The Carpatho-Rusyns are a distinct Eastern Slavic people who have lived in remote villages scattered along the foothills and valleys of the Carpathian Mountains of East Central Europe.<\/p>\n
Many began their journey in the U.S. in coalfields of Pennsylvania however in the early 1900s many Rusyn immigrants were working in coal mines in Southern Illinois.\u00a0 \u00a0They weren’t alone- as we will continue to discuss, there were many Rusyns in southern Illinois.<\/p>\n
Today there appear to be few traces of Rusyn ancestry in the coal regions of Williamson and Jackson Counties.\u00a0 Many of today’s references are to “Russians”; given the similarity in spelling between Rusyn and Russian, this is not surprising.\u00a0 However make no mistake, Rusyns are not Russians.<\/p>\n
I hope to preserve the history of Rusyns who lived in Southern Illinois.\u00a0 References to their existanance have faded.\u00a0 In his July 1978 Master of Arts thesis titled “The Russians of Buckner” <\/i><\/a>David Smith concluded that within one generation, the rich Slavic history of this region may be forgotten.\u00a0 I’m determined to make sure this doesn’t happen.<\/p>\n Many Slavic immigrants in the U.S. worked in the coal industry.\u00a0 Carpatho-Rusyns were well-represented in coal mines and in mining towns, and\u00a0their rich legacy in Pennsylvania in particular continues to be studied<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 However, they also lived elsewhere in the U.S.<\/p>\n But we know there were Rusyns in southern Illinois- we lived there!\u00a0 We were in Dowell, Buckner, Muddy, Royalton, Elkville, Colp, and Dewmaine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 1980, Professor Terry Alliband at Southern Illinois University published a journal of folk life in the region. On page 8 he described “Carpatho-Russian” immigrants who lived in the communities.\u00a0 SIU has\u00a0preserved this journal<\/a><\/span> at this link here<\/a>.\u00a0 Professor Alliband wrote “the Carpatho-Russians are traditionally Russian Orthodox and use old Church Slavonic as a liturgical language. In spite of similarity to Ukrainians, the Russians of Southern Illinois maintain that they are a completely different ethnic group and it seems practical, in light of historical circumstances, to consider them so.<\/span>“<\/p>\n Churches<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Church life was integral to the daily life of immigrants.\u00a0 This was no different for Carpatho-Rusyns.<\/p>\n \u200b<\/span>References\u200b<\/span><\/p>\n A January 1980 article in the Southern Illinoisan was titled “American Russians Seldom Go Back”.\u00a0 This article (page 1<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0page 2<\/span><\/a>) discussed Rusyns who lived the in the mining towns in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In July 1978 in his Master of Arts thesis titled “The Russians of Buckner” <\/i><\/a>David Smith discusses the Slavic families in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n This June 1980 article<\/span><\/a>\u00a0referenced the pending publication of the journal mentioned above, and specifically discusses “Carpatho-Russian” traditions in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n An\u00a0article published<\/span> in April 1974 in the Southern Illinoisan describes the rich Easter folk traditions of the local immigrant communities, derived from their heritage of the Carpathian Mountains.\u00a0 The tradition of making paska and pysanky eggs<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is described in detail; these traditions are strongly Rusyn and Ukrainian.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n This\u00a0April 1959 article<\/span>\u00a0in the discusses the tradition of playing a\u00a0Trembita<\/a><\/span>, or shephard’s pipe.\u00a0 The subjects of the article are described as Rusyns.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A December 1974 article in the Southern Illinoisan was published titled “Christmas on December 25th?”\u00a0 In this article (available here<\/a><\/span>), the author discusses immigrants from the Carpathian Mountains.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p>\n\u200b<\/span>Some Clues… Rusyns did actually exist in Southern Illinois<\/span><\/h5>\n
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![page 1<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0page 2<\/span><\/a>) discussed Rusyns who lived the in the mining towns in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nIn July 1978 in his Master of Arts thesis titled “The Russians of Buckner” <\/i><\/a>David Smith discusses the Slavic families in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nThis June 1980 article<\/span><\/a>\u00a0referenced the pending publication of the journal mentioned above, and specifically discusses “Carpatho-Russian” traditions in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nAn\u00a0article published<\/span> in April 1974 in the Southern Illinoisan describes the rich Easter folk traditions of the local immigrant communities, derived from their heritage of the Carpathian Mountains.