100 Years in America the Beautiful

With great appreciation to Katharine Lee Bates who penned the beloved song America, The Beautiful in 1913.

O beautiful for spacious skies
that welcomed all my kin
who crossed the seas with hopeful dreams
they carried deep within.
America! America! God shed His grace on thee
and bless the modern progeny
within our family tree!

Hungarians with Slavic roots
who left for better lives.
The poor and starving Irishmen
just hoping to survive.
America! America! God shed His grace on thee
and bless the modern progeny
within our family tree!

Ujlakis, Toths and Nemeths, too,
left native Hungary;
remaining there: the Bence branch,
Globleks and clan Nagy*.
America! America! God shed His grace on thee
and bless the modern progeny
within our family tree!

Some Irish folk left earliest:
the famous Cowhey clan.
Seeking success some helped define
the classic “railroad man”.

Donnelly, Foley and Graham, too,
these families joined in
to bring to Pennsylvania
the ways of Irishmen.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee
and bless the modern progeny
within our family tree!

Still others fled from misery.
The famine times were hard
for Tierney, Rogers and McCue.
They sought new lives, though scarred.
America! America! God shed His grace on thee
and bless the modern progeny
within our family tree!

O beautiful immigrant dream
we see after these years
have come and gone. Many good-byes
have brought our eyes to tears.
America! America! Thank God for those brave souls
who crossed the sea to make us free –
they’ve made our country whole!

* The American pronunciation is nah-jee, although Hungarians pronounce this surname more like nuhj.

Thanks to Bill West of West in New England for the inspiration to write this little ditty.

Two years for 100 Years in America!

Two years ago today I took my first footsteps into the blogging world here with the inaugural post at 100 Years in America and over at Small-leaved Shamrock followed the next day by the small beginnings of another blog, A light that shines again. These projects have been and continue to be a joy for me. They have forced me to continue work on family history projects within various branches of my family, have enabled me to get into contact with new-found family members, and have given me the chance to "meet" fellow researchers and writers doing similar work through the online world of "geneablogging".

A heartfelt thanks to all of those that have read, commented, offered research assistance, or otherwise supported my efforts here at 100 Years in America and at my other online "homes". As is inevitable, life has gotten in the way of blogging for me recently, but I hope to be back full force at some point after taking things a little slowly here for awhile.

If you'd like to read some of my favorite articles in the archives, take some time to visit The best of 2008: 100 Years in America iGene Awards. You might also enjoy stopping by Happy Anniversary, 100 Years in America! for a summary of the best of my first year of blogging.

One of the reasons that I began working to share my family history online two years ago (long before I hit retirement age) is because I know that life is short and I hope to make the most of the time I have to enjoy, while at the same time sharing with younger generations the wonderful stories that have become a part of our personal family history and the collective history of our world. The knowledge that I have gained about the lives of my ancestors and the times and worlds they lived in has truly made me a more well-rounded and understanding person, and I hope the same will be true for all those who read their stories here at 100 Years in America.

As Elisabeth Kübler-Ross stated,

"It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had."

This branch of my family has only had a short one-hundred years here in America. Chances are that I'll personally have less than that. (Unless I break the longevity record in my family!)

Here's celebrating two years of 100 Years in America and looking forward to many more years to come!

Wordless Wednesday: The pride of Croatia

Ivic's painting of the young girl sewing a Croatian flag thanks to the Croatian History website's Croatian Coat of Arms During the Centuries. The painting was originally published on the cover of "Hrvatska žena, grana br. 1, Chicago, 1929-2009; Croatian Woman, branch #1, Chicago, 80th Anniversary" (see Ante Čuvalo's blog).

Wordless Wednesday: Trenton, New Jersey Post Office, c. 1909

Could this have been the building from which Steven Toth sent letters to his wife and family giving them information about his new life in America?

Did he write? If so, how often? He missed the birth of his second child. Her birth record lists him in "Trenton, Amerika". Was this because he didn't get his wife's letter in time?

Image courtesy of Mercer County, New Jersey Vintage Postcards.

