Magyar News, 2003. szeptember-2004. augusztus (14. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2004-06-01 / 10. szám
Finding Your Hungarian Roots Searching from the attics to the Intemet/Part Three By Bob Krányik and Margaret Molnár Maps can be very useful, especially since most Americans are unfamiliar with the Hungarian landscape. And, since many ancestors of Hungarians originated in "Old Hungary", maps of Austria, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Romania, and even the western portion of the Ukraine may be required to pinpoint places of origin. We have found the Euro- Regional Map 1:300,000 of Hungary to be very useful as it contains virtually every village in modem Hungary. Another useful map is printed by Cartographia, 1443 Budapest Postlach 132, since it has a complete index of all cities, towns, and villages. The copy we used is at least a decade old, so we cannot be sure that it is still available. Cartographia also publishes a comprehensive map of Budapest, and since much of the Hungarian population lives in Budapest and its suburbs, the Budapest map can be quite useful. Given the turbulent history of the nation, the former northern and eastern counties from which many Hungarian immigrants came in the days of the Austro- Hungarian Empire are now part of the Czech Republic or even more so, the Slovak Republic, with a small area in the extreme east now being part of the Ukraine. Virtually all of the towns and villages which once had recognizable Hungarian names have been renamed in the language of the present occupying nations. The same holds true for the Transylvanian area of Romania from which many Hungarian immigrants originated. Don't panic totally, however! During the days of the Austro-Hungarin Empire, a series of area maps of "Old Hungary" were published by Kartogr, Agbteilung Preuss, Lundesaufnahme, in 1918. These maps are apparently part of a series labeled "Übersichtskarte von Mitteleuropa 1:300,000. One which proved very useful to us is "R49 Kaschau" which covers the area from Miskolcs to Kassa and east to Ungvar, now Uzsgorod in the Ukraine. For the most part, this series lists the old Hungarian names along with some German terminology. For example the Tisza River is called the Theiss. Unfortunately, we have lost the source, but these maps are sometimes advertised by dealers who sell genealogical materials. If you know the town or village of your ancestor by its Hungarian name, locate it first on one of these maps. You can then go to a Czech or Slovak (perhaps even Romanian) map and find the presentday spelling of the place. One Slovak Republic map we have found useful is a "Turistick Mpa", of which there are nearly 50 different maps, each covering a small section of the Slovak Republic. They are especially interesting because they show many natural features as well as towns and cities. These may be obtained from a Czechoslovakian Genealogical Society at www.cgsi.org. Bob: I located the place in "old Hungary" from which my paternal greatgrandparents emigrated, then known as Palagy which now seems to be Petrovece. This has turned out to be very close to Deregnyo, from where Margaret's Krajnyiks originated. This suggests that perhaps we are related after all. Margaret: The maps I discovered to be most helpful can be found at lazarus.elte.hu/gblmaps.htm. Maps are reproduced at this site showing 1910 Hungary, by counties. I was able to print just one map, and though the map is of Ung County, parts of Zemplen County are also shown, so all of the villages of both my mother and father's families are right there on that one map. Carpatho-Rusyn Roots Hundreds of years before the Magyars arrived on the Hungarian plain, a people known as "East Slavs" or Rusyns already lived along the southern edge of the Carpathian Mountains. These people because known as Carpatho-Rusyns or Ruthenians. By 1800 or so many of them were linguistically and culturally Hungarians, and large numbers of them immigrated to the U.S. between 1880 - 1915. Many of them belonged to the Byzantine Rite Catholic Church which is concentrated in Slovakia and Eastern Hungary, with some even located in Usually written on the back of a photo from an event when the familly is together, are names of the people i A photo or a postcard of a church might help finding a village Romania. During the 1700-1800s significant numbers of Carpatho-Rusyns settled in present-day Hungary, where they bought land and farmed for a living. If you think you may have Carpatho- Rusyn ancestors, consult the Carpatho- Rusyn Research Center at www.carpathorusyn.org where you can find lists of Rusyn names and the villages from which they originated. Other sites include Tom Peters' site at <http://feeths.org/fij/petersl.html> and <http://www.htmh/jelentesek/situation> which can provide useful history and analysis of Carpatho-Rusyns. Bob: Part of my Hungarian family is of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. I had heard from time-to-time that my name was not Magyar, and so I suspected that it might be Rusyn. This was confirmed when I attended a local conference on Carpatho-Rusyn genealogy in Bridgeport. The lecturer indicated that this was the first Carpatho- Rusyn church in Connecticut. I looked at the church and then realized that it was the church I had attended as a boy - Holy Trinity Greek (Byzantine) Catholic Church. The lecturer mentioned that the founders of the church spoke Slavonic, but that by 1880 or so the majority of the membership were Hungarian-speaking immigrants, so the Slavonic-speaking group Page 2
