Hungary Exchange: A new stop on the web for Hungarian genealogists

A new resource for Hungarian genealogy has set up shop on the web this week.  The Hungary Exchange website, put together by Nick Gombash, hopes to become a stopping point for many a researcher in search of Hungarian roots.  Nick created this new online resource in hopes of helping Hungarian genealogists to make new connections to further their research. He writes that the "main objective of the new website will be the sharing and exchanging of records and documents". Among its amenities are a surname database where genealogists can submit names and corresponding locales of research, and an online discussion forum and message board for those researching Hungary and countries formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Hungary Exchange website includes the following webpages:

• Hungarian Marriage Project
• Hungary Exchange Forum
• Databases
• Surname Database
• Links

The Hungarian Marriage Project, Databases and Surname Database pages are works in progress that are off to a good start and will become useful to more researchers as Nick adds data over time.  As Nick states on his blog, "The most important of these databases, a major project that I have undertaken, is the Hungarian Marriage Project. My plan is indexing the marriage records from pre-WWI and including them in a database. I'm hoping to eventually have help down the line, as well. I already have records from four parishes, soon to be five and with an estimated total near 5,300 marriages."

My Hungarian surnames are listed within the surname database - add yours today!  As Nick states in his announcement of Hungary Exchange on his genealogy blog, "Let's knock down all those brick-walls and find family!"

The Hungary Exchange website’s Links page includes both national and regional Hungarian resources helpful to genealogical research. It lists web addresses for archives (national archives and at least one for each county), maps and gazetteers, online databases, a Hungarian family tree website, genealogy societies, research aids/guides, translation services, and Jewish resources.

Nick Gombash was recently the subject of an edition of Gini Webb's "May I Introduce You to..." series on Thomas MacEntee's GeneaBloggers blog.  To learn more about Nick visit the article, stop by his blog, or visit his Gombash and Rodgers Family Website.

Don't forget to stop by Hungary Exchange Forum and also take a few minutes to send your Hungarian research locales and surnames to Nick for the Surname Database at Hungary Exchange.

This article has been posted as part of the Follow Friday series.  Visit Thomas MacEntee's GeneaBloggers for more suggestions for good online reading.

To the guardians of 100 Years in America: Happy 105th Anniversary!

They were married one-hundred-and-five years ago this week, on the day after Valentine's Day: February 15, 1905.  Regular readers will recognize the couple whose photo graces the banner of this blog. They are truly the stars of 100 Years in America.  Residing here online, their photograph welcomes you, the readers, and watches over the many family stories, photographs and genealogical details that I have shared.

I have written much about this couple: my great-grandparents Ilona (Bence) and Ferencz Ujlaki. They were both born in the Međimurje region of Hungary, which is now Croatia.  Along with many other Hungarian citizens of their generation, they left Europe in search of a new life in America.  The stories of their journeys to the new country are the stuff of legends, yet those experiences were just a part of life for them.  Their childhoods in an ethnic Croatian village in Hungary and their beginnings in America as foreign immigrants formed them, and have become part of the fabric of our family, inspiring those of us who have come after them.

It is sometimes easy to forget that our ancestors were once young men and women with their lives ahead of them, sorting out who they would be and dreaming big dreams for their lives.  This photograph puts my great-grandparent's lives in perspective for me in that way.  I am told that it was taken shortly after they were married, and it is the closest thing our family has to a wedding photograph of the young 20-year-old bride Ilona and her new husband, 25-year-old Ferencz.

I was thrilled to be able to view microfilmed copies of the civil marriage registry from the town of Legrad where my great-grandparents were married.  Legrad is located today within northern Croatian on the Hungarian border.  At the time of Ferencz and Ilona's wedding, the village was part of Zala County, Hungary, so the civil records were written in the Hungarian language.

Ferencz and Ilona were both born and raised in this area - Ferencz in Donja Dubrava (formerly known as Alsó-Domború) and Legrad; Ilona in Legrad.  They began their life together as a married couple one-hundred-and-five years ago in Legrad's village church.  The Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Legrad (Župa Presvetog Trojstva), a beautiful late-Baroque one-nave parish church, was built around 1780.

