The Slovak Yankee

Siblings' XY Line`

Both Michael and I have sisters whose XY lines are opposite to ours.  Whereas our XY lines  end in 18th century Scotland and 16th century  France our sisters are in Slovakia and Ireland.

1. Paul John Hollick 1937-2017
2. Susan Dolinsky 1909-1994
3. Pavel Chodur Dolinsky 1877-1937
4. Anna Valuch-Malarik 1849-1921
5. Jan Valuch-Malarik 1822-1881
6. Anna Chalupka c. 1800-

With more work this line can go back two or three more generations.

1. Edmund Berrigan Clark 1921-2003
2. Ruth Berrigan 1896-1995
3. Edmund Berrigan 1863-1939
4. Mary Haberlin 1835-1916
5. Michael Haberlin c. 1810-

Also with some work this line can go back another generation or two.

 

My Patrilineal Line

My patrilineal line runs for 300 years and might go back even further if I tried mining the early Catholic parish records for Tura Luka. I have been unsuccessful in finding death records.  The names Jan and Pavel are far too common and there's no extraneous information to delineate one man of the same name from another. 

1. Martin Edward Hollick
2. Paul John Hollick 1937-2017
3. Paul Hollick (Jr.) 1908-1983
4. Pavel (Paul) Holic 1860-1911
5. Matej (Matthias) Holic 1815-1863
6. Jan (John) Holic 1786-
7. Pavel (Paul) Holic 1763-
8. Jan (John) Holic 1730-
9. Juraj (George) Holic c. 1700-

 

Slovak Citizenship Update

Well, that was a fast no.

It seems that Slovak citizenship is based on citizenship or residency in either the Slovak Republic or its predecessor Czechoslovakia.  Czechoslovakia was formed in 1919.  All my ancestors (my 4 paternal great grandparents) were born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1860, 1877, 1878  and 1883.  And they all left the Empire before 1901.  Therefore, none were residents of Czechoslovakia.  They are too old for this particular formula.

Ironically, three of my great-great-grandmothers lived to be citizens of Czechoslovakia dying in 1921, 1923, and 1931.  The helpful agent said we could make an argument that they passed their citizenship  onto their children, but that seemed like a lot of work.

So, no new citizenship for me.  I am an all-American boy.

 

Slovak Citizenship

As of April 1. 2022, the Slovak government altered their citizenship rules.  Now you can gain citizenship by descent if you have a great-grandparent born in (what is now) Slovakia and they waived the  language requirement. 

So as an English speaker I can now gain Slovak citizenship since I have four great-grandparents born in Slovakia.  That would mean a Slovak passport and instant European Union citizenship.  I could live, visa free, in any EU country (such as France, Italy or Portugal).

I am sincerely looking into this possibility.  I already possess the paperwork to prove my descent so  applying won't be hard.

 

Tura Luka is no more

I am having a delightful email exchange with someone working with Slovak records.  In that exchange I wondered what I could be doing today to work  on my Slovak ancestry.  I went to the Familysearch.org site and went to their catalog to search Tura Luka.  There is a note that Tura Luka is now part of Myjava (as of 1980).  This is true.  I've been there and Tura Luka is no longer an independent village but a neighborhood  of Myjava.

But historically it was an independent village.  And the records should reflect that.  I looked at the Myjava records and none were labeled as being Tura Luka.  I searched by film number (a Tura Luka film number) and see it is now classified as Myjava.

I'm not sure why the people at the Family History Library have done this.  I wouldn't know where to start today if I were starting today.  I think this is a terrible mistake.

I know I was the first one to use the Tura Luka microfilm roles in  Salt Lake City because I had to have them called back from the offsite vault.  In fact all four villages had to be called back.

I'm so glad I did this research 20 years ago.

