[2] Oleksa was born in the Hutsul village of Pechenizhyn, Kolomyia Raion, in the Carpathian Mountains in the early 18th century in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.The many folk songs and the few prose legends that still survive in Prykarpattia portray him as a local hero who robbed the rich and helped the poor serfs, like the legendary Robin Hood.[3] According to Hassidic legend, Dovbush at one time hid in the house of Baal Shem Tov and gave him his pipe as a token of friendship.After his death, his legacy was extended by several of his companions and/or people that idolized him: Vasyl Bayurak (a memorial plate is erected in Ivano-Frankivsk that mentions of his execution), Maksym Zalizniak, Ustym Karmaliuk, and many others.His legend entered Ukrainian folklore and was the subject of various artistic works, by, among others, the writers Ivan Franko and Yuriy Fedkovych.