Imagine traveling back to the centuries when our Galician ancestors lived. “Our Galician Ancestors,” published in January 2024, provides fascinating information about the people who once lived in Poland and Ukraine. The book discusses their homes, dress, foods, and social customs and events through historical facts, stories, and pictures. It also explains their complex social, cultural, and political world and why many chose to immigrate.

The author’s comprehensive research and numerous trips to Polish museums, churches, and ethnographic villages allow the reader to understand all aspects of their ancestors’ lives, from the earliest inhabitants to just before World War I. Most ancestors were peasants and lived in extreme poverty and oppression but kept the spirit of independence in their hearts. The many full-color photos in this book will transport the reader to the wooden homes, churches, markets, and peasant villages typical of our ancestors.

The book is available in both paperback and eBook format:

Chapters include:

• The history of our ancestors from the earliest time to WWI.
• Serfdom
• Family life and children
• Marriages and weddings
• Life on a typical farm and the houses
• Clothing
• Market days
• Education
• Holidays and holy days
• Superstitions and Ancient Rites
• Sickness, epidemics, and plagues
• Death, funerals, and cemeteries
• Art, Music, and Literature
• The Elite and Landowners
• The Jews in Poland and Ukraine
• The German Colonists in Galicia
• What Other Europeans and Americans thought of Galicia
• Beekeeping and Mushroom Hunting
• Immigration to the USA and Canada
• Visiting the land of your ancestors 

Donna Gawell and Mark, her husband, are descended from Polish immigrants. Donna’s grandparents came from Niwiska, a small village in Poland, in the early 1900s. She found her Polish cousins in 2015 and has visited them several times. Mark’s grandparents came from Ukraine and the Polish villages of Lutcza, Zawoja, and Bielsk.

Please visit Donna Gawell’s website, http://www.DonnaGawell.com, for more information on Poland, World War II in Poland, and travel to Poland and other exciting destinations.