Carpatho-Rusyns of PA Blog Author to Speak at Pittsburgh Heinz Center's Genealogy Workshop

Join three nationally renowned genealogists for our first Czech and Slovak Genealogy Workshop. Genealogy experts Rich Custer, Jim Hudec, and Michal Razus will guide beginner and advanced family historians alike on a tour de force of genealogical records available to uncover insights into your Czech, Slovak, and Carpatho-Rusyn ancestors.

Yes, readers, yours truly is piggybacking on a Czech & Slovak genealogy event (sorry, we tried to have Carpatho-Rusyns on the marquee) that will take place in-person AND online from 10 am - 5 pm ET on Sunday, June 29, 2025 at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.!

I’m excited to have been invited to speak in this program at the Smithsonian Institution-affiliated Heinz History Center, the premier museum and archives for the history of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania.

You can still register here!

My presentation will be “Carpatho-Rusyns in Western Pennsylvania: Identity Questions, Genealogy Research Challenges, and How to Overcome Them:”

I will give an overview of Carpatho-Rusyn immigration to western Pennsylvania and adjacent areas. I will explain the political influences, religious conflicts, and cultural affinities that led some of them and their descendants to identify instead with neighboring ethnic groups, especially Slovaks, Ukrainians, and Russians. I will also present resources like American church and fraternal records that can help researchers find the critical link to their ancestral villages and that can also help to confirm Carpatho-Rusyn ethnicity and heritage.

Presentation outline:

I. Carpatho-Rusyns: Ethnic and Geographical Background

II. Immigration to the U.S.

A.          Why, When, Where
B.           Western Pennsylvania
                1. Important settlements
                2. Chain migration examples

III. Major Historical Events in the Carpatho-Rusyn Community and Their Impact on Western PA

A.          Religious Conflicts
B.           Fraternal Organizations, Newspapers, and Political/Ethnonational Streams

IV. Research Resources on Carpatho-Rusyn Immigrants

A.          Church Records
B.           Fraternal Benefit Society Records
C.           Other Resources and Important Archives
                1. Western PA
                2. Nationwide / Online

In addition to the dynamic presentations by my co-presenters, archivists from the History Center’s Detre Library & Archives and representatives from the Archives & Records Center of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh’s Archives & Special Collections will highlight the best archival record sets in their collections to trace Czech, Slovak, and Rusyn ancestors locally. And members from other local genealogical and heritage organizations (including the Carpatho-Rusyn Society!) will also be on hand to share insights and best practices with workshop attendees.

It should be an excellent learning opportunity not just for genealogists and family historians, but for anyone interested in the Carpatho-Rusyn, Czech, and Slovak peoples, and I look forward to meeting many of you in person or in the online Q&A!

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

Year 2024 Wrapup

It’s January already – what??!!?!

I cringe looking back at my 2023 wrapup post where I laid out all kinds of ambitious sub-projects toward, and including, actual writing for the book. To be brutally honest, I can’t say I finished much of anything last year. Which isn’t to say I didn’t do anything related to this project, but combined with a lot of personal concerns, things didn’t work out anything like I planned. So with that in mind, instead of concentrating only on what I did (or didn’t do), I’ll work in a retrospective on the year that was in Carpatho-Rusyn Pennsylvania.

Had a great time and represented my work along with the Carpatho-Rusyn Society at the Johnstown Slavic Festival in September.

Many of these things I highlighted on my Facebook page as they happened. (I did post about a dozen times to my Instagram page as well.)

Portions of a list of Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant pioneer settlers to Pottstown

Something I started a few years ago, compiling lists of the pioneer Rusyn immigrants in certain places, I continued this year. I’ve now got usable, perhaps definitive, lists for:

• Pottstown, Montgomery Co.;
• Alden Station, Glen Lyon, and Nanticoke, Luzerne Co.;
• Maizeville / Gilberton / Mahanoy Plane, Schuylkill Co.;
• Middleport / Cumbola / Brockton / New Philadelphia, Schuylkill Co.;
• Lehighton, Carbon Co.;
• Slatington, Lehigh Co.;
• Bethlehem, Northampton Co.;
• Berwick, Columbia Co.;
• MacDonaldton, Somerset Co.;
• Altoona, Blair Co.;
• Nanty Glo and Wehrum / Vintondale, Cambria Co.;
• New Alexandria, Westmoreland Co.;
• Charleroi, Washington Co.

My Favorite Books of 2024 (Pt. 2): Andy Warhol’s Mother

As I described in my first post about favorite books of 2024, this past year has been rich in new works (and one translation) in English on Carpatho-Rusyn topics. From all these worthy candidates, it was tough to choose just one favorite, so I’ve chosen two!

My second selection is by Carpatho-Rusyn American specialist in Carpatho-Rusyn literature, Elaine Rusinko:

Andy Warhol's Mother: The Woman Behind the Artist (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024)

From the book notes: