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As you peruse this family history, you will find joys and triumphs, a lot of funny things (by present-day standards anyway), and many sorrowful and unpleasant facts as well. It is important to remember that we cannot change history, but the standards by which we live and judge history do change through the years. So our task is to simply learn from this history ... and much can be learned from the lives of these thousands of members of our extended family. Every family -- if you look hard enough -- has its noblemen and peasants, as well as its heroes and rogues. Ours is no different. Here are a few examples to get you thinking, each person mentioned here is a fully-documented direct ancestor of Jake ...

• Town barber imprisoned for leading the Lutheran faction in the 1751 religious riots in Vadosfa. Péter Fekete alias Nigrini 1717-1763.
• Injured at age 83 cutting marsh reeds, died 17 days later despite "careful leg amputation by the barber" ... no, not the same barber. Ádam Tolnai 1724-1807.
• Soldier, enforcer of the inquisition, imprisoned then exiled, awarded Order of Isabella the Catholic by King Ferdinand VII of Spain. Vincente Moré 1762-1857.
• Illegitimate son of an Austrian count, became wealthy ranch manager, fathered 21 children before being murdered at a still virile 64. József Palásty 1787-1851.
• Fought under the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, returned home to run a small farm. Jakob Rotermund 1791-1865.
• Mother of 17, only seven lived to adulthood. Franciska Tümler 1798-1846 -- no, she didn't kill him ... it was robbers.
• Went from poverty to great wealth as a sugar planter, was a philanthropist, conservative political leader, and Senator in the Spanish Cortes. José Eugenio Moré 1808-1890.
• Notorious as a bag lady, widowed, kept the family business together for her children. Margarethe Dorothea Grobe 1812-1861.
• Builder who constructed the first hospital, the first theater, and numerous churches and public buildings in his city of Szeged. József Heszler (Heszlényi) 1814-1895.
• Imprisoned for treason, later mayor of Szeged and presiding judge of Hungarian Supreme Court, awarded Order of the Iron Crown by King Ferenc József I of Hungary. József Osztróvszky 1818-1899.
• Young teacher and part-time mayor of Beled -- his hometown, executed on the rack for treason at age 27. László Mátis 1834-1861.
• Engineer who made a fortune building railroads in Latin America, died in a construction accident in Mexico. Patrick J. Loonie 1848-1905.
• Chief of the heroic Ponce Volunteer Fire Department which saved the city in 1899. Pelayo Riera 1857-1900.
• Known as Jan Smed (John the Blacksmith), he lost two sons and a son-in-law in World War II and his story became part of Plattdütsche history. Johann Lührs 1873-1964.
• Is still widely remembered for the wonderful pastries she made in her Strudel Shop on Railroad Avenue in South Norwalk. Eszter Nemes 1884-1952.

... plus there are thousands of others -- mostly just common people like us -- who lived their lives simply and lovingly as farmers and fishermen, engineers and teachers, clergymen and housewives. They are our heritage. We hope you enjoy reading of their triumphs, and learning from their mistakes ... and please remember the words of noted Canadian historian Donald Creighton: "We respect our ancestors' achievements by standing on their shoulders and seeing farther, not by crouching in their shadows and seeing less. Let's do something to inspire our own grandchildren. That's what our ancestors did."

There's another quote that may be worth mentioning at this time. It's from the fictional character Robert Doniger in Michael Crichton's novel TIMELINE, but it's thought-provoking value transends the source: "But if you think about it, the past has always been more important than the present. The present is like a coral island that sticks above the water, but is built upon millions of dead corals under the surface, that no one sees. In the same way, our everyday world is built upon millions and millions of events and decisions that occurred in the past. And what we add in the present is trivial."

While the people above are direct ancestors of Jake, the great bulk of the people in this database are more distant relatives ... some rather "far afield." Included among them are a few people who were rather well-known in their time, as well as several somewhat tragic individuals. I've compiled some of the more interesting people into "20 Questions" and you don't have to worry about "animal, vegetable, or mineral?" Let's see how many of them you know or can find ... the answers are all given somewhere within the database. Who were these relatives of ours?

• In 1806 he drowned in a vat of wine at the age of 96, though some have claimed he was 105 at the time.
• In the early 19th century he was Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Marta in Colombia.
• This engineer planned the early 19th century canal system of Hungary.
• He was Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Trade in the 1848 Hungarian government of Count László Batthyány.
• These brothers left home in Iowa in search of gold during the California Gold Rush ... and were never heard from again.
• He was one of the 13 Hungarian generals hung at Arad in 1849, following defeat of Kossuth's War for Independence.
• After being widowed, she bore a child each year for several years ... claimed her dead husband "came to her in the night."
• These brothers fought in a German Regiment in the American Civil War and saw action at the Battle of Cole Camp.
• He smuggled supplies into Confederate ports during the Civil War, and was later a newpaperman in San Francisco.
• This Union officer lost his life in the disasterous charge up Mayre's Heights at the 1862 Battle of Fredricksburg.
• The last in the male line of his family, he was killed in 1871 at the Battle of Metz in the Franco-Prussian War.
• He was a Brigadier General of the Mambi Forces in the Cuban Revolution of 1895-98.
• In 1914, he committed suicide in prison rather than bring his family the disgrace of a trial for rape.
• This Italian beer heiress with six young children was adopted by a Hungarian general in order to marry her Austrian lover.
• He was a Field Marshal and Chief of Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I.
• He abandoned his children, borrowed money from his sisters, and then in 1920 absconded to places unknown -- possibly Ohio.
• In the early 1920's, he was President of Valparaiso University, which several family members attended decades later.
• This noted horseman won the 1924 Berlin Prize for trotters, his granddaughter married Canadian gold-mining tycoon Sir Harry Oaks.
• This man was an auto manufacturing pioneer, whose classic cars are still sought after by collectors.
• This living physician is a world-renowned endocrinologist, on the faculty of the University of Toronto.

If you can identify 18 or more of these people correctly, Joan and I will honor you with the designation of EXPERT in our family's history. Plus, I'll document your "success" in the next edition of this CD-ROM. I know, that and two-bits won't even get you a shave and a haircut.

Table of Contents to Private Websites Exploring the Ancestors and Families of Vic and Joan Berecz

Master Database Website about 7000 people -- organized alphabetically with links. Berecz-Luhrs Family Master Database Ancestry Websites. 15-Generation Pedigree Chart of Jake Berecz Ancestry Narratives in Modified Register Format. Ancestors of Victor Guy BERECZ, Jr. Ancestors of Joan Margaret Luhrs Ancestors of Adrienne Rose Loomie To contact us by snail-mail, telephone, or e-mail: Victor G. Berecz, Jr. 12 Carrie Circle Fairfield, CT 06825-1069 USA Telephone: 203-374-8558 or E-mail: Vic@Berecz.us

Descendants Websites Descendancy Narratives in Modified Register Format. Descendants of Gábor Berecz and Zsófia Mátis. Descendants of Károly Nemes and Katalin Riga. Descendants of Gyula Heszlényi and Mária Osztróvszky. Descendants of Iván Godina and Judit Podleszek. Descendants of Hermann Lührs and Marie Meyer. Descendants of Cord-Johann Gerken and Marie Wöbse. Descendants of Hinrich Brüning and Lena Poppe. Descendants of Dietrich Rotermund and Meta Wiechmann Descendants of P.J. Loonie and Anna Foley. Descendants of John Murphy and Julia Murphy. Descendants of Pelayo Riera and Guadalupe Perez. Descendants of Miguel Gonzalez and Juana Moré.