Overview of April 2018 Research Trip to the Pittsburgh Area

Working full-time, my study and writing about Carpatho-Rusyn immigration has been limited to being a hobby, albeit one that I have spent much time on in these many years. Only a few times a year do I have the opportunity to devote a few days full time to fieldwork. Fortunately, I can see that only a few more of these research trips will be necessary before I can be satisfied that the information I've gathered is thorough enough (if never quite "complete"). These occasional research trips take many days to plan and do not always go accordingly. My first such trip of 2018 took place in April, and I'm glad to share the highlights — and glimpses of what I collected — with you.

In case you didn't know, I have started posting about my project on Facebook at this page: The Carpatho-Rusyns of Pennsylvania. I already posted about this research trip there; this is an adapted consolidated version of several Facebook posts.

(Posted "live" on April 21, the first day of the trip)

This research trip is starting out exceptionally well. Thanks to two of my clerical contacts in Somerset & Cambria Counties, I got access to valuable records and made some joyful finds today:

Early minutes of the St. Mary's Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Central City;

St. Mary's Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, Central City, Somerset County: First parish meeting minutes, 1917.

Some of the old Carpatho-Rusyn prayerbooks in the kliros of St. Mary's in Central City used by the cantors of days gone by...

St. Mary's Church, Central City: "Izbornik" book of divine services used by cantors, published in Užhorod, 1925.

St. Mary's, Central City: "Molitvennik" personal prayerbook, published in Prjašev (Prešov), 1897.

A beautiful icon "She who is Quick to Hear" from the sanctuary of St. Mary's above the diakonikon (deacon's table)...

A collection book from St. Mary's "for the relief of acute conditions of this parish caused by coal strike" in 1922...

Metrical records from the Russian Orthodox parishes in Pine Hill ("Goodtown") and Boswell...

Ss. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, Pine Hill ("Goodtown"), Somerset County: First page of the baptismal register, 1917.

Wonderful old photos from the Greek Catholic parishes in Portage, Beaverdale, and Dunlo;

Dunlo, Cambria County, St. George (later Ss. Peter & Paul) Greek Catholic Church, parish school children and first communicants. (year undetermined)

Portage, Cambria County, Ss. Peter & Paul Greek Catholic Church: Bethlehem carolers ("jasličkari") (year undetermined)

and last, but most importantly: Babas from Beaverdale!

Beaverdale, Cambria County, St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church: Members of the Rosary Society. (year undetermined)

(Several weeks later: Through the efforts of several people on Facebook who saw the post of the above photo, we now have identified many of the ladies in this photo.)

(Posted after the trip ended)
From Portage I made my way to metro Pittsburgh where I spent the next four days.

Saturday, 4/21:
Not having heard back from any of my attempts to schedule appointments, I spent most of the morning and afternoon doing the easiest tasks: supplementing and/or polishing my existing extensive archive of Rusyn immigrant tombstones. I started at the sprawling North Side Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh's North Hills where a fair number of members of Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church on Pittsburgh's North Side were buried. An unexpected encounter was coming upon the grave of Nikolaj Pačuta (Nicholas Pachuta), a Rusyn immigrant who was active in religious and secular/political affairs within the Rusyn community in America. Unfortunately his gravesite gives no indication of the important role he played especially in the years just after World War I. Paul R. Magocsi wrote that he was "head of an organization called the American Russian National Defense (Amerikansko-Russka Narodna Obrana). This group had been founded in 1915 in Braddock, Pennsylvania and drew most of its supporters from the recent converts to Orthodoxy led by Bishop Stephen (Dzubay). Although Pachuta originally supported the idea of union with Russia, he now urged that his countrymen in America should favor instead the idea of joining with the Czechs and Slovaks in their proposed new state."

Grave of Nikolaj Pačuta / Nicholas Pachuta, early Rusyn American political & community activist. North Side Catholic Cemetery (now Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery), Pittsburgh.

After about two hours there (it was my first time taking photos there), I headed to McKeesport (my key focus for this trip, more on that later) to "polish" my photos of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cemetery.

