FamilySearch is at it again.. now it's Budapest Civil Registration Records!!

FamilySearch Record Search has now uploaded and made viewable the Budapest Civil Registration records from 1895-1972. This is a vast amount of records, and it will no doubt come to use to MANY researchers, including myself! I can't wait to see what Hungarian records they add next! :)

Go check it out here:

http://search.labs.familysearch.org/

My Porkoláb Family

I deceided to write a blog devoted entirely to the family of my 6th-great-grandmother: the Porkoláb family.

My 6th-great-grandmother was Erzsébet Porkoláb, born about 1741 and died 13 Jun 1788, both in Tiszadob. She was married to István Tóth, a nobleman, sometime after 1757 in Tiszadob. I have an extensive genealogy of the Porkoláb family. It begins in 1635 and ranges to present time, and consists of 41 pages of 13 generations of descendants. The Porkoláb family was THE largest family in Tiszadob, and they were known as such.

I believe I've been able to connect Erzsébet Porkoláb into the very beginnings of the family tree, as a daughter of Márton Porkoláb. He was known as Márton 'Szakálas'.. or Márton 'the Bearded'. He was known by this nick-name because his only male first cousin was also named Márton. This cousin was known as Márton 'Katona'.. or Márton 'the Soldier'.

Márton 'Szakálas' was the son of Jákób Porkoláb and Márton 'Katona' was the son of János Porkoláb. Jákób and János are the sons of the original progenitors of the family, Márton Porkoláb and his wife Dorottya Baranyai. They also had another son named Mihály, who had no known male issue.

Márton Porkoláb, his wife Dorottya Baranyai and their three sons were granted nobility on 09 Feb 1635 by King Ferdinand II. It was later recorded in Petneháza in 1650. They were also granted a coat of arms, which you can see below:

Not much is known about the ancestors of Márton Porkoláb and his wife Dorottya Baranyai. In the beginning of the patent of nobility for Márton it states: "agilis (anyai részrõl nemes) Porkoláb Márton hûségét és hû szolgálatait". This means "agile (mother's noble side) Porkoláb Márton loyalty and faithful services". So apparently Márton's mother's family was already noble. But, I haven't found anything to connect them in anywhere.

Taktaszada Parish Records - Update #2

The Taktaszada baptism records are now complete and online:

http://www.gombash.com/gombash/taktaszada/

There are 140 years worth of baptisms ranging from 1755-1895. I also already have the marriages previously completed, which range from 1773-1895.

I now have to transcribe the death/burial records. I may take a break before I start-up this project. Although, I have the deaths from 1773-1779 complete already.. but not online yet.

Taktaszada Parish Records - Update #1

It's been three days since I last wrote about my transcription project for Taktaszada. In the past three days, I was able to transcribe and upload 52 more years worth of baptisms for the town. The baptisms currently range from the years 1755-1845. The records end in 1895, so that means I only have 50 more years worth to transcribe and upload. I'm hoping for this to be finished sometime in the middle of next week.

Then it's onto the death records! But, I may take a break to give my wrists a break. I can feel the carpal tunnel coming on a bit! haha..

My Aristocratic Cousins!

I hit the major jackpot yesterday with my Hungarian research. I found access to the 'Libri Regii' otherwise known as 'Királyi Könyvek' online, at: http://nfo.arcanum.hu/moldigidat

With this resource I was able to find information on my Izdenczy de Komlós family. This family began with a Márton who was granted nobility on 21 Jan 1696 by King Leopold I. Márton was an upper-military man, this is how he gained his nobility and land holdings. In 1685 he was in command of the Tokaj fortress under Imre Thökölyi. In 1709 he was serving under Prince Ferenc Rakóczy II.

Here is the Izdenczy de Komlós Coat of Arms:

I found a record in this Libri Regii stating the wife of Márton, along with her parents. Here is what the record stated:

"Nobiles dominas Barbaram, Martini Izdenczy consortem

filiamuero praenarrati Stephani quondim Horvath de Perlak,

et praedicta Nobili condim dua Margaretha Berzeviczy"

It simply states that the "Noble lady Borbála, wife of Márton Izdenczy, is the daughter of the previously mentioned István Horváth de Perlak and the previously mentioned noblewoman Margit Berzeviczy".

The István Horváth de Perlak mentioned, was granted nobility on 13 Mar 1613. His wife was Margit Berzeviczy who comes from an extremely old and very large noble family. The Berzeviczy de Berzevicz easily traces it's roots back to a man named Rutkér. He was living in 1209 and he was an "ispán", which translates out to "steward". History states that Rutkér was originally from the mountainous areas of Tirol in Austria. He later moved to the Carpathian mountain area. He arrived in Hungary around the same time as Gertrude of Andechs, when she arrived in Hungary as the wife of King András Árpád II.

Rutkér had two sons: Herman and Rikolf. Herman was known to be living in 1246 and Rikolf was known to be living in 1270. Rikolf had two sons, János and Rikolf. It is through János that the Berzeviczy family descends. Through Rikolf descends the Tárczay family.

