Friday, February 24, 2017

TO THE INCOMING IMMIGRANT - COME LEGAL - A TRUE STORY of A GERMAN WOMAN ILLEGAL HERE FOR YEARS

LEGAL IMMIGRATION is the only way to go.  I know that some of you reading my blog are thinking of coming to the United States and things are a bit "wonky" right now.  Whatever your situation, do it the right way.  DO IT LEGAL.  Even if you have to wait.  Use your wait time to earn more money to bring with you, to study language, to research what life is like in various parts of the country; Some cities are considerably less expensive than others.


I post this having just learned that a woman who came here in the late 1980s from Germany, college educated too, is STILL NOT LEGAL.


Let me tell you the story.


I had a friend from a rich family.  In spending time with her and her family, I learned that her older brother, who I will call Noah, had taken a year off from his college, as many rich kids do, to travel around Europe.  Her family had been in the USA for several generations so he was not looking to meet relatives left behind.  However, he was very interested in what had happened to the Jews because they were Jewish but not at all religious.  When he was in Germany and on a train he met a young woman - not Jewish.

We don't know if they actually had an affair or fell in love or what happened on the train or after they got off the train or how much time they actually spent together or if she traveled with him as a tour guide or what.  Surely she knew he was an American and from Los Angeles and she might have suspected he came from money.


The brother came back to the US just in time to go back to his college for fall semester.  He was living with his parents in a suburb where houses even back then were being sold for a million dollars or more. My friend and other siblings all had trust funds for college someday.  But they were not showy or snobby people.


One day his stay at home mother answered a knock on the door.  There stood this young German woman asking for Noah.  He wasn't home.  He wasn't expecting her.  The mother, being a polite woman, allowed the young German woman in, told her to wait in their living room, brought out some food and drink.  They waited.  The German woman explained to the mother, rather innocently, that she had come to be with Noah!  The mother was shocked but tried to hide her emotion.  What she didn't know about her son!  (And while they were not religious and not automatically against one of their children marrying someone who wasn't Jewish, they simply preferred they do.)


Eventually Noah came home late at night, and there sat this German woman.  By now it was clear that she had not made hotel reservations.  So the family accepted that she would stay in the spare room.  Noah was twice as shocked as his mother.


The German woman had come to the United States, following her heart, but on a tourist Visa.  Noah was earnest about his education.  He didn't want to live with a girlfriend.  The family didn't want to go against their son by having her in their home more than a couple weeks.  Of course, the German woman decided there was only one thing to do, find a cash-paying job as a nanny in someone else's house where she would live, over stay her tourist Visa, anything to be near Noah.  A college educated bilingual nanny can easily get such a job.


Noah began to resent her.  The family did feel sorry for her.  They could not believe that Noah hadn't encouraged her.  He maintained he did not.


A couple years later, Noah had finished college and went to another state to begin a career.  He accepted the German woman to live with him, again working as a nanny for cash.  Their living together didn't go well.  He was sure he didn't want to marry her, even if she was loving, kind, and hard working.  Soon the German woman was back to Los Angeles without him.  Truthfully, and maybe this is hard for some of  you to understand, the family felt that their son owed it to this girl to marry her, and that if he did not, then he had brought trouble and shame to them.  He refused.


I had heard that she had saved every dime she could and had hired an immigration attorney to make it all right for her.  She was in what we call, "deep shit, excuse the French."  She gave this attorney thousands of dollars in cash.  HE KEPT IT AND DID NOTHING FOR HER.  Though the family was rich, when they ran this past their attorney, he advised that this was not unusual.  And that there was nothing he could do that wouldn't mean jail time, fines, deportation for the German woman.


So this woman, college educated too, in love or hoping for marriage, following her heart without an invitation, is STILL working for cash as a nanny, still illegal.  As I hear it Noah is almost banished by his family and the father has been half supporting her, but still, the day is going to come when this man dies. The siblings don't hate the German girl, but they feel she cannot be in their lives.


I also tell this story because of the incorrect notion that almost all illegal immigrants to the U.S. particularly the South West are from Mexico.  Here in Los Angeles there are many illegal Irish (often working in bars and restaurants) and other Europeans.  They may be better hidden among the non-Hispanic population.


Meanwhile, I assure you that legal immigration has been the way to citizenship for many of my neighbors.  A British woman here to act in the film business has a sister in social services, disabled in Great Britain.  She has been awarded duel citizenship so she can freely take care of her sister's situation there as needed.  Moslem refugees from Pakistan - on their way to citizenship.  A neighbor from Bosnia - a refugee years ago - a citizen - he wasted no time.  Business owners who have brought an educated, multilingual cousin from Argentina - in process.


