BABY JESUS AND MOTHER MARY

ANGEL FROM HEAVEN - MENNYBOL AZ ANGYAL : ERIKA MIKLOSA

Hungarian opera singer Erika Miklósa sings.

Mennyből az angyal (Angel from heaven)

THAT SPECIAL TIME OF YEAR and SEASONAL DEPRESSION

I live in Southern California which is considered to be Endless Summer by much of the world.  Recently we had a couple bouts of much needed rain, though the drought experts say it will have little impact.  Now that we have just passed the Winter Solstice, the days will lengthen gradually, but it has been several weeks of very early darkness.   As the rain pitter-pattered on our roof, even my dog was happy to stay under the covers and sleep.  I bathed her, blow dried her, wrapped her in her warm nightgown and put her under there.  She didn't even want to get up to go do her business.

My dog seems to frequently surprise me with her empathy and understanding of situations and makes me laugh at times.  Recently we were shopping in a store that allows dogs and she got up on her hind legs when she smelled those giant bones they sell for much bigger dogs.  In her dreams!

I'm also lucky because I don't suffer from depression or seasonal depression, though I sometimes wonder if I would if I lived in a less sunny place.   Sunlight is the remedy for the seasonal depression and these days you can even buy machines that will expose you to the right light rays to lift your spirits.

Of course, chasing the dark and gloom away is one of the reasons we "light up" with holiday lights.

I find that if a negative mood comes upon me that the best thing to do is get busy.  Talk a walk or exercise in some way.  At this time of the year there are always casual opportunities for volunteer work such as serving meals to the homeless.  Getting outside yourself and your own problems is often about giving to others in some way.  A few years ago I joined a pop up caroling group.  We didn't practice and we probably didn't know all the words to all the songs but our efforts at an assisted living building not far away were much appreciated.

Whatever your spiritual tradition or beliefs,  this special time of year calls upon you to be generous in your thoughts of others, and to feel your empathy to the fullest.

I wish you the best!

OWLS

WHITE CHRISTMAS - FEHER KARACSONY : SZULAK ANDREA

SISTER MIRIAM TERESA DEMJANOVICH NOW "BLESSED"

NEW JERSEY - SISTER MIRIAM TERESA DEMJANOVICH - SISTER OF CHARITY - BEATIFIED

EXCERPT "On Saturday, as thousands filled the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark to capacity in celebration of Demjanovich’s beatification—the first step toward sainthood—Susan DeVoe knelt in a pew beside her children to pray for a second one.

DeVoe’s youngest son suffers from Choroideremia, a rare and currently incurable degenerative retinal disease that she says is slowly causing 9-year-old Mark to go blind. In the three years since her son was diagnosed, DeVoe says he’s lost 50 percent of his peripheral vision. The disease has also left him night-blind, she added.

“We pray for the help of Sister Demjanovich all the time,” DeVoe said, waiting in a pew with her son and daughter prior to the ceremony. “Through her, one man was cured of his blindness. We hope that she will intercede on our behalf to do it again, but we’re also here to celebrate the joy of this day.”

She was not alone. At Saturday’s beatification Mass, thousands of nuns, clergy and other Catholic faithful gathered to honor Demjanovich, as church leaders officially declared her a “blessed” person.

It is the first time such a ceremony has been held on U.S. soil, said Jim Goodness, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Newark. “This is a special day for New Jersey, “ he said. “What we have here is a moment is the church recognizing a woman of heroic virtue. And when we have an event where a person from our community has been recognized, that’s a powerful message for the rest of us.”

SAINT NICK'S DAY IN HUNGARY

Image from Karenswhimsey.com

WHAT DOES THE CROW KNOW?

SLIP-SLIDING INTO THE NEW YEAR WITH MY DOG

Luckily I don't live in a snow zone, but it has finally started to rain, which may ease the drought of California somewhat.  Because it has not rained in so long, the roads are slippery with oil and auto exhaust, and the sidewalk underfoot requires some tread to walk safely on it.

The leaves have turned color and fallen too, which doesn't happen every fall or winter here.  It makes you think of the eastern United States.

My dog stops and smells and I wonder if she enjoys the sensation of actually walking on the leaves instead of the cement sidewalk.  She knows to avoid big puddles and jumps over obviously wet patches.

Lately we've been burrowing in, as I crochet while watching films and try in my off time to get organized for the New Year.  An old sofa is on its last days but I want to wait until the weather clears to put it out on the curb for pickup.  An old TV set is no longer fashionable - it's not a thin screen - but still running fine.  It's the DVD/VHS player that needs to be replaced and with a replacement I will most likely donate the VHS tapes to a library, senior housing or community center.  So I want to watch some of these films just one more time.

I stayed home for Black Friday and I'm not buying electronics today, though I may be missing some deals.  My quiet and private time is too precious to me and I don't want to be out among the crowds, compete for products, or stand in lines.  I love staying under the blanket and I notice my dog has been staying under blankets too.

After so much heat in the summer, many of us here look forward to the opportunity to wear a sweater and hat, and to pull out that umbrella.  We're just glad that shoveling snow and truly freezing weather is not part of our lifestyle.

PLUMS - LINK TO ZSUZSA IN THE KITCHEN - AMAZING HUNGARIAN- CANANDIAN AMERICAN RECIPES!

ZSUZSA IN THE KITCHEN - RECIPES!  starting with plum jam and on and on!

