Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-08-01 / 8. szám
special feature EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is one of the most unusual documents ever received by the Hungarian Heritage Review. Submitted to us by Mr. Albert Turkolyi Joczik of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, it is a copy of the report written on April 2, 1725, by one of his ancestors, Samuel Turkolyi, to the Judge of Szikszó. The written original is in the historical archives of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and it, as well as this English translation, was certified authentic and correct by Dr. John Pataki on June 29, 1961. REPORT OF SAMUEL TURKOLYI WRITTEN FROM ASTRAKHAN To His Honor the Judge of Szikszó, and to the whole Council, Stephen Sziits, John Gyure, John Szarka, Stephen Pap, Stephen and Paul Kereskényi, George and Sigismund Csáji, John Tajnai, Stephen Bagi, to the Reverend Minister and the Honorable Masters, I wish good health. Long live Your Excellencies. I too am living, Excellencies, my very dear friends, brethren, neighbors, relatives, upon whom I wish the blessings of God even unto my last drop of blood. My dearest brethren! I wish Your Excellencies fortunate, healthy and long lives! Bored with my idle life, I set out in the year 1716 to seek my fortune, passing through Moldavia to the Land of the Cossacks, and the latter place, according to our old Hungarian histories, was the realm of the Scythians. In the same year in the City of Myrhorod I wintered at the home of a Cossack lord who is a very wealthy man (since he owns 600 milch cows, 1400 sheep, 1700 mares, 145 saddle-horses, and other innumerable riches). Through the kind generosity of this opulent man I went along the Baltic Sea 300 miles to the City of Petersburg, where I met His Majesty, the Czar of the Muscovites, and at the command of His Majesty I began to study the Russian language, and I learned it so well I can now write and speak it without difficulty. My knowledge of the language enabled me to become a ranking military officer, and I still function in this capacity with a salary of 754 Hungarian forints, 8 saddle-horses, hay and forage, including wages for two servants. From this city named Petersburg I had command of ships that plied the Volga (which flows in Scythia, beyond the Don River, 100 miles away) to the Caspian Sea, on which sea I twice suffered galley wrecks in the terrible windstorms. God preserved my life as I clung to the planks of the galley and —continued next page AUGUST 1987 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 25
