Winter Wednesday Wedding: The 110th Anniversary of Ferencz & Ilona Ujlaki

On a cold Wednesday 110 years ago today 25-year-old Ferencz Ujlaki married his bride, 20-year-old Ilona Bence, in the Catholic church of a small Croatian village in Austria-Hungary.

Their life together would carry them to New York City where they would Americanize their names to Frank and Helen, raise six children, and leave a host of descendants.

Yesterday a cousin of mine and I (Hi, Ric!) worked to calculate the current count of just how many descendants Frank and Helen have as of this, their 110th anniversary. We are happy to report that - tada! - the number is actually more than 110!

In honor of this very special anniversary and in hopes that we, their descendants, will not forget the lives of Papa and Grammy Ulaky (as we now know them) and the sacrifices they made that altered the courses of so many of our own lives, I'd like to briefly share their story once again.

~

Ferencz and Ilona were born in different villages just across the Drava River from each other in what is now northern Croatia. At the time Donja Dubrava (formerly Alsodomború, where Ferencz was born in 1879) and Legrad (where Ilona was born in 1884) were considered part of Zala megye (Zala County), Austria-Hungary. Presently this area is in Croatia right on the border of modern Hungary. Read more about the fascinating history of their home villages in Međimurje: Meeting place of rivers and cultures.

Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Župa Presvetog Trojstva), Legrad's parish, was the home church of the Bence family. That is where Ferencz and Ilona married on February 15, 1905.

Their marriage record includes lots of information, including their birthdates and birthplaces, parents' names, occupations, etc. Both the bride's and groom's fathers are listed as földműves (farmers). Ferencz himself is listed as bognár: a wheelright. I was happy to see that the document has the original signatures of both the bride and the groom (see the right hand side of the photo below).

Within the first year of their marriage, by the fall of 1905, Ilona was expecting their first child. As one of the couple's daughters shared with me, Ferencz hastened his plans to immigrate to America before the baby was born: he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to bring himself to leave after his or her arrival. He left the port of Antwerp for New York on April 7, 1906. Baby Ferencz was born just a month later on May 9, 1906. Ilona and her baby stayed behind for almost three years. They left the port of Rijeka (Fiume) on February 13, 1909, joining Ferencz in New York City on March 2, 1909. Theirs was a difficult journey, but the small family was finally reunited.

Following their firstborn, Ferencz (later called Frankie), four daughters were born followed by another son. The girls - Ilona (Helene), Marie, Wilma, and Ethel - were born while the family lived in the Hungarian neighborhood of the lower East side of Manhattan. Their youngest child, Kasmir, was born after they moved to Staten Island into a home built by Frank with the help of friends.

Ferencz and Ilona's days were filled with the struggles of new immigrants trying to raise children, make a living, and somehow fit into the new culture in which they found themselves. Theirs was a difficult life, as I realized with even more clarity when I created a short timeline of her Ilona's sorrows over just a 33-year period. Helen lived to be 97. Sadly, Frank succumbed to tuberculosis at only age 60.

Their marriage had lasted only 34 years, yet today we celebrate the 110th anniversary of their union and the more than 110 descendants that are here today thanks to their love and sacrifice. Their wedding took place a day after February 14. That date has two special memorial celebrations in the Catholic Church: St. Valentine's Day (on which today we celebrate love) and the memorial of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the "apostles to the Slavs" who are known for bringing Christianity to the Slavic peoples (my Ujlaki and Bence ancestors included). The saints we celebrate on this day make it easy for me to remember the anniversary of my great-grandparents on February 15.

Happy 110th anniversary, Papa and Grammy!

