Why did Kaszucki’s move from Uhnow to Tomaszów Lubelski?

Why did Kaszucki’s move from Uhnow to Tomaszów Lubelski? Uhniv is approximately two miles from the current Poland-Ukraine border but at the time Uhniv would have been in Galicia. By the current route, they would have moved about 300 miles away from home We know that Andrzej (3rd great grandfather)and his two brothers Teodore and Fedory were born in Uhnow between 1791 and 1802. By 1816, Teodore married in Tomaszow. At that point their mother Agata Krzackowska was alive in Uhnow but their father Lukasz was deceased. Andrzej married Salomea Wiciejewska in 1827 in Tomaszów Lubelski at age 24. Why did the brothers leave Uhnow for Tomaszów Lubelski at that particular time period? ********** Around the time their parents were born, the First Partition of Poland occurred in 1772. This resulted in an area, including Uhniv, being awarded to the Habsburg Empress Maria-Theresa, the only female Hapsburg ruler. The family ruled Austria and other countries. This annexing of a large area to Austria from a weakened Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth resulted in Uhnow becoming part of an area called the province of Galicia. The area was ethnically diverse: Polish, Ruthenians (the people later known as Ukrainians and Rusyns), Jewish and others. Ruthenians predominated in this eastern area. The Poles on the west side were Roman Catholic and the Ukrainians were Greek Catholic. There is evidence from the marriage records that the Kaszucki’s were Greek Catholic. The area they lived in was mostly Ukrainian, rather than Polish. These new borders cut off some trade and markets. Additionally, the Austrian government didn’t want industry to develop in this area, instead expecting it to remain agricultural to provide food and raw materials for other Hapsburg provinces. These limits and new taxes resulted in poverty, with the area the Kaszucki family was living in being the poorest province in Austro-Hungary. Famines began in the early 1800s and continued off and on up to the 1900’s. The Austrian government also conscripted men from this area for the imperial army. ********** Based on this limited knowledge, it seems that the three Kaszucki siblings made their way to Tomaszow Lubelski before 1816 for one of them and possibly shortly after for the other two. The town was founded as Jelitow at the end of the 16th century by Jan Zamoyski who named it Tomaszow in 1613 for his son, Tomasz. From 1772 to 1809, Tomaszow was under Austrian rule. After 1815 it was under the independent Congress Poland. That might be why the first brother went there (as evidenced by his wedding the following year.) Unfortunately, the independent Kingdom of Poland was short lived. The town included many laborers involved in flour mills, wood processing, weaving, tailors, shoemakers and leather tanning. The Kaszucki’s had been furriers in Ulnow so came with the skill of leather tanning. It seems likely that the three Kaszucki siblings made their way to Tomaszow Lubelski at this time for more freedom and for economic security. It was not likely for religious reasons since they were Greek rather than Roman Catholic, though they were not Orthdox.********** Part 6 of Curt Wolf’s Chasing Polish Heritage about the Niedzwiedz family coming from the same area will be posted tomorrow. Check out the Facebook page for Andrzej Kaszucki's resume. ********** Photo: By Viacheslav Galievskyi - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21711724