Czeglédi Imre: Munkácsy ősei és rokonsága (A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 22. Békéscsaba, 2001)
BMMK22. kötet Czeglédi Imre: Munkácsy ősei és rokonsága - as „István Rock from Kelenföld" - one of the most well known factory owner of the country. Gottlieb, the brother of Stephen was emerging as the bailiff of the settlement's owner in 1800 in the eastern part of the country in Szabolcs, in Mándok, but he changed his name to Theophil according to the Latinistic culture in Hungary, and further on he is mentioned in the documents as Theophil Reök. His daughter was Cecilia Reök, the mother of Munkácsy, and the other children were on the mother's side the uncle and aunt of Munkácsy, who took a prominent part in the life of the painter. In the volume this family side is named/mentioned as „Reök side from Szabolcs" after their residence. The members of the Szabolcs Reök side were finding employment generally on estates: they became farm bailiffs, lawyers, engineers. The husband of Carolina was the chief official of the Apponyi-estate in Békéscsaba, Lajos was an estate lawyer in Baranya County and then in Pécs, Pál was an engineer of the Károlyi estate, Antal was the farm bailiff of the Coburg princes but after 1850 he left and purchased an independent estate, and even about 1900 he was running a 1000 acres farm/estate. The mansion - standing even today - was one of the center of the family gatherings. István was first a lawyer in the capital, but in 1849 he moved also to Békéscsaba. First he was a land tenant then he was running the estate which he had acquired through his marriage. Contrary to his image he was not a merciless uncle.With his excellent talent he represented the capital's intellectual level after the failure of the war of independence in his residence where he was forced to be settled. The author verifies by register of birth, that the names Reck, Rock, Reök etc. are the written varieties of the same name, and the final written form of the name was developed just in the middle of the XIX lh century: they, who lived in Pest, were writing their name as Rock, and they, who were living in Szabolcs, were writing their name as Reök. The study follows the life of the family's two descendants, the researches are finished with the V lh and VI th generation after the great-grandfather of Munkácsy. A thoroughly selected picture collection illustrates the told story. The author made efforts that the persons of the family story became the more realistic/vital for the reader. The earliest picture - a daguerreotypy - was made of the factory founder István Rock and his family in 1845. The two oil paintings of the parents of Munkácsy are kept in the Mihály Munkácsy Museum in Békéscsaba. The up till now unknown portrait of - the frequently mentioned foster father, uncle - István Reök's wife from her younger and elder age is regarded as a curio among the the family members, relatives becoming acquaintences. She was the much talked-of „aunt Man". The volume is finished with the tables made about the Lieb then about the Reck-RöckReöck family, and at the very end the family of István Reöck - who bringed up Miska (Mike) - is presented. 117