Frank and Helen (Bence) Ujlaki

Marriage at a Glance

• Married: 15 February 1905 in Legrad, Austria-Hungary
• Children: Ferencz/Frankie (1906-1942), Ilona/Helene (1910-2009), Marie (1911-2011), Wilma (1913-2014), Ethel (1920-1943), Kasmir (1922-2006)
• Duration of Marriage: 34 years ending at Frank's death on 22 April 1939

Ferencz/Frank Ujlaki
1879-1939

Life at a Glance

• Name at birth: Ferencz Ujlaki
• Parents: Josip Ujlaki and Terezija Globlek
• Born: 17 March 1879 in Alsodomború (Donja Dubrava), Austria-Hungary
• Immigrated: Departed Antwerp aboard the S.S. Zeeland on 7 April 1906; arrived at Ellis Island in New York City on 19 April 1906
• Died: 22 April 1939 in Staten Island, NY at age 60
• Buried: St. Mary's Cemetery, Grasmere, Staten Island, NY

Ilona/ Helen (Bence) Ujlaki
1884-1981

Life at a Glance

• Name at birth: Ilona Bence
• Parents: Stjepan Bence (1857-1939) and Magdalena Bedenica (1860-1957)
• Born: 6 May 1884 in Alsodomború (Donja Dubrava), Austria-Hungary
• Siblings: Katarina (1882-1981), Adam (1888-1915)
• Immigrated: Departed Rijeka (Fiume) aboard the S.S. Carmania on 13 February 1909; arrived at Ellis Island in New York City on 2 March 1909
• Died:  15 September 1981 in Staten Island, NY at age 97
• Buried: St. Mary's Cemetery, Grasmere, Staten Island, NY

This article is included as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge organized by Amy Johnson Crow. The theme for Week 7, in which this article falls, is "Love". [Note: Hat tip to Donna Pointkouski of What's Past is Prologue for the summary format I've used at the end of this article.]

Five years of life in the Lower East Side: 1908-1913

It was five years ago that my interest was sparked by Jim Rasenberger's January 2008 Smithsonian Magazine article entitled "1908: The Year that Changed Everything".

As I wrote after reading:

"It was a banner year for the Wright Brothers and their flying 'aeroplane'.

It was the year that Henry Ford's Model T went into production and the year that General Motors was founded.

1908 saw the race to the North Pole, the automobile race from New York to Paris, and the race to liberate the housewife via electric irons and toasters.

It was a year of tremendous change for the world and for the nation that had seen the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's trek across the west only a century before.

1908. One-hundred years ago today.

Where was my family?"

It was a blog post that started a wave of responses. I had asked myself and my fellow genealogy bloggers the question: Where was your family in 1908? (You can read their responses here at Snapshots of the World Back in 1908.)

~

Five years have flown for me.

When I read Randy Seaver's latest Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge to write about the whereabouts of my ancestors one-hundred years ago in January 1913, I just had to find the time to do this exercise again. After all, this blog is called 100 Years in America!

In January 1908, my great-grandparents Ferencz and Ilona Ujlaki had been an ocean apart. He had immigrated to the U.S. and was trying to establish a new life for himself in New York before his wife and young son would join him. It would be another year before Ilona and the younger Ferencz would leave their native Legrad and make the ocean voyage from the port of Rijeka to New York City.

Fast forward five years to 1913. Much had changed for this little family. After arriving in March 1909, Ilona and her little one had been welcomed by Ferencz and settled into a tenement home in the Lower East Side of New York City. By January 1913, they probably already lived at 329 E. 16th Street, having moved a handful of blocks north from their home at 415 E. 5th Street.

You can read more about the neighborhood they lived in and the churches they attended at Disappearing Churches, Part 1: Manhattan's Immaculate Conception and Disappearing Churches, Part 2: Manhattan's St. Stephen of Hungary. Visit "To face whatever lies before us...": New York City disasters and the prayers of young mothers for a look at a tragic event that occurred in their neighborhood in 1911.

This map shows where the Ujlaky family resided at the time of the 1910 U.S. census (A) and the 1915 New York state census (B). They would remain living on E. 16th St. (although they moved to 431) until 1921.

The 1910 U.S. census shows the Ujlaky (misspelled Ujlakei) family of three living at 415 E. 5th Street. They are already using their Americanized first names. Young Frank is listed as four years old. Frank senior works as a "wheelright" in a "wagon house".

