Carpatho-Rusyns are one of the major ethnic groups of Pennsylvania. From the time they settled the state’s small towns and cities in the late 1870s until the present time, Carpatho-Rusyns have left an indelible mark on the state, and their story should be told. This blog is about a project that will do just that. Read more

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Welcome & Introduction

Carpatho-Rusyns are one of the major ethnic groups of Pennsylvania. From the time they settled the state’s small towns and cities in the late 19th century until the present time, Carpatho-Rusyns have left an indelible mark on the state with their “onion-domed” churches, rich cultural traditions, and devotion to their roots.
Rusyn church, Jermyn, Lackawanna County, Pa.
Carpatho-Rusyns began to settle in the anthracite coal mining districts of northeastern Pennsylvania in the late 1870s. Small towns and burgeoning cities like Shenandoah, Freeland, Shamokin, Mount Carmel, Mahanoy City, McAdoo, Centralia, Nesquehoning, Lansford, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Olyphant were among the first places these immigrants first found work and made their homes. There they built churches, established fraternal insurance societies and social clubs, founded small businesses, met their spouses, raised children, and buried their deceased.


In the decades that followed, Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant communities sprang up in central Pennsylvania (primarily in Centre and Clearfield Counties) and in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. By 1900, there were Rusyn immigrant settlements in at least 25 counties and these communities numbered in the hundreds. In the decade 1910-1920, 54% of Carpatho-Rusyns in the United States lived in Pennsylvania. A far larger number of the total had lived in Pennsylvania at one point but later moved to other states.

“Rusyn miner returning from work,” ca. 1896
While they found work in the early years as anthracite coal miners or on railroad lines, in the Pittsburgh area and throughout southwestern Pennsylvania the steel industry, supported by bituminous coal mines and coke ovens, provided a livelihood for tens of thousands of Rusyn immigrants. Johnstown’s steel mills and extensive bituminous coal mining operations gave rise to dozens of Carpatho-Rusyn communities across west central Pennsylvania, and the industrial plants of Erie led thousands more Rusyn immigrants to northwestern Pennsylvania, where others worked in the oil or timber industries or established farms much as they had known back in their European homeland villages. In every place there were businessmen and businesswomen among their ranks: undertakers, hoteliers, shopkeepers, saloon owners, beer distributors, midwives, boarding house owners, even bankers and travel agents.

Whether they called themselves, or were called by others, Rusyns, Rusnaks, Ruthenians, Carpatho-Russians, Lemkos, Russians, Ukrainians, Slovaks, or any of a number of other names, Americans of Carpatho-Rusyn descent have contributed much to the rich ethnic mosaic of Pennsylvania, and their story should be told.

This blog will describe a project over two decades in the making that will do just that. The ultimate goal of the project is to publish a comprehensive illustrated history of all the Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant communities and their churches, fraternal lodges, social clubs, and businesses in the state.

This blog is intended to grow over time to better describe the project. Watch for followup posts to learn about the background of the project and various aspects of the research.

I welcome your feedback, inquiries, and suggestions in the comments of various posts. Hostile or off-topic comments will not be approved.

Original material is © by the author, Richard D. Custer; all rights reserved.

27 comments:

  1. Best wishes with this, Richard. Your work has helped to bring my Family together, even though our annual Memorial Day Reunion in Hawk Run is discontinued. Our Family from Kapisova and Ladomirova thanks you. Djakuyu from the Hawk Run Lads!

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  2. One of the oldest Greek Catholic churches in PA is St. STEPHEN founded in 1892 in Liesenring, Pennsylvania

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    1. Absolutely, John. Leisenring was the spiritual & cultural center for many years for Rusyns in Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, and Greene Counties until they founded their own churches and fraternal lodges in their own towns/villages. I have a lot of fascinating material and wonderful photographs from Leisenring/St. Stephen's. I would love to scan a few pages (one in particular) from an original copy of the 25th anniversary book. Do you know who might have one? I believe the Karaffa family has/had an original copy.

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    2. I would love to see any pictures or documentation. My father was baptized at the church. He died young, therefore, I never had the opportunity to learn of his history.

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  3. Good work, Rich. I looked at the 1893 map and noticed that Cambria and Somerset Counties were blank. I thought: There must have been some organized communites not long after this near the border between the two counties; there were both coal mines and steel mills. Then I came to the 1900 map and there they were.

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    1. Thanks, izhnannyk. Actually it was right around 1894 that organization started to happen in Johnstown, and then a few years later in Windber, just before 1900.

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  4. how far back are you going? Mont Clare church was founded 1897 - says so on their cornerstone.

