Early life

Katarina Stefanova Tsilka was the eldest of six children of Dimiter N. Stefanov (1843-1911) and Elena Mandieva (1844-1935). She was born in the village of Bansko, Macedonia, according to family records, on April 23, 1868, though her birth year may have been as late at 1872 (a school record in New York states she was born in 1870; the passenger manifest of SS Patricia, which landed on April 16, 1903 in New York listed her as 30 years of age, and Gregory as 31).

Katarina's great grandfather was the priest (Pop) Stefan Kundev (born ca. 1780-90) whose popularity and good repute caused his progeny to call themselves the Popstefanovi (descendants of the Priest Stefan). His son, the priest Nikola, was the father of Katarina's father, Dimiter Popstefanov. Referring to him, Dimiter's granddaughter, Elena Borikova Craver says: "My maternal grandfather, with whom I grew up, belonged to a long line of Eastern Orthodox priests As a young many he had studied theology in Russia. That trip abroad kindled in him the desire for travel. On returning to his native village, he gave up the idea of becoming a priest, bought a number of horses, and went into the transportation business. His occupation took him to every port of the Balkan Peninsula, a good share of which was then still under Ottoman rule. One of the richest gains of his lifelong travels was a vast accumulations of stories." [upon which Mrs. Craver draws in her book, Bulgarian Folk Tales (New York, Vantage Press, 1964); above quotation from her introduction to this book].

According to Mrs. Craver and her sister, their grandmother was a second wife of their grandfather. She was born in the city of Salonika and may have made the acquaintance of her husband during one of his mercantile expeditions there. She survived more than two dozen years after the sudden death of her husband in 1911. Family lore is that Dimiter was happily enjoying a festive family gathering, about to eat a piece of roast pork when he fell over dead.
 

Biographical sketches of Katarina do not touch on her experiences as a small child, during the Russo-Turkish war, but her brother, Constantine, remembered an incident that undoubtedly included his sister as well. In his dispatch published in the March 30, 1903 issue of the London Daily News, John MacDonald wrote:

One morning, while we were strolling through the bazaar at Serres, Stephanoff suddenly stood still before an inn gateway, into which a countryman was leading his mules laden with merchandise of all sorts. They stared at each other, the young man and the old. They grasped each other hands affectionately, exchanged a few words and parted. It was Stephanoff's uncle, from Bansko. After ten years they scarcely recognized each other. With the Zaptiehs about, they did not venture to be more demonstrative. "In 1879," said Stephanoff, "when I was three years old, and when my father and mother and the rest of us, fearing a massacre in Bansko, fled to Philippopolis, it was my uncle who carried me on his back across the mountains. The scar on his lip was made by the knife of one of three Bashi-Bazouks who attempted to rob him and a small company of his fellow-traders returning home from market." So it still is the same
Macedonia--only twenty-four years nearer its end.

In the American missionaries' publication produced at Samokov (Missionary News, #45, July 27, 1893, p. 4) a series entitled "Notes and Reminiscences of Insurrection and War" included the following:

The occupation of Bulgaria by the Russians and the treaty of San Stefano did not end the woes of Bulgarians. Macedonia was to have its share of suffering. Restless spirits in many places were ready for any thing that gave hope of freedom, and bands of adventurers, some of whom were daring mountain brigands, incited and aided, it is said, by foreign influence and money, were ready to light the torch. Such a band entered the Razlog district, during the fall of 1878, and took possession of Bansko, its largest town, and from sympathy or fear, were joined by a considerable number of inhabitants who, from behind the heavy walls about the surrounding gardens and fields, were able to defend the place against all the available forces which could be sent against them from the government headquarters at Mehomia. The insurgents were however shortsighted in their plans. A strong body of regular troops soon arrived from Nevrokop, on the south and surrounded the village of Banya. Many of the Bulgarian inhabitants of this place went out to oppose them but were quickly overpowered and soon their homes were in flames. Men, women, and children left all, and, with little but the clothing upon them at the time of the attack, fled to the mountains pursued and cut down by the troops. A large part of the Bulgarian inhabitants of this place went out to oppose them but were quickly overpowered and soon their homes were in flames. Men, women, and children left all, and, with little but the clothing upon them at the time of the attack, fled to the mountains pursued and cut down by the troops. A large part of the Bulgarian dwellings were consumed.

From their higher locality the people of Bansko saw the fight, the flight, and the flames. They had no hope of successfully contending with regular troops and they too fled. Some went to the lofty Pirin mountains whose base is close to the town, but the larger part took the paths leading through the valleys and over the mountains to the N.W. toward Djumaya. All night long many feeble and weary ones, walking and then resting, pressed on to reach a place of safety. Some were two or three days in going a distance of nine hours. In one of the wooded valleys the mountain robbers fired a few shots toward the fugitives calling out "The Turks, the Turks." Consternation seized the refugees. They threw away the clothing and valuables which they had taken for the flight, for life was dearer than all else. Mothers even threw away their infant children, some of whom were crushed to death by the iron hoofs of the horses which were being urged on by their frightened owners. Many villages and hamlets to the S. W. of Bansko were involved in this uprising, and their inhabitants also fled to Djumaya.

Mr. Palgrave, the English Consul in Sophia, visited this place soon after the flight and reported to us that over 10,000 fugitives had come in to Djumaya, of whom about 4000 remained in the town and surrounding hamlets. The others scattered to different parts of Bulgaria but were most numerous in Dubnitsa and the nearer places.

Among these fugitives were a large part of the members and congregation of the Evangelical church in Bansko, the largest of all the Bulgarian Evangelical churches. Mr. Palgrave urged us to do what was in our power for the relief of the refugees who must suffer much during the severe cold of winter.

