William Penn Life, 2009 (44. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2009-10-01 / 10. szám
tell me if or how he was related to István. The mystery of Vineze Toth was solved during the August 2009 William Penn Association tour to western Hungary. One of the cities I wanted to visit was Sopron, the birthplace of my grandfather and the city given the title, "the most faithful city in Hungary." Sopron was given this honor in 1922 when its citizens were asked to vote whether they wanted to remain part of Hungary or part of Austria. They voted to remain part of Hungary, and if you look at a map today, you will see an indentation of the Austrian/Hungarian border where Sopron is located. When I made my reservation for the WPA tour, I contacted the tour organizer, Andrea Tordai of Euroviptours in Budapest, and requested a driver and translator to take me to Jobahaza for a day. The cost for this special trip was most reasonable and turned out to be the most rewarding part of the tour. My driver/translator turned out to be Andrea herself. Andrea picked me up at the hotel in Lipot, and within 90 minutes, we were greeted at the edge of Jobahaza by its mayor, Mihalyne Toth. We followed Mihalyne to the home of Anna (Toth) Nemeth, a woman of approximately 80 years, who it turned out was Vineze Toth's daughter. Also at Anna's home were her brothers Erno and Géza (another brother Feri lives in Calgary Canada), her son Nándi, and a daughter. Through Andrea, I learned that István and Vineze were brothers, that Vineze was injured in a coalmine cave-in, recovered from his injuries and 33 months after coming to America, returned to Jobahaza with enough money to purchase some farmland. I was told that István and Vineze came to America after their father, István Toth died in 1908. Anna recalled that the last letter they received from our family in America was in 1936, and that as a young girl she received a doll which she still has. Many family stories were exchanged during this most interesting five-hour visit. All too soon it was time to return to Lipot, but not until I learned that the Toth family had a family reunion the previous month and that they had invited me to their next reunion in 2011. Now I have a good reason to learn the Hungarian language and to return to Hungary. |~~ Anna Nemeth visits the grave of Vineze (Vince) Toth, her father and the brother of Edward Bonk’s greatgrandfather. About the author Born October 10, 1955, in Scranton, Pa., EDWARD BONK grew up in the northeast Pennsylvania coal mining area where his great-grandfather István Toth settled after immigrating from Hungary. Today, Mr. Bonk lives in Roaring Brook Township, about 10 miles from where he grew up, and works as an electronic design engineer for Lockheed Martin. His research into his family history has taken him to a village in Poland where his paternal grandfather was born and to a village in Slovakia near the Polish border where his maternal great-grandmother was born. On both trips he met family members. He is currently trying to identify the Huszar regiment in which his great-grandfather, István Toth, served, as well as the regiment in which Istvan’s brother Vincent served. He believes both men may have served as Huszars during World War I. However, when Mr. Bonk visited the military archives in Budapest, he was told that the records from 1850 to 1900 had been destroyed. Anyone with ideas on how Mr. Bonk can identify the regiment may contact him via email at ejb 1792@netzero.net. He also collects orders, medals and decorations from Poland and says he will likely start to collect those of Hungary. William Penn Life, October 2009 5