St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cemetery, McKeesport

St. John's Cemetery I'd been to a number of times before, but reviewing my archive quite a few of my shots were blurry due to shooting in the late afternoon/dusk hours. So I certainly have much-improved shots now, especially of some of the older stones written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Many of the members of this parish — an offshoot of the original St. Nicholas GC Church — came from the Lemko "Zamishantsi"-area village Krasna, in old Krosno County: Kalita, Kawka, Lesniak, Lewko, Oriniak, Senko, Spearnak, Zavinski, and others. One of these was rather unique in that it is inscribed not in Rusyn/Lemko or Ukrainian but in Polish.

Interesting gravestone of Rusyn immigrant Alexander Kalita, born in Krasna, Krosno County, Lemkovyna - Austrian Galicia: written in Polish rather than in Rusyn/Lemko or Ukrainian.

I then headed to St. John's Church for the 4 pm Liturgy. Afterward I got to speak with the pastor, Fr. Gregory Madeya (who I'd not been able to reach by other means) and he welcomed me to continue the research I'd begun there many years ago — when I wasn't as thorough as I later became in examining metrical records. I also asked him about any old photos the parish office might have on hand. Unfortunately he had no time during the remainder of my trip to meet with me, but was happy to do so another time.

St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, McKeesport

I had a little free time before heading to the other McKeesport church I needed to still research: Holy Virgin Dormition Russian Orthodox Church. So I walked through Grandview Cemetery in East McKeesport, where I had been on several past occasions, to look once more for any Rusyn immigrant graves to photograph. There were indeed a few among the many Serbian immigrants. Curiously there was a section of the cemetery filled with graves of Albanian Muslim immigrants. You don't see that too often in Pennsylvania!

I made it back into the city for 6:30 vespers at Holy Virgin Dormition. The service was about half English, half Slavonic, which was very nice. Afterward I finally got to chat with Fr. Dimitri Ermakov, who took over as pastor after the death of his father and namesake. Like at St. John's, he welcomed me to do research... some other time. This was positive but also unfortunate, as this parish is a key part of the story I'm going to be telling [May 6] when I give the St. Alexis (Toth) Lecture at St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral in Minneapolis: how immigrants from the village of Becheriv led a return of Carpatho-Rusyns to Orthodox in places in the U.S. in not only Minneapolis (for which they are well known). So for now I will make do with the little information I have about the composition of this McKeesport parish in the immigrant days. And I will look forward to returning for research sometime later this year.

Dormition of the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, McKeesport (at vespers)

One plus is that I finally got a copy of the parish's recent centennial anniversary booklet, which has some useful supplemental history to their prior anniversary books.

Sunday, 4/22:
Sunday would be another day of no appointments except for church in the morning. First up was attending Liturgy at little St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church in Hannastown, near Greensburg. I'd spoken briefly with the pastor, Fr. Regis Dusecina, on Saturday, about my visit and research. So when I entered the church, he saw me and welcomed me warmly. He also gave me a copy of the last anniversary book published jointly by St. Mary's and his other parish, St. Nicholas in Greensburg, with historical information on both that was a helpful addition to what I already had about them. After Liturgy, which was sung very nicely by a small but enthusiastic congregation, Fr. Regis announced my presence and encouraged the parishioners to speak with me. (What a kind gesture! Can't ask for better hospitality than that.) I was greeted by several parishioners and one, whose grandfather had been the church cantor many years ago, took me to the church basement to see a number of historical items: Greek Catholic Union lodge charters, GCU and United Societies lodge membership registers, etc. I photographed as much as I could, which was very useful material, especially since it helps me to see the geographical extent of the membership of the church back in the immigrant era, when there were other Rusyn churches in the vicinity whose "coverage" probably overlapped quite a bit with those of St. Mary's: Nativity of the Mother of God G.C. Church of New Alexandria ("Salemville"/"Shieldsburg"), Ss. Cyril & Methodius R.O. Church of Jeannette, and perhaps even the short-lived Holy Trinity R.O. Church of Greensburg.

