The coming of the Ukrainians to North Rockwood in 1898 opened a new chapter in the settlement of this territory, which up to that time was very rough country. Most of it was heavy timber and slash. Behind this settlement is a tale of endurance and hardship. Coming from the Ukraine, a district just north of the Black sea in southern Russia, with their families and very little money, they were given homesteads in this northern part of Rockwood.

Most of this area was swampy with many sloughs. At that time there were no roads, only the surveyors' lines to guide them. It seemed little better than Siberia. These people erected log cabins, roofed with thatch and very often just hard packed clay floors. The landscape looked like a little bit of Russia. Flour and other provisions had to be packed in by the homesteaders on their backs, sometimes wading through water up to their hips, but nothing seemed to discourage these hardy settlers. This land was to be theirs. They would really own it. There was now something to work and strive for.

Until they could get some land broken and get some horses or oxen to work with, they had to hire out to get money to live on, and buy equipment. They found jobs on the railway and in the stone quarries, or working for settlers in the older parts. The winter seemed to be the best time for them to make progress. While the ground and sloughs were frozen they lost little time in getting around and securing young steers which they broke to harness, making their own sleighs and cutting logs for buildings, taking them to the saw mills and getting them cut into lumber for the finishing of their cabins, etc. They cut cordwood and hauled it to Teulon where they sold it or traded it for supplies. They soon broke good gardens, and that helped a lot in supporting themselves. They also soon acquired chickens and a cow or two. The women took care of these while their husbands went away in the summer to earn ready cash so badly needed.

It is hard to describe the wonderful change that has taken place in this territory in sixty years. There was a great longing in these people for education. They quickly shouldered the responsibility of establishing their own schools, with the help of the provincial government's Department of Education. They also established their own churches. Their children soon learned the English language, and many of them have gone into the professions or business, becoming doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers and businessmen. A great change has taken place in the land they homesteaded. Huge grain fields, neat well-kept homes and good roads cover land which once was bush and sloughs.

Their younger generation have blended into our Anglo-Saxon way of life, and many of them have married into Canadian families. They are good farmers and home makers, and in the short space of sixty years the visions of those early pioneers has been fulfilled.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Village of Komarno was founded in 1904 by Ukrainian settlers who homesteaded land in that district. The first store was established in 1907 by John Popowich. Later that same summer, Mr. David Wood started a general store, which was operated by Frank Carson. This store was on the property later purchased by John Nykorchuk.

Before these stores were established, groceries and other necessities were brought in from Teulon by oxen. This often proved a tedious and tiresome journey with its share of dangers. The swamp, just to the south of the town, was very difficult to pass, as it was full of springs. Mr. John Nazimak tells stories of oxen and people losing their lives in the crossing of the swamp.

The first sign of a railroad came in 1907 when a "Y" was built on Mr. Nazimak's property. In 1907 the rails were laid, and then Komarno saw its first train. Komarno then being the end of the track, the C.P.R. yards there were piled high with many thousands of cords of wood.

In 1909, the first school was built. Prior to that time the children of school age had to journey three miles to attend McMillan School. The first church in Komarno was the Roman Catholic Church built in 1910, with Messrs. John and Frank Nazimak and Mr. Wolynski taking a very active part in its erection.

The town's first resident and homesteader, Steve Sawchak, can relate many stories and tales of hardships. Stories are told of times when oxen were used for plowing and crude old-land machinery was used to prepare the soil for seeding.

It was a very wonderful event when, in 1918-1919, the first good road was built into Komarno from the south, opening up a new world for the pioneers who settled here.

The word "Komarno" means "too many mosquitoes."

(As told by Mrs Drohomereski)

(Source: Rockwood Echoes - 90 Years of Progress (1870 - 1960), p 244ff, pp nnn [TBD; Adapted])

~~~~~~~~~~

The story of the The Great St. George's Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery is one that is unclear, even today. Local residents are aware there was a church adjacent to the plot of land now occupied by the cemetery, but it was moved to the area around Foley, MB in 1914... only a few short years after the cemetery was established. Little else can be related with any degree of accuracy, for now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Established in 1904, the property is fenced and neatly kept.

(Source: Manitoba Genealogical Society [Adapted])

~~~~~~~~~~

Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD08-22-17-02-E1

In the Rural Municipality of Rockwood

~~~~~~~~~~

As noted above, a part of the community's story, and those of its inhabitants, from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1982 is told in the volumes "Rockwood Echoes - 90 Years of Progress (1870 - 1960)", especially on the cited pages and in the related later work entitled "100 Years of History, Rockwood Municipality".

Free digital versions of these and many other Manitoba local history books can be found online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society (reference #0830), transcribed by a member or members in 1994. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or MANI). Some additional information is contained in the 1996 MGS publication "Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites" (revised edition, Special Projects Publication, 106 pages).

~~~~~~~~~~

Additionally, the Ukrainian Museum of Canada (Manitoba Branch) centralizes, curates and makes available extensive records from various groups related to the communities established by the families of Ukrainian descent who settled lived in, died in, or contributed to the story of Manitoba.

As well, the Ogniwo Polish Museum centralizes, curates and makes available extensive records from various groups related to the communities established by the families of Polish descent who settled, lived in, died in, or contributed to the story of Manitoba.

Additionally, many records for defunct Roman Catholic congregations under their auspices in Manitoba are now kept in the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Boniface.