SONOMA WINE : AGOSTON HARASZTHY and BUENA VISTA WINERY

BOOK REVIEW by MAGYAR-AMERICAN

SONOMA WINE and the Story of Buena Vista
by Charles L. Sullivan
C 2013 Boisset Family Estates  (Owner of Buena Vista Winery and financiers of this book project.)

Though there were people of many ethnic backgrounds involved in bringing a multitude of wine grape varieties and wine making to California, Agoston Haraszthy, an early Hungarian immigrant to the United States, and his Buena Vista Winery are the focus of this book that is interesting for the history it reveals without being an overly commercial advertisement for the winery.

Coming from what would be the landed gentry class of Hungarians, but without an aristocratic or noble family, Haraszthy arrived in 1840, leaving his wife behind.  He was a follower of Istvan Szechenyi in his belief in "Progress and Industry."  With an eye to business development and self promotion, he published a travelogue about his travels in American in 1844.  By 1842 his wife had arrived in pre-state Wisconsin, his first attempt at settlement. (He called himself "count".  Then they moved to California.  By 1858 he was claiming to have made 60 gallons of "Tokay" using California grapes: the result was not comparable to the Tokaji wine made in North East Hungary.  He began to plant not only the California native "Mission" grape but a number of East Coast varieties, began to sell cuttings and rooted Vines to Sonoma neighbors and relied increasingly on a Chinese labor force brought from Guangdong by Ho Po.  He ventured into raisins.

A University of California professor named Eugene Hilgard became one of the Berkeley scholars who supported Haraszthys hopes for California agriculture.  Haraszthy continued to travel and went to Europe where he bought 487 varieties of grape to be imported to California.  Of these today about 31 are well established and produce wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc.  A partial list of his buys includes some names I never heard before.  Maybe those of you who are more wine savvy have;  Azelante White, Somaylolo Blue, Kovatsy White, Valtozo Goher, Kardarka - dreg, Bogdany Dinko, Tokay Blanc, Cingadi White, Sarfeher White.  (I pride myself on selecting for my partial lists names that I'm sure are Hungarian and now I want to know more about these grapes!)

The book's second focus is the PHYLLOXERA that wiped out wineries in the United States, France - Europe - and Hungary, because this louse, called the "Great Destroyer" which caused wine root infestation and ruined crops for years is a main cause of the immigration to the United States by my own ancestors.  Unknown west of the Rockies before the 1860's it took till 1869 for French scientists working on the problem to identify the louse.

Agoston Haraszthy died in 1869 but by then he had three sons, one who also became a wine grower and maker, and his Buena Vista Winery was one of several that had great impact on the future of Calirfornia wines.  Today at the winery theatrical performances include an actor playing the "Hungarian nobleman."

What of the Buena Vista Tokaji?  There really isn't one.  The winery uses barrels from France and Hungary, without the thick mold that's on walls and ceilings in the cellars of Tokaji wineries.  They haven't given up and while there you can taste it - from imported bottles.

PRAGUE CZECH VINTAGE JEWELRY ADVERTISEMENT

THE HUNGARIANS BY PAUL LENDVAI : WHO IS A HUNGARIAN? : MAGYAR -AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW

 

"A THOUSAND YEARS OF VICTORY IN DEFEAT"

 

This book was part of my summer reading and gave me increased understanding of my ethnic heritage.  I thought it was well thought out, well done. WHY DO I THINK OF MYSELF AS HUNGARIAN - AMERICAN when, like most people of Hungarian lineage, other ethnicities are part of the story of how I came into being? 

 

While recounting the history of the development of HUNGARY Lendvai is always asking the question WHO IS A HUNGARIAN?  I think the answer is that Hungary formed as a county when it had a NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS and that THOSE WHO DECLARE THEMSELVES TO BE HUNGARIAN are! 

 

It has long been a complicated question because the map of Hungary has changed but within every map of the country there has long been MANY DIFFERENT TRIBES AND ETHNIC GROUPS.  The answer isn't always about tribes who made conquest or who peaceably settled.  The answer isn't always about which magnates (or other country) is ruling the land and the people.  The development of the country that was once ruled by "estates" has depended upon an influx of people who were first invited in to populate area that had been devastated by the Turks.  Prior to that there were various ethnic settlements from prehistory on.  Some of those people who accepted the invitation were Germans from various parts of Germany and after generations of living in Hungary they spoke Hungarian as their first language, which means to me that they also THOUGHT in Hungarian, which ties into that NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS idea of mine. 

 

Now that idea of is very American.  For instance, on our census we are asked to identify ourselves when it comes to ethnicity.  Some people are insulted that this question is even asked on a census.  WE ARE AMERICANS.  WE HAVE CITIZENSHIP HERE.  END OF STORY.  Yet, many Americans, even when they have been here for many generations, still identify themselves as "Irish" or "Italian."   Some "White" people here are angry that the census tries to put them all in one group with so much ethnic diversity among "White" people.  Sometimes they are still cooking food like their ancestors did or still speak the language as a second language.   Over time the HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE is a great unifier.  And today if you can speak it you can qualify to be a Hungarian citizen.

 

Lendvai comes from a Hungarian Jewish heritage and in his reportage he presents the reality of Jews in Hungary before and after the Holocaust.  Many Jewish families converted to join the nobility, other's joined the nobility and remained Jewish, even though Hungary as a country emphatically became a Christian country at it's official foundation (1000 years was celebrated in 1896 though 1888 might be as good a date).  Joined is perhaps the wrong word.  They were invited to join the nobility.  They were recognized for accomplishments and wealth and granted titles and status. 