Ujlaky family at 415 E. 5th St., Manhattan in the 1910 U.S. census
(click to enlarge)

By December of 1913 the family had added three sisters and had moved north to 329 E. 16th Street, as shown in the 1915 New York state census below. Frank works as a "carriage maker".

Ujlaky family at 329 E. 16th St., Manhattan in the 1915 New York state census
(click to enlarge)

The closest photograph to January 1913 that I have of my great-grandparents is probably this wedding portrait. The bride Maria Gaspar is the cousin of my great-grandmother Ilona (now called Helen). Maria's wedding to Peter Gres must have been a beautiful celebration. My great-grandparents are seated and their two oldest children, Helene and Frankie, are standing at their sides. Someone else must have been holding baby Mitzi because she would definitely be born at the time of this wedding, but she does not appear in the portrait. My great-grandmother is either expecting or soon-to-be expecting her fourth child and third daughter Wilma.

Wedding of Peter and Maria (Gaspar) Gres, 1913

Disappearing Churches, Part 2: Manhattan's St. Stephen of Hungary

The entrance doors to the present-day
Church of St. Stephen of Hungary
(Photo by brooklynbred)

This is the second in a series of Disappearing Churches here at "100 Years in America". These articles have been written as part of the special Doors of Faith celebration in honor of the upcoming Year of Faith 2012-2013 proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. For more information, visit The Catholic Gene. 

It was the year 1909 when the family of three consisting of my great-grandparents and their young son (little Ferencz) were reunited at Ellis Island. It had been three years since Ilona’s husband Ferencz had left their home in the Croatian-speaking region of Austria-Hungary's Zala County. They had finally joined him in the United States, jumping right into their new life as residents of New York’s Lower East Side.

As it still is today, the neighborhood was a magnet for new immigrants, each nationality forming its own community within a particular section of city blocks. New immigrants like the Ujlaki family surely found comfort for their homesickness within the neighborhood where the languages, traditions and foods of their homeland were a part of everyday life.

The first St. Stephen of Hungary
Church on E. 14th Street

A central part of life for the Hungarian immigrant families was the Church of St. Stephen of Hungary. It was located at 420 East 14th Street, at the northern boundary of a series of city blocks that were predominantly a Hungarian neighborhood. The church was founded in 1902 by the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Society. It's first church building, formerly used by Episcopal and Presbyterian churches before the area became largely Catholic, was consecrated in 1905 by pastor Rev. Ladislaus Perenyi.

Lucky for Ferencz and Ilona Ujlaki, the Hungarian priest who became pastor in 1907 was from Nagykanizsa – a town that is today about an hour's drive from their home villages. Their families had made visits to his town. It must have been nice to have this connection with their pastor Rev. Louis Von Kovacs de Jardanhaza now that they were all in America and so far away from their homeland.

The Hungarian pastor had quite a distinguished history before his arrival at Manhattan's Church of St. Stephen of Hungary. According to a 1914 publication entitled The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. v. 1-3, Fr. Kovacs de Jardanhaza was "born in Nagykanizsa, Hungary in 1878 from an old noble family and graduated from the University of Hungary in 1899. He was in the Cathedral of Tamesvar, Hungary, with Bishop Dessiwffy for four years, and was then professor in Nagybeeskerek, Hungary. In 1904 he was a candidate for the Hungarian Parliament. He came to the United States in 1905 and until 1907 was rector of the Hungarians of Perth Amboy, N.J. He was decorated with the Cross of the German Knights by Prince Eugene of Hapsburg in 1907.” With a history like that I hope he didn't seem intimidating to his parishioners!

The Ujlaky family about 1915

By 1914, St. Stephen of Hungary had about 4,000 Hungarian Catholic parishioners, including my great-grandparents. By that year, the Ujlaki family had baptized three daughters at the church, and would continue to be active members for many years, even after the family and the church itself moved - in different directions.

As Hungarian immigrant families settled into their new lives in America and began to live more comfortably financially, they left the Lower East Side, and the church followed them. The Church of St. Stephen of Hungary moved uptown to the upper east side of Manhattan in Yorkville. The area from 75th Street to 83rd Street was becoming the center of Hungarian life and was the natural choice for the location of the new church.