South Beach watchdogs c. 1925

Vedra and Scotty, canine guards of the Ujlaki house at

43 Nugent Avenue, South Beach, Staten Island, c. 1925

What The Dog Perhaps Hears

by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Lisel Mueller

If an inaudible whistle
blown between our lips
can send him home to us,
then silence is perhaps
the sound of spiders breathing
and roots mining the earth;
it may be asparagus heaving,
headfirst, into the light
and the long brown sound
of cracked cups, when it happens.
We would like to ask the dog
if there is a continuous whir
because the child in the house
keeps growing, if the snake
really stretches full length
without a click and the sun
breaks through clouds without
a decibel of effort,
whether in autumn, when the trees
dry up their wells, there isn't a shudder
too high for us to hear.

What is it like up there
above the shut-off level
of our simple ears?
For us there was no birth cry,
the newborn bird is suddenly here,
the egg broken, the nest alive,
and we heard nothing when the world changed.

Lisel Mueller's poem is from the collection The need to hold still published by Louisiana University Press, 1980.

For more animal photographs visit the 13th Edition of footnoteMaven's Smile For The Camera Carnival whose theme is "All Creatures Great and Small".

In search of Stefan/Stephanus/Stjepan S.

Browsing through the family documents that I've collected over the years I made an interesting and timely discovery. You may have read about the discoveries that I made back in February regarding my great-grandfather's trip to America thanks to a little help from some friends who discovered the passenger lists. (Ferencz Ujlaki and the trip he didn't take can be found in Part 1 and Part 2.)

One fact about Ferencz Ujlaki's trip that has stumped me is his specific intended destination in America. Listed as bound for New York, New York, both passenger lists (the one for the ship he first got on, and the one for the trip he actually took) indicate what appears to be the same friend's name and address as his intended destination.



Now, going through the copies I made of the Matična knjiga (Croatian for church records) that I found a few years back thanks to microfilm from my local Family History Library, I revisited Ferencz's birth registry. Born on March 17, 1879, Ferencz's parents' names are listed on the registry along with his godparents'. What a surprise to find that his godfather's name (listed in its Latin form because it is appearing in a Catholic church registry), is: Stephanus Štefić.


This name is very similar to the name of the man on both passenger lists of 1906. It is too unusual a coincidence and makes me wonder if this could be the same man.

According to the family story, Ferencz had grown up the only child of aged parents, his father blind. Could his godfather have taken a special interest in him throughout his life and could he have been the one to encourage him to set out for America to start a new life?

According to the Hrvatski Telekom (Croatian White Pages), there are many Štefić families still living in the area where my Ujlaki family hails from, particularly the village of Donja Dubrava. There is even currently a Štefić Stjepan living in the village, whose name may be spelled the way my Stephanus Štefić spelled his (outside of "Latinized" parish records, that is - Stjepan is the Croatian spelling of Stephen).

Now my next step is to do a little research on this new mystery man with a link to my family - to determine his history in Ferencz Ujlaki's home village, if possible, and to find his whereabouts in the United States, more specifically in New York City, where it appears my great-grandfather joined him upon his arrival as a brand new American immigrant in 1906.

A blessed Good Friday

Crucifixion c. 1427, originally one of the panels of the Calvary altarpiece at Garamszentbenedek, tempera on wood by unknown artist, Christian Museum of Esztergom, Hungary.

For another beautiful Hungarian rendition of the Crucifixion, see the Crowning by Thorns c. 1490.

István Tóth: The elusive "John Smith" of my Hungarian family tree

In the world of the Hungarian people, a man named István Tóth is as common as an American named John Smith. Take that Hungarian and transplant him to America, and he becomes Stephen Toth - not quite as common as the John Smiths who have become his new neighbors, but still just as difficult for his great-granddaughter to distinguish from the many other Hungarian-Americans named Stephen Toth.

My genealogical search for my great-grandfather has been (and continues to be) a challenge for me. His common Hungarian name has sometimes made it difficult for me to track him down. Born in 1874 in the village of Mezőkeresztes in what was then the district of Mezőkövesdi in Borsod County, Hungary, István Tóth was one of two babies born of the same name to appear in the Roman Catholic Church records of that locality during a period of several years. A few clues such as his birth month (as listed on later records), his family's residence, and the name of one of his siblings helped me to narrow my search down to the right István Tóth. Here he is listed in the Roman Catholic parish registry for Mezőkeresztes in 1874:

As an adult, my great-grandfather traveled back and forth from his home and family in Gelej, Hungary (a village very near to his birthplace of Mezőkeresztes) across the Atlantic several times before finally settling in America with his family.