 

Over time Slovaks, Romanians, Croats, and many other ethnic groups lived in what was considered Hungary, thinking of themselves as Hungarian.  Over history, especially when the Hapsburgs were in charge, there were attempts to eliminate the learning and use of Hungarian in favor of German.  Then Hungarian became again the most used language.  For the twists and turns of history on this subject, this book explains where and how and who.  When it comes to immigration to the United States being multi-lingual, especially speaking German, was a plus for the Hungarians.  It allowed them work with the Germans who had settled in America earlier.

 

As I was reading I kept thinking that ethnic identity and ethnic pride are important but not as important as living in peace with tolerance and cooperation.  To me this is and would be a strength.  TO BE HUNGARIAN IS TO MULTIETHNIC BEFORE IMMIGRATION!  TO HAVE LIVED IN A GREAT MELTING POT OF EUROPE!

 

C 2014  Magyar American Blog  All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights.

HALLOWEEN - A TIME TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE ANCESTORS

To read past posts about Ancestor Worship, Halloween in Hungary, and Halloween in the United States, just use the search feature embedded in the sidebar of this blog!

END OF THE YEAR IN SIGHT! CERTAINLY THE STORES THINK SO!

This is the point in the year where it seems - almost over.

Halloween and Christmas seasonal items are now on display in many of the stores.

Halloween has become outrageousness and a festival of horror, savagery, and violence, instead of a celebration of the ancestors or a time of prayer for the deceased. 

Christmas has become all about shopping.

Well, I remember what it was to work retail during the Christmas season and I can say that it made the holiday a NON-EVENT FOR ME.  After you've heard the same Christmas songs for weeks,  dealt with a surge of customers who are not always nice, it's not easy to center back to the purpose of the holiday, which is religious.

Although I get it that giving gifts to friends and family is in imitation of the Three Kings who visited Jesus Christ in his infancy,  and that being generous and loving is good, I think even the tradition of Santa Claus, based on St. Nicholas, has become too much a celebration of materialism.

I confess to having been effected by the Hustle Bustle of shopping in years past, but mostly I try to keep holidays to a small, private, celebration these days.  I give few gifts and usually small or home-made ones.  I prefer to celebrate the birthday of a close friend as the time to give a better gift and to  give attention to them as an individual then.  I love music but I don't enjoy loud parties.  I prefer to host a smaller dinner party where people can enjoy conversation and hear each other, perhaps with some low background music on.  Good food, a little wine, and appreciation for what we have, to take a pause, that is a holiday to me.

KOREANS EAT LESS DOG MEAT STEW AS THEY BEGIN TO LEARN THE VALUE OF DOGS AS COMPANION ANIMALS

LIFEWITHDOGS: KOREAS LONGEST RUNNING DOG MEAT RESTAURANT CLOSES  full article

EXCERPT:  About 2.5 million dogs are consumed in South Korea every year, but that number is dropping thanks to many television shows that depict dogs as cute, sweet companions.  People are seeing their value beyond the menu, and have lost their appetite for family recipes that have been passed down for generations.

Oh Keum-il, owner of the restaurant Daegyo, which once served over 700 bowls of dog stew per day, is closing her doors for good.  Many would stand in line for special dishes on certain days of the year, but animal activists would be standing right along with them, urging consumers not to eat the animals that make such excellent friends...

****

Honestly, if people are starving I can understand it, but anyone who loves a dog as a pet is bound to gag at the picture where you can tell there were some furry friends chopped up to make a meal.

THIS IS A NOTE TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE DOGS TO KEEP THEM TAGGED, consider a microchip, get them licensed, and basically keep good watch over them.  Here in the United States there have been dog snatchings.  Dog snatchers sometimes do it to torture or kill pets for pleasure, some snatched dogs are made into pets or sold to others, some are sold for scientific experiments...

VINTAGE FLORAL DESIGN

ISIS - TURKEY - THE THREAT TO HUNGARY : OTTOMON EMPIRE? HUNGARIAN MERCENARIES?

For Hundreds of years the Moslem Turks controlled the country that would become Hungary.  Their empire was called the Ottoman Empire.  Before the country could be founded on Christianity, and align itself with Rome and Western Europe, these Turks had to be driven out. The fighting went on and on, and today there remains the ruins of many a castle fort that managed to do just that in the late 14th and early 15th centuries

This is why, when you look at the Coat of Arms and Shields of early aristocratic families of Hungary you will see images such as bloody swords and even the beheaded Turk.

Hungary became a Christian nation, a Roman Catholic dominated one, which made the country affiliated with The Church and the rest of Europe rather than a Slavic and Eastern Orthodox nation, like Russia.  No doubt there have been and are people of these other faiths in Hungary, sometimes living in colonies or villages. Travelers to Budapest in the 19th century remarked on the ethnic and religious diversity of the city, as seen in the clothing that identified people of different ethnic groups and faiths.

I was thinking about all this in the morning as I listed to talk radio and dressed for the day.  I thought about it because I heard that ISIS wants to make inroads next into Turkey.  Clearly ISIS has the plan to have influence not only in Turkey but all of Europe, and the usual route in the Middle East is around the Mediterranean Sea.