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    1. As far back as possible... I want each entry (history of a community) to indicate the earliest date of any record I've found of when a Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant was living in that place. Occasionally I will refer to a parish history, a memoir, or a family's documented research for this evidence (or claim). But most of this will be based on parish metrical records (Greek Catholic or Orthodox). There may well be Carpatho-Rusyns recorded in Roman Catholic parish metrical records in many places that predate Greek Catholic records for that area, but Roman Catholic records of that era (1870s-1880s) are very centralized now at the diocesan level and are very difficult, if not impossible, to be granted permission to review for this purpose (only if you are looking for a specific person).

      So generally the "pioneers" of a place will be identified from records in parishes like Shenandoah (from 1884), Freeland (from 1885), Kingston (1887), Wilkes-Barre (1888), Olyphant (1888), Duquesne (1890), Pittsburgh (1891), Leisenring (1892), and so on, where they covered a lot of territory.

      And of course there are later settlements whose pioneers will be easier to identify since they appear in Greek Catholic or Orthodox records of churches that were well established in a region by the time a newer colony in that area started to appear.

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    2. Also, there were Rusyn immigrants living in Phoenixville (Mont Clare) appearing in the records of St. Michael's in Shenandoah already in 1886.

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  5. КАК постоянно получать новости от русинов США???? адрес dpv49@mail.ru

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    1. www.c-rs.org
      www.facebook.com/pages/Carpatho-Rusyn-Cultural-Center/112161198806366
      www.facebook.com/pages/Carpatho-Rusyn-Society/108011289218067
      www.facebook.com/pages/Rusin-Association-of-Minnesota/329056407112419
      www.mnrusinassociation.homestead.com/
      www.lemkoassociation.org
      i t.d.

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  6. Hi Rich,

    Very excited about this blog! Good luck, and let me know if you need anyone to make maps. :)

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  7. St. Mary's Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was established in McAdoo, Schuylkill County in 1891, serving people that identified as both Ukrainian and Rusyn. St. Michael's Byzantine Catholic Church was established in 1908 after a split within St. Mary's over church finances (sidenote: Fr. Andruhovych was the priest at the time; a similar incident occurred during his tenure at St. Michael's in Shenandoah). McAdoo also has Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. Not sure of the exact year it was established, but it was established by Russian immigrants, as well as Ukrainians and Rusyns who were either always Orthodox or who had converted back to Orthodoxy.

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  8. Hello, I just happened upon this site while looking for information on Luka Myshuha, a past editor of Svoboda, the Ukrainian newspaper published in New York, I believe. He was the uncle of my husband, my mother-in-law's brother. Both were niece/nephew of an opera singer, Oleksandr Myshuha about whom I was also trying to get info on. Your subject stopped me in my tracks as I know that many Ukrainians found their way to your part of the world. I find that Americans love their melting pot and so Ukrainians are not very distinguishable. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada. We are very obvious in these parts. Religion in the US is also somewhat different as jurisdictions are a bit difficult to pin point. So, I am trying to learn some things about our Ukrainian US neighbours. Your name, Richard Custer, does not sound Slavic. Many Americans seem to Anglicise their names so I am very curious why you have chosen to do research on this subject. Are you Orthodox or Greek Catholic? If you choose to tell me, I will surely be interested. Thanks

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    1. Hi Chris, thanks for your interest. The details about my own background are in the post "About the Author". I am half Carpatho-Rusyn and thoroughly Pennsylvanian! :-)

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  9. My husband's white russian ancestors arrived in Windber around 1906. Fedor Gerula and his wife Helen Gerula were Russian orthodox farmers. Fedor was also a miner. I recently came across an interview with their son, Peter Gerula from the IUP archives. You might find it interesting as wellhttp://libs0500.library.iup.edu/depts/speccol/All%20Finding%20Aids/Finding%20aids/MG%20or%20Col/MG127Beik1984Gerula.pdf
    Good luck with your research,
    Parice

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  10. Please let me know if I can contribute anything about my great-grandparents - John Mark Nazarchyk and Anthonia Stremecka Nazarchyk. They were Lemkos from Nowy Sacz County in what is currently southern Poland. They immigrated and they were married in Mt. Carmel (Northumberland County) on November 24th, 1901, at St. Peter & Paul’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, by Friar Stephen Makar. Take care and best wishes with your endeavor!

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  11. My great grandparents, on my dad's side of my family, came from the Jakubany region in Slovakia. (My grandparents, from my mom's side, came from the Orava area.) I just started planning a trip to Slovakia for May and was wondering if there is someone on your site that might be able to help me with some tips on traveling through the area.
    Thanks!

