Saturday, October 09, 2010

My noble Tóth family of Tiszadob, Hungary

My Tóth family's nobility is old, and the family is very distinct. They were given their nobility in 1580 by King Rudolf I of Hungary, also Holy Roman Emperor and was from the house of Habsburg. It was granted to four (4) brothers: Imre (Emerich), Benedek (Benedict), Jakab (Jacob) and Ambrúzs (Ambrose). You can see my previous blog entry HERE containing their patent of nobility.

Currently, the only know line of Tóth's to be descendants of these four brothers, resided in Tiszadob, in Szabolcs megye, Hungary. They were living in Tiszadob as early as 1725, and sometime prior to that they were from the Külsõ-Szolnok megye area (now known as the Heves megye area). It's to the south-west of Tiszadob, and not all entirely that far.

The family began small, with a single known progenitor in 1725 being a Mihály Tóth. Through my research, he has two known sons:
*István Tóth (abt1709-1786)
*Mihály Tóth (abt1716-1794).

István's wife, known from death/burial records from Tiszadob, is an Erzsébet Csetneki (abt1721-1789). Csetneki is not a known family to have lived in Tiszadob around the time they would have married, so I've made the assumption that Erzsébet must have been from a neighboring village. Mihály's wife is unknown.

According to a 1750 document about the family, which can be found in the Lelesz convent archives in the old Zemplén county, it gives this very small and brief explanation of the family: "Tóth István, Mihály fia, és Mihály, István fia". This essentially means that István had a son named Mihály, and Mihály had a son named István. This helps.. a lot!

My direct paternal line of descent for my g-g-grandmother Eszter Tóth, ends with two Mihály Tóth's. They also used the additional name of Boros, to help distinguish them from other noble and non-noble Mihály Tóth's in the town. They would appear as "Boros Tóth Mihály". The eldest died in 1818 at the age of 66, estimated birth would be abt 1752. He fits perfectly to be the son of the above mentioned István, who had a son Mihály.. although he was allegedly born two years after the document was created. This is a problem. After conducting my Tiszadob researching (and I'm STILL conducting research in Tiszadob), I've come to the conclusion that my Mihály is either a namesake for his elder sibling that died young.. or his estimated age is an error on his death record. Around the time he died, Tiszadob was notorious with giving incorrect ages on marriage records.. so why couldn't that be the case for deaths as well? I believe that's the case.

The direct maternal line of descent of my g-g-grandmother Eszter Tóth is also a noble Tóth line from Tiszadob. Yes, her father and mother were cousins.. 4th cousins. As you're guessing, Eszter.. through her mother.. descends from Mihály, who had a son named István. István was born about 1736 and died 1798. He was married to an Erzsébet Porkoláb, another noble family from Tiszadob. She was born about 1741 and died in 1788. Through them, I descend from another Mihály born around the same time as Mihály Boros "Jr". I can safely assume that this line of descent is correct, since Mihály Boros "Sr" wouldn't have had two sons with the first name Mihály. This wasn't the von Reuss family of Germany, who named all their male children Heinrich in honor of Heinrich VI, Holy Roman Emperor... yes, every single one of them. Talk about a boring and probably difficult family tree. haha

I haven't found any other mentions of a Tóth family in Hungary descending from these four original brothers, other than my Tiszadob Tóth's. If you believe you may descend from these four brothers, please contact me with your research!

14 comments:

  1. My gramma was a Tóth either. She went to Brazil, São Paulo. A lot of information about Brigitte Tóth was lost. She was very rich on her town, her father was the burgomaster on her village, but all the information, but that was lost. Maybe I can add a piece of information to your own family history.
    Anyway, Servos!
    angela weiss

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  2. Hi Angela, Do you know where in Hungary your Tóth family is from? Tóth is an extremely common surname in Hungary.

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  3. Hello Nick,
    Gee! My Grammy was Brigitte Thót and she never spoke that much about her. She was tall, really tall. Black almond shaped eyes, dark skin, dark and straight hair. She used to tell me that her family was the noble decedents of the Great Khan Átila. I believe for she was not a Caucasian, but Oriental. I know nothing about her. I knew she was very wealth and had to take the ship to Brazil with her sister and cousin. They brought money enough to buy a house and turn the house into an inn. I have a rich heritage from her: I am stubborn, I cook very well, I never give up and I am very proud of my roots.
    best
    Angela

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  4. Hi Angela,
    Please give me details about your grandmother Brigitte Tóth, so I can try and help you. What was her birthday? Where was she born? When did she immigrate to Brazil? Do you know her parent's names? I need that kind of information.