Here is one article from CNN that asks if Turkey will battle ISIS on the ground.

CNN OPED: TURKEY ISIS OR PKK?

The article begins thus : Turkey is in a tough spot. It has ISIS militants threatening the Syrian border town of Kobani, inching ever closer to confronting Turkish security forces. In addition thousands of Syrian Kurds, fleeing ISIS attacks, have massed along its border, adding further to Ankara's troubles.

Amid mounting pressure to become more active in the U.S.-led international coalition against ISIS, the Turkish parliament last week overwhelmingly authorized its military to make incursions into Syria and Iraq; also to allow foreign troops to operate out of Turkish bases. The move has been greeted in Western capitals as a welcome sign that Turkey is finally fully on board with the anti-ISIS coalition.

 

Though beheading was practiced not only by the Ottoman Turks but the Hungarian's who fought for a nation to be, and more recently was, during the French Revolution, practiced by machine using the Guillotine,  as well as in South East Asia in the 1960's, I have to say that I think this method of killing to be especially horrible.

 

Here in the United States, our FBI is asking citizens to help identify ISIS members who appear in videos, some with American or British English accents, and say they know the identities of a number of Americans who have left the country to fight the ISIS cause in other countries.

 

I ask myself, should such people be allowed back in.

My personal answer is, no.  Anyone who is a terrorist should not be let in or let back in.

 

Here is one website that is covering the issue of Hungarian men who have joined ISIS and it is presented by the controversial JOBBIK party of Hungary.

 

JOBBIK ON WESTERN AND HUNGARIAN MERCENARIES

 

First thing I must note is that the term MERCENARIES is used, indicating that these are soldiers who are without personal allegiance but who work as soldiers for pay.  There is a difference.  Is the term used correctly?

 

 

Here is an excerpt from that article:

 

He added that, considering the gravity of the situation, the worrying news prompted Jobbik to turn to László Kövér, the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament and Zsolt Németh, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee to summon the foreign affairs and the national security committees of the Parliament. The politician pointed out that the activities of these people had been followed by the Counter Terrorism Centre and the national security services of Hungary, and the Parliament should be informed who they are, what is the purpose of their staying in the area and/or serving in the ranks of ISIS. Jobbik also wants to find out what national security risks are posed by the activities of these persons in the ranks of ISIS.

 

The patriotic party expects correct information from the national security services, and responses from László Kövér and Zsolt Németh as well.

 

WE'RE EITHER FREEZING COLD OR HOT HOT HOT! HUNGARIAN HUNGARIAN- AMERICAN WOMEN STEREOTYPE

 

Another unfortunate stereotype of Hungarians, women that is, is that we either run freezing cold (this can include wives who were thinking of becoming nuns before they were abducted into marriage) or that we are hot hot hot!  As for the modest wives, you have a choice.  You can either believe that they do not know how it is they have seven children, or you can believe that they are only modest in the kitchen, which by the way is the cleanest kitchen you will ever eat off the floor in.

If a Hungarian- American woman is considered "good in bed" her lover will say something like "It's that hot Hungarian blood!"  This can be even if you are four generations from Hungary or are now in the "Heinz 57" category of ethnic mix!  Yes, blame it all on Hungary!   Foxy Hungarian women are all over the internet looking to be brides to lonely American men.  They are in the hot hot hot category.

Considering that not so long ago in Hungary most young couples had to wait till marriage to have sex (18 years old for the young women and 20 or 21 for the young men), that it is a very Catholic - Christian country, and so many of our ancestors lived in with relatives until they could get a house (or hut) of their own and no one was supposed to hear anyone having sex, there has been a remarkable cultural change apparently. 

Now, American tourists are braced to see hot hot hot couples everywhere, especially in mineral springs.

I actually think this stereotype may be true! 

C 2014  Magyar-American BlogSpot

JOHANNES BRAHMS : HUNGARIAN DANCE NUMBER 5

HUNGARIAN WOMEN : SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SEARCHING TO DOCUMENT THEM : JEWISH WOMEN AND RECORDS PRO GENEALOGY TIP #4

Think Jewish women and you think of THE MATCHMAKER!

Some years ago I met some people who are working on going through church records to extract Jewish individuals for the use of the website JEWISHGEN. One of them told me that while going through CHURCH records he had to start all over because he had been listing anyone with a Jewish sounding name and didn't realize that some Christians used Old Testament names for their children. (And some people also do not know that "Jewish" surnames in common use (rather than religious use) are often simply names used by Christians also. This was true in Hungary.)

You don't have to be Jewish to find  the website Jewishgen useful. I have an account with them which I use from time to time when I'm helping someone else with their genealogy or if I want town information, location, the various names the place has gone through depending on what nation was ruling it (German names, Slovak names, Polish names), or to see POSTCARDS of the towns. It can be interesting to find out what happened in that town during World War II or the Holocaust. You might interview your Hungarian great-grandmother and ask her what she experienced or witnessed while living in Holocaust era Europe.  Remember that there were some Gentiles who aided Jews in hiding or leaving the country and you might want to run the names and the towns through a web site like Yad Vashem.  (The link is one my sidebar.)  A Yiskor Book is a book that remembers the Jews who died from a town in the Holocaust.  Some of these books are on the Internet, some in translation, some not, and were originally composed by listing people the living remembered.  They may not be comprehensive.