St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church, Hannastown, Westmoreland County

St. Mary's, Hannastown

Cornerstone of St. Mary's Church: "Greek Catholic Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy [Virgin] Mary, founded 1907"

Parish directory / jubilee book I was given for St. Mary's Church, Hannastown, and its sister parish, St. Nicholas of Greensburg.

Lodge charter of St. Mary's Lodge of Hannastown, Greek Catholic Union lodge 267, founded 1902, kept at St. Mary's Church, Hannastown.

From the meeting minutes book of Greek Catholic Union Lodge 267 of Hannastown, showing officers, and collectors for Hannastown and Crabtree.

Lodge membership register of the Hannastown lodge of the United Societies of the U.S.A.; most of the members were born in the U.S. and thus it seems to have been a children's lodge.

I then headed just a few miles to Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church in Jeannette for their Liturgy and to return some extremely helpful historical documents they had loaned me some months ago, such as some old anniversary books and the "Vedomost' o cerkvi" (Statement about the church) documents, which in 1910-11 included not just information about the founding and current state of the Jeannette church but also those in Arnold/New Kensington (St. John the Baptist) and Export (St. Nicholas), founded by Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants and at the time under pastoral care from Jeannette's pastor. I was warmly welcomed back and joined the pastor, Fr. Lawrence Daniels, Matushka Sophia, and parishioners for a hearty luncheon (including kolbasa z kapustov in good Rusyn style). The history of the Jeannette church is not only of value regarding the local Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant population in town and nearby Grapeville and Manor, but of surrounding areas, some of which had their own Rusyn-founded Orthodox churches for a time, i.e., Herminie (the former St. Nicholas Church) and the aforementioned one in Greensburg.

An atypical view of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of Jeannette, Westmoreland County.

Interior of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church

Anniversary book from Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church, with valuable historical info and photos.

From the 40th anniversary book of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church of Jeannette. Pastor in 1950 was Father Peter Felenchak.

From the 40th anniversary book of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church.

"Vedomost' o cerkvi" (Statement about the church) of Ss. Cyril & Methodius R.O.G.C. Church of Jeannette, written in the 1910s by the pastor, detailing information about the founding of the church, its properties and their value, societies active in the church, locations served by the parish, etc.

Second page of a "Vedomost' o cerkvi" (Statement about the church) of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church, written in the 1910s. This page includes information about St. Nicholas R.O.G.C. Church of Export, founded in 1910, at the time also served from Jeannette.

Bidding the people of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church farewell, I hurried to McKeesport for a short tour by local native and longtime Rusyn patriot Edward Boyko. Ed showed me the local cemetery that had probably been the original burial place of early Rusyn immigrants to McKeesport, as he years ago had seen monuments from before 1900 there, but which he was no longer able to find. I also saw some parts of the city outside the downtown area (where the original various Slavic and Hungarian churches were built) where our people also lived, such as the neighborhood where Ed's immigrant grandparents lived and where he grew up. Ed was the last National President of the United Societies of the U.S.A., a Carpatho-Rusyn fraternal organization founded in McKeesport in 1903. He is writing what should be the definitive history of the organization, which in the 1990s merged with the Greek Catholic Union.

Having no further appointments, I spent the rest of the day completing my photography of the large and historic Rusyn parish cemeteries of St. Nicholas G.C. Church in McKeesport and Ss. Peter & Paul G.C. and St. Nicholas R.O. churches in Duquesne. The afternoon wore on and I was wearing out, but as I crossed the Rankin Bridge on my way back to Monroeville the sun was hitting the Braddock hillside just so perfectly I couldn't end the day just yet. So I exited and drove to Monongahela Cemetery in North Braddock, a most picturesque site overlooking the Steel Valley and the Mon River. I returned to the formidable task of photographing the graves of hundreds of Rusyn immigrants buried there. These immigrants lived not just in Braddock & North Braddock, but Rankin, East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, and even Wilmerding. I thought I might be able to finish what I'd not yet photographed in the uppermost portion of this cemetery, but after an hour or so I decided to call it a day.

St. Nicholas Cemetery, McKeesport:

Cross monument at St. Nicholas Cemetery in McKeesport. Longtime pastor Fr. Valentine Gorzo and his family are buried around the cross.