By 1926, plans were underway for the building of a new Romanesque Revival church at 408 East 82nd Street. Construction began on St. Stephen's day: August 20, 1927. Today, the church remains at that address, and includes a rectory, school and community center. Designed by architect Emil Szendy, it is built of light brick and sandstone with an archway at the center for the entrance to the church. Below are photos of the church today, which still offers a weekly Hungarian language Mass. I love the striking stained glass window behind the altar depicting King Szent István (Hungarian for St. Stephen) kneeling at the feet of Mary and the infant Jesus.

The current St. Stephen of Hungary on 82nd Street was built in 1927
(The beautiful photographs of the interior are by Andrew 
of the Catholic Churches of Manhattan blog)

~

A few short years before the church itself moved, Ferencz and Ilona Ujlaki (now using their Americanized names Frank and Helen Ujlaky) had moved their family not north, but south. Probably in search of more rural surroundings like the villages in which they had been raised, they moved their family to Staten Island in 1921. Because it was closer to home, Holy Rosary became their new parish, yet they remained connected to the Church of St. Stephen of Hungary. Their teenage children attended youth activities with other young Catholics from Hungarian families at St. Stephen's.

One of the Ujlakys' daughters was a teenager when she met and was courted by a Hungarian-born young man from Massachusetts who was attending St. Stephen's while visiting his New York cousins. The Church of St. Stephen of Hungary had introduced the young couple, but Steve and Mitzi were married the following summer at Holy Rosary. He was 25 and she was 18. They were my grandparents.

~

This article is part of the "Doors of Faith" series focusing on our ancestors' Catholic parishes. Visit The Catholic Gene to learn how you can share photos and stories of your family's "Doors of Faith" in honor of the upcoming Year of Faith 2012-2013.

G is for Grammy's Gravestone

The couple whose portrait presides over this blog will be perpetually in their twenties as they oversee the articles I write here at 100 Years in America. This photograph, however, shows only one fleeting moment out of many moments, many days, many months and many years of their togetherness. Our gentlemen (Ferencz Ujlaki) lived to be sixty years old. Our sweet young woman went on to live to the ripe old age of 97.

I have done my best to share the stories of her life here at 100 Years in America. Born Ilona Bence in Legrad, Croatia (then part of Hungary) in 1884, she married Ferencz Ujlaki in 1905. Their move to America brought many changes, including some changes to their names. He became Frank, she became Helen, and their surname went from Ujlaki to Ujlaky and then finally to Ulaky in later generations.

By the time she passed away, our blog's patroness was the clear matriarch of the family. She had no peers in the family - she was mother, grandmother and great-grandmother - and everyone referred to her as Grammy Ulaky.

Still I couldn't help being surprised when I first visited the Ujlaky family cemetery plot and I read the inscriptions on the gravestone. There they were: Ethel, Frank Jr., Frank and.... Grammy. Ilona had changed her name to Helen in America, but by the time she passed away at age 97, she was no longer known by any other first name besides the endearing "Grammy". Since I am a genealogist, I was incredulous at my first sudden realization that her identifying first name was not on her gravestone. Then I realized that it was only fitting that the loved ones who knew her by the name Grammy would choose to place that sweet name at her final resting place.

The Ujlaky family gravestone is not only missing Grammy's first name (Helen),
but Ethel's birth year in incorrect. She was born in 1920.

D is for Donja Dubrava and the Drava River

No matter what continent or country our ancestors called home, many of them found that the river was life. Waterway, food source, center of community life... Many grand modern cities had their start as a small fishing community at the edge of a river.

The confluence of the Mura and Drava Rivers in northwestern Croatia (photo by Filip Lučin)

The little town of Donja Dubrava that my great-grandfather Ferencz Ujlaki came from never became a modern city, yet for centuries it has bustled with the busy-ness of a river's edge village.