Here is the Berzeviczy de Berzevicz Coat of Arms:

Through the Izdenczy de Komlós family, I am kin with these aristocratic and royal families:

• Baron Izdenczy de Monostor és Komlós
• Baron Rukovina von Vidovgrad
• Baron Solymosy de Loós és Egervás
• Count Khuen-Belasi
• Count Khuen-Belasi-Héderváry
• Count Lodron-Laterno und Castelromano
• Count Matz von Spiegelfeld
• Count Nemes de Hidvég et Oltszem
• Count Vay de Vaja
• Count von Clary und Aldringen
• Count Woracziczky von Pabienitz
• Count Zichy de Zich et Vásonkeö

Through the Berzeviczy de Berzevicz family, I am kin with these aristocratic and royal families (not including the ones listed above):

• Baron Berzeviczy de Berzevicz
• Baron Szalay-Berzeviczy de Kéménd
• Count Aspremont-Lynden und Reckheim
• Count Dessewffy de Csernek et Tarkeö
• Count Zichy-Kürth de Zich et Vásonkeö
• Princely Rákóczy de Felsõ-Vadász

If you're related to or descend from any of these families, please contact me!

Taktaszada Parish Records

Much of you know that about two years ago I undertook a massive transcribing project for Tiszadob. It's not complete and I've directed my attention to a new target: Taktaszada.

The Taktaszada parish records began much earlier than Tiszadob (which began in 1786). Their record keeping began in 1755 with baptisms. It wasn't until 1733 that the death/burial and marriages finally began to be recorded as well. It's a shame they didn't begin in 1755 as well, but that's the luck of the genealogist.

To date, I have the marriage records are complete. They cover the years 1733-1895. Although I did originally begin the death/burial records next, I thought it a much better idea to begin the baptism instead. The baptism is a much more higher priority to researchers. As of right now, I have 1755-1793 complete. I have 102 more years to complete.

I've been researching in Hungarian parish records for nearly 10 years now. It still astounds me that the extensive amount families never really moved or left their hometown. People from Tiszadob stayed in Tiszadob.. people from Taktaszada stayed in Taktaszada. Only sometimes they would marry into a neighboring village's family. So because of this, it's not uncommon to be related to most (if not all) of the residents of the village at the time. It's nothing about cousins marrying cousins, but it definitely reminds me of the deep south families of America. The families of a town were so closely connected. We all are truly related to everyone. :)

My article for the 22nd Edition of Carnival of Eastern and Central European Genealogy

When I first received the email from Al Wierzba asking me to write a genealogy article, I was very excited by the idea. The article would be included in the 22nd edition of The Carnival of Eastern and Central European Genealogy. The topic of this edition is roadblocks and breakthroughs.

I immediately began to think of which family line I would write about. I have several lines of ancestry originating from Eastern or Central Europe. As I was thinking about the article and which line I would write about, it dawned upon me that I really haven't had very many roadblocks in my European research. I finally decided on one specific family, thinking the significance of this family would give a sliver of hope to others.

My decision rested upon my 2nd-great-grandmother, Anna Weishaupt, and her family. Anna was born in 1867 in Bohemia to Joseph Weishaupt and Maria Anna Kasper. She was one of eight children. Anna married my 2nd-great grandfather, Johann Phillip Stuempges, 20 years later.

When I initially started my research about 7-8 years ago, I knew very little on Anna and her family. Not long after I began, I obtained a 'family story' written in the 1960's by Erma Stuempges Kerska, about the Stuempges and Weishaupt families. The story went into great detail about the personalities of every family member, passing on the memories she remembered as a girl. As I read, I finally came upon information on Anna's parents. It had stated that her father, Joseph Weishaupt, had been a soldier in the Austrian army prior to the family's immigration.

This tiny piece of information would finally lead me to find out where the Weishaupt family had come from in Bohemia. I then went to my local FHC and ordered a microfilm containing Bohemian military personnel records for the years 1820-1864. On these records I found exactly what I had been hoping for! The record listed his name and birthyear (which was correct), along with his birthtown and the county it was in, in Bohemia.. Graber, Leitmeritz, Bohemia. Graber is known today as Kravaře, Litoměřice, Czech Republic.

Using that information I then proceeded to check the Family History Library Catalog for records for this town. Nothing existed. Further research along with correspondence with the Leitmeritz archives revealed that the records had never been filmed and there were no plans in the future for them to ever be filmed. Knowing that informtion, I figured the only way to research this line was to physically go there and do the research or hire a professional. Neither of those would have worked at 17 years old; I never could've afforded either! I had completely given up on that line for good.

Six years passed and the LDS released great news that they were beginning to digitize and put online their mountain-full of microfilm. Knowing the records for Graber had never been microfilmed, I didn't give much hope or thought to the idea of Bohemian or Czech Republic records appearing on the LDS's new website, RecordSearch. Now boy was I surprised when I logged onto RecordSearch one day in late 2008. I saw Czech Republic records from the Litoměřice archive! I immediately clicked on the database and scrolled through the list of towns and villages and saw neither Graber or Kravaře.. I had gotten my hopes up for nothing! It wasn't until six or seven months later when RecordSearch updated the database a second time, when Kravaře finally appeared!

Now the records available on RecordSearch ended in 1833/1834, so I knew I couldn't find Anna's baptism or even her parent's marriage record. Thankfully, I knew both of her parents full birthdate.. her father Joseph being born in 1827 and her mother being born in 1834 (how lucky was I that it wasn't after 1834!) I've now been able to trace at least 6 generations of ancestors for Anna and her siblings

I know this article isn't necessarily a brick-wall or a roadblock, but it is by far a breakthrough. Researchers all over the world are now gaining the capability of knocking down brick-walls, that we never would've imagined possible.