A postcard of Legrad's Holy Trinity Catholic Church, c. early 20th-century

Legrad's Holy Trinity Catholic Church today

(Photo courtesy Filip Lucin)

You can see a small portion of the civil marriage registry listing the names of the bride and groom below.  See the top right on the image for Ujlaki Ferencz and Benczey Ilona (the Hungarian spelling of the bride's maiden name). Below the bride's maiden name is her married name Ujlaki Ferenczne. This means Mrs. Ferencz Ujlaki. (It is the name under which she is listed on the S. S. Carmania's ship manifest - and the reason that I had difficulty finding her listed at first.) On the marriage registry, also notice the seal of Legrad in the bottom right corner and the Hungarian crests in the background.

More than likely it was a cold winter day in Legrad when Ferencz and Ilona were married 105 years ago.  They were married for 34 years until his untimely death at age sixty.

A happy 105th wedding anniversary to my great-grandparents this Valentine's Day!  May the memories of their lives and marriage live on in the hearts of their descendants for another century.

This article has been submitted to the Valentine edition of footnoteMaven's Smile for the Camera carnival.  Visit her Shades of the Departed blog for more "valentine" photographs.

Sources:

Photograph of Legrad's Holy Trinity Catholic Church today courtesy of Filip Lucin.  Special thanks to Filip for the permission to use this great photograph and others in his collection.  Visit his Croatian language blog for more.

Map of Croatia thanks to www.legrad.blog.hr.

Hungary. Zala County. Legrad, Házasultak 1895-1906 from series Állami anyakönyvek, 1895-1919 (Civil registration - births, marriages, deaths - for Légrád, Zala, Hungary). Anyakönyvi Hivatal, Légrád, Zala County, Hungary, Ferencz Ujlaki-Ilona Benczey; FHL VAULT INTL Film 1791809 Item 1. 

The best of 2009: 100 Years in America iGene Awards

It's that time of year again...

...time for the 3rd annual Academy of Genealogy and Family History iGene Awards at Jasia's Carnival of Genealogy! As the author of 100 Years in America I have chosen some of my favorites from the blog articles published here over the past year and awarded them "prizes" in various categories.

A selection of 100 Years in America's "best of 2009" would not be complete without a mention of the newest little addition to our family.  He is my constant companion this year (24 hours a day) and could easily be selected for "Best Photograph" or "Best Biography" - he's quite a handsome and talented little fellow.  However, since this blog is primarily about my ancestors and not my descendants, he won't qualify here.  You can, however, read about his arrival at:

Announcing the smallest leaf on my family tree...

 

Now, without any further delay, are the 100 Years in America iGene Awards for best articles of 2009.

(Drumroll, please...)

Best Picture Award

Best old family photo that appeared on this blog

I wish I'd been invited to this wedding...

"Oh, what a picture! Thanks for sharing it!" ~ Jutka, The Long Journey to Home and Vonmetz 

"It sure looks like a great time to me! I wish I had been invited..." ~ Taylortales Genealogy

This treasure of a photograph resided in my great-grandmother's collection.  Presumably a group photograph taken of the wedding of one of my distant cousins, it is a visual reminder to me of the connection my branch of the family has to its roots in Hungary and Croatia.  When I look at this photo I can just imagine the sounds of those native languages in the midst of the lively wedding celebration.

Best Screen Play

The family story that would make the best movie

Ferencz Ujlaki and the trip he didn't take: Part 1, 

Ferencz Ujlaki and the trip he didn't take: Part 2 and

In search of Stefan/Stephanus/Stjepan S.

“This is a fascinating research story about trying to find out exactly when Lisa’s great-grandfather came to America. Donna found the answer after Lisa’s post - see her comment! Well done by a group collaborating with each other!” ~ Randy Seaver, Genea-Musings, Best of the Genea-Blogs February 1-7, 2009

"What an interesting story!" ~ Cheryl Fleming Palmer, Heritage Happens

"Such a story in my family would have been the stuff that legends are made out of... I can honestly say I've never seen a 'not on board' before." ~ Donna Pointkouski, What's Past is Prologue

I was thrilled to discover the 1906 ship manifest listing my great-grandfather's name thanks to the help of a fellow genealogist.  A closer look at the document, however, revealed some information that I wasn't expecting.  Read my series of articles about my great-grandfather Ferencz Ujlaki's journey to America to learn more about the mystery of his time as a "passenger" on the S.S. Kroonland and to gain some tips for researching your own immigrant ancestors.  (Thanks to Jennifer Trahan of Jennifer's Genealogy Blog and Donna Pointkouski of What's Past is Prologue for their help in this search for records relating to my great-grandfather's trip to America.)