I want to make a mention of Jewish Women in Jewish church or temple records.  In eastern and central Europe a physical church was often the largest, best built, you could say safest place to store records and the priests were sometimes the only educated person who could read or write for miles.  So if there were just a few families that were Jewish who had to travel to their own congregation, the priest recorded their children's births with a note that they were Jewish.  As previously mentioned, finding people listed in Catholic or other Christian church records does not mean they actually attended the church, unless you find it is a mixed marriage or see a record of the baptism of a child. Notice if a birth is recorded without a note of baptism following.

In the previously mentioned 300 years of one small town Catholic church record that I read I found one marriage of a Jewish man and Catholic woman.  They were married in the church and their children were baptized and raised Catholic.  (Kind of like Ms. Charlotte Casiraghi of Monaco and her child with a Jewish comedian, Gad Elmaleh,  Raphael, who was recently Baptised there.)

The idea that a marriage should occur in the bride's church no matter what the religion of the groom here in America or that in Catholic marriage the parents must agree to raise their children Catholic in order to be married in the church doesn't always hold up in the old European records I've seen.

Larger Jewish settlements, places were the Jewish people had their own congregations usually had their own ledgers and records.  I have read these temple ledgers and have discovered that there is a significant difference from contemporary Catholic and Christian church records.  AND THAT IS THAT I FOUND THAT THE MOTHER'S NAME WAS ALWAYS RECORDED and not only that but the name of the midwife and the name of the person who circumcises the baby boy!   This is no doubt because of the belief that a child wasn't Jewish without having a Jewish woman for a mother.

Settlements tended to be about 5 miles from each other, depending on the geographical considerations.  This meant that a person could walk to the next town along a road or using horse or horse and buggy get there in a half day or less of travel.  People knew people and matchmaking was done by friends, families, priests and rabbi's; usually the marrying couple lived not too far from each other.  In Hungarian small towns there seems to be a lot of what I call "childhood sweetheart marriages" among boys and girls who always knew each other and then grew up.  But by the 1900's some boys and girls grew up and didn't obey their parents when it came time to marry.  Love Matches were taking hold.

If you take a good look at old maps or even new ones you'll see a plethora of small settlements and towns listed throughout Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, really all over Europe.

While one person I was in contact with told me his Yeshiva boy grand father would have never associated with the non-Jews in their Polish market town (at the time near the Slovak border) but research the era, the time and the place, especially where there was trade, big markets, and you may find that Jews and Gentiles enjoyed chatting with each other, were doing business, and were not so isolated or offish with each other as all that.

I recently found this site!  HUNGARIAN JEWISH ROOTS

December 2023 link update http://www.jewishroots.hu/en_generalgenealogy_1.html

To bring up other posts from this series click on the label Pro Tips-Hungary Women

HONGROISE 1787-1788 from the NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTION

Original Source: From Costumes civils actuels de tous les peuples connus, accompagnés d'une notice historique sur leurs costumes, moeurs, religions, etc. (Paris : Pavard, 1787-1788) Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, Jacques (1757-1810), Author.

note by me: HONGROISE is French.

HUNGARIAN WOMEN : SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SEARCHING TO DOCUMENT THEM : THE ILLEGITIMATE and THE ORPHAN TIP : GENEALOGY #3

Illegitimate births did happen in the Old World, though I'm sure that there was much more taboo associated with it and so there was much more pressure to marry first than there is today in the USA where a huge number of children are born "without fathers" which is to say "without husbands."  To be unmarried was to be unsupported financially for there were no social services, welfare money, Social Security, or other programs.  It was a terrible risk.

We can never know how many children of married women were the result of affairs from birth and baptismal records, though I do wonder about the role of DNA since people are using DNA now to meet relatives who they may not also be able to document if they are the offspring of an affair.

In 300 years of Catholic Church records for one small town I found one listing for a woman who had several illegitimate children. Her children were baptized.  Was that about tolerance, understanding, how devout she was, or a priest who really wanted to save souls?

I had to wonder about this woman.  I wondered if she worked for a seductive noble.  I wondered if she was a person of low intelligence.  How it was that she seemed to be stranded and alone in this town without family?  Maybe she was unusually independent.   Had she been an orphan?  As her children died one after another testifying to illness and poverty I knew that she had to be living on handouts or begging.  And then, when she was in her late 30's an older man married her.  Did he love her?  Was he the father of the children after all?  Or did he think of having a wife as having a necessary servant?

I also read the Jewish record for the closest temple and found many more listings of illegitimate births but that is only a sampling, not meaning that among Jewish women there was overall more illegitimacy.  In these cases it was noted that the women had come from somewhere else meaning that the way pregnant unmarried women were handling their situation was to go away somewhere else to have their baby.

What being born outside marriage means in looking at old Hungarian records is that if your ancestor is the descendent of a woman who gave birth unmarried as Maria Szabo, be they male or female, even if she marries, they will be listed as Szabos on records.  (So far I've found nothing close to a legal adoption recorded in a church record.  I have found children who were orphaned and living with a family with a different surname in which there are notations of the child's birth name and priests notations such as "also known as Huber" which might mean they were born a Huber or simply that the family has more than one name.)

As someone who has an ancestor who was orphaned, I may have some interesting information to share.

