opiele Ruthenian Popeli, a village in Drohobycz county, presently in Ukraine, 10 km South-West from the County Court in Drohobycz, 6 km from the Post Office and Telephone in Boryslaw. Uniatycze are to the North, Derezyce to the North-West, Hubicze and Bania Kotowskato the East, Boryslaw to the South-East, Opaka to the South-West, Jasienica Solna to the North-West. The village lies in the Dniestr basin, on the banks of Ratoczyna river, a tributary to Tysmienica and that in turn is a tributary to Dniestr. Ratoczyna, which originates to the South of the village, also has its own tributaries. Its run through Eastern part of the area in the North-Westerly direction and accepts within the village boundaries brooks originating to the South-West from Kotowce and Czecz and coming from the left bank. The stream called Slony comes from the right bank. The village buildings are located in the middle of the area in the Kotowiec valley and encompass following hamlets: Popiele Gorne, Popiele Dolne, Mosty, Romanowka. To the South-West from the village there is a forest named Ratoczyna with a mountain called Kotowiec (2,400 ft). A forest called Popiels' Oak Woods is to the North, on the left bank of the Czecza river and on the right bank a forest called Muraskow. To the Nort-West from the village there is a hill named Kamionka (1350 ft). The major property in the area is presently owned by Mikolaj Kryska and consists (in acres): fields - 617, meadows and orchards - 279, pastures - 58, forest - 1580. The other part owned by smaller estate owners totals (in acres): fields - 938, meadows and orchards - 338, pastures - 483, forest - 38. There were 193 families living here in 1880, 1111 people in the township and 20 families and 128 people living on the court grounds. The inhabitants were: 38 Roman Catholics, 1150 of Ukrainian Catholic church, 50 of Mosaic religion; 47 Poles, 1155 Ruthenians, 37 Germans. The Roman Catholic parish in Drohobycz, the Greek church in the village, Drohobycz deanery. Bania Kotowska is a part of the Greek parish. The Ukrainian Catholic church was erected in 1690 as per documents preserved in the oblate in the Przemysl Town archives. The initiative was of Inocenty Winnicki a Przemysl bishop. The erection documents gives a privilege of relief from any duties except spiritual, to the parson. The village has two Ukrainian Catholic churches, a one-class school, a distillery, a petroleum refining plant and a water driven sawmill with two linear and two circular saws. The sawmill needs 82 cubic yards of fir and spruce per year and manufactures 49 cubic yards of deal, batten and timber. Siarczynski (manuscript in Ossolineum library no. 1829) writes: Polish king Vladislav Jagiello granted the lands here to the knight Popiel and he in turn , as Niesiecki remembers, settled here peasants and established a village which became a nest of Popiels. In the first half of 19 century the village was inherited by the counts Karnicki. In 1853 Teresa Hizdef died in Popiele, a woman 130 years old. She remembered many things happened in the past in the area, like the last invasion of the enemies which resulted with burning the church (The Home Friend, 1853).

Lu. Dz.

Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego I Innych Krajow Slowianskich (Geographic Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom and other Slavic Countries) Wydany pod redakcja Bronislawa Chlebowskiego, Warszawa, 1892. Tom VIII.- Zeszyt 94 str. 50-51

Buildings
used as living quarters	322
other inhabited	-
Inhabitants as of 09-30-1821 (without military personnel)
total	1,834
men	914
women	920
Religion
Roman Catholics	189
Greek Catholics	1,617
Evangelics	1
other Christian	-
Jewish	27
other	-
unknown	-
Nationality
Polish	199
Ruthenian	1,614
German	1
Jewish	19
other	1
unknown	-

Skorowidz miejscowosci Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej opracowany na podstawie wynikow pierwszego spisu ludnosci z dnia 30 wrzesnia 1921 i innych zrodel urzedowych, T.XIII, woj. lwowskie, (Index of Polissh Republic towns and townships based on the first census of September 30, 1921 and other official sources, vol. 13 Lviv province) Warszawa 1924, poz. 47

Data from 1929 Business Directory from most kind Mr. Alexander Sharon, Calgary, Canada.

Translation from Polish to English: sp

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