Itt-Ott, 1990 (23. évfolyam, 114-117. szám)

1990 / 116. szám

J.L.: Oh yes, absolutely. They built a little Hungarian church there in Orenco... We worshipped there. There was no one to hinder. We had all the freedom we desired and I think that’s the way it should be, don’t you? L.M.: How did you hear about Orenco then, when you were in Tigard?

J.L.: Well, in Europe they said that there would be work in the nursery for anyone who would come to Orenco Nursery Company.

L.M.: So you had heard of Orenco Nursery even before you came across to America?

J.L.: Yes, yes, we did. Then Mr.McDonald was the president. I remember when the Oregon Electric train was our only transportation, or horse and buggy. That was delightful. They had a great celebration when the train depot was built in Orenco. They didn’t have a depot there. I don’t know when the Oregon Electric train began its service but I remember the big celebration when they dedicated the station. They had a man there that would send wireless telegrams. I would love to go there and hear him tick away. It was so interesting. We thought every new building that went up there was just like fairyland. They had a hotel there. We saw them build that and the beautiful home of Mr.McDonald and the office for the Orenco Nursery Company. That also was built and that was beautiful. They would have gatherings of the people, workmen that worked in the nursery, once a year, a great big picnic. The times were so precious. I remember many happy days there...

L.M.: Did your relatives hang on to a lot of the old traditions here in America?

J.L.: Yes, they did. Oh yes, they did.

L.M.: What were some of these traditions?

J.L.: Well, the women would wear those kerchiefs on their head. Oh, people would stare and make fun at us. Then, shawls instead of coats, and long full skirts. Just like the pilgrims. They dressed in that European way. Some of the same styles came back in America. Nobody laughs at them now, but they did then. When we were dressed up for church we’d have those pretty little white aprons we put over our pretty dresses and people would laugh at us because we wore aprons to go to church with or to go downtown. Now some of the most expensive little girls’ dresses have those little aprons. Isn’t it funny: when it’s in style anything goes. Well, now, for Christmas they would make a traditional kind of sweet bread and things like that. Always a feast, you know, like chicken and roast pork and things like that. Have a little gathering and sing, that was the great thing. My uncle had a zither he made himself and he’d play that and finally they got an organ and somebody played that. So, they just created there our own pleasure and joy...

To: Jan Imes From: Louis J. Elteto

Prof. Poulsen turned over your letter and attachment to me, our “resident expert” on Hungary.

It is simply not possible for me to answer all of your questions adequately in writing, but I’ll do my best in a brief reply; should you have further questions,

36 ITT-OTT 23. évf. (1990), őszi (116.) szám

please come and see me.

Specifically:

1. I have made a couple of corrections in the typescript. The only Hungarian town mentioned is Gyulavári, which was located in the Gyula Circuit of Békés County. At the end of the last century, it had a purely Hungarian population of about 3,000, had its own post office and postal savings bank, a steam mill and a brickyard. It was also the seat of a large estate owned by Count Dénes Almássy. Békés County was at that time Central Hungary; today, since the rearrangement of the borders, it is South Eastern Hungary, and borders on Romania. You should be able to locate the county on any average map.

2. Emperor Franz Joseph, an old man at the time the interviewee left Hungary, was a father figure for many people. Religious loyalties can be ruled out, as your subject was evidently of a Protestant family, whereas the Habsburgs were intensely Catholic.

3. I cannot explain the role of the father, or its alleged absence. Traditionally, Hungarian families were dominated by the father, but fathers were sometimes absent, esp. for military duty, which could last anywhere from two to four years, depending on branch and draft status. It was also not unusual for the man of the family to emigrate in advance, and save enough money for the family to follow. In this case, there are some references to “wealth” that make all this unclear; the father had enough money to buy land in Canada, but then lost it, and the mother also seemed to possess some money, having had her own income, etc. I do not read the same thing into the tale as you do: other than the fact that the father is not talked about as much as the mother (for which there may by psychological reasons or the father’s early death); I see no proof that the father was absent on an economic level, except in the reference at the end, when the mother has to support the family — but that is the time of the Depression.

4. The Biblical tone is, frankly, not typical for Hungary, and it is possible that there is an American “conversion” somewhere in the case history, even though there were certain (for Hungary) minor sects operating in the country beginning with the end of the last century (e.g. Baptists, Adventists, Witnesses) that were fundamentalists of one sort or another. It could well be that the subject’s mother was a member of such a group. The scene of people kneeling in farewell prayer at the railway depot, and the reference to meeting at Jesus’ feet, if accurate, connotes this. Baptism began in Hungary as a result of Anglo-American missionary activity in the 1870’s, but it had only two churches (but many “prayer-houses”) by the last decade of the 1800’s, and according to my source, only some 2,000 members. I do not have statistics for the following decade. However, the fact is that this denomination spread primarily among the workers of Budapest first, then among the peasants, and specifically peasant women, of precisely Békés County. The Canadian experience also might be an indication of Baptist connections, because there were several small Hungarian Baptist communities founded in Alberta and Saskatchewan before World War I. The settlers came there 1) as a result of recruiting efforts, 2) in order to obtain cheap land, every peas-