Today an orphan means a child LOST BOTH PARENTS.  In the 19th century in Europe and in the deeper past a CHILD WAS AN ORPHAN BECAUSE HE OR SHE LOST THEIR FATHER, the bread winner.  In the case of my orphan ancestor people said she had been "double orphaned."  It turned out that her first natural father died, her mother remarried and then died, leaving a step father who then died.  I think they meant she lost two FATHERS.  I found she and half and step siblings with three different surnames...  Their surnames were their own birth names from various couplings due to deaths and remarriages.

To bring up other posts from this series click on the label TipsPro Tips-Hungary Women

 2014 MAGYAR AMERICAN BLOG - All Rights Reserved on this and all posts, including Internet and International Rights.

A SINGLE YELLOW ROSE by ANNA TOTH KOCZAK : THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL

 

A Single Yellow Rose
A Memoir

by Anna Koczak

EXCERPTED FROM THE PUBLISHER:  

When young, ambitious Anna Toth is kicked out of school for opposing the fast-growing Communist movement in her country, Hungary, her future plans are extinguished. So she must take the job she least desires: become a maid.

When a new tenant, American diplomat Stephen Koczak, moves into the apartment she tends to, Anna chooses to work for him, despite opposition from her family, friends, and society in general and despite her growing admiration for him.

When a young, handsome, Hungarian secret police agent named Laszlo asks to date her, she knows she must agree, even though she knows it is an arranged relationship to be used to spy on her and her American boss.

With a forbidden admiration for her boss and a fake courtship with a member of the secret police, Anna's life is left tense and puzzling for months on end.

So when Koczak is forced to leave the country, Anna must decide her fate as well..."

***
Just heard about this book and wanted all you Amerikai Magyroks to know about it!

UNGAROS POSTCARD from THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTION

New York Public Library Digital Collection = UNGAROS

HUNGARIAN WOMEN : SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SEARCHING TO DOCUMENT THEM : RELIGION AND STATUS : GENEALOGY TIP #2

In 1711 churches in the countries and counties ruled by the Austrians by law began taking notes like these below. The listings are often in LATIN the universal language of the Roman Catholic Church.  The notes may also be in German, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish - Russian, reflecting the education and ethnicity of the local priest. 

You may find some churches have listings for people who are not Roman Catholic included depending on how small a town or how far it was that people had to travel to go to their Jewish temple or Greek Catholic church.  This was the closest thing they had to a civil registration and be careful when reading their religious information to realize that they are listed not because they actually go to this church but because they live near it! But since Hungary declared itself to be a Christian country after overcoming the domination by Moslem Turks and aligned itself with Roman Catholicism, I'll start there.

CONSIDER THESE SAMPLE LISTINGS.

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy.  1715  (no mother's name at all.  A fairly worthless listing because of the common names.  Maybe if the person is a noble and has a name like Maria Elizabeta Julietta Szalia (I'm making this up but I've noticed that the more names given the higher the rank of the noble with an average of four names for say the equivalent of a count/graf) the record becomes valuable.

better is:

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy, Baptised August 1, 1715 (But it's as if the man gave birth!)

better is

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy, Born July 28, 1715, Baptised August 1, 1715
priest's note : father is farmer.

better is

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy, Born July 28th, 1715 Baptised August 1, 1725
priest's note : father is farmer.  Mother Maria Toth.  Mother is nobilis.

(You may be convinced that nobilis could only marry nobilis but I've found MANY marriages of mixed status and even mixed religions particularly in towns. As I understand it, the children's status was dictated by their father.  So a noble woman would keep her own status marrying a common person but the issue was that her children lost their noble heritage because of this unequal marriage.  On the other hand some noble women preferred to marry a wealthy commoner rather than a poor noble!  Also today we tend to think that a couple marries in the BRIDE'S church but I've come to believe by reading)

NOW YOU CAN LOOK THROUGH THE CHURCH REGISTER FOR OTHER CHILDREN BORN TO A JANOS NAGY AND A MARIA TOTH, assembling a family group.

NOW YOU CAN ALSO LOOK FOR A MARRIAGE OF THIS COUPLE, based on the oldest child born to them (give it a year or two.)  You may find something like this:

Marriage of the widow Janos Nagy, 45 and the virgin Maria Toth,  18, April 15, 1720.  Husband is a farmer - land owner.

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy and Maria Nagyne, still born.  December 22, 1721. Baptised by midwife.

Maria, daughter of farmer - landowner Janos Nagy and the nobilis Maria Toth,  Born July 28th, 1715, Baptised August 1, 1725 by Priest Andras Szabo.  (It is common for a couple to name a newly born child the same as a deceased child!)

Janos, son of farmer - landowner from Zemplen, Janos Nagy and the nobilis Maria Toth who was born in Budapest,  Janos Born August 15, 1726, Baptised August 16, 1726 ...

I would like to say that all the records get more informative as they years go by but that hasn't been my experience. 

Priest's notations about status are common even after 1848 and there always seems to be great concern about the father's profession, after all most women didn't work for money.  They were either supported or inherited or became sisters or nuns supported in convents by the Church.

Posts from this series can be brought up by clicking on the label Hungary-Women - Genealogy Tips.Pro Tips-Hungary Women

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SZEKELEY WOMEN POSTCARD 1903 FROM NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

DIGITAL GALLERY - NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY  link for full picture information!

Original Source: From Budapest, the city of the Magyars. (New York : James Pott & Co., 1903) Smith, Frank Berkeley, Author.

