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.

SLOVAKIA GENEALOGY RESOURCES : A GREAT WEB SITE FOR GENEALOGISTS WORKING ON TERRITORY PRESENTLY CALLED SLOVAKIA

IABSI - SLOVAKIA GENEALOGY RESOURCES

FROM THE SITE: "My geographic focus is on Eastern Slovakia (Slovak Republic) / formerly Czechoslovakia / formerly Upper Hungary.  Primary research areas include the peoples and lands in the Carpathian mountains and immediate borderlands of Southern Poland (Galicia) and Western Ukraine (Carpatho-Rus).  As Slovakia was a component of pre-1918 Hungary, much information about "old Hungary" is contained herein and will be useful for any pre-1918 Hungary research."

***

This sight is a great place to look for small settlements in relationship to larger ones so that you can mine the 1869 and other Hungarian Census (which in the LDS catalogue is under Slovakia). The idea is to find that settlement's municipality first.

Apparently the full census of all the counties of 1969 Hungary are not filmed and/or digitalized to be used on databases or the Internet.  However the 1869 census can be very important in your research because the SURNAMES are given (including the maiden surname of wives different from their husbands), birth years, occupations, and a list of occupants of a dwelling including grandparents, boarders, farm help, and so on.

I have to admit my own research is stuck here.  I'm looking for a male who says on his naturalization that he was born in 1847 but who on census and marriage records seems to be taking a few years off his age.  So he was born say anywhere from 1847 to 1850.  (Though it was common for 40ish widowers to marry town "spinsters" (women not married by say, 22) he seemed rather determined to be only 38 when he married a second time.

I looked to find his village on this site and it was identified as in the Bodrogkoz municipality.  However, using FamilySearch, there were only about 43 images counting maybe about 12 family groups, none who had his surname or any other surname I associate with the family.  Which means that he might have been born in the area about 20-22 years earlier but there is no sign of them right there.  Maybe another village in this same county?

Further I think, based on a deep analysis of house numbers in the small town in which he lives the rest of his life until coming to the U.S., that he did not get to that town until about the same time, 1869.  In 1869 another family is living in the house and I don't see any relationship with them.   He could be there living in but there is no record of him until his first marriage on church records. It's as if he moved to begin working as an adult in another town just when the census was happening...

This one takes patience, travel, synchronicities, or acceptance of a brick wall.

SWEET TOOTH IS A WAY OF LIFE! HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN- AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

Another stereotype I've encountered is that Hungarians have a major SWEET TOOTH and eat a lot of deserts, like with every meal, every day, while Hungarian Americans, even those who run and go to the gym still overdo it and may have sweets a couple times a week.

These Hungarians are always out at cafe's having these deserts and the women are always baking them for home.  The Hungarian Americans bake for the holidays but are basically loading up their shopping carts at the grocer for ready-made and actually have a terrible time finding any AUTHENTICALLY HUNGARIAN DESERTS unless they live in an ethnic ghetto that still has immigrant bakers. 

This Sweet Tooth is fond of cakes, pies, and breads, with APRICOTS or CHERRIES or POPPYSEEDS in it.  When a Hungarian American cannot find the authentic bakery they have to settle for something like jam or jelly on white bread, or OREO Cookies dunked in milk!

I think this Sweet Tooth myth is part of the marketing of Hungarians to the world.  You cannot find a travel brochure that doesn't show off fancy deserts, artistic creations, and Hungarians enjoying them along with the tourists.  You know that if and when you visit Hungary you will eat these deserts, drink a lot of very sweet wine,  and gain a lot of weight, but you MUST because you don't want to INSULT  the cook, the host, or anyone!  

Everywhere you go someone will be selling deserts at market stalls, competing to win Best Dessert Contests, or insisting you eat rolls, cakes, pies, and fancier items when you're invited for dinner - that's after you eat an entire pork roast. 

And you want to be invited back.

Not to worry.


C  2014  MAGYAR AMERICAN BlogSpot All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights 

A DATABASE TO LOCATE HUNGARIAN NOBILITY BY COUNTY thanks to HUNGARY EXCHANGE (see update re link)

Gen Tips - Hungarian Nobility in the Family

NOTE SEPTEMBER 2022.  I've checked the internet for Hungary Exchange and it does not seem to be up or operational.  I have a series of Pro Genealogy Tips here at MAGYAR-AMERICAN BLOGSPOT that may be helpful to you, and you can bring it up using the tag/label above.  Click on it and it should bring up the series on Nobility.

I also feature a good number of other Genealogy Tip series here.  As well there are many useful links on the sidebar if you're interested in working on your personal research.

C 2022 Magyar American BlogSpot.

