The Slovak Yankee

Alžbeta (Tomeček) Chodur-Janovych Dolinska ca. 1816-1870

The next two women have fathers but can't be properly placed in the correct family.  This is a case where all the names are too common.  

The baptism of Jan (in Latin as Joannes) Chodur-Janowych on 22 September 1838 at Vrbovce shows his parents are Paullus et uxor Elisabetha Tomecsek.  This record agrees with the marriage at the same place on 29 September 1834 [in Latin] of: honestus juvenis paulus, Joannis Chodur coloni in vico Choduri uniquentem filius sponsa virgo Elisabetha, Joannis Tomascek in vivi v Tomscesku filia 18 annorum. Translation: the [male] youth Paul, the only son of John Chodur residing in this city and his spouse, the maiden Elizabeth, daughter of John Tomecek, also a resident, aged 18 years.

So we have an Elizabeth born about 1816, daughter of Jan.  However, there are a number of Elizabeths born to Jans at that time period.  One possibility is the Elizabeth born on 9 February 1820 and who died on 20 August 1870, daughter of Jan Tomeček and Anna Petrakova/Petracka alias Kutalkova.  The last couple were married on 19 July 1807.  This came from a report that the Bratislava Archives did for a cousin of mine who shares this line.  However, 14 is really, really, on the young side for marriage.  I could buy 16, but not 14.  And later, I found out it didn't agree with the census.

The 1869 census in Vrbovce (FHL Film # 2192677) for this couple has the following:

Pavel Janovich Dolinsky, b. 1815, ženatý, rolnik

Manželka, Beta, b. 1809, vydatá [wife]

syn Jan b. 1839, ženatý [son]

manželka Anna, b. 1849, vydatá [his wife]

druty syn Pavel, b. 1842 [second son]

treti syn Jura, b. 1856 [third son]

So, her marriage record says she was 18 (b. ca. 1816), but the census makes her seven years more than that.  His (Paul's) age is closer to the 1817 baptism I have for him.  In any case, we know her father's name.  So she's half way there.

Katharina (Poliak) Malek[ova] ca. 1830-after 1869/1878

On the baptism record of Susanna Malek on 23 November 1852 at Myjava, her parents are given as Jann Malek and Kater. Polak, with godparents Daniel Sadlec and Katheryna Ranant.  This baptism is from the Slovak Lutheran (Evangelium) church.  However there is no marriage for this couple at Myjava or Tura Luka.  This couple appears in the 1869 census at Myjava [FHL Film #2187396] as:

Name, Birth Year, Church, Marital Status, Profession 

Jan Malek, born 1801, Ev. Av., ženatý, rolnik. [protestant, married, tenant farmer]

žena, Katherina Polák, born 1814 [wife]

Anna, dcéra, born 1843 [daughter] [cross out in record]

Katerina, dcéra, born 1852, vydatá [married, ostensibly to Daniel]

Daniel Polák, muŕ [??] Katherina, b. 1840, ženatý

Zuzanna, dcéra, born 1853, slobodá [single]

Alžbeta, dcéra, born 1858, slobodá [single]

Now, I don't speak or read Slovak. That was my late grandmother's job.  So, I do everything with a dictionary.  As we can also see, census reports are f**ked up no matter what country you find yourself in.  The birth years of Jan and Katherina seem to be off by a generation.  I have Jan baptized at Myjava on 24 February 1827, son of Jan and Anna (Galik) Malek.  In any case, without a marriage or death record naming her parents, there is no corresponding baptism for Katharina.  It should be noted that Susanna's daughter, Kristina's baptism has as godparents Katherina Malek and Stefan Polak in 1878.  This may well be she again.  I tried trolling through the Myjava death records on microfilm, but the town was much larger than I anticipated and I could hardly get through a few years in several hours.

So, for now, this is the only triple great grandparent for whom I lack both parents.   Of course, if the dates in the census are correct, then I have the wrong parents for Jan and need to rethink this whole part of my ancestry.

Triple Greats: Followup Notes

If you are wondering why the year 1869 is so prominent in the Slovak part of my ancestry, it is due to the 1869 Hungarian census.  The Kingdom of Hungary included that which we today call the Slovak Republic and the villages from which my Slovak ancestors came.  This census has been filmed by the LDS Family History Library and is available there and its satellite research centers.  It took three trips to Salt Lake City, but I located all my ancestors in that census, so family members are either alive or not as of that date.

That goes along with the fact that the Archives in Bratislava had indexed birth and marriage indexes but not the death indexes for villages.  So, I've never searched for death records for most of my Slovak ancestors.  That's a project that is about to happen since the LDS people have been filming those church records in Slovakia slowly but surely.  They decided to film east to west.  Of course, my ancestors lived in the extreme west on the border of Moravia.  Myjava is done and available and now I see so is Tura Luka and Sobotiste.  Those will be ordered next.  Vrbovce is the last one I'll need.  

Also a note on names.  Elizabeth in Slovak is Alžbeta.  In German it is Elisabeth.  In Latin it is Elisabeth as well.  So I noted that when the name was in Latin, I translated it as Elisabeth and when in Slovak I kept it as Alžbeta. However, since all of this was done in four parts (for my four Slovak great-grandparents), I was never consistent when entering the name.  They are the same name.  Same thing for Paul/Pavel or Jan/John/Joannes, etc.