"Donja Dubrava is an old crafts and trade centre at the east of Međimurje County in northwestern Croatia, at the meeting place of two grand rivers – the Mura and the Drava. This position, at the confluence of these great rivers, was an important natural factor that influenced the historical and geographical development of this trade city."

Donja Dubrava, Croatia from the air (photo by davorfiles)

The area has seen continuous settlement from as far back as the early stone age, including throughout the Roman period. The Croatian people first arrived in the 7th century, with the first mention of the town's name (as Uj Dombo) in the year 1446.

Though the maximum population (which occurred around 1910) only reached about 3,500 (there are about 2,300 residents today), the town has a proud heritage and a history book of its very own: Općina I Župa Donja Dubrava: Povijesno-geografska Monografija (The Municipality and Parish of Donja Dubrava: A Historical and Geographical Monograph), published in 2007 by Bartolić, Feletar, Feletar and Petrić.

According to the book, "Donja Dubrava developed into the most significant trading and crafts town in eastern Međimurje. The town served the central functions for the geographic region of eastern Međimurje, Legrad Podravina and the Zakan region in Hungary. Craft guilds were established, trade and hospitality developed and the town had a particular role in activities tied to the Drava River – milling, sieving for gold, fishing, boat trade and raft transport. From 1828 to 1940, the largest wood trading company operated in Donja Dubrava, transporting wood along the Drava from Pohorje to Osijek, Novi Sad, Belgrade and Smederevo. Agricultural activities, particularly the production of cereals and livestock breeding, were of great significance for the life and development of the town."

St. Margareta Catholic Church in Donja Dubrava, established in 1790 (photo by Filip Lučin)

It's location at the confluence of two rivers has often brought much concern to the town during times of flooding. According to Ivan Vecenaj-Tišlarov in his book To My Homeland, "The Drava has never been timid and humble... The history of continuous changes in the Drava River course are both interesting and tragic." In fact, the neighboring village of Legrad (from which my great-grandmother emigrated) was previously on the same side of the river as Donja Dubrava. A serious flood in 1710 caused the river to change its course and placed the town of Legrad on the other side! For more about that story, and the history of the Međimurje area, visit my article Međimurje: Meeting place of rivers and cultures.

 A monument in Donja Dubrava (photo by Filip Lučin)

I've written this article as part of the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge.  Follow me here at 100 Years in America as I try to keep up with the challenge to work through the alphabet while writing my family history. I'm way behind getting started, but here goes!

C is for Cars: The love of fine cars, it's in the genes!

It's not the kind of hereditary trait that I would ever be able to confirm with DNA testing. I've noticed for many years, however, that a love for fine automobiles runs in the Toth family.

Not to mention the many gems in more recent generations, Steve Toth was the owner of a number of humdingers. There was the 1956 convertible pink Cadillac that he bought used in 1957. His wife Mitzi surely enjoyed that car the most out of all of his vehicles, since she has always favored the color pink.

Back in 1943, when World War II was in full swing, Steve ordered a Fleetwood Cadillac. By the time his order was filled, four years had passed. He received his black Fleetwood Cadillac in 1947. (Here he is enjoying a "trunk-side view" from the Fleetwood with his young son Stephen.)

You may have read earlier about Steve's Reo Flying Cloud, the car that he owned during his courtship with Mitzi. They drove off to their honeymoon in style in that car in 1930.

My hunch that this love for fine cars was hereditary was confirmed one day a few years back when I found Steve's father's World War I draft card. István Tóth had arrived from Hungary only a decade or so earlier, and now used the name Steven Toth. Although I don't believe he served in World War I, along with every other male citizen of eligible age, he was required to report to the United States government and fill out the appropriate papers.

Steven's World War I draft registration (pictured below) indicates his occupation at the time. Only ten years after Henry Ford had begun producing his Model T, Steven Toth, according to the document, was working as "Repairer" in the "Boston and M. Car Shop" in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Another bit of circumstantial evidence? Or definitive proof? I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not this confirms the hereditary nature of this family's appreciation for fine automobiles.

