My father's uncle Michael Olar (Mihai)

My grandfather Alex had two older brothers, Michael (Mihai) and Jacob (Iacob). Michael emigrated to Quebec, Canada, in June 1909, while Jacob emigrated to Quebec in April 1910. My grandfather is said to have arrived at St. John, Newfoundland, in May 1907, although in fact it was more likely in 1909 or 1910. My grandfather lived for awhile at Montreal, where my uncle John was born 16 Dec. 1910. Michael probably arrived in Quebec on the S.S. Mount Temple, although a Canadian border crossing document of Jan. 1911 says he arrived on the S.S. Victorian. I have been unable to find Michael on any of the S.S. Victorian's passenger manifests from June 1909, and the only person with a name like "Michael Olar" whom I have been able to find in Canadian ship manifests from that month is a "Michal Olar" who arrived on the S.S. Mount Temple in June 1909. However, some of the details pertaining to "Michal Olar" do not match what is known of my father's uncle Michael, so they might not be the same person. As for the Jan. 1911 border crossing document, at that time Michael was living in Montreal and was seeking permission to enter the U.S. and visit a cousin in Baudette, Minnesota. This was just one month after my uncle John was born in Montreal, so it is likely that Michael and my grandfather Alex were then living close to each other.

Here is an image of the page from the S.S. Mount Temple's ship passenger list showing "Michal Olar" on line 20, followed by an abstract of the information found on it:

Sailed from Antwerp, Belgium Arrived at Quebec on June 21st 1909

No. on S.S. Contract Ticket:                       50506
Amount of Cash in $:                               HOSPITAL
Name in Full:                                      MICHAL OLAR
Age of Adults -- Male:                             38
                                                   HOSPITAL
Are you able to read:                              no
Are you able to write:                             no
Married, Single, or Widowed:                       m
Profession, Occupation or Calling:                 Farm laborer
Nation or Country of Birth:                        Galicia A. E.
Place of ultimate destination:                     Montreal

Here are the images of the border crossing document, followed by an abstract of the information about my father's uncle Michael found in it:

Name in Full (Family Name, Given Name):            OLAR (alias) ALLARD, MIHAI
Age (Yrs., Mos.):                                  42
Sex:                                               Male
Married or Single:                                 Married
Calling or Occupation:                             Farm laborer
Able to read:                                      Yes
Able to write:                                     Yes
Nationality (country of which citizen              Austria
or subject):
Race or People:                                    Roumanian
Last Permanent Residence (country, city            Canada, Montreal
or town):
The name and complete address of nearest           wife CHRISTINA OLAR, Tereblestie
relative or friend in country from whence               By Sereth, Boukavina
alien came:
Final destination (state, city or town):           Minn., Baudette
Whether having a ticket to such final              No
destination:
By whom was passage paid:                          Self
Whether in possession of $50, and if               $35
less how much:
Whether ever before in the United States:          No
Whether going to join a relative or friend,        Cous. STEFAN CHRISTIMSKI, Box 20, Baudette
and if so, name of relative or friend and
his complete address:
Condition of health, mental and physical:          [Smudged and illegible, but it looks like
                                                   his eyes are mentioned -- Mihai Olar is the
                                                   only person on this sheet not in "good"
                                                   health]
Height:                                            5 ft. 6 in.
Complexion:                                        Fair
Color of hair:                                     Brown
Color of eyes:                                     Gray
Marks of Identification:                           150 [probably his weight]
Place of Birth (country, city or town):            Austria, Boukavina.
Seaport of Landing:                                Quebec
Date of Landing:                                   June 1909
Name of S.S. (ship):                               Victorian
Date of Examination:                               23 [i.e. 23 Jan. 1911]

It is also worth noting that immediately above Mihai Olar on this list there is a certain EFTIMI KRETZUL, who (like Mihai) was a Romanian immigrant from Tereblestie, Bucovina. Also like Mihai Olar, this Eftimi Kretzul was going to Baudette, Minnesota, to visit a cousin. Eftimi and Mihai both arrived in Canada in June 1909, but came on different ships -- Eftimi came on the S.S. Willehad and is shown on the Willehad's passenger list as "Iftemia Krezul," while Mihai came either on the S.S. Mount Temple, which arrived in Quebec on 21 June 1909, or else on the S.S. Victorian, which arrived in Quebec on 19 June 1909. (However, as noted above, Mihai's name cannot be found on the Victorian's passenger list, perhaps because a page is missing, or perhaps he was some kind of "unofficial" passenger -- or, which seems most likely, perhaps the 1911 border crossing document has the wrong ship's name.) Since Mihai and Eftimi were both from the village of Tereblestie (Tereblecea), they probably knew each other, and they were evidently traveling to Baudette together.

