Eastern European Records Help

Question

Asking for help on John Malyuk.  I currently have his place of birth as Czechoslovakia, however that country was not formed during that time period.  My understanding is that his family came from an area that is close to the Slovakian/Ukrainian border and is currently under Ukraine's control.  I'm hoping someone can help me correct this, but also help with finding his actual birth home and possible records regarding his family in Europe.

Here's what I know- John was 1 of 3 brothers that came to America one of which is Michael Maluke (1874-1941).  I haven't put Micheal on here because I don't have records on the father to connect them.  Michael's death record says his father's name was Mitro. (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X83V-MWH)  That record says Michael was born in "Ungrai, Slovakia."  His naturalization card also states "Turia Szske, Hungary" (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1L-LYGT).

John's WWII draft record says "Buista" as his place of birth. (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQF1-5Q5).  A WWI draft card that may belong to John says "Stare Bystry, Galicia, Hungary" (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6V3-7YM).  But it may not belong to this John because it says 3 children and I only know of 2 children before1920.  I did find a town called "Turia Bystra" in Ukraine near Slovakia.. but I don't know how accurate that record is..

Any help on finding this mystery location (for updating the profile and doing further research) would be appreciated.  Also anything that can help me find both John and Michael's father in another record would be nice to so I can add him on wikitree (and then subsequently Michael and his family).

Answer 1

I found a "Turia" in today's Romania, but it was until 1918 part of Austro-Hungary.

Turia Bystra is about 55km away from today's Slovakian border.

There is a town in today's Poland called Stare Bystre. That town belonged until 1918 to Galicia, so Austro-Hungary.

This is what I could find.

Comments

This answer looks accurate. Based on some of my own research into Ukrainian ancestry, the area was known as Galacia at that time, and was under Astrian rule. Here are some resources you might be able to use:

https://www.geshergalicia.org/galician-town-locator/

http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Galizien

http://www.galiziengermandescendants.org/

Answer 2

I think the death record says "Ungvar county"; the county was actually just Ung, but there was a city called Ungvár in it.

There were several places in Turja- (also spelled Turia-) in Ung county. The one that I think is on the naturalization petition is Turja-Bisztra, which was later called Turjasebes, matching the declaration of intention. It is now Tur'ia Bystra in Ukraine. (The Turja- part refers to the name of the local creek, and I believe Bisztra is from a Slavic term for "fast-flowing". The Hungarianized -sebes means "quick, fast".)

The WWII draft registration is clearly going for something like Bistra.

The WWI draft registration has Stare Bystry, which I believe is Slavic of some flavor for "Old Bystry". (The contrasting prefix would be Nove.) I cannot find a Bistra-type placename (or pair of placenames) that used the old/new prefix in any language. (The Hungarian would be Ó- for "old" and Új- for "new".) There must be some sort of error on the draft registration.

Research materials for places now in Ukraine are hard to come by online. I would start with Carpathian Reflections (https://www.carpathianreflections.com/). The site started as an index or finding aid for the mess of now-digitized Greek Catholic church registers for Munkács and Ungvár on FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1411329), but Catherine (the site owner) keeps finding -- and indexing -- new things, such as voter lists and enlistment records.