If you wish to immigrate, go to the closest consulate and ask for information on the right way to do it.  It may not be fast or easy but ultimately it is the right way.  And I feel that if I were ever to visit or wish to stay in Hungary for any amount of time I would do the same, honoring the rules and regulations in place in Hungary.  There are Americans who consider moving to Hungary for their retirement.  The refugee crisis in Hungary (and other countries) is of great concern to them when they imagine living as senior citizens in another country.  Don't overstay a tourist Visa, expect that a romance or affair or fling that you have is going to result in marriage and a legal stay...


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Friday, February 17, 2017

HUNGARIAN URBARIUM 1767 : AN INTENSE LOOK AT POWER BEING PLAYED OUT: Genealogy Tip #5

Please read updates as of June 2019. These posts are popular and have been edited to include more information for genealogy and family history writers.


HUNGARICANA UBARIUM 1767
-  BEREG COUNTY - I read every town front page of this county looking for a few names that come up in my own genealogy - and was unsettled to see how power was being played out.  THE VAST MAJORITY of the places were entirely owned by one person, listed as Count Eugene - of the Schonbrun.  Even when a small place had a large number of property owners and the parcels were small - say about as big as a garden needs to be to feed a family - it seems this Count had one, so he had presence everywhere. (Can you imagine what it must have been to be a farmer who counted his blessings every day that he had managed to not be a serf, yet be working his fields next to the property of a powerful, possibly nosey Count?

Years ago I was reading about the freeing of the serfs in Russia and I read all the things that these laborers who didn't even rent the land they farmed and had to turn over most of what they produced to the Lord of the Manner (or the owner of the property that they lived on and worked on.)  I read a list of the things he had to provide to them, and though I'm sure that by today's standards they lived a difficult and exhausting life and were poor in the extreme, TODAY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT EACH CITIZEN HAS AS MUCH!  

When you go to a town listed in a county in Hungary in 1767, and that includes the counties that go all the way up to the then Polish border, over to Austria, and including present day Croatia and Slovenia, you will find people who have the abbreviation GR next to their name, and those are the Grofs or "Counts."  But there are also lots of people listed with BR next to their name meaning Baron. The GR is a class rank, and it doesn't always mean the greatest wealth, but does indicate power when the person owns many folds; apparently think acres although this measurement hasn't always been consistent. 

Now, as you go to the lists that are inside the book (handwritten) for that particular person listed in the searchable text, say EUGENE, you get to see how many people are living on a property he owns that are renting land from him and how many are serfs and other notes.  You also get to see how many are living or working in buildings he owns who pay rent. My guess is that EUGENE has been granted almost the entire county or the Hapsburgs have bought all that property for him to govern. A little further research and there is a possibility that this EUGENE may be a COUNT of, but his surname probably is not Shonbrun.  It might be SAVOY...

Is your personal situation in this life much different that the serfs?

(To get to all the posts/genealogy tips regarding the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF HUNGARY/ Hungaricana's URBARIUM 1767 you can search this BLOG by looking through my archives, through searching for the word URBARIUM using the Google Search Feature embedded in the blog, or by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post.)

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This post is part of a series.  To print up all posts, click on the tag Pro tips: 1767 Hungaricana Urbarium

Saturday, February 11, 2017

HUNGARIAN HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN MEN STEREOTYPES! (FOR THOSE WHO ARE CONSIDERING LOVE AND ROMANCE WITH SUCH A PERSON!)


 

Just in time for VALENTINE'S DAY, I present to you the stereotypes of HUNGARIAN and HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN MEN.  This is just in case you are considering love and romance with such a person!  (Those of you already in the love and romance already know!)
 1) THEY ALL WEAR MUSTACHES, and even spend a lot of time grooming their mustaches.  You should be prepared to be tickled or abraded with the mustache when you kiss him.  So you can never lie to anyone and claim you were not making out.  Prepare to be abraded - unless he is one to groom the ends into points using wax, in which case, you may find that one of the ends of the mustache goes up into your nose when you make out!

2) THEY ALL READ OR WRITE POETRY as a way of seducing you.  Beware the Hungarian or Hungarian-American who shows up at street poetry slams or tries to RAP in the Hungarian language!

You may need a translator, but ask yourself this.  What is the SUBJECT of the POEM?  IS IT ME?

3) ONCE A YEAR IN SPRING THEY FEEL COMPELLED TO SPRINKLE YOU WITH CHEAP PERFUME.  Don't get this cheap perfume confused with the real, expensive perfume  you actually want as a gift for Valentines Day or your Birthday, the subtle scent that you use only one drop of, in the crook of your elbow!

4) THE MEN ARE ONLY A COUPLE GENERATIONS FROM WEARING DRESSES.  Do not automatically think of him as a cross-dresser if he shows up in one.