However, this document includes a significant detail about Mihai, namely, he is the only person on this list who is stamped DEBARRED. That is, he was not given permission to enter the U.S. My guess is that he was refused admission to the U.S. due to his health and that he didn't have enough money. As I noted above, Mihai is the only person on this list who is not in "good" health.

Another thing that is interesting is that Mihai had an alias of ALLARD, which is actually a French Quebecois surname. Apparently when he came to Montreal in 1909, he either voluntarily changed the spelling of his name to blend in with the French Canadians, or else an immigration official decided to change his name (as immigration officials often did in those days). It is possible that my grandparents also went by the alias of "Allard" while living in Canada.

But how can we be so sure this Mihai Olar is the same as Grandpa Alex's older brother Michael?

First, he is Romanian, he is an Olar, and he has the right first name: "Mihai" is the Romanian form of "Michael." Second, he is from the village of Tereblestie or Tereblecea, which is where our Olars came from. Third, his wife is named "Christina" -- it is known that at that time my great-uncle Michael was married to Cristina Cosic.

Next, he is 42 years old on 23 Jan. 1911, which means he was born sometime from 24 Jan. 1868 to 23 Jan. 1869. Grandpa Alex's brother Michael was said to be 15 years older than Alex, which means he was born in or about 1868. Michael's living descendants report that he was born in 1869, and his marriage records in Tereblecea confirm it was in that year.

Notice also that Mihai is living in Montreal in Jan. 1911. My dad says that is where Uncle John was born in Dec. 1910 -- just one month before Mihai's attempt to visit Baudette, Minnesota. Mihai was living in Montreal at the same time that my grandparents would have lived there.

Also, Michael wants to visit a cousin in Baudette, a man identified in this document as Stefan Christimski. Now, local vital records of Baudette as well as the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census indicate that Stefan's last name in fact was Crusnitchi or Krusniski (variously misspelled in these records as "Kruslinke," "Crusniki," "Krusmzki," and "Kousmtsku" or "Krusmtsku"). His wife was named Ecaterina Gabor ("Katrina," "Katherina," "Katherine"), and the census records say they had come from Bucovina in Austria-Hungary. In addition, a March 1910 U.S./Canada border crossing document says "Stefan Krusznicki" moved to Baudette at that time, having arrived in Canada in March 1908 -- the same document says Stefan was an ethnic Ruthenian who had been born in "Trebleszty" (Tereblestie or Tereblecea). (The Minnesota Death Index says "Steve Krusnicki" was born 31 Dec. 1883 and died 13 Jan. 1965 in Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota.) Families named "Crusnitchi" and "Gabor" are known to have lived in Tereblecea during the 1800s and early 1900s, so it is very likely Stefan's wife Ecaterina also came from Tereblecea. Significantly, my grandmother's aunt Fevronia Pascar married Stefan's uncle Petre Crusnitchi in 1879. In addition, several individuals of the Gabor family served as godparents or marriage witnesses for members of the family of Gavril Olar, who was an uncle of my grandfather -- thus, it is possible Stefan's wife Ecaterina Gabor was related to my Olar family. When Alex and Rose entered the U.S. in Nov. 1912, the first place they stopped was Baudette -- but they only stayed there for a few days or a few weeks, because before the end of 1912 they had moved to Minneapolis. It is possible that the reason Alex and Rose went to Baudette is because they wanted to visit Stefan and Ecaterina Crusnitchi, who were cousins or kin of my grandparents.

