Woven Branches

Andrew Zwarych, son of Iwan Zwarych and Maria Dolyniuk, was born on 1 October 1886 at Tulova, Ukraine.¹

Like his older brother, Peter, Andrew likely started attending the village school at the age of seven. There were three grades in the school with each grade taking two years to complete.

Andrew would have attended the next three grades of school in nearby Sniatyn, but it is not clear if he did, because the family left Ukraine to settle in Canada in early 1900. They sailed from Hamburg, Germany, on on 4 April 1900 on the S. S. Arcadia with several other families from the village² and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 18 April 1900. For more details of the journey from Tulova to Alberta, see the Zwarycz and Kostaszczuk Emigration.³

Andrew remained on the farm in Alberta with his parents until 1905. He held several jobs over the next couple of years. For most of that time he operated heavy machinery hauling ore at Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company at Trail, British Columbia.¹

Andrew returned to Vegreville in 1907 and found a job as a clerk with Clements and Son. He worked there for three years.

While living in Vegreville Andrew became involved with the Vegreville Fire Brigade and became a member of the Vegreville Chamber of Commerce.

During this time Andrew met Parania Porayko. Parania was also from Tulova and was a schoolteacher there when she left for Canada in 1907.¹ Andrew and Parania were married in 1909 at Vegreville.¹

In 1910 Andrew became the manager of the National Cooperative Company and was with them for several prosperous years as they opened branches in several nearby towns. When the directors of the Cooperative decided to move the main office to Edmonton, Andrew resigned. He soon opened up a store with two of his brothers-in-law, Elias and Nick Porayko. They ran the store together for ten years until being forced to close in 1930 beacuse of the Great Depression.¹

The next ten years were difficult for Andrew and his family. He had to move around to find whatever work he could and was often away for long periods. He started selling Watkin's Products door to door and rented a small shop to sell the products from that Parania and the children would operate. Andrew was able to expand the store to also sell confections, fruit and vegetables.

Parania died in 1954 after a long illness. In 1955 Andrew married Parania's former sister-in-law Stacya Melnyk Porayko. Stacya was married to Elias who had died in 1941.⁴

Andrew and Stacya remained at Vegreville and were very involved in various organizations. Andrew was a councillor on the Vegreville town council, held several executive positions in the Narodny Dim (National Home), and in the Ukrainian Orthodox church.¹

In 1967 Andrew was given a life membership with the Vegreville Chamber of Commerce in recognition of his long service with that organization.

Andrew retired from his business dealing Watkin's Products in 1971.