This gene didn't seem to be as strong on the other side of the family - the Ujlaki branch. You see, Frank Ujlaki brought a car home to his family one day, more than likely sometime in the 1920's. In the process of introducing it to his wife and children, he somehow managed to plow into the fence with it. His wife Helen, concerned that the thing was too dangerous, made him take it back. He never owned another car again.

Frank did, however, work as a carpenter for many years. Part of the time he was a "wheelright" building wooden wheels. He also worked jobs buildling wagons and trucks out of timber. It took a lot of mathematical precision, talent and hard work to create the vehicles that he did. But I don't think his wife Helen would ever have let him drive them!



This article was originally published here at 100 Years in America in 2008. I've reposted it as part of the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge.  Follow me here at 100 Years in America as I try to keep up with the challenge to work through the alphabet while writing my family history. I'm way behind getting started, but here goes!

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. 

"Crossing": A poetic remembrance, 1909

Crossing
A poetic remembrance, 1909 
by Lisa

A young, new mother and her little son.
A village farm. A loving family.
A husband in a distant unknown land.
Her task: to leave and cross the massive sea.

Sad looks and words and tears from family.
Her mother’s broken heart in deepest prayer.
A bag or two, her child, and they must go.
A world to cross before arrival there.

Across the continent by train to shore,
the port looms large and daunting, and right then
a thought suddenly shakes her halting heart:
she’ll never see her home country again.

With husband waiting on the other side,
she and her young son step off of the land
and onto this new vessel of the sea –
but their place is below, so they descend.

In steerage – tossing, shifting, dark and damp –
below the deck they wait and count the days.
In such close quarters her young son takes ill.
She nurses him and counts the hours and prays.

The days pass slowly, painfully – eighteen –

of engine noise and air too stale to breathe.

And fever! Purgatory on the sea!

Her hope is for the day that they may leave.

Amidst her pain and suffering she finds

more travelers in similar despair.

Some countrymen whose ways and words she knows,

but many foreign tongues are from elsewhere.

She finds herself within a strange new world

and wonders where this voyage will yet lead.

Her strength and faith are rising, falling, while

the ship is tossed and pitched out on the sea.

How glorious – the day she hears the news

that land is near; departure eminent.

But joy is short-lived as this mother learns

the place where her ill baby will be sent.

In pain with measles, he must be confined.

Son and his mother forced to separate.

Her salty tears form oceans near her feet.

All she can do is pray and hope and wait.

Then finally the flood of trials departs

when mother, son – and father! – meet once more.

The sea of separation which they faced

is now behind them as they step ashore.

A young, new mother and her little son.

Her husband by her side in a new land.

This family steps into a new life

holding each other tightly by the hand.

© Lisa / Smallest Leaf Press

Written in memory of the transatlantic journey of twenty-four-year-old Ilona (Bence) Ujlaki and her two-year-old son Ferencz. They traveled by train from Legrad, Hungary to the port of Fiume, Hungary (now Rijeka, Croatia). Their third class (steerage) voyage on the S.S. Carmania to New York harbor lasted for eighteen days: from February 13 to March 2, 1909. While on board the ship, little Ferencz became ill with measles.  After the ship docked at Ellis Island, he was separated from his mother and hospitalized. After being reunited, Ilona and her son were able to meet their husband and father, the elder Ferencz, and begin their new life in New York City. Ilona, later to be known as Helen Ulaky, was my great-grandmother.

This poem has been submitted to the 89th edition of Jasia's Carnival of Genealogy whose topic is Ode to My Family's History featuring family history-focused poems. (Thanks to footnoteMaven for this edition's poster shown here).

Want to read more of my poetry?  Check out my parody of Katharine Lee Bates' America, The Beautiful: 100 Years in America the Beautiful, my limericks honoring my Irish immigrant ancestor entitled A poem for Patrick, or the little ditty I wrote to describe myself as an Irish family history blogger: A limerick for the love of Ireland.

