fedir was born in 1885 and on May 27, 1888, twins Ivan and Tetyana were born. And it was Fedir and Ivan who eventually settled in Pennsylvania, while Tetyana stayed and raised a family.

The twins were separated forever when Ivan left to seek his fortune. The reason why brothers Ivan and Fedir left for pastures green, some locals believe, was due to that old thorny issue that continues to trouble Ukrainians to this very day — land. There may have been a family disagreement over division and that was that.

What is certain is that today there is nobody around from that era, the turn of the century, to say for sure. A handful of locals said they had heard that a famous American film star’s family had its humble beginnings right in the village.

Palance’s father would never see his village again, but in Hazleton he was active in the community and took parts in local Ukrainian plays. Palahniuk senior was also branch secretary of the Ukrainian Fraternal Association for many years.

There is a family connection with Zalishchyky, which has a beautiful panorama. It has a museum which was headed by Palance’s cousin, Volodymyr Palahniuk, for many years. He was born on Aug. 11, 1921, and lived in Zalishchyky. Volodymyr passed away a few years ago, but his daughter, Lida, now a pensioner, still lives there with her family. Palance’s brother, John (who lives in Drums), visited the city, Lida confirmed. The cousin connection was through the sibling twins, Palance’s father Ivan and Volodymyr’s mother Tetyana.

Around the time that Ivan Palahniuk was heading west, so was Anna Gramiak, whom he would later meet in New York and marry. She traveled west with her brother, Ivan. The parallel between father and son is that just as Ivan fought to leave his village seeking a better life, his son would later fight his way out of his coal-mining town, where he was born in poverty.

He served in World War II and returning home after a medical discharge, did not return to the economically depressed coal region but went into acting. But there was an attachment to the region, especially Lattimer and Hazleton. They were very close to his heart.

Palance kept land and property there throughout most of his life. In “Sudden Fear,” one of his early films (for which he received an Oscar nomination), Palance tells star lady Joan Crawford of his mining-town roots. He also mentions his origins in cop TV show “Bronk,” in which he starred. Both father and son were active parishioners at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Hazleton.

Waves of emigration

Ivan and Fedir Palahniuk were part of the first mass wave of emigration to the United States, which was prompted by American industrialization. This group, which numbered at least 350,000, began to arrive in 1877 to work the Pennsylvania mines.

Most of them came from Western Ukraine, particularly the Lemko and Transcarpathian regions. They read the advertisements promising big earnings and traveled to ports like Hamburg and Rotterdam to make the long journey by ship. Prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, 98 percent of Ukrainians settled in the northeastern states, with 70 percent in Pennsylvania.

Unlike Ukrainian-Canadians, few of the early Ukrainian-Americans were farmers. By the time the first wave crossed, most of the free land had been distributed and these new immigrants had no money to buy land. The second wave, which arrived between the two world wars, was much smaller and numbered about 15,000.

The final major wave was the one of refugees following World War II. Many of these were well-educated people who fled their homes and did not want to return while the Soviets were in power in Ukraine. The majority had spent time in post-war refugee camps in Austria and Germany.

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From his Find A Grave page:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=118077631

Hazleton Plain Speaker; Thursday, November 17, 1955:

John (Palanske) Palahnuik, Sr., father of stage, screen and television start Jack Palance, died at 10 o'clock this morning in his home, House 433 Lattimer Mines, following an illness of several months. He was a native of the Ukraine but resided most of his life at Lattimer, where he was employed at Lattimer Mines until retiring seven years ago. One of the area's pioneer residents of Ukrainian origin, he was an organizer of St. Michael's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, this city, and of St. Michael's Lodge. He served as secretary of the lodge until his death.

His son, who brought fame to the small mining town with his success in Hollywood and on Broadway, interrupted a personal appearance engagement scheduled in Philadelphia last night and came here to be at his father's bedside. He is scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan television show Sunday night but it could not be learned immediately what his plans are.

Surviving the elder Palanske are

• his wife, the former Anna Gramiak,
• and the following children:
  • Mrs. Lewis Wierson,
  • Mrs. Thomas Daniels and
  • John, Jr., of Maspeth, Long Island;
  • Walter Jack Palance, and
  • Leon of New York City.
• Eight grandchildren also survive.

Arrangements for the funeral, which will be held from the Bonin funeral home, are incomplete.

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PA Death Certificate: son of Ambrose Palahnuik and unknown mother. He was a miner in the coal mines.