Zachary Kalyniuk
& Anna Levko

Zachary (Zakhariy/Zacharias) Kalyniuk [Harry Cannon] was born on September 17th, 1893, in Shershenivka Borshchiv, Ternopil, Ukraine. Up until 2023, it was understood that he was an orphan, without any family in Ukraine; however, that proved untrue after a relative’s name connected his granddaughter Kathy Cannon to someone’s family tree on My Heritage, and she was put in contact with a gentleman in Ukraine who researches ancestry records. Armed only with Zachary and his wife Anna’s birth certificates, the gentleman travelled to various villages in Ukraine and developed an extensive report on both the Kalyniuk and Levko family histories. Through this report, we learned that Zachary’s parents Semen (Simeon) Kalyniuk and Domka (Domicella) Vynnyk lived their whole lives in Shershenivka, Ukraine, and resided at Building #144. We also learned that Zachary was the last of their six children: Anna (Dec. 22, 1877 - 1878/79), Anna (b. Aug. 30th, 1880), Maria (b. Nov. 20th, 1883), Mykola (Nicolaus) (b. Dec. 23rd 1885), and Ahafia (b. Sept. 5th, 1890).  

As far as we know, Zachary is the only one from his immediate family who immigrated to Canada, arriving from Shershyneci in 1909, and settling first in Sudbury. A cousin, Sam Kalyniuk, later settled in Saskatchewan. When Zachary arrived in Canada, he didn’t want to become a farmer. In order to get a different job, people told him that he would need to change his name to sound more English; he became known as Harry Cannon, though he and his future family were always known as Kalyniuks in the Ukrainian community. In January 1912 he moved to Hamilton, where he found work at International Harvester as a labourer, where he worked until his retirement in the early ‘50s. When WWI broke out in 1914, he had to report every month to the authorities in Niagara Falls, as Ukrainian immigrants were on the list of suspicious people. 

His wife, Anna Levko [Lewko], was born on November 26th, 1897, in Novosilka, Ternopil, Ukraine. Thanks to the report mentioned above, we now know that she grew up in Lenchivka with her parents Yuriy (George) Levko (1869 - Oct. 28th 1937) and Anastasia Siurpita (b.1876), and was the oldest of only four out of eight children to survive infancy: Maria (Mar. 1st 1896 - Jan. 31 1897), Yulia (Julia) (July 27 - Aug. 19 1900), Vasul (Basilius) (Aug. 31 1901 - Mar. 26 1902), Maria (b. Feb. 28 1903), Paraskeva (Parascheva) (May 4 - May 13 1906), Paraskeva (Parascheva) (b. Apr. 9th 1907) and Yevdokia (Eudoxia) (b. Sept. 28 1911). 

Anna immigrated to Canada with her father in 1912, arriving in Montreal around Easter. More of her relatives later settled in Montreal. After her arrival in Canada, she began working as a maid to a Jewish family. By December 1915, Yuriy and Anna moved to Hamilton, and it is possible that her mother Anastasia had come to visit at this time. Before returning to Ukraine, Yuriy presented a choice of three men for Anna to marry, one of whom was Zachary Kalyniuk. Supposedly, she chose him because he was the most handsome. They married in the Ukrainian Catholic Church on January 22nd, 1916, and settled in Hamilton; they had four children together: Michael (Oct. 30th 1916 - Aug. 7th 1988), John (May 23rd 1918 - Jan. 22 1980), Metro (Nov. 7th 1919 - May 14 1999), and Nelle (Dec. 11th 1921 - Nov. 11th 2004). Like many fathers at that time, Zachary could be quite the disciplinarian, and wasn’t scared to threaten his boys to keep them in line. Additionally, he and Anna were very protective of their daughter Nelle, and made their youngest son Metro responsible for watching over her.

Zachary and Anna were very proud of their Ukrainian heritage, and did all they could to keep their traditions alive. They took their kids to Ukrainian language school, and enrolled them in Ukrainian dancing classes. In January 1926, a meeting was held for Hamilton’s Ukrainian community to organize a Ukrainian Orthodox parish in Hamilton. Zachary was on the organizing committee, and was elected as the first Sexton of the parish, which, in 1933, was named in honor of St. Vladimir the Great. Construction of the lower portion began in 1948 on 855 Barton St. East, and Zachary joined the parishioners to help build it. It opened on May 22nd, 1949. In 1952 they began to build the upper section, which was completed in the summer of 1954. From then on, St. Vladimir’s served as the cultural hub of the Hamilton Ukrainian community, and the Kalyniuks were proud to have been part of its creation. While they didn’t always attend service, they were both active members of St. Vlad’s. Anna helped direct their youth plays, and joined the Ukrainian Ladies Auxiliary (part of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada) with her daughter Nelle. Also, to keep their culture alive, Zachary and Anna hosted Orthodox Christmas every January 7th with traditional foods like cabbage soup, borscht, pierogies, and cabbage rolls. In their later years, Nelle and Russell took over. 

Zachary is remembered as a strong, hard-working man. After his retirement he helped at Russell’s variety store, such as by bringing the heavy wooden cases of pop up from the basement. Anna helped out too, making food like cabbage rolls at the lunch counter. He loved spending time with his grandkids, and was always goofing around with them. Zachary loved wrestling, and his grandson Gary Cannon remembers his Dido taking him and his cousin Bryan Parash down to the Hamilton Forum on Barton Street by bus (as he never drove) to watch wrestling on Sunday nights a couple times a year. Zachary died from bowel cancer on February 9th, 1965 at age 71, in Hamilton. A funeral was held on February 11th, and he was buried at Woodlands Cemetery in Burlington.

After Zachary died, Anna moved into Nelle and Russell’s house on the Mountain Brow. She brought her cocker spaniel named Frisky with her, which the family rescued from outside an Esso gas station when she lived at 505 Upper Gage. The dog was fierce and bit several relatives (including her), so she had to keep it tied up on a leash at all times. The only time anyone could get near the dog was during a thunderstorm; because it was so frightened, Anna would put a babushka on him to help muffle the sound of thunder. Having travelled to a foreign land where she was married off young, her grandchildren acknowledge that her general coldness was a product of her difficult life. She passed away from old age and diabetes on May 23rd, 1972 at age 74, in Hamilton, and was buried next to her husband at Woodlands Cemetery. 

 

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In loving memory of Zachary Kalyniuk & Anna Levko
September 17th 1893 - February 9th 1965 | November 26th 1897 - May 23rd 1972