Author Receives Seton Shields Genealogy Grant to Support Research

Renowned professional genealogist Megan Smolenyak administers a grant program, the Seton Shields Genealogy Grant. I am thrilled to say that I am one of the grantees for Q3 2015:

Rich Custer has invested a couple of decades traveling around gaining access to Rusyn records that would otherwise vanish, so he’s an amazing gift to the Carpatho-Rusyn community. The grant will assist with costs associated with a week-long research trip to archives in eastern Pennsylvania and northeastern New Jersey. Rich’s aim is to provide detailed accounts of the development of all Carpatho-Rusyn (and related) immigrant communities in Pennsylvania, based substantially on primary sources, and to describe the patterns of chain migration in each place (and by extension, within the state and in other Rusyn communities in the U.S.), thus aiding genealogists to trace the movement of their families and relatives or fellow villagers.

I hope to make this research trip in November, if all the pieces fall into place. The trip will include 1-to-2-day-long visits to these institutions:

• Eparchy of Passaic Heritage Institute (Woodland Park, NJ)
• Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center of New Jersey (Somerset, NJ)
• St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary Library (South Canaan, PA)
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)

Many thanks to Megan Smolenyak and the Seton Shields Genealogy Grant program for helping to make this possible! Folks undertaking all kinds of genealogy-related work can apply for this grant at Megan's website.

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