r/rusyn • u/CabezadeVaca_ • May 22 '25

Genealogy Religion Question

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Growing up I was told that my grandmother had Slovak ancestry, but looking at our tree it shows her grandmother being baptized at a “Ukranian Catholic Church”, which seems odd considering that most Slovaks are Roman Catholic. I have attached some modern pictures of the church.

Additionally all of her known ancestors seem to be concentrated a few km south of Svidnik and on ancestry tests, she scores some regions that seem to vindicate that paper trail.

So for the main question, is it possible that we actually have Rusyn ancestry rather than Slovak?

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u/ihavezerohealth May 22 '25

I'm from near Svidník, and I'm Rusyn. Happy to help if you know which village/area in particular she's from? Feel free to DM if you've got more questions

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u/CabezadeVaca_ May 22 '25

Thank you!

The villages appear to be modern Šapinec & Radoma. I’m not certain how well-known these places are, but they seem to be close to a larger village/municipality called Okrúhle.

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u/ihavezerohealth May 22 '25

My personal judgement would be that she is Rusyn - though it is likely that she will have some Slovak ancestry as well. Radoma and Okrúhle are both Rusyn, and Radoma is about 95% Rusyn population.

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u/CabezadeVaca_ May 22 '25

Thank you, that is very helpful.

I realized that I didn’t include the surnames which would also be a clue.

The surnames are Teraz & Kuncz

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u/ihavezerohealth May 22 '25

You're very welcome.

I'm not good with surnames, I've not heard of either (other than the word "teraz", which means "now").

Let me know your findings, I'm curious now!

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u/freescreed May 22 '25

Kuncz would be a Polish spelling and it's on this list of Lemko last names from the 1787 Joseph II Inventory: http://lemko.org/genealogy/krasowskii/namesUS.html . Teraz might be the Taras (on the same list). St. Mary's was and is a very Lemko parish. I don't know whether there's a purely southern guide to last names, but many last names crossed the mountains. (St. Michael's was and is a more Slovak and Presov Rusyn side church in McAdoo.)

I hate to be a spoiler in any search, but most of the continuous records of last names stop in 1787 with Joseph II's Inventory.