In Xpucmuanovka friends again build them a house, a mansion infact- it not only had the usual two rooms but, a service porch. It also had a cellar into which each Spring the men of the village would pack fifty pound blocks of ice that they had cut from the frozen Irtysh River near by.
It was in this cellar they kept their perishable foods could be kept on the service porch because of the low temperature. Meats hung there would freeze solid. All stock and poultry was butchered right after the first snow fall of winter because the animals could not survive the long bitter winter.
When Evdokia was sixteen, she me Anton Samborsky, a handsome Pole, ten years her senior. He had just retired five years of service on the Russian Navy and was living in a village with his father and three bothers...
Finally, your great-grandparents met one another!?
ReplyDeleteI seriously can't imagine living in Russia in the middle of winter! So cold that their basement was a freezer. Pretty unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteI would def want to learn more about Russia and it is so cool you have those letters as a reference to your family history! It makes things more personable and lets history come to life. Also love the way you are leaving us hanging !
ReplyDeleteYes winters in Russia are very cold! I remember winters in Ukraine - there were times you couldn't open your front door because snow was up to the roof top :)
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