Here listed within one of his daughters' birth records in 1903 as a törvényes atya (the legal father), it is interesting to note István's lakóhelye (place of residence): "jelenleg Trenton Amerika", meaning "currently Trenton, America".


As far as I have determined, István usually traveled alone - his wife and children made their voyage to America separately on another ship after what I assume was István's last visit back to Hungary. My great-grandfather's common name has made it difficult for me to narrow down his passenger lists from the many other István Tóths that made similar trips during the years that he traveled. Thanks to his children's birth records, I know that he made at least two trips to America before finally settling in Trenton. I have unfortunately not been able to confirm even one ship passenger manifest for him yet.

His wife and children, however, were easy to recognize once I found them. (Read more of their story at A little boy, a big ship and a brand new world, Lajos long forgotten: An immigrant baby's story, Update on baby Lajos: His arrival at Ellis Island, and On babies and trans-Atlantic crossings).

István, who became Steven/Stephen in America, first settled with his family in the U.S. in Trenton, New Jersey. He is one of five Stephen Toths that resided in the city during the year 1908, according to the city directory. Another instance with too many possibilities to narrow down easily thanks to Stephen Toth's common Hungarian name!

My real dilemma with my great-grandfather has been my search for records that tell the story of the end of his life. Various records in the early 20th-century (censuses and city directories) indicate his wife as a "widow". Interestingly enough, these records alternate between other records in intervening years where he is listed with his family or where new children were born into the family.

Note the 1908 and 1909 city directory listings for what may be my Stephen Toth and his family in Trenton, New Jersey. Stephen is with the family in 1908, but Mary, a "widow", appears at the same address in the 1909 directory.

1908 Trenton city directory listings for Toth

1909 Trenton city directory listings for Toth

A year later what is clearly my Toth family appears residing in Trenton, father included, in the 1910 U.S. Census.

This pattern occurred later within city directories for the Toth family in Massachusetts. Mary appears to have sometimes labeled herself a "widow" when questioned about her family, although her husband was probably just absent.

It appears that Stephen Toth was not always "around", although he appears to have remained a presence in his family's lives for many years. He is conspicuously missing from this formal family portrait taken of the Toths about 1929.

I have word, however, from one of his daughter-in-laws that Stephen Toth was alive and well in New Jersey at some point during the 1930s. Although the rest of his family was living in Massachusetts at the time, she remembered visiting him there in New Jersey with her husband, Stephen's son.

My questions: Where did my great-grandfather Stephen Toth spend the rest of his life after he apparently left his family in Massachusetts? How long did he live? Where and when did he die, and where is he buried?

These questions have troubled me for some time. There does not seem to be a Social Security record for him. Because of this and because of his birthdate, I assume that he may not have lived past the 1930s or 1940s.

Did Stephen Toth resettle in Trenton, his first American city of residence, after leaving his family in Massachusetts? I may never know the reasons why he made the choices that he did, but it would be nice to at least finally know the genealogical facts regarding the end of his life.

Great-Grandpa, whom so many of your family members never knew: here's hoping that I'll finally find your whereabouts and learn a little more about the missing story of your life.

Sources:

Hungary. Borsod. Mezőkeresztes. Anyakönyvek, 1769-1895. Római Katólikus Egyház, Keresztespüspöki. FHL 623394, page 95. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Hungary. Borsod. Gelej. Állami anyakönyvek, születtek [births], 1895-1908. Gelej (Borsod) Anyakönyvi Hivatal. FHL 2227088, item 5, page 628. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

City Directory (Trenton, New Jersey: The city, 1908), Toth listings.

City Directory (Trenton, New Jersey: The city, 1909), Toth listings.

1910 U.S. census, Mercer County, New Jersey population schedule, City of Trenton, enumeration district (ED) 59, sheet 13B, Stephen Toth; digital images, ProQuest (http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index: accessed March 2009); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 674.