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL POST FOR THE DATE 7/15/2014

HUNGARY EXCHANGE DATABASES example ZEMPLEN COUNTY NOBILITY  This site is down.

NOTE MAY 2022  TRYING THIS LINK https://www.ongenealogy.com/listings/hungary-exchange/

and this http://nickmgombash.blogspot.com/

This is a very cool database because just about everything you're looking for to verify nobility of an ancestor is completely in Hungarian but this one first breaks the searching into English for the Counties and the English Alphabet.  I've linked to Zemplen County Nobility which I believe I may link to based on surnames.  No, nowhere near proving any of this, but a naturalization record just proofed that an ancestor was born in Geres.  There was Big (Nagy) Geres and Little (Kis) Geres, both about the same on today's map of Slovakia with a name change.

The changing borders of central and eastern Europe, multiple ethnicity and religions long in place before emigration to other countries, and the use of Latin, Hungarian, Slovak, Ruthenian, and German, as well as abbreviations and usage of words no longer used and slang can make genealogy research for your Hungarian ancestors especially challenging.  One notation I gave to several Hungarians,  both tourists and people who had left there after WWI and in 1956 turned out to be entirely abbreviated.  No one could crack it, no dictionary I could use helped, until an expert at the Salt Lake City, LDS Family History library did.

(Take if from me.  American Genealogy is easy in comparison.)

Picture below is from Hungary Exchange database, name chosen at random and appears to be written in Latin.

Anyway, look to see if your surname is in place from the county you know the emigration took place from first, then other localities.   Even if you can't make a claim to nobility, it's fun.

One of the reasons genealogists look for nobility in a family tree is because only nobility is documented past say, 1711, when you'll see that the Hapsburgs are ruling and ordering the churches to keep records, even in some places for people who are not of the religion keeping the records. But if you can go back to 1711 as an American today you're doing really well.

https://www.hungaryexchange.com/ UPDATED LINK JUNE 2018

UPDATE APRIL 2023  Here is a list of Hungarian Noble Surnames from  PURDUE LIBRARY PURDUE LIBRARY DOCS : DOWNLOADABLE LIST OF HUNGARIAN NOBLE SURNAMES

THE FULL TEXT OF THE SLOVAKS IN HUNGARY , SLAVS and PANSLABI BY THOMAS CAPEK

INTERNET ARCHIVE LETS YOU READ THIS BOOK ON LINE, TURN THE PAGES, WITHOUT A DOWNLOAD or E-READER (But you can if you want to!)

ARCHIVES ORG - SLOVAKS OF HUNGARY by THOMAS CAPEK  published 1906

Part history and dedicated to a Pittsburgh Pennsylvania labor activist....

HUNGARIAN AMERICAN CLUB OF NAPLES FLORIDA

HUNGARIAN AMERICAN CLUB OF NAPLES FLORIDA  link here!

"From the Carpathian Basic to the Gulf of Mexico" is their slogan!

"Our membership is made up of not only local residents from Collier and Lee counties, but also visitors from all over the country."

NOTE : FEBRUARY 2020 : Of all the clubs I've posted, this one gets the most hits!

BRATISLAVA COUNTY NOBILITY BLOG IS INFORMATIVE AND BEAUTIFUL - ADDED TO MY LIST!

BRATISLAVA COUNTY NOBILITY  a wonderful and informative and beautiful blog with a lot of links for those of you who have Hungarian in Slovakia or Hungarian-Slovakian ancestry!

LINK UPDATED  July 2019

A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE

MARCO POLO'S SILK ROAD : THROUGH TATAR and MONGOL and CATHAY IN the 13TH CENTURY

MARCO POLO'S SILK ROAD - The Art of the Journey - An Italian at the Court of Kublai Khan

is introduced by John Masefield and published by Watkins.  It's a beautiful book from it's red silky cover to all of its contemporary photographs that don't just make it beautiful but bring the reader closer to the sights and the cultures that Marco Polo witnessed and experienced hundreds of years ago and shorten that distance.  Polo's work is perhaps one of the earliest examples of TRAVEL WRITING that we have. 

The purpose of this book was to unconfused the reader by providing a map and mini chapters that move us along the silk road, which was a merchants route, as Marco proceeds to the court of the great KUBLAI KHAN, a grandson of GENGHIS KHAN.  Polo left Venice Italy as a young man and over many years encountered vast armies, amazing wealth, and sophisticated cities.   Sometimes they did travel for weeks without coming across a settlement but clearly the cultures were greatly developed. In particular he told of the unusual (by European standards) practices that various ethnic people had regarding sexuality and women: one group considered a woman unavailable for marriage until she had slept with at least 20 strangers who gifted her but once married she was expected to remain chaste.  The Khans didn't just have armies of 20,000 but 500 wives or concubines.