 As an aside, although Mihai was turned back at the border in Jan. 1911, later he did manage to cross into the United States (presumably legally, though perhaps illegally) -- this is known from the U.S. Census returns of 6 Jan. 1920 in Detroit, Michigan, which show a household of Romanian resident aliens that included the following persons: "Jim Strugal," 26, an autobody factory laborer, Jim's wife "Lilly Strugal," 30, and four boarders, all factory laborers, named "Steve Kusknicki," 35, "Michael Olla," 40, "Gregory Huminuk," 35, and "Mitto Stratulat," 39. This census record says all but Michael Olla (that is, Mihai Olar) had arrived in the U.S. in 1913, but Michael arrived in 1912. Genealogical researcher Jean Humeniuk has identified Jim and Lilly Strugal as Dumitru and Leontina (Gabor) (Luncan) Strugar, immigrants from Tereblecea -- Dumitru "Jim" Strugar was later arrested in 1931 for helping to smuggle some of his Romanian cousins to Detroit from Canada by airplane.  Jim and Lilly's boarder Gregory Huminuk is Gregorie Humeniuc, born 1883 in Tereblecea, son of Vasilie and Zamfira (Sandul) Humeniuc. Steve Kusknicki is Mihai's abovementioned cousin or kinsman Stefan Crusnitchi of Baudette, Minnesota -- the same man Mihai said he intended to live with in Baudette nine years earlier. Though Steve lived in Baudette, he is not listed there in the 1920 census, since he was living and working in Detroit at the time. Jean Humeniuk has observed that it was common for Romanian immigrants in Baudette to go to Detroit and work there during the winter and then return to Baudette in the spring.

A final consideration showing that Mihai Olar alias Allard is my great-uncle Michael:  Aunt Linda and my dad have told me that one of Alex's brothers followed him to Canada, but didn't stay, later going back home to Bucovina. Aunt Linda thought Alex arrived in Canada in May 1907 (though it more likely was in 1909 or 1910), whereas this Mihai arrived in Canada in June 1909. Notice also that Mihai Olar's wife Christina is back home in Tereblestie. Mihai apparently isn't in the best of health, he's just been denied entry to the U.S. . . . so maybe eventually he gave up on the New World, or maybe his wife Christina (Cristina Cosic) and his children were unable or unwilling to join him in Canada, so he decided to go back home to his wife. The reason Mihai cannot be found in the June 1911 Canadian Census was perhaps simply due to the census-taker being unable to locate him (and the 1920 census indicates he'd gone to the U.S. by 1912). My grandparents Alex and Rose also do not appear in the 1911 Canadian Census (unless they appear under pseudonyms), even though they reportedly were living in Canada at the time, so Mihai's absence from the 1911 census could just be a mistake of a census-taker.

___________

** "Iftemia" or "Iftimia" is a variation on the name "Eftimi," an old Christian name that derives from the name of St. Euthymius the Great, an Armenian hermit who lived in the late 300s and early 400s A.D.

*** Mihai Olar alias Allard, from Bucovina, seems to be the same person as "Michal Olar," said to be from Galicia. Both Mihai and Michal arrived in Quebec in June 1909, but Mihai reportedly came on the S.S. Victorian, while Michal came on the S.S. Mount Temple. Both Mihai and Michal were married farm laborers, and they both are listed as being in poor health (indeed, it is remarkable how many people on Michal's ship were so sick that they had to be hospitalised), but Michal is said to have been 38 years old when he came to Canada, while Mihai would have been about 40 then. Also, the Mount Temple's passenger list says Michal was unable to read or write, unlike Mihai. Despite these discrepancies, Mihai could well be the same as Michal. Because immigrants often couldn't speak English, or because they didn't remember exactly how old they were, or sometimes they were fearful or suspicious of the immigration officials who interrogated them, immigration records frequently have misspelled names, erroneous ages, false or garbled places of origin, etc. Thus, the "Michal Olar" of the Mount Temple is said to come from "Galicia" rather than "Bukovina," but that could arise from the fact that Bukovina had formerly been a part of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is probably not a coincidence that Mihai's younger brother Iacob (Jacob) is identified as "Galician" on the April 1910 passenger list of the S.S. Mount Temple. In the case of Jacob, there is no question of the identity of the "Jakob Ollar" on the passenger list, even though the list says he was Galician whereas in fact he was a Romanian from Bukovina. So too this "Michal Olar" is likely the same as Mihai despite the discrepancies on the ship's manifest.

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