Ss. Peter & Paul Cemetery, Duquesne (in West Mifflin):

St. Nicholas Cemetery, Duquesne (in West Mifflin):

Monongahela Cemetery, North Braddock:

One of the Rusyn sections of Monongahela Cemetery, North Braddock. The chapel is owned by Ss. Peter & Paul Byzantine/Greek Catholic Church of Braddock.

Looking toward Homestead and downtown Pittsburgh from Monongahela Cemetery.

One of the largely-Rusyn sections of Monongahela Cemetery. Many of those buried in this section were members of St. Michael's Greek Catholic (later Orthodox) Church of Rankin.

Grave of Rusyn immigrant Vasyl' Hahaljak, Monongahela Cemetery

Grave of Rusyn immigrant Ivan Tokarčyk, Monongahela Cemetery

Grave of Rusyn immigrant Anna Mesko, Monongahela Cemetery

Grave of Rusyn immigrant John Uranick, Monongahela Cemetery

Grave of Rusyn immigrant Anna Bercik, Monongahela Cemetery

Anna Bercik

Not sure if Andrew Yatsko was a Carpatho-Rusyn, but this is such a tragic story!

Monday-Tuesday 4/23-24:
Monday and Tuesday were similar in that I spent a good deal of both days at the University of Pittsburgh's Archives Service Center where the Archives of Industrial Society are kept. This collection includes many things of interest to me, especially the reels of the Carpatho-Ruthenian Microfilm Project's dozens of Rusyn-American periodicals from the first half (or so) of the 20th century, insurance death benefit claims of the United Russian Orthodox Brotherhood of America (UROBA) Rusyn-American fraternal society, and other microfilmed materials. On this visit I was able to pull from microfilm the exceedingly rare 25th anniversary book of St. Mary's G.C. Church of Monessen, the short-lived Rusyn periodical Cerkovnaja Nauka (Johnstown, 1903) and a few other periodicals. And I photographed some of the documents included in more than 75 individuals' UROBA death claims.

1927 Rusyn-language history of St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church of Monessen, Westmoreland County, from the parish's 25th anniversary book, from microfilm held at the University of Pittsburgh.

Front page of the first edition of the short-lived Rusyn periodical Cerkovnaja Nauka (Johnstown, Cambria County, 1903), from microfilm held at the University of Pittsburgh.

One might assume that these insurance claim documents are very dry and wholly uninteresting. Mostly that is the case, but portions include the insurance holder's birthplace in the homeland, where they lived, their occupation, where their funeral was held, and where they were buried. In some cases this isn't what you would expect. After all, UROBA was the second exclusively-Orthodox counterpart to older Rusyn fraternals like the Greek Catholic Union. Yet quite a few of the death claims revealed that the insured member was Greek Catholic, a member of and buried from a Greek Catholic church in union with Rome. How could this have occurred? It seems that another smaller fraternal benefit society founded by Rusyn immigrants, the "American Russian Brotherhood," at some point merged with UROBA and UROBA assumed all of its insurance obligations. The American Russian Brotherhood had many, perhaps even a majority, of Greek Catholic members who were then "grandfathered in" to UROBA. This is not written of anywhere to my knowledge. Other nifty things found with some of the death claims docs are handwritten letters in Rusyn from lodge secretaries to the UROBA national leadership, documents and letters to/from villages in the Rusyn homeland concerning benefits paid to people living in the homeland, and the "pečat" of the lodge and/or parish church in the American Rusyn community the member belonged to.

Example of a membership application for the Rusyn immigrant-founded American Russian Brotherhood fraternal benefit society, later incorporated into the United Russian Orthodox Brotherhood of America (UROBA), from archives of UROBA held at the University of Pittsburgh. Member was John Michrina of Allentown, PA, born in Ladomyrova, Šaryš County.

Another example of a membership application, this one for the UROBA fraternal benefit society, from archives of UROBA held at the University of Pittsburgh. Member was Mary Pallag of St. Clair, Schuylkill County, born in St. Clair; note "Jakoj narodnosti? [Of what nationality?]" -- answer: "Rusinka" [Rusyn].

