Persona 1:
Name: Gary Kachmar
Demographic: 55; married; lives in Scranton, PA; bachelors degree in nursing; middle class
Quote: “The best surprise was finding the village my grandfather came from.”
A Day in a Life Narrative: Gary has been interested in learning about his family history since he was a child. Growing up, he was always eager to hear stories about his grandparents and great-grandparents. Gary knows the details about his ancestors’ lives in the United States, but does not know much about where they came from in Europe. All he knows is that his father told him that they were Rusyn. A recent conversation he had at work got Gary interested in learning more about his family’s European roots. After doing some research online, he discovered a few different websites that explains what a Rusyn is and where they come from. He joined a few different Facebook groups that discuss Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry and have led him to find out more about the villages where his family comes from in Central Europe.
End Goals: Gary hopes to find out more detailed information about where his ancestors came from and what their lives were like. He hopes that online research and participating in discussions forums on his Carpatho-Rusyn heritage will give him a greater insight into where his family comes from so that he can one day take a trip to Europe to see for himself the villages his ancestors are from.
Persona 2:
Name: Andrea Gerwig
Demographic: 57; married; lives in West Chester, PA; bachelors degree in chemical engineering; middle class
Descriptive Title: Chemical Engineer
Quote: “All I know about my grandfather is that he came from Austria-Hungary in 1910.”
A Day in a Life Narrative: Andrea grew up knowing very little about her family history. She remembers being told that she was Polish and Slovak but does not remember anything more than that. After the death of her mother Andrea realized that she really did not know much about her family’s history to tell her children. She began to do some research based on the very limited knowledge she had and was able to discover that she was not Slovak but instead Carpatho-Rusyn. After discovering this fact, Andrea discovered that a variety of different websites and forums that provide information about the Carptho-Rusyn people. She has begun to use these resources to learn more about her family and where they came from.
End Goals: Now that Andrea has gained a new interest in learning about her family, she wants to make sure that her children know more about her ancestors that she did at their age. She has been using various online forums to learn more about her family to create an extensive family tree to pass down to her children.