5)  HE'S NOT BI-POLAR it's JUST THAT HIS MOOD GOES UP AND DOWN.  Particularly if you refuse to say you love him frequently.  He will be disappointed if the card  you give him for Valentine's Day isn't mushy.  (This attitude apparently  began after the nobility stopped arranging marriages and began to marry for love!)
6) IF HE IS THE ONE PURSUING YOU, HE REALLY MIGHT CONSIDER SUICIDE if your romance DOESN'T TURN INTO TRUE LOVE AND MARRIAGE!  (Buy him one of those sun lamps sold to combat seasonal depression.  Remember the lost homeland of the Hungarians must have been a sunny place and now they are forced to live in the cold, damp, foggy, and dark.)  (You Vixens out there should know that a Hungarian man will rarely turn down a woman who is after him but, he may not ask her out!)

7) YOU GET TO DOMINATE HIM IN THE HOME, just make a show of rushing around to serve him beer when his friends show up to watch soccer or football!  Also, if he decides to sit under a tree with some Slovak men to watch the clouds in the sky and let the women do all the work, remember matriarchy!

8) LET HIS MOTHER SHOW YOU HOW TO COOK HIS FAVORITE RECIPE, but don't actually ever try to make that meal for him when the two of you are home alone, until she is dead.  (Never ever make a show of showing up his mother as a cook!  You will never ever get that stuffed cabbage in the slow cooker recipe right!)

9) HE MAY HAVE ADVENTURES BUT HE ALWAYS MARRIES THE HOME TOWN GIRL!
(Even if she becomes the town spinster while waiting.)  Seriously good news, it just takes going to the same school to be a home town girl!

10)  NOBODY ACTUALLY HAS SEX TO HAVE BABIES.  Where do you think STORKS come from?  Poland? WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE STORKS NESTING ON HUNGARIAN CHIMNEYS?   All that public passion is just for show, to fool people.

ARE YOU LAUGHING YET?



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Thursday, February 9, 2017

HUNGARIAN URBARIUM 1767 : THE GIVEN AND SURNAMES OF WEALTHY PEOPLE : Genealogy Tip #4

Please read updates as of June 2019. These posts are popular and have been edited to include more information for genealogy and family history writers.


This 1767 URBARIUM, a census of Hungary, by then-existing counties, starts out by listing the property owner, administrator, or servant of the house - who can speak for the owner, most of whom are male.  Maybe, if you read many counties as I have, you too will become sensitive to the repetitions of surnames, many of them famous counts and nobility, others just people with enough wealth to own some land.  For those of you who have read church records, you may have realized that for the craftsman / commoner class of people, there seems to be a given naming convention that goes like this.


First son - Janos
Second son - Andras
Third son - Istvan

First daughter - Maria
Second daughter - Erzebet

If a couple had a first son, Janos, who died, when they had another son they would name that son Janos so the naming pattern was altered due to death.  If this happened and then the oldest son who would inherit is named Andras, you MAY find that in that family first sons will be named Andreas.  It was as if there was a limit to the names working - commoner people could use. 

After a while you begin to think that MAYBE names like Gyula (Julius) or Apollonia are so rare, it means something.  It might.  (I've tripped across a number of Apollonia baptisms in which the child was not legitimate!)

Well, I've noticed that on this census, there isn't just a repetition of surnames that indicate wealthy families, but also a far larger range of given names for the men; Szigmond, Gedeon, Laszlo (Louis - there are lots!), Amandne, Antal, Gyorgy, Sander (Alexander), Ferenc (Frank), Ignac, Peter, Pal (Paul), Imre, Marton, Farkas... and lots of EUGENES!***

I must look into this because it certainly seems a class driven naming.

However, you will find that there are some names listed on those front pages of this census that are more common!  Just rarely.  Andras for instance seems not to appear much at all.

These naming patterns have to do with WHO inherits.  Hungary practiced giving the FIRST SON the estate, unless he died before he could assume it.  That means that in common families, there were more JANOS (John) with inheritances.  Being an Andras, a second son, one didn't inherit unless the first born died. (A father could choose to give a daughter or daughters an inheritance but generally would not unless he had no son.  A daughter's portion was generally about one quarter of the estate.)

What happened in the United States with naming children?  Some immigrants continued the naming patterns for a generation, or for the children born in Hungary, but the younger children born here got names the family had not used before!  Assimilation.

What about Germans in Hungary?  They continued the naming patterns of German culture. (For instance you may see children of commoners given two names on their baptismal records.)

Please - BE AWARE THAT AS WITH CHURCH AND OTHER RECORDS, you are likely to find Hungarian, Latin, and Slovak, and German words, depending on where and the preferred language of the census taker. Maria Theresa wanted Hungarians well educated, but in German.*** 

Just reading over this post at the end of April.  The EUGENES seem to be in honor of a Count of Shonbrun, Eugene of Savoy (but don't quote me on that yet!)