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  5. Really good article. My last name is Toth also. I traced the village called Balsa where they came from in 1909. I dont think they were nobile though. I think they were peasants since most of the Hungarians who came in the early 1900s were peasants. I also traced my fathers mother family from a village in Slovakia(used to be Hungary and is still filled with Ethnic Magyars) where i visited and found church records going back to 1870s. Where did you find the really old history? Church Records?

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  6. Hi Ronnie,
    Most of what I was able to find was within the church records. Are you speaking of Balsa, Szabolcs county?

    I'm not sure what religion your family was, but I do have immediate access to both the Reformed and Roman Catholic church records pertaining to Balsa, if you're interested in having research completed on your family. Szabolcs county is an area of expertise for me.

    Just because they left Hungary in the early 1900's, doesn't necessarily mean they were peasants. My own noble Tóth 2nd-great-grandmother immigrated in 1909 with her young children. They were indeed lower nobility, but nobility nonetheless.

    Contact me if you're interested in having research done, and I can give you an estimated quote on the research. nickmgombash@yahoo.com

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  7. Hello I am a Toth. As far as I can tell my great Grandfather Janos Toth immigrated from Magysrev in Zemplin County, presently Vysoka Nad Uhom in Slovakia, about 1907. I don't speak Czech or Hungarian so thats where my research ends. According to tradition he was John the V, all the first born sons named John to present day.

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  8. Hi Karl,
    Vysoká nad Uhom's previous name would have been spelled correctly as Magasrév, and was in the former Ung county. Roughly half of Ung county is now Slovakia, and the other half Ukraine. Do you know what religion your János Tóth belonged to? Do you have an approximate date or year of birth? Feel free to send me a private message: nickmgombash@yahoo.com

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  9. This is very interesting i am a toth too also looking into the family crest/genealogy and my direct family came from budapest my mother is 1st generation american and my grandparents & great granparents were from hungary . I know toth is a common surname which makes it a little difficult. I'm gonna find out as much as i can from my grandmother , We will have to have us a nice chat soon ! Thank u for the wonderful information. Hope we all get our answers soon.

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  10. Toth here as well, getting ready for a trio to Hungary & Budapest in late April. Have "Martin" in the family as well. Irma Martin was my Nagymama, and settled near Philadelphia in the 1910's - married to John Toth.

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  11. Hi K.! Tóth is one of the most common surnames in Hungary. Do you have approximate dates of birth for Irma and John? Have a great trip!!

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  12. my grandma was Julia TOTH and moved to Canada in 1927
    married Elles FULOP from HUNGRAY AND HAD SIX KIDS
    I HAVE NO IDEA WHO HER FAMILY WAS NEVER SPOKE ANY ENGLISH AND
    I NEVER SPENT NO TIME WITH THEM IN CRESTON B.C CANADA IF ANYONE
    KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT HER PLEASE LET ME KNOW MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS blairfulop25@gmail.com need to know more about the TOTH FAMILY

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  13. My name is Trisha toth, my great grandparents we're Lewis and Elizabeth toth, they settled in Pennsylvania, from Hungary. My dad was Robert Toth sr. Dad said our Hungarian ancestor fought in the Christian army N helped take Hungary back from the Turks, the coat of arms/crest has an arm holding a sword or knife with a Turks head on tip of knife, and the knights headpiece, and an angel o. Top of that, and a cross on the very top above the angel. Do you know of my toth history??? Please help me find my heritage. Thank you so much.

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  14. Hi Trisha,
    Unfortunately the coat of arms you described only belongs to the noble Tóth family of Tiszadob. Their coat of arms has been taken and misleadingly put onto those coat of arms websites. Coat of arms were issued along with nobility to an individual and/or his family, and only belongs to their legitimate male descendants; nobility has since been abolished in Hungary and is no longer recognized by the government. What do you know about Robert Toth Sr., dates, places, religion, etc.?

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