Triple Greats Updated

32 Jan HOLIC. Born in Jan 1786 in Tura Luka, Slovakia.

One Jan Holic died aged 69, 1 May 1851 (no parents, spouse), p. 115

One Jan Holic died aged 72, 1 Aug 1853 (no parents, spouse), p. 129

Both Umrtia (Deaths) 1849-1863, FHL #2431382

Need to check deaths pre 1849

On 21 Jan 1811 when Jan was 25, he married Alzbeta FUSEK in Tura Luka, Slovakia.¹⁵

33 Alzbeta FUSEK. Born in Feb 1782 in Tura Luka, Slovakia. Alzbeta died bef 1849; she was 66.

Baptism notes parents as Mathias Fuzeh and Anna

34 Jan SIMEK. Born in Nov 1800 in Tura Luka, Slovakia. Jan died in Tura Luka, Slovakia, on 5 May 1879; he was 78.⁴⁶

Baptism notes parents as Paulo Simek and Judith Pabyar

1869 Hungarian census in Tura Luka, Nitra (LDS #2192674)

On 5 Nov 1820 when Jan was 20, he married Kristina HOLIC in Tura Luka, Slovakia.¹⁵

35 Kristina HOLIC. Born in Nov 1800 in Tura Luka, Slovakia. Kristina died bef 1855; she was 54.

Must die between 1845 (birth of son Pavel) and say 1855, the second marriage of husband.

36 Jan MICHALEC Jr. Born in May 1822 in Myjava, Slovakia. Jan died aft 31 Dec 1879; he was 57.

1869 Hungarian Census for Myjava, Nitra (LDS #2189396)

Household #1243 in Myjava

On 21 Nov 1843 when Jan was 21, he married Alzbeta USSAK in Myjava, Slovakia.¹⁸

37 Alzbeta USSAK. Born in Sep 1824 in Myjava, Slovakia. Alzbeta died in Myjava, Slovakia, on 14 Sep 1886; she was 62.⁴⁷

1869 Hungarian Census for Myjava, Nitra (LDS #2189396)

38 Jan MALEK Jr. Born in Sep 1801 in Myjava, Slovakia. Jan died in Myjava, Slovakia, on 31 Mar 1877; he was 75.⁴⁸ Buried on 2 Apr 1877 in Myjava, Slovakia.

1869 Hungarian Census for Myjava, Nitra (LDS #2189396)

“Joannes Joanis Malek and Catherine Marek” Michael Zima was “Kofztelnenfis”

Household #1189 in Myjava in 1869; #1188 in Myjava in 1873

bef 1843 when Jan was 41, he married Katharina POLAK.

39 Katharina POLAK. Born in Nov 1813 in Myjava, Slovakia. At the age of <1, Katharina was baptized in Myjava, Slovakia, on 25 Nov 1813.⁴⁹ Katharina died in Myjava, Slovakia, on 14 Apr 1879; she was 65.⁴⁸ Buried on 15 Apr 1879 in Myjava, Slovakia.

1869 Hungarian Census for Myjava, Nitra (LDS #2189396)

40 Pavel CHODUR-DOLINSKY. Born on 9 Jan 1817 in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.⁵⁰ Pavel died in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary, on 26 Apr 1891; he was 74.⁵¹

1869 Hungarian census in Vrbovce, Nitra (LDS#2192677)

Household #523 in Vrbovce

aged 74 1/4 at death

On 29 Sep 1834 when Pavel was 17, he married Alzbeta TOMECEK in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.⁵²

41 Alzbeta TOMECEK. Born on 4 Oct 1814 in Vrbovce, Slovakia.⁵³ Alzbeta died in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary, on 20 Aug 1870; she was 55.⁵⁴

1869 Hungarian census in Vrbovce, Nitra (LDS#2192677)

Her age is given in three places: On her marriage record she states her age as 18 (b. 1816). On her death record her age is given as 56 (b. 1814). The outlier is the 1869 census where her birth year is given as 1809. Considering her third son on that census, specifically noted as so, was born in 1856, she would have been 47, not impossible, but improbable.

She is consistently given as a daughter of a Jan, and this identification matches the best.

42 Jan VALUCH-MALARIK. Born on 26 Dec 1822 in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.⁵⁵ Jan died in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary, on 12 Jun 1881; he was 58.⁵⁶

House Number 578 in Vrbovce

In the 1869 census, house #578 LDS Film #2192677

Birth year given as 1822 in census. Age at marriage given as 22 (b. 1826)

Age at death 58 1/2 which matches the Dec 1822 entry perfectly.