HUNGARIAN WOMEN : SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN SEARCHING TO DOCUMENT THEM : THE MAIDEN NAME IS A NAME FOR LIFE : GENEALOGY TIP #1

GENEALOGY has really reinforced my feminism.  I've seen how women's lives were before there was contraception as an alternative to dying young, worn out from continual pregnancies, or in childbirth itself as a real danger.  I've seen how many children were orphaned in the 19th century. I've seen how few records there are of women's lives compared to men's.  I've seen how men are prioritized historically. 

But before I go too far on a rant about that, I would like to tell you that there is something very unique about HUNGARIAN WOMEN when it comes to documents.

As you know in the Hungarian language the surname comes first and then the given name.  To me there is something very Asian about the language and that.  But did you know that in previous centuries Hungarian women went through their lives traditionally being known by their maiden name?  From birth through marriage and death their maiden name is recorded in church registers and other documents.

Hungarian women are listed in relationship to men surely.  But say a woman was born Maria Toth and she marries Janos Nagy.  She may be listed as Maria Toth, wife of Janos Nagy or Maria Nagyne.  The ne ending denotes possession by a man, in this case Janos Nagy.  It stands to reason that these women thought of themselves as their maiden name at immigration to the U.S,. and so,  when you're looking at ship records and manifests such as the ones offered by the Ellis Island and Castle Rock sites, look for the woman under her maiden name even if she was married at the time, as well as her married name.

You may find a listing such as Maria Toth,  M (married), and in the notes notice that she is going to her husband who has a different surname like Janos Nagy.  The indexing that leads you to these records presently only records the name of the ship passenger, the name on their ticket.  Always keep note of the place she left and the place she is going to and what the relationship is supposed to be.  Then go to that American address on the census next!  You may find that some of your other ancestors are all living together at that location.

One woman I found on a ship manifest coming back from a trip to Hungary was held at Ellis Island for questioning because she said she was a naturalized citizen already but was traveling alone.  In this case the woman gave her married name American style.  I have no idea how she proved that she had been naturalized with a husband who wasn't traveling with her when she couldn't read, write, or speak English, and she clearly had no papers to document this, but I have a feeling her husband probably had to leave Trenton New Jersey, take the train to New York, and go get her!

Posts from this series can be brought up by clicking on the label Pro Tips-Hungary Women

C 2014 MAGYAR AMERICAN BLOG - All Rights Reserved on this and all posts, including Internet and International Rights.

SUNFLOWER

HUNGARIAN WOMEN in GENEALOGY RECORDS - A GENEALOGY PRO TIP SERIES HERE AT MAGYAR AMERICAN BLOGSPOT

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting a lot about finding your Hungarian Women ancestors in genealogy records.  I hope my experience will be interesting to you!

Update September 2022

I've given this series of Genealogy tips the label  Pro Tips-Hungary Women

In order to better organize all my Genealogy Tips for Hungarian - and Hungarian-American researchers I've given each series a label and also chosen a picture icon, if you prefer to scan through the blog.

You can also use the Search feature embedded in the blog to bring up the word Genealogy.

On my sidebar there are numerous helpful links as well.

My exploration of Hungary and Hungarian culture and society continues here at MAGYAR-AMERICAN, from looking at stereotypes to modern day politics, as well as a little bit about me. There are links to Hungarian and Hungarian-American clubs too.

Welcome to my blog!

WE'RE ALL EXTRA HAIRY : HUNGARIAN - HUNGARIAN AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

You just stopped plucking that hair out of your ears didn't you?

OK, I'll admit that some people, men people, have hair growing out of their ears.  I'll admit that some people need to have a little weed-wacker to get at the hairs in their nostrils.  I'll admit that some people really are extra hairy.  You might not want to be the next person in the shower after them because there is hair all over the shower stall - even the walls!

But I have no idea why I hear that HUNGARIANS are extra hairy!  It's like we're akin to the BIG APES.  Like we have way more NEANDERTHAL DNA than other ethnic groups!

Hey, maybe we do!

Hungarian and Hungarian-Women apparently never shave, not our armpits.  Only the Polish women have more hair under there which is why there are jokes about braided armpits!  (I've tried letting mine grow and I think actually it soaps up better with than without!)

Hungarian men have FACIAL HAIR, especially mustaches.  Hungarian men were growing their hair long before there were The Beatles.

Apparently there are no bald men in Hungary and if they are they are Germans!

Hungarian women also have lux hair, unless they have Baby Fine in which case they are Slovaks!

I hope you are laughing with me.

I left the house this morning bare legged and without shaving!

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All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

To see what other stereotypes I tackle here, search for the word stereotypes!

SAINT STEPHEN'S DAY - A NATIONAL HOLIDAY IN HUNGARY

St. Stephen's Day is celebrated in Hungary on 20 August each year. It is also known as Foundation Day, Constitution Day, National Day and the 'Day Of The New Bread'.

 

Picture is from NATIONALHOLIDAYS.com

OSTERHOUT LIBRARY GENEALOGY - WILKES BARR AND LUZERNE FOCUS

OSTERHOUT LIBRARY GENEALOGY

PENNSYLVANIA was the main focus of immigrating Hungarians, Slovaks, Poles, and others seeking work familiar to them from the mountainous regions of Central and Eastern Europe such as mining and working in steel mills.  Some families immigrated into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut, others headed to Detroit Michigan area and places in Indiana to work in manufacturing.

This is an interesting resource for those of you researching the central Pennsylvania area!