Just one little excerpt from page 134  Chapter 13 THE FASHION OF THE GREAT KHAN'S TABLE at his HIGH FEASTS

"And when the Great Khan sits at table on any great court occasion, it is in this fashion.  His table is elevated a good deal above the others, and he sits at the north end of the hall, looking toward the south, with his chief wife beside him on the left.  On his right sit his sons and his nephews, and other kinsmen of the blood imperial, but lower, so that their heads are on a level with the emperor's feet.  And then the other barons sit at other tables lower still,. So also with the women; for all the wives of the lord's sons, and of his nephews and other kinsmen, sit at the lower table to his right; and below them again the ladies of the other barons and knights, each in the place assigned by the lord's orders.  The tables are so disposed that the emperor can see the whole of them from end to end, many as they are....Outside the hall will be found more than 40,000 people; for there is a great concourse of folk bringing present to the lord, or come from foreign countries with curiosities."

SQUIRRELS - PIGEONS - HORSES - ALL LIVING BEINGS POOP! MY DOG HAS A SQUIRREL OBSESSION!

Maybe most dogs do. 

I just know that my dog is so obsessed with squirrels that she doesn't care if she hurts herself to chase them.  She could care less if she pulls her leash tight against her neck or that she breaks a nail leaping into a tree. I worry that she will get away from me and get hit by a car; I want her to have a long life and more natural death.  She has only gotten away from me twice, even breaking her leash, and both times it was because a squirrel was antagonizing her, or playing. 

Then she was suddenly a field away, galloping with glee, and it made me feel bad, that she has to live a life in which she is almost always in step with me, a tug at her neck, like a slave.

My dog is actually a sweetheart and only shows her hunting and killer instinct when it comes to squirrels, or playing with some of her toys which she treats as road kill.  Most of the time she is beloved by all, old people and children especially, because she is so gentle.  Never one to bite, even when a bratty child is trying to grab her by the nuzzle or pull her ears, (Really, the parents of these children are not doing their job to allow their children such behavior!).  She has been attacked by other dogs four times and each time she goes home and throws up.

Apparently not everyone in this world likes dogs or thinks they are clean.

Squirrels: I read that some people are upset with all the squirrel poop, comparing it to all that horse poop that is also in our urban environment.  Really, I wondered where this was going.  Maybe in the same direction as the attitude towards pigeons which is that there are way too many, that they are filthy, that they spread disease, that their poop is disgusting, so go ahead and poison them.

I dare say that I may have met someone who has eaten squirrel but never anyone who has eaten a pigeon.

In my neighborhood there are some Muslims and they think dogs are so unclean that they are not supposed to even touch them.  Muslims who need the assistance of an animal are allowed to take small horses (three feet tall) as their service animals into the local libraries!  A librarian tells me the rule is "as long as the horse is trained not to make a poop inside the library!"

I say, this may be bad, but it's not as bad as what Koreans do (or used to) and that is eat dogs.

If you are wondering what the difference between a Korean and a Hungarian is...

MAGYAR POSTA : MOKUS = SQUIRREL

 

Squirrel

I MEET A ROMANIAN- SERBIAN AMERICAN JUST HOME FROM WEEKS IN SIBIU AND MAGYAR TERRITORY

This morning I had a half dozen errands to complete before my day really started.  I decided to take a bus to the center of the next city which allowed me to grocery shop at my favorite Trader Joes, return a pair of shoes I changed my mind about, make a bank deposit, pick up a reserved book at the library, and get some movies for later before 10 am. On the bus I sat near an older gentleman who proceeded to tell me he was from Transylvania.

"Ah!  I have an ancestor who left Sebes (Sibiu) in the 19th century.  I think he was a German Hungarian."

"A Magyar!"

"Yes, I'm Magyar!"

"I just got back from there.  I don't speak English too good.  I thought I would speak Romanian but everyone said to me "Speak English!"

We laughed.

"I understand the Romanians want the Germans and the Hungarians out!  But they've been there for hundreds of years!"

He nodded.

"I have been in America for 45 years," he said.

VIDEO DOWN

NORTH CAROLINA HUNGARIANS! REALLY!

NORTH CAROLINA HUNGARIANS. ORG

"We live in the-Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, but we also have members from the Triad and from Eastern North Carolina. We have a close relationship with other Hungarian groups in North Carolina such as Elkin and Charlotte.  If you are temporarily working in our area, if you have been living here for years, if you are an immigrant Hungarian or later generation, if you are part of a mixed marriage or just curious about Hungarian culture you are welcome!

The preferred language is Hungarian, but we will be glad to translate. COME, BE A PART OF IT! 

THEY NEED A 2014 UPDATE but I can bet they're still there!