Cosmachuk, Elisaveta

Elisaveta’s life

Born (1865)

Elisaveta “Savetta” Cosmachuk was probably born in what was at the time Bukovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire around 1865. We do not know who her parents were.

What’s in a name

The given name ‘Elisaveta’ is believed to be a female name of Bulgarian origin and descended from the Hebrew name Elisheva that means “God Is My Oath”. It’s English equivalent is “Elizabeth”.

We must assume that Elisaveta’s parents were members of the Orthodox Church and chose her name by either naming her in someone’s memory or following the tradition of selecting given names from the Bible. In the Bible, Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist.

The surname ‘Cosmachuk’ is an odd one when it comes to searching the internet for meaning. It doesn’t have a strong presence probably due to the many different ways that it could be spelled (Ie. Cosmachuk, Cozmachuk, Kosmachuk, Kozmachuk, etc.)

The “chuk” on the end of the last name seems to indicate a Ukrainian origin and can be taken to mean ‘descended from’ or ‘honouring’ a man named ‘Cosma’. The given name Cosma with it’s many spelling variations is popular in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece and Poland from what we have found on the internet.

Marriage (1885 or before)

Elisaveta married Timofti Cojocari but we are not sure when. Maybe one day we will find some better information but until then we can make a guess!

Using the birth date we have for her oldest son, Nicolai “Nick”, January 28, 1886 we can guess at the year of their wedding therefore being 1885 or before provided that we make the following assumptions:

• Elisaveta didn’t become pregnant with Nicolai until after marrying Timofti
• Nicolai is a product of Elisaveta and Timofti and not of some previous marriage
• No babies were born prior to Nicolai which did not survive – therefore, Nicolai was their first-born

If we can assume the wedding was in 1885 that would mean that Elisaveta was around twenty-one (21) years old and her groom Timofti was about twenty-six (26) years old when they wed.  These ages are a little old for a first marriage during that period by a few years in our opinion but we can only speculate as to why.

Children

Elisaveta would give birth to nine children that we know about. They had five boys: Nicholai “Nick”, Ion “John”, Constantine “Costan”, Vasile and Ilie “Eli” and four girls: Daphne, Annica, Rachela “Rachel” and Verona.  It is likely that Elisaveta had more babies that didn’t survive as this was common during the period and there are some ‘gaps’ between the birthdates of their surviving children.

Of Timofti’s and Elisaveta’s nine children, four (Nick, John, Costan and Rachela) immigrated to North America. 

Death of Husband

She had been married to Timofti for about 33 years upon his death in 1918. She would live as a widow for fifteen more years.

At Rest

Elisaveta passed away in 1933 at the age of about 68 and lies at rest with her husband in a family plot in the Liteni Cemetery, Comuna Moara, Suceava County, Romania.