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Slovenian Marriages - Forest City News, Pennsylvania

Background and Index

Copyright © 1996 Slovenian Genealogy Society International, all rights reseved

A Compilation of Slovenian Marriages As Reported In The Forest City News, Forest City, Pennsylvania

Edited by Albert Peterlin
Marriages Compiled by Barbara Puchnick 
Formatted by Mary Lou Davison
Digitized by Alan-Jon Zupan

For The Slovenian Genealogy Society International
52 Old Farm Road
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17011-2604

Background Forest City is the southeastern most community in Susquehanna County. A sister city, Vandling, is situated just to the south in Lackawanna County. Another, Browndale, lies to the east in Wayne County. William Pentecost founded Forest City in 1864. He moved from the nearby town of Prompton in Wayne County in order to conduct a lumbering business. The town was first known as Forest Mills or Pentecost after it's founder.

By 1865, the population increased to 50. A Post Office was established in 1879 under the name Pentecost. By 1886, both the Railway Station and the Post Office used the name Forest City. Editor, J.M. Brown, published the first edition of The Forest City News, a weekly newspaper, on December 8, 1887.

The towns population swelled to 2319 in 1890, to 4279 in 1900, and to 5749 in 1910. The increase was almost completely accounted for by immigrants from Europe who were attracted to the area to move into the newly opened anthracite mines. By 1920, the local population reached a high of 6004. A lengthy coal mine strike in 1925 knelled the beginning of the end of the coal based economy. The population began a slow but steady decline that finally leveled out in the early 1960s.

The tide of immigrants in the area began in 1847 when the Irish arrived following the Potato famine. With the discovery of hard coal, immigrant miners arrived to fill the need. Wales supplied the majority of miners until 1890. After 1890, the miners came mostly from Yugoslavia, Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, and Italy.

Slovenia is now the northern most Republic of Yugoslavia. From 1890 to 1920, Slovenians migrated in the thousands. By 1893, there were enough Slovenians in the Forest City area for the establishment of a fraternal organization, St. Joseph's Lodge. By 1904, with the Slovenian population reaching 300 adults, St. Joseph's Church was built. Prior to 1904, the Slovenian population worshipped at St. Rose's Church in Carbondale and then at St. Agnes' or St. Anthony's in Forest City. St. Joseph's Parish is still active today.

The Forest City News has been an active participant in the lives of the people of Forest City throughout the entire period of strong ethnic growth in the Forest City area. John Kameen the current owner, has graciously allowed Barbara Puchnick to scan all past issues to collect information on the Slovenian population. She has helped compile an every name index of the Slovenian people that includes birth, marriages, and death. As an adjunct, she collected a rather complete compilation of marriage announcements. It is these marriage announcements that have been indexed in this publication. Mary Lou Davison has spent many hours putting the information in a useable format and has spent even more hours alphabetizing the data.

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