Međimurje: Meeting place of rivers and cultures

This article originally appeared here at 100 Years in America on April 27, 2008. I've reposted it here in honor of Geography Awareness Week. It is also one of my favorite contributions to the Carnival of Genealogy, whose participants (including myself) have been reminiscing this week.

The land of Croatia is a crossroads. It has been since recorded history and will probably always remain so. Just look at its profile on a map: the crescent-shaped country looks as if it had been pressed at the center and pushed toward western Europe and up against the Mediterranean Sea. It has survived, packed densely with the strength and resilience of its people.

Perhaps one of the places in modern-day Croatia that has most played a role in history as a crossroads is the area from which my family emigrated. It is today's Međimurje county (Međimurska županija), an area within the Drava River basin in Croatia. Situated on the northernmost edge of Croatia, Međimurje county currently shares borders with both Slovenia and Hungary and is also very close to Austria. Its western border meets the foothills of the Alps while its eastern edge touches the Pannonian plains.

Over the centuries the area has been ruled by various different nation-states, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary (it was formerly part of Hungary's Zala county), and of course most recently, Yugoslavia. The music, cuisine and even the language of the area is rich with cultural influences from its neighbors, predominantly Hungary. Vinko Žganec, a contemporary of the well-known Bela Bartok, spent much of his life collecting and recording Croatian folk songs, including over 15,000 from the Međimurje area itself.

The crossroads of Međimurje has seen many travelers pass through, including Evliya Çelebi, the famous Ottoman traveler of the 17th century who mentioned the area in his books.

My great-grandparents Ferencz & Ilona (Bence) Ujlaki and their families were residents of the villages of Legrad and Donja Dubrava on the Eastern edge of today's Međimurje county. Today Donja Dubrava (once known as Alsódomboru) still lies in the county. Legrad was also once part of the county, but was "pushed" out to neighboring Koprivničko-križevačka county (Koprivničko-križevačka županija). The reason has an interesting story behind it.

The name Međimurje, taken from the words međi (between) and mor(j)e (sea), means "between the seas". The area is located at the confluence of the Drava and the Mura Rivers, thus it was named Međimurje.

The villages of Donja Dubrava and Legrad are very close to the actual confluence of the two rivers. On the map below you can view Donja Dubrava on the left and Legrad a little further to its southeast, across the Drava. (The Mura, not shown on the segment of the map below, lies just to the northeast.)


According to Ivan Ivan Vecenaj-Tišlarov in his book To My Homeland, "The Drava has never been timid and humble... The history of continuous changes in the Drava River course are both interesting and tragic. It has most affected the inhabitants of Legrad."

Legrad was once situated on the same side of the Drava as Donja Dubrava, but in 1710 the river changed its course after a flood and placed the village of Legrad to its south instead of its north. Since the river was considered the border, the county's border moved and as a result Legrad's legislative affiliation was changed because of natural causes. It is interesting to wonder what the residents of the time thought about the displacement of the town through this type of "divine geographic intervention".

The history of this part of the greater Podravina (Drava River basin) region in Croatia goes back to the Neolithic period (early Stone Age). Legrad itself is known for the 7th to 8th-century B.C. Thracian-Cimmerian archaeological discoveries. The Croats settled in the area shortly after the Romans: in the 7th century. Some of the first preserved written documents refering to the area where these two small villages now lie were written during the Middle Ages in 1232 about the Vizmic estate (Bistrica parish). The village of Donja Dubrava was first recorded by name in the year 1446 (as Uj Dombo).
The area was protected during the time of the Turkish invasions by the noblemen of the Croatian Zrinski family. Their success prevented the area from ever being conquered by the Turks, although surrounding areas succumbed during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Zrinski family castle and fortress, named Utvrda Novi Zrin, was a formidable sight in the 17th century to would-be invaders.


Lucic (or Lucius) and Blaeu's inclusion of the Map of Illyria below in the Atlas Maior of 1667 was dedicated to Croatian ban (viceroy or ruler) Petar Zrinski. The dedication begins as follows:

To the most illustrious and noble lord, Prince Peter of Zrin, the ban of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, hereditary ban of the Littoral, hereditary captain of the Legrad fortress and Medimurje peninsula...