The terror of war faded, and life in Bansko returned to normal. By the mid-1880s, as Katarina's childhood ended, the American missionaries were optimistic about this center of evangelistic fervor. The Missionary News, #2, April 30, 1885 reported on the Annual Meeting (April 9- 
13) that had just been held there:

Bansko is a large, thrifty village in the North East corner of Macedonia, some 50 miles South of Samokov. It is finely situated in the Razlog, a fertile and well-irrigated plain dipping heavily towards the North, large enough to accommodate several towns. Bansko has a purely Bulgarian population of over 6000 souls. Its houses are very substantially build of stone and cement, the frame-work exposed to view, two-storied, with projecting roofs covered with red tiles. These cottages, with their little windows, have an Alpine appearance, which is enhanced by the snowy peaks of the Pirin and Rilo ranges which tower up on either hand.

The fertile soil of the Razlog was the first to bear Evangelical fruit, a Church being organized in Bansko in Aug. '71. The Protestant community now numbers over 100 males, and has succeeded breaking down all opposition to the free spread of the Gospel in the entire section...

[During the meeting] the audiences in Bansko were large and attentive throughout. On Sunday, when the impressive Dedication and Communion Services were held, over 600 were crowded into the room, including some who had never before attended an Evangelical service. It was a great privilege to look into those hundreds of eager faces, and to feel the impetus already acquired by the Gospel in this land...

For weeks before, and up to the last moment, much doubt was felt about the holding of the meeting, on account of the suspicions of the Turks and because of an expected insurrection. This prevented a fuller attendance from outside of Macedonia...

Sixteen years ago, two missionaries and a helper were violently driven from Bansko; but the mustard seed has been sown, and now some of the bitterest opposers of that time were present at the gathering and seemed deeply interested...

The tasteful church is a monument to the earnest efforts and personal labor of Paster Vlaef. He superintended all the work and workmen, himself toiled as a day laborer, preparing much of the stone; was an efficient carpenter and made the pulpit, thus saving half the expense it would otherwise have cost.

Both published versions of Katarina's childhood acknowledge that she continued her education at the Mission School in Samokov. She evidently concluded her studies in the summer of 1889. The Missionary News, #25, December 12, 1889, p. 1 reports:

The Annual examination of the Girls School was held June 26-28th, and of the Collegiate and Theological Institute June 27-July 3. In the former five written and thirty-two oral examinations, ten compositions, dialogues, and declamations, beside the four longer pieces of the graduates, showed commendable progress. The report of Rev. Mr. Sitchanoff, one of the examining committee, says: "To every one present the examinations were very satisfactory. The prompt, exact and clear answers which the scholars gave to the questions proposed to them, proved that both teachers and pupils had been earnest and hearty in fulfilling their duties. With special pleasure we can say that the examinations in the Bulgarian language, in Mineralogy, Algebra, and Physiology were among the best.

Four young ladies finished the course: Misses Aglaitsa Nikolova of Samokov, Katerinka Stephanova and Alexandra Kolchagova of Bansko, and Vela Kondeva of Mehomia. After the reading of the well prepared compositions the President of the Trustees presented them their diplomas and, with some encouraging words, pointed out the obligations resting on them as "educated women." The two of these graduates who are from Bansko are teaching at home; a third in her Alma Mater.

If either or both of the published sketches listed below are accurate about the arranged marriage that Katarina refused to accept, then one wonders what a Bansko-styled wedding might be like. The Missionary News, #21, December 31, 1888, p. 7 obliges our curiosity:

In Bansko, a wedding feast is given by the family of the bridegroom on the evening after the marriage, and the relatives of the bride often give a second on the following evening. On the day after our arrival in this place we were invited to the second of these entertainments. The company, twenty-five in number, gathered about 6 P.M. The room was about fourteen by eighteen feet in size; the floor, covered with thick native carpets, and the only place for sitting. The dress of the bride and bridegroom scarcely differed from that of the others, as it is very often the case when the circumstances of the parties will allow it. The tables were only a strip of carpeting on which the cotton cloth was laid, around which the guests gathered, sitting a la Turk except a few whose joints were not supple enough, or whose close garments would not allow the freedom given by the loose baggy pants which were formerly universally worn. The men were at one end of the room, the women on one side, and the children in a corner by themselves. A long striped cotton cloth extending around in the laps of the guests, was the general napkin. Thick slices of large loaves of dark bread were placed before each one by the side of his plate, on which were a fork and spoon. There was perfect quiet while the pastor asked God's blessing on the feast. After the usual little cup of coffee, a thick nice soup was brought in, the guests eating, five or six from the same dish, and laying their spoons on their plates. Then followed dishes of mutton cooked with onions; meat in soup with prunes; large tinned copper plates of pie-crust; a rice pilaff with pieces of baked chicken; another pilaff with pieces of baked pig; and finally another kind of sweetened pie-crust. These seven courses were cooked at different homes, and somewhat differed in quality, but were all good.

I measured a loaf of bread which was forty seven centimeters in diameter; the copper plates in which was cooked and brought the rice and chicken was fifty one centimeters, and the dish of pie-crust fifty three centimeters. The only drink was cold water, passed around when called for in glass tumblers or taken from the mouths, or from a little aperture in the handles of the jugs standing near each conversation.

Cheerful conversation with an occasional sally of wit, enlivened the feast.

After all had finished eating, several hymns were sung in which all heartily joined, when a Bible was brought and the evening closed with reading and prayer. It was but a little after 10 P.M. when the company went to their homes.

All this Katarina would not see or experience for almost a decade. Soon after completing her program in Samokov, she was headed for America.