The lists and books mentioned in the first and second posts of this series here at MAGYAR AMERICAN BlogSpot are not the only resources a researcher seeking nobility in the family can use and that's a good thing except for the difficulty in finding these resources in America or being able to read handwritten Hungarian documents which you can find in Hungary through the National Archives in Budapest or the user-friendly Hungaricana (a searchable database website also based in Hungary). And believe me, I've asked people who grew up reading, writing, and speaking Hungarian to look at print outs of old documents and read them for me and they gave up.
Let's face it. All languages change and evolve. Shakespeare's 16th century English is not ours and 16th century Hungarian isn't today's. Some of the documents are Medieval and sloppy and it's almost a miracle they still exist. If you can print out and make your way through an old document that was written by dipping a pen into ink and on precious paper or animal skin called vellum and sealed / notarized with red wax pressed with an official icon of a family crest, you will be proud of yourself and possibly rewarded with information.
We know that in 1920 Hungary was punished for World War I and lost 2/3rds of its territory. (I suppose punished is expressing an opinion but it's not an original one.) Some of the noble relatives you seek that we call Hungarian would be living in Slovakia or Romania if they remained on their ancestral estates today. Some of the descendants of old families are going back to renew or re-establish their estates.
First, what is an American ethnicity?
Therein you have an answer as to what was a Hungarian ethnicity. If you go back in your research successfully, you may find that way back in the day the "Hungarian" noble family was not identified as Hungarian by themselves or others, and I don't just mean Germans. German commoners were coming in after the Mongol Invasion and in waves after that and one family with a German, sometimes Jewish surname was established in Upper Hungary by the 17th century.
I mean that incoming to Hungary were Croation, Italian, Spanish, French, and Jewish people and some were or became nobles.
I know there were colonies of Greeks, Italians, French, and Russians who settled in wine making areas. Why just import, why not grow? Some surnames translate to "Italian" - Olasz - or "Croation" - Horvat or "German" - Nemet.
So. Just as I'm an American but can also say I'm Hungarian -American, such a person back in the day could say they were Hungarian or Croation -Hungarian.
Reading around this subject, I became aware that there's controversy about Slovak nobles versus Hungarian nobles in Slovakia. There are groups of people who not only want to learn the truth of origins or heritage, it's become political. Some people are so upset with Democracy they want to have Kings (and Queens?) rule again.
If interested, there's presently a group called the Slovak Aristocracy Association and also a group for recognizing Carpathian nobility. (Sounds like a broader viewpoint.) There's also a group in Hungary that wants to return to recognizing Hungarian nobility and use of titles. Should you prove your heritage is noble, you might want to see about qualifying for these groups or joining as an interested person.
There's also a discussion about nobles back in history turning Hungarian names into Slovak or "Slavic" names. When I find szke endings turned into ski or sky, I wonder.
One article I read argued so what if Hungarians Slavified their names while living among Slovaks, so what they were still Hungarian. (And visa versa!)
Well, so many people have "Americanized" their names for various reasons and I don't find that suspicious.
My Questions:
How does/did the person self-identify? We should respect that.
What religion is/ were they? (Greek Orthodox more likely in Ruthenian or Slovak heritage but by 1900 one report stated 18% intermarriage between Roman and Greek Catholics. If your research takes you into the Carpathian Mountains there's many a Ruthenian (Rusyn) village there in what is now Slovakia. Nyitra County is now in Czech lands.
What language/s did they speak?
Where was the family stead when they were the landowner? What was the country called then? (You'll find Barons who owned land in multiple counties so it may be difficult to know from where they emerged. Generally, if the village was named after a family, it must have been theirs or they must have been in charge of it at some point.)
No doubt Hungarian settlements in the Kassa region of Slovakia or Transylvania region of Romania were /are real, even if ethnic Slovaks or Romanians were or are surrounding. People did business and socialized so the ethnic groups were not isolated or ghettoized. Like first generation immigrants into the United States, they preferred to live among others with the same languages, culture or life ways.
If a person left the Austrian Empire, what did they report on the steamship coming to America? Their native language and personal ethnic identity. Hungarian. And on their naturalization paperwork does it not say they gave up Austria, rather than Hungary? (Some are more detailed. For instance some say Austria Polish.)
So another way to look at this is from a research point of view. Hungarians who were living in Hungary, say Lipto County, up there on the Polish border of the Carpathian Mountains (where Ruthenians lived too) may or may not be Slovak but the documents that include them may be preserved in one or both countries. Original records made in Hungary. (For instance, the LDS/ FamilySearch database has church records for previous Hungarian Counties in the Slovak collection.)
Also, we tend to go past the name of the priest who wrote it all in. He may be writing in Latin or with a Latin twist. I find names such as Luby and Barran in Hungarian and Polish Austria records.
Just to make life more interesting, some Hungarians moved to Poland and the Ukraine when Galicia existed as part of the Austrian Empire. Or just because. (Example: Hungarian noble Bathory is Batory in Poland.)
Borders weren't what they are today. People just walked or horse rode the paths or farm roads. While I see that in an attempt to unify people or homogenize culture in the past, people have been expected to give up language and culture, I tend to think people are stronger economically when cooperative.
So you may just find your research, nobility or common, takes you outside changing borders and ethnic definitions (and assumptions) for this and one other reason. Nobles intermarried across ethnic or national identity. Status and wealth and power were more important and sometimes arranged marriage was for the purpose of political alliance as well. (Think about that as you watch the reality show Married At First Sight!) Your noble ancestors' records may exist in more than one country and even take you around Europe or the world!
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This post is part of a series on Hungarian Nobility research. It is based on the knowledge I've acquired over many years of reading, research, and experience. To pull up the series click on the tag Pro Tips - Hungarian Nobility in the Family