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  12. I just can't stop reading all of this. Grew up in St. Stephen's Byzantine Church in Leisenring. Thanks to all of you!

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  13. what can you tell about father matyak,prist at st. johns greek catholic curch in lansford,pa. at the first half of last centry

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  14. My grandparents called themselves Ruthenian, but came from the Rusyn area of Lemko. Their town was Yurechkova and their name was Zapotoczny. Thanks for your interesting blog.

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  15. I can help you make a better map for Pennsylvania Counties. Let me know if I can email you.

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  16. My paternal great-grandmother and her siblings emigrated from the Austrian-Hungarian empire in the 1st two decades of the 20th c. They all settled in Westmoreland County PA (Donora, Renton, New Kensington). On early census records they list their nationality as “Ruthenian.” She was baptized Greek Orthodox. Based on a cross-reference of many documents and family oral history, I believe the spelling of their surname was Wagaluk. However, due to phonetic mis-spellings the W became a V and the rest of the name found in a variety of forms. My Gr-grandmother entered Baltimore from Hamburg Germany and must have traveled from there to New Kensington PA, where her brother lived. She settled in Donora PA and lived there until she died in 1964. After settling in Donora she met and married my great-grandfather, who was Roman Catholic, so she converted. They married and baptized all their children in St Dominic’s RC Church in Donora. On a passenger record it is recorded that her surname was Wagaluk and most recent address was “Pooski Austria.” I’d love to know if you have any information on this town and where it might have been located, as the borders stand today. She listed on one census that she spoke “Polish” and on later censuses listed she was from Ukraine. I surmise this was due to changing borders over the centuries. Growing up, I was always told she was Ukrainian, but recently discovered the “Ruthenian” piece. Thank you.

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  17. Love the blog, keep up the good work. I believe my dad was Rusyn. "Smoking gun" tipoff - he was born / baptized / raised in the Byzantine Catholic Church tradition in Patton PA. As an adult I believe my dad created a split in the family by bailing out of the Byzantine Catholic church and becoming a member of the Roman Catholic church in Carrolltown PA. I beleive the switch was precipitated by the family moving from the outskirts of Patton PA (ashcroft) and building a home in, and moving to Carrolltown PA. I was baptized in the Byzantine Catholic church in Patton PA but raised in the Roman Catholic tradition.

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  18. My Grandfather, George Belej, now (Bellay), emmigrated from Porac, SK around the turn of the century and settled in Brownfield, PA, near Uniontown. His first son, John Kaffan Bellay was baptized at St Stephans Greek Catholic church in Leisenring, PA, 16 May 1906. His Godfather was Michael Flintosh. Other relatives are Backos, Vrabel,Petrunias from Slovinki, Hanuschin and Maras. Dan Bellay, Mclean, VA. I cling to the deep faith and trust of all Ruthenians and the Greek Catholic Faith. Main email is djb3758@hotmail.com

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  19. My father grew up in Shenandoah PA, in the St. Michael's Greek Catholic parish. I had no idea about where my grandparents came from until after doing DNA and a wonderful gentleman stepped up to volunteer to help me with the genealogy. My grandparents and my father's siblings are buried in the St. Michael's Greek Catholic cemetery. I am thrilled to find this blog and I look forward to following the information. Particularly, I am curious about my grandmother's ancestry her name was Mary (nee Halady) Jubinsky. My grandfather was Joseph Jubinsky (likely Dzubinsky) they lived on Gilbert Street in Shenandoah. I will check out the social media for this page. Thanks again.

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  20. Cindy (Gerula) LangApril 17, 2023 at 6:41 PM

    My grandfather, Fedor Gerula, immigrated from Austria-Hungary in 1905; I also have documents where Galecia is mentioned. He became a miner in Windber (PA) where he met my Baba, Helen (nee Kimock/Kimak/Kimiak), who was born in Wetlina, Poland. They went on to farm in the Windber area and birth 20 children, however, only 13 lived to adulthood. They had been members of St Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church (Windber) until, as your research pointed out, they left and formed SS Peter and Paul Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church.
    A family member recently came across a photo of one of the Gerula sons, dressed in full “uniform”, with about eight other young men. Unfortunately, there is no info with the photo. Based on my uncle’s birthdate, I’d guess the photo to be of a fraternal brotherhood, and taken between 1925-1930. Someone has mentioned to me there was a Galician/Ukrainian brotherhood at St Mary’s, but this person could not remember its name. Do you know of any archived documents/ photographs these older churches may have or that I could have access to view?
    Thank you for all you do!

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I welcome your feedback, inquiries, and suggestions. Hostile or off-topic comments will not be approved.