A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 5. (Szeged, 2005)

Fodor Ferenc: Egy kiskunhalasi kertészcsalád története

IRODALOM BÁLINT Sándor 1974 Szegediek Bács-Kiskun homokján. Cumania II. Kecskemét, 411-426. ERDEI Ferenc é.n. Futóhomok. Budapest LAKATOS Vince 1988 Krónika a kun pusztákról. Kecskemét 1988. NAGY CZIROK László é.n. Földművelés. Kézirat, TJMA. 3591. The History of a Gardener Family in Kiskunhalas by FERENC FODOR While collecting material for my paper discussing economic history - published in the third volume of the monograph on the history of Kiskunhalas - I came across the family name Tallér in newspaper articles issued between the two world wars. During that period several articles were written about the poor Vendel Tallér, who became a well-to-do farmer, as well as an outstanding gardener. The origin of the Tallér family could be traced back as far as the 1

8

th century. Vendel Tallér was born on 16

th December 1886. He had four brothers and four sisters. Two children were born of his first marriage. His wife - who committed suicide in 1913 - was the daughter of the famous distiller, Pál Kocsis. The Kocsis grandparents then raised the children, since Vendel Tallér was called up for military service. After getting discharged, he got married again in 1918. He married Etelka Torna. One child, Lajos was born of this marriage on 17

th May 1919. Vendel Tallér worked as a day laborer, and then in 1921 he bought a sandy land of 12 acres on the field of Alsószállás on credit. On the freshly purchased land they lived in a hovel dug into the ground. In 1926 they managed to move into an adobe house of better condition, as well as to buy landed property of some acres. In 1929 Tallér also began cultivating peppers on a territory of 350 square meters. His attempt was successful. While doing his military service in Serbia he saw irrigating wheels for the first time. Then gardeners living in the surroundings of Soroksár taught him how to operate the wheel. In 1932 he hired workers to dig an irrigation ditch of 35 meters long and 15 meters width on a suitable flat area. The side of the ditch was covered with boards. At the end of the ditch he built his own irrigating wheel with the help of his family. Then he leveled an area of several acres making it suitable for gardening, as well as for planting fruit trees. In 1931 he planted apricot trees on a land of 1 acre. Simultaneously he made a territory of 3 acres suitable for growing vegetables. However, fate interrupted his life again. In 1939 his second wife got seriously ill and died. In the following year his son, Lajos, was called up for military service. He had not got discharged until 26

lh September 1943. On 9

th October 1943 Lajos Tallér married Irén Pató. The married couple continued cultivating land. Vendel Tallér signed his property over to his son after the Russian army occupied the country. He sold his farmstead bought not long before and purchased a house in Kiskunhalas, in Budai Nagy Antal Street. He moved to this house with his third wife. The young woman then abandoned the elderly Vendel Tallér in 1960. In 1960 also Lajos Tallér was forced to join the co-operative farm, and was allowed to cultivate his own lands on sharing terms. Vendel Tallér was not able to bear the ruining of the family farm and the hopeless situation of his family and committed suicide on 17

lh June 1961. Lajos Tallér's wife started to work as an assistant at a greengrocer's in 1968. She worked there until 1980. Lajos Tallér worked in the co-operative farm until 1969. After retirement they restarted gardening in glasshouses in their own garden. 144