Big Screen Po-Nashomu
Credit: David Shankbone (Creative Commons License)
If I mention the movie When Harry Met Sally and your brain whispers “I’ll have what she’s having,” I’ve got good news for you. Meg Ryan, longtime rom-com queen thanks to her unforgettable performances in this and other favorites such as Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, is back with What Happens Later, a film she co-wrote, directed, and stars in. While in countdown mode, I couldn’t resist peeking into her past by exploring her ancestry because, well, that’s what I do.
When she embarked on her acting career, Meg adopted her maternal grandmother’s maiden name of Ryan, but her birth name of Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra hints more broadly of her heritage. Ultimately, I ascertained that she is 31.25% Irish, 25% Rusyn (from present-day Poland), 25% Polish (from present-day Lithuania), 12.5% German, and 6.25% English. As a fellow Irish-Rusyn American, this delighted me because there are so few of us, so I wrote about her Irish roots and am turning now to her Rusyn portion.
For those who may not be familiar with the word “Rusyn” (and no, I don’t mean Russian), we’re a Slavic people mostly found in the Carpathian Mountains, which is why we’re sometimes referred to as Carpatho-Rusyn. To further complicate matters, “Ruthenian” was once a more common term. Often overlooked, our favorite claim to fame is that Andy Warhol was one of us, but I hope you’ll take a few minutes to learn more by visiting the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.
This website provides a useful list of clues that you might be Rusyn (you’d be surprised how many are, but don’t know), but speaking as a genealogist, the two indicators I always seek are family documents that use words such as Ruthenian, Rusyn, Galician, and Austro-Hungarian, and ancestors associated with Greek Catholic churches, cemeteries, and organizations – particularly those in the old country before the family came to America.
It didn’t take long to trip across one of these giveaways. Following the path of the surname she was born with, I looked for Ryan’s Hyra grandfather in the 1920 census, and found him in Yonkers, New York with his parents and siblings. His father was recorded as coming from Galicia, and in the column for language, “Russian” is crossed out and replaced with “Ruthenian O.L.” The O.L. code stands for “other language” spoken at home, so this is how the Hyra family conversed a 100 years ago.
1920 census for Hyra family (Ancestry)
Languages census enumerators were told to expect to encounter for the 1920 census
As it happens, the immigrant in this branch, Orest Hyra, shared something in common with Meg’s Irish immigrant Ryan ancestor, as both were bartenders. Orest spent his first couple of decades in America working as a saloon keeper before shifting gears to running a grocery store.
So Orest Hyra, was Rusyn, but what about his wife, Anna, who was born in Pennsylvania? Chasing the answer to that question would reveal a tragedy all too common in Slavic families: a coal mining death.
The first trace I would find of Anna “Durkin” (the original name was Durniak, but variations like this are common) was as a step-daughter in the 1900 census. I then followed the trail of her mother, Catherine, to determine who her father had been and discovered that he was Nicolaus Durniak. Greek Catholic records noted that he died on December 24, 1893, and while I couldn’t make out the cause, thanks to Petro Orynycz’s Lemko translator (Lemko being a subset of Rusyn) and the help of Rusyn expert, Rich Custer, I learned that he was killed in a mine.
Death of Nicolaus Durniak (Ancestry)
Cause of death: killed in mine
Digging into coal mine inspector reports for 1893 reinforced this. As was typical, his name was distorted to Michael Durkin (those who are seasoned in Slavic research know how interchangeable Michael and Nicholas can be), but it was the right place and time, and he was about the expected age. So what happened? “Back severely injured; fall of roof” (“fall of roof” – not “off” – was common phrasing at the time).
I noticed that the accident occurred on the 21st of December, so had a go at finding a newspaper account, but when I saw how cavalierly his accident was treated, almost wished I hadn’t. “Happily no fatalities.” Well, not that day since he lingered for three more before succumbing.
The Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA), 21 December 1893 (Newspapers)
Since his death was uncovered in Greek Catholic records, I was confident that Durniak was Rusyn, but wanted to further verify this by finding his baptism in Europe. The mention of his place of birth in his death record steered me in the right direction, so I knew that Hańczowa, Poland was my target, and as expected, the answer was found in Greek Catholic church books.
Księga urodzeń dla miejscowości Hańczowa (1845-1898 Greek Catholic baptisms in Hańczowa)
(Archiwum Państwowe w Rzeszowie Oddział w Sanoku)
Birth of Nicolaus Durniak (Archiwum Państwowe w Rzeszowie Oddział w Sanoku)
There was no doubt. Meg Ryan’s ill-fated great-great-grandfather, Nicolaus Durniak, was Rusyn. His widow swiftly remarried out of necessity to a man named Jacob Korbelak and I couldn’t help but notice that Jacob’s surname appeared on the line immediately above that of Nicolaus’s birth. Though I didn’t check, there’s a good chance that this was a case of a fellow villager stepping in to help a widow with four children.
Newspapers unexpectedly turned up one more bit of evidence of the family’s Rusyn origins when Jacob assisted his step-children in trying to secure benefits that were apparently owed by a mutual benefit organization, likely the Greek Catholic Union of the USA.
The Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA), 9 January 1897 (Newspapers)
So yes, Meg Ryan’s Durniak and Hyra branches are undeniably Rusyn. In fact, her Hyra line hails from Zdynia, a village in Poland known for its annual festival of Lemko culture. And in case you’re curious, other Rusyn names that adorn her family tree include Filyk, Kardosz, Lukaczyn, Petkiewicz, and Wolchak. I’m beyond pleased that America’s longtime rom-com queen has Rusyn roots, and once they learn in her villages of origin, I have a feeling that they might be sleepless in Hańczowa and Zdynia!
More here about Meg Ryan’s Irish roots.
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