Your Roots in Historic Hungary

by Vic Berecz

Part 6 - A Review of Some Essentials.

In the first five articles of this series, I tried to describe in some detail the mechanisms that are available for identifying your ancestors in historic Hungary.  These are archived on Magyar News OnLine and are also available on my genealogy website at www.berecz.us/tutorial

Recently, a reader sent the following inquiry to Magyar News OnLine:

“If all you know is your grandfather's name, and what ship he took to come to America in the late1800's and where the ship left from - what chance is there that you could trace any family descendents still there and how would you go about doing it ?”

Another reader wrote:

 “I am a second generation Hungarian, raised by my Hungarian grandparents, and I grew up in Bridgeport in the 1950’s. The last 15 years I have been trying to trace my roots, with no luck.”

Both of these female readers have obviously made efforts … but, to no avail.  The first reader probably has no useful information except the name of her grandfather.  The name of the ship and the port from which it departed are probably of no use.  Prior to 1900, most Hungarians coming to the U.S. left from German, Dutch, or Belgian ports irrespective of where in Hungary they lived.  With or without the date of departure, she should certainly try to find the manifest of the ship that brought her grandfather here on the Ellis Island website.  Articles 2 and 3 of my series focused on using that website to find immigrant’s ship manifests.  But, early manifests (those prior to 1900) unfortunately often contain remarkably little useful information. 

The second reader doesn’t tell us much about her situation … for instance, what information she has, and what avenues of research she’s followed.  But, I will discuss a similarity between these two inquiries, a key difference, and a common starting point. 

Though I don’t know either of these women, they seem to be of my generation.  So, they have the following in common with each other and with me.  Their grandparents immigrated about the turn-of-the-20th-century, and they themselves were probably brought up during or shortly after World War II in a community that still maintained some focus on ethnicity.  Their grandparents were probably born in Hungary in the last quarter of the 19th century, like mine.

The key difference is the objective of the two readers.  The first would like to locate living relatives in Hungary, the second has the more traditional goal of genealogists – to identify her ancestors.  But, I’ve grouped these two inquiries together because they have a common need as a starting point – to place an ancestor (in these cases a grandparent) into a well-defined family situation in late 19th century Hungary.  If they can arrive at that base point, then the first reader can search forward in time for present-day relatives in Hungary or one of the neighboring successor states, and the second reader can use historical records to trace her ancestors further back into the 19th century and perhaps even the 18th century.  So here goes …

In the first article of this series, I wrote of the four basic pieces of data about your immigrant ancestors that you need to get started with your search for your roots in historic Hungary.  They are:

  1. Their birth name – both given name and family name.
  2. Their approximate year of birth – preferably no later than 1895.
  3. The town or city in historic Hungary in which they were born.
  4. Their religion.

The objective of seeking these four pieces of information is to be able to place the immigrant as part of a specific family group at a specific place and time in historic Hungary.  These four pieces of information are usually sufficient to identify the appropriate church records where the immigrant’s birth is recorded.  Given that, you will easily be able to gather information about the parents and siblings of the immigrant.  Obviously, this is what’s needed to begin your search either forward of backward in time. 

Unfortunately, it appears the only concrete information these two readers have is the name of their immigrant grandparent.  So, where do you start in getting the other three necessary pieces of data?  I feel that with just a name, the place to always start is the Ellis Island website.  See my articles 2 and 3 of this series for details on how to work with it.  There is no cost, and if you’re serious about your search, the few hours you may spend on-line can be very valuable and produce both the birth year and hometown of your ancestor.  But, Ellis Island doesn’t always work … what happens then?

I noted that both these readers apparently knew and remember their grandparents.  If that’s the case, ask yourself things like: “When did grandpa die?”  “About how old was he when he died?”  “What town did he die in?”  “Where is he buried?”  Most people can come up with a pretty good set of answers to these questions from their personal recollections.  If you know the cemetery, visit it.  Find the gravestone, the cemetery office may be able to help with that.  Almost certainly, the gravestone will give the dates of your grandparent’s birth and death. 

Get a copy of the death certificate from the town/city hall in the place he or she died.  [Note: if your ancestor died in a hospital, they may not have died in the town they lived in.]  Death certificates typically include the date and place of birth, and should be available to any descendant.  While the facts in a death certificate are only as good as the information given the funeral director who prepared that certificate, there is a reasonable probability that it is correct.

