Immigrant agent.
Born in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine on 21 January 1874, he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1894 and to Canada in 1897. He became a local agent for immigration officials, helping many of his countrymen to homestead in the Stuartburn area of southeastern Manitoba. He and his wife Anna Prygrocki opened several general stores in the region, which served as post offices and social centres. They had 15 children, including Maria Wachna (1899-?), Katherine Wachna (1901-?), Olena Wachna (1903-?), Zofia Wachna (1905-?), Elijah Wachna (1907-?), Johan Wachna (1908-?), Wolodimyr B. “Walter” Wachna, Antonia Wachna (1911-?), Kozrna Wachna (1913-?), Claudia Wachna (1915-?), Olga Wachna (c1918-?), and Wyronia Wachna (c1920-?). He helped organize the Municipality of Stuartburn and served as its Secretary-Treasurer and Magistrate. He died at his home in Gardenton on 21 January 1960 and was buried in Windsor, Ontario. He was inducted posthumously in the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame and a school building at the Gardenton Ukrainian Museum is dedicated in recognition of his role in the organization of many school districts in the area.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gardenton Ukrainian Museum (Gardenton, RM of Stuartburn)
Look Who’s Coming: The Wachna Story by Mary Paximadis (1976).
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“Ex-immigration man, Justice of Peace, Theodosy Wachna dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 January 1960, page 15.
“Stuartburn,” Steinbach Carillon, 21 May 1980, page 2C.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 24 August 2018
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