Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1987-08-01 / 8. szám

JHungartan-fAmertcana

I-----------Paulus (Pal)

Grandfather of the compiler of the final (1783) text of the Kovats genealogy and family history Stephanus (István) Kovats de Keszi, a notary of Keszi born in 1759, and ancestor of Dr. László Keszi Kovats, Budapest, who found the copy of the 1783 document in 1941.

I-------------Georgius (György)

Emericus (Imre)

Father of Colonel Michael Kovats de Fabricy. The full form of his last name was: Kovats de Keszi et Kaal. Born at Vecs (Vech), Heves County. Wife: Sara (Sara) Tompa de Kaal. Moved to Karcaguj szállás (Karcag - Uj-Szallas) which was devastated in the Turkish wars and began resettlement of a new population after the expulsion of the Turks.----------1--------Michael (Mihály)

Kovats de Fabricy. Born in August, 1724, at Karcag- Uj-Szallas. After many years of military service in the Austro-Hungarian, French, Prussian and American armies, he was killed in the successful defense of Charleston, South Carolina, on the 11th of May, 1779, as Colonel Commandant of the “Pulaski Legion.”

I

Joannes (Janos)

The three brothers, together with their sister Helena (Ilona) were all born at Vecs, Heves County. They were Calvinists. The political persecution of the Kovats family forced the sons to move to separate places: Paulus to Szencseny- Kovacsi, Nograd County, Emericus to Karcag-Uj-Szallas, in the Nagykun District, and Joannes to Keszi. (His descendants were still living at the late 18th century in Borsod County under such assumed names as Fabricius or Faber Kovats.----------------------1

Stephanus (István)

Characterizing the sons of Emericus (Imre) Kovats de Keszi and Kaal, father of Colonel Michael Kovats de Fabricy, the document’s compiler, Stephanus (István) Kovats de Keszi made an interesting statement. The English version of the original in Latin follows verbatim:

“Excelled among them this Michael, who was a prominent soldier, reaching the position of a Free Corps commander, and fighting in many campaigns, in the lands of foreign nations, — under the assumed name of Michael Fabritius Kovats, — and he became a victim of death there also; this Michael Fabritius Kovats, — correctly, Kovats of Keszi and Kaal — had a son, George (György) whom he begot with the noble lady Franciska, daughter of

Sigismund (Zsigmond) Merse de Szinye.”

This short remark was penned down by the young family chronicler four years after the heroic death of the Hungarian-born Colonel Commandant of the Pulaski Legion. It misses only a couple of relevant details. The Colonel’s son, George died at an early age, well before his father had left Hungary, by which time the parents had already separated owing to the father’s frequent absences from the home because of his involvement in the training of the Polish patriotic forces. The mother, Franciska Merse de Szinye never remarried: she remained faithful to the memory of her husband.

Alas, the last important “mystery” in the life story of the famous

Colonel has found its documented explanation. Now we really know where “he came from”, what were his family heritage values, the ancestral “images” which motivated him, and the elements of his European culture which enabled him to remain “Fidelissimus ad Mortem” (Most Faithful unto Death) to a cause which was adopted by him as his own.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of space limitations, we could not include Dr. Bako’s list of source references, description and illustration of the commemorative stamp issued by the Hungarian Post Office (1982), or his description and illustration of Colonel Michael Kovats de Fabricy’s Coat-of- Arms. However, if any reader would like to obtain these, we would be pleased to forward photocopies.

AUGUST 1987

HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW

19

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