Another thing to check is old papers, letters, and photos held by family members.  Most immigrants corresponded with their relatives in Europe for decades.  Check the postmarks on envelopes or addresses in letters for clues about your immigrant ancestor’s hometowns.  Look for names and towns in letters.  They may give clues to where family members lived after your ancestor came to the U.S.  Also, it was common to send death notices to relatives in the U.S.  This was almost certainly done when parents of immigrants died.  If these death notices were kept, they can provide significant information about the family in Europe.  See my Hungarian Family History Tutorial on-line at www.berecz.us/tutorial among the miscellaneous documents illustrated to see what kind of information can be gleaned from death notices.

You likely know your ancestor’s religion.  If you know the specific place of worship they attended here in the U.S., a few hours searching the records of that church for entries about your family could pay off with useful information.  If you aren’t sure of their religion, you can probably at least classify it as Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish.  Then you need to think in terms of the ethnicity your family associated themselves with. Keep in mind that a surname doesn’t always denote ethnicity.  In the last quarter of the 19th century there were strong “Magyarization” efforts that resulted in many name changes.  But, you probably know your ethnicity.In the 19th century ethnicity was more important than nationality.

Historic Hungary (that is 19th century Hungary) was a multi-ethnic society. Most ethnic Magyars (what we now call Hungarians) were either Roman Catholic or Reformed, with some Lutherans.  Most ethnic Slovaks were Roman Catholic or Lutheran, with a few Greek Catholics.  Most ethnic Germans were either Roman Catholic or Lutheran.  Most ethnic Croats were Roman Catholic; most ethnic Serbs and Rumanians were Orthodox; most ethnic Vends were Lutheran; and most ethnic Ruthenes were Greek Catholic.  With respect to Jews - ethnicity and religion coincided. 

For those of you who say “my family wasn’t religious” please remember … that didn’t matter in 19th century historic Hungary.  Until 1895, the only mechanisms for recording births were the churches and synagogues.  Everyone was by default a “member” of some religion, even if they never showed their faces on Sundays.  Basically, you were the religion of your parents.  If your parents were among the few 19th century couples who had a mixed marriage, the most likely resolution was that sons took the religion of their father, daughters that of their mother.  Note that this latter distinction was not made when Roman and Greek Catholics intermarried, since both groups recognized the Pope in Rome as their leader.

There are other resources available in the U.S. that may be of help. Try City Directories. These books, which are usually available in local libraries, were published each year and in many cases date back to 1900.  In southern Connecticut, where at least one of the Magyar News OnLine readers mentioned lived, the city directories of Norwalk, Fairfield, or Bridgeport (which were the hometowns of the bulk of Hungarian immigrants in the area) are all available.  Check out your ancestors year-after-year.  You may find a useful clue.

Hopefully, the hints above can lead you to the point where you have the four basic pieces of information about your immigrant ancestor – or at least a good guess at each.  The next step is to find their birth recorded in a late-19th century Hungarian church register.  My articles 4 and 5 on using the microfilmed Hungarian church records at LDS Family History Centers give you the details of that process.  Obviously, tracing ancestors back in time uses those same methods.

My final comments today are to the first reader who wants to find present-day relatives in Hungary.  Frankly, I must say, your odds are not good.  The microfilmed records maintained by the LDS rarely go beyond World War I.  Furthermore, since 1900 there has been much more migration within what was historic Hungary than had been previously experienced, including three massive migration periods.  During the time of great emigration to the U.S. (1895-1914), there was also substantial economic migration to the city of Budapest which had become a major political, financial, manufacturing, and shipping metropolis.  After World War I, with the separation of historic Hungary into basically present-day Hungary and several successor states, there was substantial migration based on ethnicity.  The same thing happened again after World War II, when some of the successor states ejected their minorities.  So, there is little assurance that your family stayed put in the same town – whether it’s now a part of Hungary or Slovakia or whatever.

On the other hand, in 1980 I located relatives in Hungary still living in the towns my grandparents came from before World War I , one by a letter simply addressed to the family name in that town, and the other by a letter to a Lutheran pastor in another town.  That possibility probably still exists.  If it’s a small village your ancestors came from, a letter just addressed to the family in that village may eventually get to someone who is related to you.  Even if that letter is in English, it may succeed since so many people in Hungary and Slovakia now can read English.  Finally, a note to the Pastor or Priest at the appropriate local congregation may get you some information of use In this case a small contribution to the church wouldn’t hurt (I’ve gotten nice responses when I enclosed a $20 bill).  In addition, on-line telephone books are available for both Hungary and Slovakia, and unlike a few years ago, most people in those countries now have phones.  Check them out for people with the same surname in your ancestral town. It may be worth a phone call if you can speak a little of the language.

That’s basically the sum-total of my suggestions. The Ellis Island website and the LDS microfilms are your best bets, but other things do sometimes work.  Give them a try.  Good luck!

 

     Mr. Vic Berecz  is active in the field of Hungarian genealogy and has contributed several articles to Magyar News Online.