Browse Tagged “Immigration” from the Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society archive, library and community collections.
Every time I pass Niagara Street in Toronto’s west end a story my Father told me comes to mind. My Grandfather Tanas Radeff with some fellow villagers from Ohschima had come to Canada from Macedonia in1898 looking for work. They had not come to stay but to sojourn for a few years then to return, hoping to buy a farm or build a bigger house with what money they saved. When my Grandfather returned to Macedonia at the ...
Robed Macedonian priest Swinging smoking censer, heavy incensed air Harmonic and familiar, two part Macedonian Orthodox funeral song. We are gathered to lie to rest Cousin Sophie Who lived well and lived long. Born in Oshchima, Macedonia Land of her Fathers Rich in history and Christian culture Leaving the Balkans to which turmoil relates. To Canada and a new life with promise This young girl and family did ...
Lambo Anastasoff Tenekeff was born in 1895 in the village of Gabresh,Macedonia. He immigrated to Canada with his father Anastas Kizoff in 1907. He worked as a butcher and three years later opened his own grocery/butcher store and named it Louis Meat Market. In the established Canadian community he became known as Mr. Louis. In 1919 he sent for his fiancee Kiratza Zolumoff. They were married in 1921 and over a period of eleven years had four children (Mary, Chris, Victoria, Tsana). In the Macedonian community the Anastasoffs were known as the Tenekeff family. Tenekeff was a nickname Lanbo's father acquired while growing up in the village of Gabresh Macedonia. In Canada and the USA Lambo was widely regarded as a leader in the Macedonian community.
People in the villiage of Dumbene saved enough money to send three boys to the United States. In 1909, my father, Demitri “Jim” Kondoff, was among the three boys. They were taken to Solun where they boarded a ship for New York. My father and his companions were not allowed to enter the United States. Without money to return to Europe, the ship’s captain had his own solution.
On Saturday August 26, 2017, the Canadian Macedonian Historical Society celebrated Canada’s 150 anniversary (sesquicentennial) at Pier 21 in Halifax Nova Scotia with the unveiling of a plaque commemorating over 125 years of Macedonian immigration to Canada. The plaque will be mounted at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 on the Wadih M. Fares Wall of Tribute.
In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, Edith George delivered a captivating lecture that intertwined Macedonian immigration with local natural history. George connected her own heritage—specifically her grandfather’s journey from the village of Zhelevo to his influential role in building Toronto’s St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral—with the 350-year-old story of a great red oak in her Toronto neighborhood. By linking an ancient tree in Ohrid, Macedonia, to heritage trees in Canada, she highlighted the urgent need for forest conservation and the use of the Ontario Urban Forest Council’s "Heritage Tree Toolkit." The event, which also featured patriotic musical performances and immigrant poetry, emphasized that protecting natural landmarks is a vital way to preserve the oral and human histories of the community.
The Canadian Macedonian Historical Society (CMHS) transformed this year’s Annual General Meeting into a deeply resonant cultural experience. In a special collaboration with the Macedonian Film Festival, members were treated to a screening of the evocative documentary Story of Vasilka. Directed by Giovanni Princigalli, the film is a masterclass in narrative storytelling, weaving together intimate family photographs with rare archival footage from the Kinoteka (Cinémathèque) of Skopje to create an authoritative and emotionally charged historical record. A screening was set ...
Dedo Pando Damianoff Stoyanchin emigrated from Macedonia/Turkey to Toronto in 1914, followed by Baba Gena Nikoloff Chungaroff about six years later. My father and his siblings were all born on Maria Street in Toronto. Dedo Nauom Kyrou emigrated from Macedonia/Greece to Toronto in 1922, followed by Baba Lena Papaiouannou Kyrou and my mother in 1932. My mother was born in Zhelevo; however her two younger brothers were born in Toronto.
Steve Pliakes or Stefo Plakov, as he prefers to introduce himself, is a Canadian Macedonian, or Macedonian Canadian whose origin is from the beautiful Macedonian village of Zeleniche, in the region of Lerin, from the Aegean part of Macedonia. He is well recognized among the Macedonians in Canada and in the United States.
The first memeber of my family to come to Canada was my paternal grandfater, Karsto Mladenoff. He arrived in 1905. He returned to his selo in 1907. His final crossing was in 1911.