On 31 Jan 1848 when Jan was 25, he married Alzbeta VALUCH in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.⁵⁷

43 Alzbeta VALUCH. Born on 9 Nov 1831 in Vrbovce, Slovakia.⁵⁸ Alzbeta died aft 1895; she was 63.

In the 1869 census, house #578 LDS Film #2192677

age at marriage 18 (b. 1830)

age on census b. 1825

44 Pavel KRISTOFIK. Born abt 1817 in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary. Pavel died in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary, on 25 Jan 1877; he was 60.⁵⁹

Death certificate of son (PA VR's) names father as Jan; Slovak archives gives Pavel.

1869 Hungarian Census for Castkov, LDS Film #2190099, Item 1

Household Number 106 in Castkov.

On 20 Nov 1837 when Pavel was 20, he married Anna PLESA in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.³⁵

45 Anna PLESA. Born abt 1819 in Vrbovce, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary. Anna died in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary, on 8 Mar 1886; she was 67.⁶⁰

Death certificate of son (PA VR's) gives her name as Anna Malek; Slovak Archives gives name as Plesova.

1869 Hungarian Census for Castkov, LDS Film #2190099, Item 1

46 Juraj (George) BALAZ Jr. Born on 17 Oct 1828 in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.³⁵ Juraj (George) died aft 1869; he was 40.

Name from daughter's death certificate

1869 Hungarian Census for Castkov, LDS Film #2190099, Item 1

Household #125 in Castkov

On 21 Feb 1848 when Juraj (George) was 19, he married Kristina SIFEL in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary.³⁵

47 Kristina SIFEL. Born abt 1827. Kristina died in Sobotiste, Slovakia, Austria-Hungary, on 15 May 1864; she was 37.⁶¹

Name from daughter's death certificate "Kristina rod. Sifelova"

1869 Hungarian Census for Castkov, LDS Film #2190099, Item 1

48 Luther HALE PINKHAM. Born on 16 Jun 1815 in Alton, Belknap, New Hampshire. Luther HALE died in Milton, Strafford Co., New Hampshire, on 27 Oct 1873; he was 58.³⁸

On 27 Apr 1840 when Luther HALE was 24, he married Mary Chamberlain WALLACE in New Durham, Stratford, New Hampshire.³⁸

49 Mary Chamberlain WALLACE. Born abt 1814 in Moultonborough, Carroll, New Hampshire. Mary Chamberlain died in New Durham, Stratford, New Hampshire, on 22 Jan 1866; she was 52.

50 Benjamin WINGATE HURD. Born in Jun 1824 in Rochester, Strafford Co., New Hampshire. Benjamin WINGATE died in Quindaro Twnship, Wynadotte, Kansas, on 12 Mar 1904; he was 79.⁶² Buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Kansas City, KS.

On 31 Dec 1846 when Benjamin WINGATE was 22, he married Abiah RUSSELL LEARNED in Holliston, Massachusetts.^63,64

51 Abiah RUSSELL LEARNED. Born on 5 Jun 1830 in Weld, Franklin, Maine.⁶⁵ Abiah RUSSELL died in Corinna, Penobscot, Maine, on 5 Jan 1926; she was 95.⁶ Buried in Weld, Franklin, Maine.

52 John KINMOND. Born on 24 Feb 1814 in Liff, Benvie, Invergowrie, Scotland. John died in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 6 Mar 1850; he was 36.⁶⁶

On 19 Feb 1837 when John was 22, he married Marjory MILNE in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland.⁶⁷

53 Marjory MILNE. Born on 24 Jun 1817 in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland.⁶⁸ Marjory died in Westbrook, Cumberland, Maine, on 19 Apr 1891; she was 73.⁶⁹ Buried in Woodlawn Cem., Westbrook, Maine.