***In an effort to both dominate and unite the various countries and territories ruled by Austria, Queen Maria Theresa, considered a progressive at the time, wanted the German language used.  She also decreed that Gypsies / Romani and recent immigrants into Hungary be called UJMAGYAR  - New Hungarians.

(To get to all the posts/genealogy tips regarding the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF HUNGARY/ Hungaricana's URBARIUM 1767 you can search this BLOG by looking through my archives, through searching for the word URBARIUM using the Google Search Feature embedded in the blog, or by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post.)

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This post is part of a series.  To print up all posts, click on the tag Pro tips: 1767 Hungaricana Urbarium

Monday, February 6, 2017

YEAR OF THE ROOSTER - BUDDHIST NEW YEAR


This rooster looks Hungarian to me...  The year of the Fire Rooster in the Buddhist - Chinese - Japanese astrological calendar has begun, after a year in the Fire Monkey.  2018 Will be the year of the Earth Dog.  I don't go to the New Years Dragon Parade in China town every year.  The Last time I went it was the Year of the Horse.  Isn't it odd how Dragons are supposed to be mythological, yet in many countries including Hungary and Ireland, there are stories of great men who got rid of them?  Maybe there really were dragons at one time and they went extinct...  If you read carefully though, you will find the names of these heros who rid a country of dragons. 

Thursday, February 2, 2017

HUNGARIAN UBARIUM 1767 : CHURCHES and OTHER PROPERTY OWNERS! Genealogy Tip #3

Please read updates as of June 2019. These posts are popular and have been edited to include more information for genealogy and family history writers.

Here is a list of terms and how to understand them that you'll find when you see CHURCHES and other PROPERTY OWNERS on the URBARIUM




AKATIUS CSALAD 

Csalad means that it is the family house of heritage, parents, the stead.  If you find this, you may just have located where a particular family considers their origins to be, no matter how much other property you find they own elsewhere!  *** This might just help you go forward rather than backwards with your genealogy search.  A cross check might be running the surname and county through FAMILYSEARCH, the free LDS database.  Check the church records and other census to see what you can find about the family in that town or village or country house. Remember though that the same surname does not always mean the same family or branch of the family.

It's possible also that this CSALAD  once was the place of origin of the family, but even in the 18th century people moved around a lot, more than we can imagine.

For nobility, it was more common for the bride to go to the groom's mother's house after the marriage was arranged, sometimes as young as 10 years old, younger if the child's parents died, so that the bride to be and the groom to be could grow up a bit together. These arranged marriages sometimes required traveling for weeks with an entourage and across the country. For nobility, my research over many years has shown that marriages occurred younger since it wasn't necessary for the groom to prove himself as a trade apprentice first. (In the 1800's I've found a number of brides age 16 who are nobility or marrying nobility.)

Marie Theresa and the Hapsburgs were CATHOLIC and they wanted CATHOLOCISM to be the religion of the country they ruled, but many of the nobility and royalty had become Protestant and didn't comply with another religious switch. You might think this census focuses on who is Catholic, but it does not.  Houses of worship as well as schools for priests are contained in it.

EXAMPLE:

BUDAI JEZSUITA KOLLEGIUM (see Torokbalint in Pest-Pilis- Solt)
(Remember that Buda and Pest are not united as one city at this time. Buda is in the hills and Pest is in the flats.)
This is the Jesuit College of Buda


EXAMPLE:

TELKI APATSAG  (See Telki in Pest-Pilis-Solt)
This means the ABBEY of Telki
EXAMPLE:
OROKKE - this word means perpetuity.  Other similar words are OROKBE - for keeps, OROK - timeless, and OROKIFJU - ageless.  If you see this word on the census it means that it is understood that the person or institution will always own the property!  (Of course this is an assumption that doesn't always play out in history.)

You will find colleges or schools for priests and ministers as well as SOME churches listed, but I've read a few towns that I know had a church from way back without seeing the church listed... possibly there is only a chapel there of the church was built later than this date.

*** Additional notes May 2017... Another way of looking at the CSALAD family home distinction, in a list of Cottars and Renters of buildings, is that the census taker may be stating that this particular dwelling is owned not rented.  Additionally, you may find in many counties families with the same surname who rent and own .  Remember that a szeller/ building could be a barn, a workshop, even a bar.  (I've learned that Cottar implies that the person owns or rents a house on a small plot of land, generally only big enough for the family to have their own vegetable and herb garden.)

(To get to all the posts/genealogy tips regarding the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF HUNGARY/ Hungaricana's URBARIUM 1767 you can search this BLOG by looking through my archives, through searching for the word URBARIUM using the Google Search Feature embedded in the blog, or by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post.)

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This post is part of a series.  To print up all posts, click on the tag Pro tips: 1767 Hungaricana Urbarium

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