Legrad and its neighbor Donja Dubrava (Alsódomboru) went on to continue as an important urban market area for many centuries, with industry centered on traditional craft-making, milling, lumbering, grain farming, livestock breeding, sieving for gold, fishing, and boat and raft trade. (You can see some of the beautiful traditional basket-weaving techniques from the local area still practiced today at Gondola.hr. (These baskets can be purchased in the United States through Hubert Company.)

By the time of the births of my great-grandparents in the late 19th-century, both villages had lost somewhat of their importance as a centerpoint for trade in the area, and had settled into a more quiet existence. The early 20th-century saw a period of high emigration and both villages remain small towns today. Donja Dubrava reached its peak population in 1910 with almost 3,500 people, and today has roughly 2,300 residents. Legrad today has about 2,700 residents.

Thanks to a current resident of Legrad I have some beautiful 2008 photos to share along with my own historical photos of the home village of my great-grandparents.
Legrad's Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Župa Presvetog Trojstva) was built around 1780 - a beautiful late-Baroque one-nave parish church. In the year 1790, Donja Dubrava received its own parish church - St. Margaret (Župa sv. Margarete dj. mč.) - after branching off from the old Bistrica parish in Donji Vidovec (Župa sv. Vida mč.). Unfortunately, Legrad's church suffered damage during World War II, but still stands and remains beautiful today.


Donja Dubrava is home to several statues dated 1757, including images of the Holy Trinity and St. Mary, athough I have no photos of these to share with you at this time. The park in Legrad's center square has been graced since the early 18th-century by a group of five columns, including one dedicated to the Holy Trinity and one to St. Florian, shown below.


I'm not sure about the date of origin of Legrad's school building, but I do know that my great-grandmother attended school there as a child in the 1890s. Below are two pictures of Legrad's school, taken about a century apart.
I hope you enjoyed this short history of Legrad, Donja Dubrava and the Medimurje region of Croatia. I'll leave you with a few images of the train station from which my great-grandparents left their home village for America and of the beautiful Drava River, source of sustenance, trial and inspiration to the Croatian people for centuries.


Author's notes:
This article is based on research that I have done about the history of the Međimurje area over a number of years. In addition to the links included within it, the information in this article was based on (but not limited to) the following sources. If you have any corrections or helpful additions to Međimurje: Meeting place of rivers and cultures, please contact me.

Sources of images:

• 2008 photos of Legrad from resident photographer (contact the author for more information)
• Historical photographs in possession of the author
• Images of Peter Zrinski and Legrad's fortress from Hrvatski Povijensni Portal's Utvrda Novi Zin webpage
• Map of counties of Croatia from Wikipedia's Međimurje County webpage
• Map of Croatia's northernmost counties, including confluence of the Drava & Mura Rivers from Avijacija Bez Granica
• Map of Illyria 1666 from Croatian History's Coat of Arms webpage

Other sources:

• Croatian National Tourist Board's Legrad webpage
• Croatian National Tourist Board's Prelog webpage
• EKO Legrad's Povijest Legrada (in Croatian)
• Ethnographic Museum Zagreb website
• Hrvatska Elektroprivreda's Novo Virje Hydroelectric Power Plant Environmental Impact Study
• Općine i Župe Donja Dubrava (The Municipality of the Parish of Donja Dubrava) by Zvonimir Bartolić, Dragutin Feletar, Petar Feletar, Vladimir Horvat, Ladislav Kranjec, Hrvoje Petrić, published by Meridijani, 2007. (English introduction)
• Triplex Confinium's Drava Valley Multiple Borderlands
• Wikipedia's Koprivnica-Križevci County webpage
• Wikipedia's Međimurje County webpage

This article was written for the 47th editon of the Carnival of Genealogy hosted by Jasia of Creative Gene. The topic, "A Place Called Home", focuses on the hometowns of our ancestors. Stop by for some other looks at the significant places in the stories of family historians like myself.