Research: "Westbrook, Maine Cemeteries" by Karen Sherman Ketover (Heritage Books, Bowie, MD, 1996)

54 James YOUNG. Born abt 1813 in Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland. James died in Brechin, Scotland, on 4 Oct 1888; he was 75.⁷⁰

On 24 Jun 1836 when James was 23, he married Anne ARCHIBALD in Brechin, Forfar, Scotland.⁴¹

55 Anne ARCHIBALD. Born on 16 Apr 1807 in Lethnot, Forfarshire, Scotland.⁷¹ Anne died in Brechin, Forfar, Scotland, on 3 Dec 1893; she was 86.⁷²

56 Samuel PRATT Jr. Born on 15 Feb 1818 in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, Canada. Samuel died in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 19 Dec 1896; he was 78.

On 29 Jan 1842 when Samuel was 23, he married Rebecca Denny THOMPSON in Londonderry, Nova Scotia, Canada.⁷³

57 Rebecca Denny THOMPSON. Born on 1 Oct 1819 in Londonderry, Nova Scotia, Canada.⁴² Rebecca Denny died in Westbrook, Maine, on 24 Mar 1901; she was 81.^6,74 Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Westbrook, Maine.⁷⁵

58 Thomas STACK. Born in Dec 1818 in County Cork, Ireland. Thomas died in Westbrook, Cumberland Co., Maine, on 3 May 1899; he was 80.⁶ Buried on 5 May 1899 in St. Hyacinthe's, Westbrook, Maine.⁷⁶

On 27 Jun 1846 when Thomas was 27, he married Abigail CODY in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.⁷⁷

59 Abigail CODY. Born on 22 Jan 1821 in Lisgoold, Cork, Ireland.⁷⁸ Abigail died in Westbrook, Cumberland Co., Maine, on 6 Jan 1888; she was 66.⁷⁹ Buried on 8 Jan 1888 in St. Hyacinthe's, Westbrook, Maine.⁷⁶

60 William T. QUIGLEY. Born in 1827 in Londonderry, Ireland. William T. died in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada, on 31 Jul 1895; he was 68.⁸⁰ Buried in Sussex Presbyterian Cemetery.

On 29 Jul 1847 when William T. was 20, he married Eliza KILLEN in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada.⁸¹

61 Eliza KILLEN. Born abt 1831 in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada. Eliza died in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada, abt 1863/1864; she was 32.

62 James SMITH Jr. Born on 8 Apr 1835 in Alma, New Brunswick, Canada. James died in Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, on 17 Sep 1904; he was 69.⁸² Buried in Beverly Cem.

On 17 Nov 1859 when James was 24, he married Amy Ann CLEVELAND in Alma, New Brunswick, Canada.⁸³

63 Amy Ann CLEVELAND. Born on 26 Jun 1840 in Alma, New Brunswick, Canada. Amy Ann died in Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, on 10 Dec 1911; she was 71.⁸⁴ Buried in Beverly Cem.

 

Juraj Balaz b. 1828, died after 1869

Juraj (or George in English or Georgius in Latin) Balaz is the name of my great-great-great-grandfather.  I was working out his ancestry and as I am wont to do, I googled his name to see who might be working on him.  This has never worked for my Slovak genealogy but I keep trying.  Well, I can't google Juraj Balaz for genealogy because someone of that name in Slovakia is a famous footballer.  All the hits are for him.  Is he a cousin perhaps?  Who knows.

This Juraj Balaz is the son of another Juraj Balaz and Elisabetha Siska.  He may be the grandson of another Juraj Balaz and Catherina Babrak of Vrbovce.  I still need to explore the Vrbovce and Sobotiste church records for these people.

 

Further Thoughts on Slovak Genealogy

We all descend from the same people over and over.  This is especially so when your families come from small villages that are contiguous as mine do in Slovakia. So it's not surprising that I have two Holic lines and two Szowiss lines neither of which I can connect to a single ancestor.  You see all my Slovak genealogy is original research.  I did the research myself.  Whereas in my New England genealogy, two of my great-great-grandparents appear in books.  It's too bad that I can't simply go to a Slovak genealogical library and look up some of my families in books and get lines that way.  But Europeans seldom do genealogy like Americans do.  We are all from some place else (except Native Americans).  Whereas Slovaks have been Slovaks for 1,000 years.  Britain does genealogy a lot because they are so class conscious.  But except for nobility, Europeans are not so concerned with genealogy.