Best Documentary

The best informational article about a place, thing, or event involving my family's history

Ilona's emigration: The one hundred year anniversary and

America at last! Ilona's arrival at Ellis Island, 1909

"A beautifully written and eye opening article, Lisa. Terrific!" ~ Jasia, Creative Gene

"...moving and well written... I think many Americans do not realize what an ordeal their ancestors endured when they crossed the oceans to this country." ~ Bill West, West in New England

"An amazing post!! Very well written!! Your Great Grandmother's experiences would make a great book-so interesting. What a strong woman she was to make the trip-and hope for a better future for her son." ~ Tipper, Blind Pig and The Acorn

"Lisa, how I love to read your work!  You make me feel so guilty for ever complaining when our ancestors had such a difficult life and rarely complained." ~ footnoteMaven

It was only fitting that a blog entitled 100 Years in America would commemorate the 100th anniversaries of the emigration (departure from Hungary) and immigration (arrival in the United States) of the author's great-grandmother in a special way.  This two-part series, each one posted on the respective anniversary date, tells the story of the journey of 24-year-old Ilona (Bence) Ujlaki and her young son, Ferencz.  It is a tale with elements shared by many an early 20th-century American immigrant woman: the "good-bye" to homeland and family; the journey by train and ship; and the arrival in the new country.  Ilona's journey, however, had additional trials, including the hospitalization of her son at Ellis Island.  Read this series to get a glimpse into Ilona's story and to learn more about the experiences of many other women who arrived in America a century ago.

Best Biography

The best biographical article

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

"Thank you for sharing your brick wall - it's an interesting mystery.  You with your Toth Istvan and me with my Lizzie Smith - the curse of common names." ~ Greta Koehl, Greta's Genealogy

It is ironic that I would choose an article about the great-grandparent that I know the least about for this "biography" award, but the story of István/Steven Tóth as I know it is one of interesting twists and turns, even though I have much more to learn about his life.  Born in Mezőkeresztes, Hungary in 1874, he later immigrated to America, moving his family to New Jersey and then to Massachusetts. He disappears from the family several times according to records I've found, making a final departure sometime during the 1920s, it seems.  Much of my great-grandfather's life story is a mystery to me.  Sadly, I never had the chance to meet him and have not even been able to learn the details of his death, yet I have been able to put together a chronology of the early part of his life that I hope will help me to eventually learn the rest of his story.

Special Mention

 One more item of note

100 Years in America the Beautiful

"What a wonderful piece you have written!" ~ Jean Duncan, Forget Me Knots

"Genea-smacked by your love song...what a great work of heart." ~ Randy Seaver, Genea-Musings

This is my own family's story written as a parody of Katharine Lee Bates' famous song America the Beautiful.  The stories of my ancestors inspire me often.  In this case, I felt moved to put the story of my family tree into song in response to a challenge by Bill West of West in New England. I hope you'll enjoy reading my version of the song, and that you might try singing along!

Wordless Wednesday: St. Sylvester's, Staten Island, NY

This vintage postcard of Staten Island's St. Sylvester Catholic Church is housed in the New York Public Library's Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy and is also viewable online at the NYPL Digital Gallery.  It reads:

Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto of St. Sylvester's Church Concord, S.I. Rev. B.H. Clark, [Rector]

Source:
"Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto of St. Sylvester's Church Concord, S.I. Rev. B.H. Clark, [Rector]." NYPL Digital Gallery. Web. 3 Feb 2010. http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=140234&imageID=104648&total=71&num=40&parent_id=448914&word=&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&imgs=20&pos=45&snum=&e=w#_seemore