Emigration from Prykra to America in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Príkra, Slovakia (Прикра -- Prykra) in the Svidník district

(From Michal Blicha, Richard Custer, and Vladislav Grešlík, Príkra, Prešov, Slovakia: Akcent Print, 2006.)

Large-scale emigration of Rusyns from villages in the Carpathians to the United States began in the 1870s and reached its peak in the years immediately preceding World War I. In 1884 Rusyns established their first Greek Catholic church in the town of Shenandoah in the hard-coal mining region of northeastern Pennsylvania, which served other communities until they established their own Greek Catholic, and later Orthodox, churches. It was also in the 1880s and 1890s that Rusyns established their own fraternal organizations and newspapers.

Immigrants sailing to the United States on an Atlantic Ocean passenger steamship, around 1906. (Photo: Edwin Levick, courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Our immigrants first lived in Pennsylvania towns where coal mining was the main occupation and life was difficult. These are immigrant homes along the “street of rocks” in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, in 1891.

Almanacs in Carpatho-Rusyn History and Culture

Another article I wrote for the 10th anniversary almanac of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society, the Rusyn-American Almanac of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society 2004-2005, was the introduction, which also served as a survey of almanacs published throughout Carpatho-Rusyn history in the European homeland and the U.S.

Since various Rusyn immigrant-founded organizations' almanacs are an essential source in writing the history of Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants in Pennsylvania, I am happy to reproduce the article here. (Click each page to view it larger-size.)

“Porač Comes to America”

In 2004 I led a project to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society, observed that year. The Rusyn-American Almanac of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society 2004-2005 appeared in 2005, a 200+ page treasure-trove of articles on Rusyn culture and history.

One of two articles I wrote myself specially for this publication was “Porač Comes to America,” a background and overview of emigration to the United States from the Carpatho-Rusyn-inhabited village of Porač, Spiš County. With several areas of Pennsylvania being the destination for immigrants from Porač, I'm happy to reproduce the article here. (Click each page to view it larger-size.)

NEPA: The Keystone of Carpatho-Rusyn American History (3): Fraternals, Newspapers, Businesses

The presentation concludes with a look at these Rusyn milestones achieved in northeastern Pennsylvania.

[Arrived here first? Jump back to the beginning of the presentation]

Carpatho-Rusyn “Firsts” (continued)

• Fraternal Organizations
• Newspapers
• Businesses

Carpatho-Rusyn “Firsts”: Fraternal Organizations

Greek Catholic Union of Russian Brotherhoods (GCU), founded 1892 in Wilkes-Barre
First Convention, Scranton, 1893

GCU Uhro-Rusyn Sts. Peter & Paul Lodge, Kingston

NEPA: The Keystone of Carpatho-Rusyn American History (2): Churches, Schools, etc.

The presentation continues with a look at these Rusyn milestones achieved in northeastern Pennsylvania.

[Arrived here first? Jump back to the beginning of the presentation]

Carpatho-Rusyn “Firsts”

• Churches
• Schools
• Choirs
• Bands
• Monastery
• Cemeteries

Carpatho-Rusyn “Firsts”: Churches

Shenandoah (1884);
the first Greek Catholic priest in the U.S. serving Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants, the Galician Ukrainian Father Ivan Voljans'kyj (at left) who helped establish the Shenandoah parish and most of the other parishes over the next four years

Freeland (1886)

Genealogy Conference Presentation: “Northeastern Pennsylvania: The Keystone of Carpatho-Rusyn American History”

The Carpatho-Rusyn Society Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter's first Rusyn Genealogy Conference was held Saturday, June 22, 2013 at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Speakers were the following:

• John Righetti (Sewickley, PA), “Who are the Rusyns? Early History to the Last Tumultuous 150 Years”
• Tom Peters (Somerville, NJ), “From No Man’s Land to the Promised Land: The Carpatho-Rusyn Experience”
• Rich Custer (Washington, DC), “Northeastern Pennsylvania: The Keystone of Carpatho-Rusyn American History”
• Michele Parvensky (Nazareth, PA) “Research Your Rusyn Ancestry in Eastern and Western PA, Slovakia and Transcarpathia”
• George Napuda (Pennsville, NJ) “One Man’s Personal Research Journey”

My presentation was primarily visual, numbering over 180 slides used to tell the story of the early development of Carpatho-Rusyn community institutions in northeastern Pennsylvania. Here I present a synopsis of the presentation, and of necessity only a selection of the slides, briefly annotated for the online viewer's aid in following the presentation without my original verbal explanation.

Northeastern Pennsylvania: The Keystone of Carpatho-Rusyn American History

Northeastern Pennsylvania was the site of most of the oldest Rusyn immigrant settlements in the U.S., and as such, it was also the site of most of the Rusyn “firsts:” the first churches, choirs, bands, schools, cemeteries, newspapers, fraternal organizations, and some of the first Rusyn immigrant-owned businesses. The presentation traced the geographic expansion of the number of organized immigrant Rusyn communities in the first 20 years. It included a slideshow of dozens of rarely-seen photographs and advertisements giving a glimpse at early Rusyn immigrant life and community leaders in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Genealogy Conference Presentation: "Uncovering and Publishing the History of Pennsylvania’s Carpatho-Rusyns"

The Carpatho-Rusyn Society Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter's second annual Rusyn Genealogy Conference: From Eastern Europe to America's Coal Regions was held Saturday, November 1, 2014 at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Speakers included:

• Jim Kaminski (President of C-RS),
• Tom Peters (genealogist),
• Rich Custer (historian),
• Dr. Peter Yasenchak (Director of research at the Historical Society of Schuylkill County), and
• Jerry Jumba (Carpatho-Rusyn music, dance and culture specialist).

Yours truly gave a presentation, "Uncovering and Publishing the History of Pennsylvania’s Carpatho-Rusyns." I'm pleased to share information about the presentation, my handout for conference participants, and some of the slides.

Synopsis:
This presentation will discuss the preparation of a history, in words and in pictures, of the Carpatho-Rusyn immigrant communities in the state of Pennsylvania. Through the collection and research of chain migration data, parish histories, church and civil records, immigrant newspapers, photographs, oral histories, and memoirs, the author has amassed a collection of source material that he is assembling into the most comprehensive look at the history of Carpatho-Rusyn communities anywhere in the world.

Special focus will be given to the influence the pioneer Rusyn immigrant settlements in the anthracite region had on the development of Carpatho-Rusyn religious and cultural institutions statewide and nationwide, and the audience will hear powerful first-person accounts of the earliest days of Rusyn community life in the coal mining towns of the region.