194 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



and in 1880 it suddenly rose to 17,000. From 1880 to 1908 

 the total immigration from Austria-Hungary to the United 

 States amounted to 2,780,000, and about twenty per cent of 

 these were Ruthenians and Slovaks. Within the last four 

 years (1905-1908) the immigration of the Slovaks and Ru- 

 thenians has amounted to 215,972. To this must be added the 

 Croatians and Slavonians (117,695), a large proportion of 

 whom are of the Greek Rite. It is estimated that there are at 

 present in the United States between 350,000 and 400,000 

 Greek Catholic Ruthenians, including as such the Greek Catho- 

 lic Slovaks and Croato-Slovenians. The largest number (over 

 one-half) are in Pennsylvania, while New York, New Jersey 

 and Ohio have each a very large number of them, and the re- 

 mainder are scattered all through the New England and West- 

 ern States. From the best information obtainable in advance 

 of the coming census of 1910 their distribution is as follows: 



Pennsylvania 190,000 



New York 50,500 



New Jersey 40,000 



Ohio . 35.500 



Connecticut • • 10,000 



Illinois 8,000 



Massachusetts 7.500 



Rhode Island 1,500 



Missouri 6,500 



Indiana • • 6,000 



Minnesota 3.000 



Colorado, Dakota, Nebraska and Montana, about 8,000 



West Virginia, Virginia and the Southern States, about 5,000 



After the Ruthenian immigration had begun in considerable 

 numbers, it was but natural that they should desire to establish 

 a Church of their own rite. At Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, 

 the Ruthenian settlement had so increased that towards the 

 end of 1884 they sent a petition to Archbishop (afterwards 

 Cardinal) Sylvester Sembratovitch, Metropolitan of Lemberg, 

 praying that a Greek Catholic priest might be sent to them to 

 found a parish of the Greek Rite at that place. The petitioners 

 promised to build a church for him if he were sent. In the 

 following year (1885) Rev. Ivan Volanski, of the Diocese of 

 Lemberg, arrived in the United States, the first Greek Catholic 

 priest to take up work among his people here. On his arrival 

 he presented himself in Philadelphia with his letters, but, be- 

 ing a married priest, he encountered great difficulty in being 