Correspondence in Rusyn from Monongahela, Washington County UROBA St. Michael's lodge #2 secretary Dymytrij Fenchak to the UROBA national leadership. From archives of UROBA held at the University of Pittsburgh.

Document showing the official seal/stamp ("pečat") of the UROBA lodge 27 of the Descent of the Holy Ghost, in Masontown, Fayette County, organized April 22, 1920, in Rusyn [or Russian] and English. From archives of UROBA held at the University of Pittsburgh.

Before going to the Pitt Archives Service Center that Monday, however, was my appointment to do research with the metrical records of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church of McKeesport. Why would I need to go to a Serbian church? Maybe you saw a blog post I wrote last year about the "Serbian/Russian Church of McKeesport" and the fact that the "Russian" element of its early history seemed to be exclusively Carpatho-Rusyn. I wanted to see the evidence in the metrical records if this was indeed the case, and who the Rusyn individuals were who were part of this congregation (perhaps before eventually affiliating with a Rusyn Greek Catholic parish or, in a few cases, with the eventual new Russian Orthodox church founded in the city in 1917, Holy Virgin Dormition). As I suspected, those "Russian" members were almost all Carpatho-Rusyns: some Lemkos from Galicia, some Rusyns from the village of Becherov, now in Slovakia — a group about which I'll be lecturing in Minneapolis a week from today. Many thanks — Hvala!! — to the pastor of St. Sava's, Fr. Stevo Rocknage, for his openness in welcoming me for this research.

Early baptismal register (1902) of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church of McKeesport, which at the time had Carpatho-Rusyns among its membership.

Title page of early baptismal register (1902) of St. Sava Church

From a baptismal register of St. Sava Church. The parents of the child baptized, shown here, were "Austrian Rusyn" Nykolaj Dzjama and his wife Anastasija. (Nykolaj was born in Čorne/Czarne, Gorlice County, and his wife Anastasija Pidana [Pidanŷj] was born in Komloša/Chmel'ova, Šaryš County.) They were among the early converts to Orthodoxy among McKeesport's Rusyn community, and Nykolaj was a leader of local fraternal lodges in the Rusyn National Association and the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society.

From the death register of St. Sava Church. The parents of the deceased child, shown here, were Joseph Banickŷj/Banisky and his wife Paraska. (Joseph was born in Anina, Banat, Romania, to parents from the Rusyn village Becheriv, Šaryš County -- although this document says he was born in Becheriv; his wife Paraska was born in Becheriv.) They were among the early converts to Orthodoxy among McKeesport's Rusyn community, and later were founders of St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in McKeesport.

And a delightful evening was had on Monday at the home of my new friends Mary Anne and Bill Mistick. Mary Anne is one of the standout collectors of Rusyn historical ephemera from Lyndora, Butler County, where her Rusyn-American parents were born and raised. Mary Anne allowed me to photograph some of her heirloom objects (lodge membership ribbons) and scan some of her heirloom photos from Lyndora (mostly from St. John the Baptist G.C. Church there) and gave me copies of some other items to keep. Among these were a fascinating house map of Lyndora's largely Rusyn-inhabited "Bredinville" neighborhood. Detailed linkages like this to the actual families who made their homes there will help to make my eventual book even more relevant and precious to the descendants of the people whose stories I'm trying to write, thanks to people like Mary Anne and their willingness to recognize and share the precious information they are helping to preserve.

Easter Sunday, 1916, St. John the Baptist Greek Catholic Church of Lyndora, Butler County. Photo from the collection of Mary Anne Mistick of Pittsburgh.

Membership ribbon of the St. John the Baptist Brotherhood, Russian Brotherhood Organization lodge #36 of Butler (Lyndora), founded Feb. 15, 1903. From the collection of Mary Anne Mistick of Pittsburgh.

While all of my research trips have been memorable in many ways, this one in particular, due to the kindness and hospitality I received in so many places, stands out as an exceedingly successful and enjoyable one. I will only have the time (and need) to conduct just a few more of these trips, but I think despite the time, effort, and expense involved, the results make them thoroughly worth it.

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