For Eileen Backofen and her husband, Joe—first-time travelers from Herdon, Virginia—our Old World Prague & the Blue Danube River CruiseTour was no ordinary vacation. As Eileen explains, “Our cruise on the Danube was the first leg of my search for my roots and my relatives in Slovakia.” As you’ll discover in the story below, which was published in the Backofens’ local newspaper, the Laker Weekly, the journey was a resounding success: Eileen and Joe were able to visit the hometowns of her maternal grandparents, visit her grandfather’s grave, and connect with her long-lost relatives.
“I want to thank the crew of the M/S River Aria,” Eileen says. “They were so helpful to me, especially the Slovak staff who indulged me as I practiced my elementary Slovak language skills with them every single day! Successfully finding my heritage and my family was a wonderful experience.”
By Laurie Edwards, Laker Weekly
Eileen Backofen always thought she came from nowhere. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and spent most of her childhood there. And most summers were spent in Forest City, Pennsylvania, her parents' hometown.
Shortly after college, Eileen and her husband, Joe, moved to northern Virginia, where she taught in the public school system for 24 years. She and Joe lived in Moneta, Virginia, part-time from 1995 until they retired and moved here permanently in 2007.
But that's Eileen's personal history. Her family history stopped abruptly with her grandparents: A woman who spoke little English and a man who died before Eileen was born. After an extensive search for her roots, it turned out she was right all along: She really was from nowhere.
Tangled Roots
Eileen's interest in her heritage began at a young age. At 10, she would sit and talk with her grandmother, Katarina Korshnakova, who immigrated to the United States in 1900 at age 17. "She didn't speak much English, even though she had been here almost 60 years," Eileen says. "But I had learned to speak Slovak reasonably well."
Then there was her grandfather, Gregory Dupkanic. Eileen's problems researching information about him began with his name. It had been spelled incorrectly at Ellis Island, when he immigrated to the United States. And it was spelled differently—but also incorrectly—on his marriage license to Korshnakova.
The only thing Eileen knew for sure was that Dupkanic and Korshnakova had both been widowed before they married. Together, they had one child, her mother.
But Dupkanic had another family "back in the old country." Occasionally, he would cross the ocean to spend several months with his two sons and his fourteen grandchildren. And in 1935, he died there. "I never knew him," Eileen says. "In fact, I'd never even seen his picture."
A Breakthrough
One day, Eileen's mother stumbled across some family documents, including Korshnakova's baptismal certificate from Sambron, Slovakia.
It was then that Eileen realized her phonetic translation of the village was wrong. She had been further confused because Slovakia was under Austro-Hungarian rule during her grandmother's lifetime. "No wonder I couldn't find her," Eileen says. "I was looking in the wrong country!"
The discoveries kept coming. With the advent of the Internet, and with new documents and search tools being added every day, her search became easier.
In 2006, as Eileen was looking through online obituaries for information about her grandfather, her mother again struck gold: Among a pile of family documents was Dupkanic's death certificate. "That was huge," Eileen says. "Now I knew where he died." The village was Habura, which is about 85 miles from Sambron.
Armed with the names of both villages, Eileen was able to find her grandparents through an online search of Ellis Island's immigration books. That's when she found that her long-lost family was much closer than she thought.
Turns out one of her grandfather's two sons had immigrated to the United States. He changed his last name to Duker, settled in Pennsylvania, and had six children. One of them was serving as a priest in a Greek Catholic church in Pittsburgh.
Eileen summoned up the courage to call her cousin. "I said, ‘I believe we have the same grandfather,'" she recalls. "We wound up talking for two hours." Msgr. Duker still kept in touch with his cousins in Slovakia—and by the time she hung up, Eileen had their addresses.
Going Home
With the pieces finally in place, Eileen and her husband, Joe, decided to make the trip to Slovakia. They booked a cruise on the Danube River and planned to rent a car at the end and drive through the countryside to the villages from which her grandparents emigrated.
But they knew language would be a barrier, as most Slovak villagers speak little to no English. "I used to be able to understand my grandmother," Eileen says. "So I got CDs and books and said, ‘I'm going to learn again.'"
When she was sure her grasp of the language would suffice, she penned a letter, in Slovak, to two of her cousins. Just in case, she attached an English translation. "The first thing they did when they got their letters was call their cousin, the priest [Msgr. Duker]," said Eileen. Once they knew she was sincere, the cousins arranged a meeting.
Family Ties
The Backofens' cruise had a stopover in Bratislava, Slovakia, where two of Eileen's cousins awaited their arrival at the dock. There were hugs and tears, and gifts as well as family histories were exchanged.
One cousin gave Eileen a book titled The People from Nowhere: An Illustrated History of Carpatho-Rusyns. It detailed the small sub-sect that was all but forgotten in the wake of World War II and the Communist takeover of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. It was the history of Eileen's people. "No wonder I couldn't find myself," Eileen says about discovering her Ruthenian roots. "I'm from nowhere."
But the greatest gift exchanged at their meeting was a photo of Dupkanic, taken when he was about 30 years old and living in America. Eileen cried; "I'd never seen a picture of my grandfather before," she explains. "It was just amazing."
The day ended too soon and the Backofens returned to their cruise ship. Two days later, they hit the countryside in a rented Ford Focus, heading for Medzilaborce. It was there that Eileen met her cousin, Pavel, who had more history to share.
Pavel explained that Eileen's grandmother had been speaking Rusyn, a Slovak dialect. "That was why so many of the words I remember hearing from my grandmother weren't in my Slovak dictionary," she says.
The following day, Pavel led them to Habura—to the homestead, more family, and Dupkanic's grave. "Not only was it nice, [the grave] was right up next to the priest's," Eileen says. "My grandfather was somebody important in that village."
Dupkanic's tombstone was inscribed with Cyrillic, which Eileen learned was a nod to his stature. "It was because he was a Rusyn patriot," she explains. "He was leading the resistance against the Czech Republic. ... He wanted to retain the Ruthenian heritage."
But Eileen had only one day to spend in Habura before she and Joe set off to Sambron. There was no family there, but a villager showed Eileen records in the town office detailing her grandmother's departure for America. Most importantly, Eileen was able to walk the grounds of her ancestors, and "see the landscape my grandmother saw."
Rooted in Family
Since Eileen's visit, she has exchanged cards with her cousins. But her handle of the Slovak language has dissipated from lack of use. "They called me at Christmas and I was so surprised, I couldn't say a word," she says. "I'd forgotten the Slovak language."
But she may get a chance to practice again. The Backofens would like to go back for another visit. "If the stock market goes up, we'll go," says Joe.
Or not: Eileen has other roots to dig up, these on her father's side of the family. "My father was Lithuanian," she said. "I have some research to do there. Who knows, I may go looking for that village next!"
Laurie Edwards, Laker Weekly