Bethlen Naptár, 1956 (Ligonier)
The work of six decades
BETHLEN NAPTÁR 141 a primitive stage, and a start had to be made. The intention was good, and God’s blessings followed for decades to come. By January 1, 1898 there were already 936 members, of whom 816 were Calvinists, 31 Lutherans, 86 Roman Catholics and 3 of the Jewish faith. This statistics proves the already existing liberalism of the Federation which has not known religious prejudice and brought under its flag all Hungarians believing in fraternalism. Our Federation is still standing by this principle, giving full rights to every Hungarian, regardless of his religion and in general to every one of its members, who are of good moral character and recognize and respect the Calvinistic background of our Federation. It is a real satisfaction to mention here, that with the exception of an incident in 1898, there was absolutely no trouble in this regard during the past 60 years. Like all similar institutions, our Federation also had its initial hardships during the first decade. However, it has outgrown both, the organizational and personal difficulties, so that by 1906, it had a membership of 2000 with surplus fund of $3,200.74. Thus the Federation survived the economic crisis in 1904 which caused many difficulties to similar institutions. The First Jubilee. The first ten year jubilee was observed at Trenton, N. J., the place of the founding, where a convention was held. The officers at that time were: President: István Molnár; Vice-President: István M. Kováchy; Secretary: István Papp; Treasurer: József Tomcsányi; Controller Tamás Madarassy; Auditors: Sándor Kalassay and György Bandré. The branches sent 29 representatives to this meeting. Dr. Lajos Nánássy preached at the jubilee service. The festive meeting was presided by István Molnár, who proudly announced that the Federation in its first ten years paid out 100,000 dollars to the benefciaries of its deceased members. It is at this meeting that we find the first illusions to the idea of establishing a home for orphans. Sándor Kalassay writes about this in his manuscript, as follows: “After the'opening address of the president, Sándor Kalassay read the ten year history of the Federation. At the conclusion of his address, he made a motion asking the Federation to donate a substantial fund to the orphanage of the Reformed Church in the U.S. in Butler, Pa., the interests of which would be used for the maintenance of one or two orphans. Lajos Nánássy modified the motion and proposed that our Federation at its first jubilee should make the initial steps for the foundation of a Hungarian American Orphanage by starting a financial drive, so that such benevolent institution could be opened as soon as possible. The convention accepted this motion unanimously. Organization. It was only in 1907 that our Federation succeeded in engaging a traveling agent for the purpose of recruiting new members. József Kodi, a teacher, was our first such organizer. However, he was unable to produce satisfactory results on account of the economic situation which again became very grave. The Federation experienced the same disappointment with the second organizer, Ferenc Tállyay, until István Molnár, who was elected Secretary in 1908, introduced a system producing better results. The year 1907 has also some other particular significance in our history. In this year, our Federation obtained a Charter, which no other Hungarian or any other fraternal organization possesses. During its first decade our Federation intended to obtain a charter in the State of New York, but when the president’s office was transferred to Ohio, the first charter was granted in that state. However, they wanted a “charter” that would insure without any doubt the right of the Federation to function in all states. This was accomplished through the intercession of our then controller Tamás Madarassy, from South Bend,