I'd love to push my Slovak lines back into the 1600s.  But the original records just don't exist.  So I'm left with my great-grandmother Kristina have two great-grandmothers surnamed Szowiss, each fathered by a different man, Jan and Juraj (George).  Those men may be brothers both born about 1760.  That would make my great-great-grandparents, 3rd cousins.  Very possible.  Also, my great-grandfather Holic had two grandparents also named Holic.  I can't connect them either.  They peter out in the 1730s.  So disappointing.

I also may have pushed another Slovak line back a generation noting that they come from the neighboring village.  That would be interesting.  Again, a book on these people would be great.

 

Some Thoughts on Slovak Genealogy

Slovak genealogy represents half of my ancestry.  I've done a good job on it.  My father born in 1937 has ancestors in all lines back to 1750 in most cases.  How was this accomplished?  By knowing the four villages from which my great-grandparents emigrated and using the church records there to go back generation after generation.  I also used the 1869 Hungarian census.  That census provides the entire household, the name of the father, the relationships of everyone in the household to the father, religion and occupation.  It also provides the address (House number) for the village which is then used in church records.  There is an 1857 census as well but it does not cover the counties in which my ancestors lived.  I can only go back to about 1750 since my ancestors were protestants and the church records only start in the 1770s.  Before that they could be in the Catholic church records, but I have not checked.  Be it known that church records vary in language from Latin (oldest) to Hungarian to Slovak.

I killed off (i.e. found death records for) my eight great-great-grandparents.  There are one or two great-great-great-grandparents I've yet to kill off and with time, I could now do that online if I wish.  I wish there were more resources for biographical information for my Slovak ancestors such as military records.  After all, the Austrian empire was at war with Napoleon.  There was also the war of the Austrian succession. 

Mostly what the 1869 census tells me is that my ancestors were peasant farmers (plus one blacksmith).  So, any records of property won't help since they didn't own any.  This is not a big revelation, after if that had resources in Slovakia why did they emigrate to America?

I think I've done all I can do with that part of my ancestry.  It was interesting but not as fulfilling as my mother's side with all the biographical information I could obtain in English.

Tura Luka, Slovakia

I almost didn't get here.  It took me three tries.  In 1983 I came to what was then Czechoslovakia, but only saw Prague.  I had no idea where my ancestral home town was at that time.  In 2017 I had planned to visit Tura Luka as part of a five city tour of Central Europe.  But in Vienna, a bicyclist ran down Michael and gave him a compound fracture of the arm.  We spent a week in hospital during which time, and this is no joke, my father died.  So we returned to America on the next flight.

This time, 2019, was the charm.  We completed that ill-fated trip by finishing with the three cities that remained, Prague, Bratislava, and Krakow.  In Bratislava we rented a car and drove 1 1/2 hours to the countryside to see the four villages my paternal great-grandparents came from: Tura Luka (Holic), Myjava (Michaelez), Sobotiste (Kristofik), and Vrbovce (Chodur Dolinsky).  Now I knew three of the four villages from my grandmother, but not Tura Luka.  Today if I were researching it would take me a hour or less to discover the place.  It took several years before the advent of computers.  I remember having to wait for the 1920 census to be released to find my grandfather on it.  With the name of the town, I searched the unindexed 1910 U.S. Census for the Hollicks.  I found them spelled Hollitsch and my great-grandfather saying he had been in the country for ten years.  I then searched the shipping records for Ellis Island for all of 1900.  I started in January and almost gave up before finding the ship on 22 December 1900.  That record had the place of origin as Tura Luka.  Luckily my great-grandparents married in Slovakia, so it was easy to find that marriage record in Tura Luka and confirm that these were indeed my people.   But it was a lot of searching through microfilm at that time.

Tura Luka is now a suburb of larger Myjava.  We found the old Catholic church but not the Lutheran church.  It didn't seem poor but solidly middle class.  All the homes were modern and none looked to be over 100 years old, so certainly none that my great-grandfather lived in.  It was odd to think that if my great-grandfather didn't make the decision to come over, I might have been born there.  And for me into a communist system.

The rolling hills of Slovakia are beautiful.  This is an area, very close to to the border of Czechia.  It was very green and full of farms.  I'm glad I went.