History Comes Full Circle: Homeland–Pennsylvania–Homeland

Many Carpatho-Rusyn villages in the European homeland have historical monographs covering the origins, life, and culture of the village and its people. Many of them are extremely well done, and some of them include what from my perspective is essential to telling the whole story – the life of the village natives in emigration. I've been able to make a significant contribution to that in the monograph on one village dear to my heart. And now I can say I've played a small part in helping with another.

Petro Trochanovskij's recently-published Book of Bilcareva (Книга Білцаревы), about Bilcareva/Binczarowa, old Grybów County in the Lemko Region of Austrian Galicia, present-day Poland, is hands-down the best Carpatho-Rusyn village history that has ever been published. The contents – almost entirely in Lemko Rusyn – are extremely detailed and comprehensive, and the book is beautiful to look at and compelling to read.

The contents of this magnificent book include:

• Village history: topographical maps with the native names of hills and sections; the earliest metrical records; a list of residents in the 1770s-1780s; and much more.
• Life of the village (before WWII) in images: people, life and death, the church, chapels/wayside crosses, etc.
• Life of Bilcareva natives in emigration, especially the United States.
• Life of Bilcareva villagers in exile in Poland, return visits to Bilcareva, creation of a memorial cross, and the compilation of the book.
• Culture of Bilcareva and the life and works of notable Bilcareva natives throughout history and their artistry – music, poetry, woodcuts, woodwork, etc.

This book stands out from most village histories in the amount of attention given to the village natives' "diaspora" experience. As with the book about my Rusyn grandmother's native village, I played a part in this one.

The Book of Bilcareva: "The Bilcareva emigration"

I met Petro Trochanovskij back in 1996 on the first Carpatho-Rusyn Society Homeland Tour, which was also my first visit to the homeland. Petro was our local guide and escort for the Krynica-area portion of the tour. The group had a communal dinner at our hotel "Pegaz" in Krynica, Poland, the western "capital" of the Lemko Region, where Petro lives. We had the chance after dinner to have some additional time with him. Since I was conversant in Rusyn (perhaps not to the extent I am today), he and I had a nice chat. I told him I knew his parents were from Bilcareva and that I was familiar with places in the United States where emigrants from that village settled in significant numbers. (I believe he mentioned that he was then already working on a definitive history book of Bilcareva.) He later wrote about our tour group in the Besida magazine he edits and said about me, "for Pittsburgh's neo-Rusyns he is a walking encyclopedia." (Besida, May-June 1996, p. 9) I've never forgotten that supreme compliment and decided I would help him however I could with the American side of the Bilcareva story.

And so many years ago I collected all of my photographs of the churches, cemeteries, and tombstones of Bilcareva natives and sent them to Petro, along with snippets of Lemko Rusyn history in places they settled, and a list of all the village natives I could locate with their place of residence in the U.S., and their spouse's name and birthplace if known. To my great surprise and delight, he used this list, the historical texts, and many of my photos in this section of the book.

Using materials from me and other sources, Trochanovskij created a narrative of the early Lemko Rusyn immigration to the U.S., centering on the experience of Bilcareva natives, especially those in Olyphant, Shamokin, Mount Carmel, and Conemaugh, in Pennsylvania.

"Across the big puddle" – introduction to Lemko Rusyn emigration from the homeland.

On the beginnings of Lemko Rusyn immigrant life in the United States, especially in places where Bilcareva natives settled in northeastern Pennsylvania. Pictured: early Rusyn churches in Shenandoah, Olyphant, and Mayfield.

Pictured: the destruction by fire of Ss. Peter & Paul Greek Catholic Church in Mt. Carmel, St. Michael Russian Orthodox Church in Mt. Carmel, St. Michael's choir director John Horoschak (of Bilcareva roots), and a page of the 1915 marriage register of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Akron, Ohio, showing the wedding of two Bilcarevan couples (who probably lived in Wolf Run, as the church there had not yet been established).

The story of two Bilcareva-native immigrant businessmen: George Chylak (1866-1953) of Olyphant, and Sam Trohanowsky (1880-1948) of Conemaugh (Johnstown). Chylak owned a hotel, ran a package/money shipping and steamship ticket service, and later became a bank officer and the first Slavic mayor of Olyphant; he was also church president and a leader in several fraternal organizations. Trohanowsky served as director of the Uhro-Russian State Bank based in Johnstown.

Activities of other Bilcareva-native immigrant businessmen, and a look at the Rusyn immigrants' way of life in the new world.

Trochanovskij also wrote about an important American Bilcarevan community in Ohio: Wolf Run, which he states should be known as "Little Bilcareva in the Appalachians" – Wolf Run Lemko native Vladimir Wilchatzky once wrote of it as "Little Lemkovina" but Trochanovskij notes that more than 50% of the local Lemkos came from Bilcareva, thus its more proper name could be "Little Bilcareva." He devotes several pages to the history of Lemko Rusyn immigrants in Wolf Run (using mostly the materials I supplied).

The story of Carpatho-Rusyn immigration to Wolf Run, Ohio, primarily from the Lemko Region villages of Bilcareva, Fl'orynka, and Boguša, and the founding of the All Saints Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church.

Materials from records and the 50th anniversary book of All Saints Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Wolf Run, including an early list of donors to build the church.

Photos of Wolf Run's All Saints Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church and Cemetery, from my research visit there in the early 2000s.

Some additional pages from the book on the American Bilcarevan experience:

Topographical map showing the primary places in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio where Bilcareva immigrants settled. Most of those places are in mountainous areas where coal mining was the primary industry.

Photos of Bilcareva immigrants from the first wave of Rusyn immigration: (left) the Voznjak family of Philadelphia; Aleksander Trochanovskij of Alberta, Canada; Fylyp Repela family; (right) Vasyl' Madzeljan in Pennsylvania; sister of Anna Repela and friend; Mykolaj Hal'kovyč [Nicholas Halkovich] and Paraska Vronik of Mount Carmel; Vladymir Haljaburda of Detroit.

"Places of eternal repose of American Bilcarevans": photos (taken by R. Custer) of Bilcarevan graves and cemeteries. This page: (left side) Simpson, PA (St. Basil R.O. Cemetery); (right side) Mount Carmel, PA (Ss. Peter & Paul G.C. Cemetery), and Wolf Run, Ohio (All Saints R.O. Cemetery).

Additional photos by R. Custer: Conemaugh, PA (St. John the Baptist R.O. and Holy Trinity G.C. Cemeteries); Shamokin, PA (Transfiguration G.C. Cemetery); McAdoo, PA (St. Mary G.C. Cemetery); Wood, PA (St. Michael R.O. Cemetery and town war memorial); Mount Carmel, PA (Ss. Peter & Paul G.C. and St. Michael R.O. Cemeteries).

A portion of the Bilcareva immigrants list:

I will probably post this list in its entirety (and updated with new information) in the near future at a Facebook group I moderate, Lemko Rusyns and Friends.

It was gratifying to see the final product, and I'm honored that author Petro Trochanovskij chose so much of my contributed material to help tell the story of the Lemko Rusyn people of the village of Bilcareva. The Book of Bilcareva is truly a heartfelt and incomparable work of art.

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