OTTO LANGE DECORATE PANELS

GERMAN GENEALOGY GROUP - THEIR FREE DATABASES INCLUDE ALL NATIONALITIES

GERMAN GENEALOGY GROUP  As a group we are focused on German genealogy however, our databases encompass ALL nationalities and are always free to search.

Focused on New York City area, with some New Jersey.

MINNESOTA HUNGARIANS CLUB

MINNESOTA HUNGARIANS

"Minnesota Hungarians, was organized by Hungarian immigrants and their supporters in Minnesota over 100 years ago. It’s goals have been to engage in cultural, educational and philanthropic endeavors as a non-profit and charitable association.

The Minnesota Hungarians have sponsored a wide variety of cultural and educational programs and have hosted receptions, meetings and workshops for Hungarian diplomats, dignitaries, writers and artists over the years. Minnesota Hungarians have partnered with Unity Unitarian Church, Immigration History Research Center, International Institute of Minnesota and with several other local ethnic groups and organizations.

The mission of Minnesota Hungarians is to represent and promote the Hungarian culture and heritage in Minnesota and the U.S.A.; to organize and conduct cultural, educational, artistic and recreational programs; to engage in fundraising activities in order to support humanitarian and charitable endeavors; to sponsor and promote trade and cultural exchanges between Hungary and the United States."

THEY EVEN HAVE HUNGARIAN CAMP FOR CHILDREN!

THE INTRICATE ART OF LACE

CARNEGIE LIBRARY BRADDOCK PENNSYLVANIA - THE FIRST CARNEGIE LIBRARY EVER - NEEDS MONEY FOR REFURBISHING!

A couple weeks back I called this library to see what, if anything, they had that might help me with my genealogy project and learned that the CARNEGIE LIBRARY in OAKLAND (near the Universities like Pitt and Carnegie Mellon) is the place to go.

I got to talking to a sweet librarian and she told me about the librarians there, who clearly take pride in the place their branch has in history, especially the history of the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION,  and a campaign they have going to refurbish it.

BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY START PAGE


A NATIONAL HISTORICAL LANDMARK HISTORY OF BRADDOCK CARNEGIE LIBRARY

"The Braddock Carnegie Library in Braddock, Pennsylvania, is the first Carnegie Library in the United States. Designed by William Halsey Wood in eclectic medieval style, it was built in 1888 and dedicated by Andrew Carnegie on March 30, 1889. An addition in more Richardson Romanesque style by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow (successors to HH Richardson) was added in 1893. The library was named a National Historic Landmark in 2012, following its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and is on the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation’s List of Historic Landmarks."

Picture from Wikipedia

1889 staircase...  Did your immigrant great grandpa climb these steps as a school boy with a book in his hand while his father slaved doing double back shifts in the mill?


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Tell them "Magyar American sent you!"

GOOSE QUILL PEN and INK : WHAT THOSE HARD TO READ LEDGERS WERE WRITTEN WITH

Found this one on Google Images linking to

Jane Austin World... 

JANE AUSTIN WORLD ON GOOSE FEATHER PEN

 

When you see those handwritten documents, oh how charming they are

compared to typewritten documents!  Though I think it can be time-

consuming, I find I'm very good at making out bad handwriting

and I prefer to read it myself rather than count on someone else's

interpretation of a name.  When that person doesn't even have a clue

about Hungarian names they may wing it.  If you're wondering, most of

those inky handwritten documents you're looking at

were written with GOOSE QUILL PENS!

USING JEWISH GEN TO NAVIGATE EUROPE MAPS BY LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE (and lots of other good info!)

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE - those are the degrees going around the globe (latitude) and degrees going north to south (longitude) that are used to locate a place.

You don't have to be Jewish to use Jewishgen.

I have to say that I do have a little hesitation to count on it because back in the day I knew volunteers who were combing through LDS films to present databases of Jewish people and they didn't include people they thought were not Jewish and included some - based on first names like Noah or Sarah - who were not Jewish but who sounded like they might be to the individual doing the culling. This was the perspective of volunteers who knew so little about Christianity that they didn't know that Old Testament names are to this day given to Christian Children.

But onto the little lesson I have for you today.  If you use JEWISHGEN to locate a community you will get a page and a map, sometimes with old postcards attached.  Here is the one for KIRALY HELMECZ.

JEWISH GEN YIZKOR ETC FOR KRALOVSKY 

It says it can be located at 48°25' / 21°59' .  You can use that on the old maps that give latitude and longitude like the one I just wrote about, the Austrian Military Survey.

You can get an old street map like this (from the site.)

You find a book about the Jews of this town to read, before and after the Holocaust.  This would be interesting just to get a feel for life in the Old Country when your ancestors lived there.  (In another town's page I learned how many Jewish houses and how many Christian houses were burned in a fire.)  A Yizkor book is a memory book.  They are usually dedicated to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.

3RD MILITARY MAP OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

3RD MILITARY SURVEY MAPS AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

This is a link I've revisited and posted on my sidebar.  Click on an area and up comes a very enlarged map.

OK here is a hint.  Let's say you hit on one of the small squares and you find the place you are looking for.  Since these squares are not numbered the only way to identify the right square of the map again is to go to the bottom of the map and write down the ROMAN NUMERALS you see, along with maybe a description such as "I clicked to the left of the square that has the town KASSA."

Using modern map databases such as my favorite MAPQUEST first may help, because I noticed that some of them are programing in alternate names.