Both of my parent’s ancestors immigrated from Europe and settled in Pennsylvania. The Tubridy family came during the height of the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1850s. Mom’s family, the Kovachs, came in the early 1900s as part of a mass immigration from central Europe to work the coal mines. No doubt they were both looking for a better life. Contrast that to my father’s Mother’s family, the Hortons’ who immigrated in the 1600s from England!
The Tubridy family settled in Snoe Shoe outside of State College. It was on the edge of the northeastern part of the coal fields. The Kovachs township was near Vanderbilt although I grew up always hearing the name of nearby town Connellsvile where some of them settled. It was deep in the coal fields that dominated the area around Pittsburg.
