Greetings from the Skumanich Family!
This is the history and genealogy pages for the Skumanich family and their relatives and descendants.
I have included
information for other families represented by almost 50 surnames (listed at bottom of this page) who are either descendants or
relatives to the Skumaniches. (If
you
got to this page by searching on another surname, it is because that
family is most likely a member of the Skumanich tree. Perhaps it really should be called a web. We have been able to trace back a number of relatives who came into the tree via marriage. Also there were several distant cousins that married. See Surnames at the bottom of this webpage.)
FAMILY TREES IN THE DATA BASE
Berdy family, Bilo family, Dacko family, Jacos (Yacos) family, Sokolik family, Skrip family, Skumanich family, Sura family, Zbur family
The Skumaniches and their descendants and many of their in-laws are of Carpatho-Rusyn ethnic origin.
There
are several alternate spellings of the Skumanich surname that
include: Skamanich, Skumanick, Skumanic and Skumanik.
Marco Polo mentions the Kumans in his published travels and
if you look at historical atlases you can find them listed on the maps as on
the north side of the
Danube
at the mouth of
the river, as well as further to the east (see the history discussion
linked below). There is also a region in Hungary called Little
Kumania. It is believed that the people from the areas near the Black
Sea
were
driven out of the valley bottoms into Hungary and the Carpathian
Mountains by subsequent
Mongol incursions. Kumans intermarried with the local populations. They
also provided military assistance to the Principality of Galicia and
made their way up into that region as well. Here
is a more complete discussion of the history.
There is an Epic Poem called The Tale of Igor's Campaign that
mentions the Cumans who were also known as the Polovtsians or Polovetsians.
Immigration: Historically the
Skumaniches were landowners in the village of Pcoline, present day
Slovakia. They married people from other villages in the
area. These will be described at a later date. Many of
them immigrated to the US, Canada,
and Argentina. Today, Skumaniches can still be found in Slovakia:
in Humenne, Snina, Pcoline and Cukalovse.
In the field of astro-physics is the Skumanich Law.
It is a law that describes a certain behavior of stars and was named
after Andrew Skumanich, its discoverer. The son of Rusyn immigrants,
Dr. Skumanich did not speak English when he started grade school.
But a passion for learning carried him through to an advanced degree in
physics from Princeton University and a career as a scientist studying
the sun and stars like the sun.
Shelby Skumanich, an artist, has a website where you can see her work,
here. (Newly updated link.)
Some favorite LINKS
This site is managed by Nonna Skumanich and will
continue to be revised and updated. Be sure to check back for new
information. If you would like to
access the member�s only pages (includes family trees and detailed family history) please send me an
email -- Nonna at skumanich.net -- with some information about
you and your interest in any of the families listed here.
I had to remove my guest book due to too much spam. Eventually I'll get a better guest book installed.
Below is a list of
names and some alternate spellings of Skumanich relatives. Of Note: one
family branch changed their name to Stewart. Thus there are a
number of Stewarts living in
the
Andrashova