Toth family portrait. Photograph ca 1929. Digital image. Privately held by the author, United States. 2009

Author's Note:

Thanks to Amy Lenertz Coffin of We Tree for the suggestion of Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #12: to post a genealogy "brick wall" problem to share with others. This genealogist would be very grateful to anyone who might be able to provide any further clues on the life of Stephen Toth (1874-?) of Mezőkeresztes and Gelej, Hungary; Trenton, New Jersey; and various towns in Massachusetts (including Wilmington, Malden and Cambridge).

Wordless Wednesday: Cemetery in Legrad, Croatia

Photographs of the evangelical cemetery in Legrad (evangeličkog groblja u Legradu) thanks to Z.G.

The "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears" in song

Ellis Island, the gateway to America for several of my ancestors, has long been known as the "isle of hope and tears". Here for you to enjoy on St. Patrick's Day is the famous musical tribute to Ellis Island performed by the Irish Tenors.


For more on the celebration of Irish heritage, visit Small-leaved Shamrock for the 12th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture: the 2nd annual online St. Patrick's Day parade!

Beloved baby sister: A tribute to Ethel, 1920-1943

She was the youngest daughter of Frank and Helen Ujlaky. A beautiful baby girl, she was baptized Etelka on March 21, 1920 at the age of one month. A first generation American born of parents who had emigrated from Hungary, she came to be known as Ethel. Two years later Ethel's younger brother Kasmir was born into the family: the last of the six Ujlaky siblings.

Ethel Ujlaky (age one) with one of her big sisters
riding Buster the horse.
Staten Island, circa 1921.

The Ujlaky family of South Beach,
Staten Island, New York, circa 1926.
Ethel is the young girl standing
at left of her mother (seated).

Born between their two brothers in this closeknit family, the four sisters, who entered the family within the span of a decade, developed a special sisterly bond that grew throughout the years.

Here they are together in 1936 outside the family's South Beach, Staten Island home. Ethel, third from the left, is sixteen years old. Her sisters, all in their twenties, were making their way into adulthood, getting married and having children of their own.

The Ujlaky sisters, circa 1936.
Ethel is the third from left.

Sadly, when Ethel reached her twenties, tragedy struck. Suffering from tuberculosis, she was admitted to Sea View Hospital on Staten Island. Ethel died in 1943, about a month shy of her twenty-third birthday.

Knowing the love that her sisters share, I was deeply touched when I learned the story of their beloved younger sister Ethel. They, her brothers, and her parents suffered a deep loss when she left them at such an early age.

At the time of her death a friend of the Ujlaky family wrote a beautiful poetic tribute to Ethel. I treasure the handwritten copy of Ida's poem that I have in my possession. It is a glimpse into the life of a dear family member whom I never had the chance to know. Here is Ida's tribute to her young friend:

To Ethel

You were so lovely, with your figure so slim,
Always, you were smiling, and you would never give in;
Though your pain was severe, still you never lamented
You put on a good front and appeared contented,
We know you had the courage, and tried very hard to win,
But your strength gave out, in your valiant fight
And you just had to leave your kin.
You have gone to rest to eternal peace and may God bless you
For a brave soldier, you were both stouthearted and true;
Your spirit is here although you’re gone
And the memory of you Ethel will live on and on.

~ Written in 1943 by Ida, friend of the Ujlaky family

Rest in peace, "dear sister Ethel".

For more on Ethel Ujlaky's story, including a picture of her bronzed baby shoe, see The footprint of little Ethel.

For more about the Ujlaky family's home on South Beach, Staten Island, see "The Waves' Rippling Song": South Beach, Staten Island.

For more mystery photographs visit the 11th Edition of footnoteMaven's Smile For The Camera Carnival whose theme is "Brothers & Sisters".

Sources of images:

Ujlaky sisters with Buster the horse, Staten Island, New York. Sepia photographic print. Circa 1921. Privately held by Lisa, [address for private use]. 2009.

Ujlaky family, Staten Island, New York. Sepia photographic print. Circa 1926. Privately held by Lisa, [address for private use]. 2009.

Ujlaky sisters, Staten Island, New York. Sepia photographic print. Circa 1936. Privately held by Lisa, [address for private use]. 2009.