\u00a0 The tradition of making paska and pysanky eggs<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is described in detail; these traditions are strongly Rusyn and Ukrainian.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nThis\u00a0April 1959 article<\/span>\u00a0in the discusses the tradition of playing a\u00a0Trembita<\/a><\/span>, or shephard’s pipe.\u00a0 The subjects of the article are described as Rusyns.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nA December 1974 article in the Southern Illinoisan was published titled “Christmas on December 25th?”\u00a0 In this article (available here<\/a><\/span>), the author discusses immigrants from the Carpathian Mountains.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n <\/p>\nDo you have any information about Rusyn history in Illinois?\u00a0 If so, please contact me<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carpatho-Rusyns are a distinct Eastern Slavic people who have lived in remote villages scattered along the foothills and valleys of the Carpathian Mountains of East Central Europe. Many began their journey in the U.S. in coalfields of Pennsylvania however in the early 1900s many Rusyn immigrants were working in coal mines in Southern Illinois.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Rusyns-Seldom-Go-Back-p1-scaled.jpg\"){kind=link}
![page 2<\/span><\/a>) discussed Rusyns who lived the in the mining towns in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nIn July 1978 in his Master of Arts thesis titled “The Russians of Buckner” <\/i><\/a>David Smith discusses the Slavic families in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nThis June 1980 article<\/span><\/a>\u00a0referenced the pending publication of the journal mentioned above, and specifically discusses “Carpatho-Russian” traditions in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nAn\u00a0article published<\/span> in April 1974 in the Southern Illinoisan describes the rich Easter folk traditions of the local immigrant communities, derived from their heritage of the Carpathian Mountains.\u00a0 The tradition of making paska and pysanky eggs<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is described in detail; these traditions are strongly Rusyn and Ukrainian.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nThis\u00a0April 1959 article<\/span>\u00a0in the discusses the tradition of playing a\u00a0Trembita<\/a><\/span>, or shephard’s pipe.\u00a0 The subjects of the article are described as Rusyns.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nA December 1974 article in the Southern Illinoisan was published titled “Christmas on December 25th?”\u00a0 In this article (available here<\/a><\/span>), the author discusses immigrants from the Carpathian Mountains.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n <\/p>\nDo you have any information about Rusyn history in Illinois?\u00a0 If so, please contact me<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carpatho-Rusyns are a distinct Eastern Slavic people who have lived in remote villages scattered along the foothills and valleys of the Carpathian Mountains of East Central Europe. Many began their journey in the U.S. in coalfields of Pennsylvania however in the early 1900s many Rusyn immigrants were working in coal mines in Southern Illinois.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Rusyns-Seldom-Go-Back-p2-scaled.jpg\"){kind=link}
![This June 1980 article<\/span><\/a>\u00a0referenced the pending publication of the journal mentioned above, and specifically discusses “Carpatho-Russian” traditions in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nAn\u00a0article published<\/span> in April 1974 in the Southern Illinoisan describes the rich Easter folk traditions of the local immigrant communities, derived from their heritage of the Carpathian Mountains.\u00a0 The tradition of making paska and pysanky eggs<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is described in detail; these traditions are strongly Rusyn and Ukrainian.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nThis\u00a0April 1959 article<\/span>\u00a0in the discusses the tradition of playing a\u00a0Trembita<\/a><\/span>, or shephard’s pipe.\u00a0 The subjects of the article are described as Rusyns.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\nA December 1974 article in the Southern Illinoisan was published titled “Christmas on December 25th?”\u00a0 In this article (available here<\/a><\/span>), the author discusses immigrants from the Carpathian Mountains.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n <\/p>\nDo you have any information about Rusyn history in Illinois?\u00a0 If so, please contact me<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carpatho-Rusyns are a distinct Eastern Slavic people who have lived in remote villages scattered along the foothills and valleys of the Carpathian Mountains of East Central Europe. Many began their journey in the U.S. in coalfields of Pennsylvania however in the early 1900s many Rusyn immigrants were working in coal mines in Southern Illinois.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/roadtohere.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Expressions-scaled.jpg\"){kind=link}