Imagine traveling back to the centuries when our Galician ancestors lived. "Our Galician Ancestors" provides fascinating information about the people who once lived in Poland and Ukraine. The book discusses their homes, dress, foods, and social customs and events through historical facts, stories, and pictures. It also explains their complex social, cultural, and political world and why many chose to immigrate.

The author's comprehensive research and numerous trips to Polish museums, churches, and ethnographic villages allow the reader to understand all aspects of their ancestors' lives, from the earliest inhabitants to just before World War I. Most ancestors were peasants and lived in extreme poverty and oppression but kept the spirit of independence in their hearts. The many full-color photos in this book will transport the reader to the wooden homes, churches, markets, and peasant villages typical of our ancestors.

Chapters include:

The history of our ancestors from the earliest time to WWI.

Serfdom

Family life and children

Marriages and weddings

Life on a typical farm and the houses

Clothing

Market days

Education

Holidays and holy days

Superstitions and Ancient Rites

Sickness, epidemics, and plagues

Death, funerals, and cemeteries

Art, Music, and Literature

The Elite and Landowners

The Jews in Poland and Ukraine

The German Colonists in Galicia

What Other Europeans and Americans thought of Galicia

Beekeeping and Mushroom Hunting

Immigration to the USA and Canada

Visiting the land of your ancestors

Donna Gawell and Mark, her husband, are descended from Polish immigrants. Donna's grandparents came from Niwiska, a small village in Poland, in the early 1900s. She found her Polish cousins in 2015 and has visited them several times. Mark's grandparents came from Ukraine and the Polish villages of Lutcza, Zawoja, and Bielsk.