Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Ahnentafel Roulette!

Here are the rules for any who wish to join in, as well! You can find the original rules and post >>here<<. :)

1) How old is your great-grandfather now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel (ancestor name list). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook or Google Plus note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a grandparent, a  parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!


Here's mine:

My great-grandfather, Alex Gombash, was born on 07 Nov 1896 in Tiszadob, Szabolcs county, Hungary. If he were to be alive today, he would be 114 years old. Divided by four is 28.5, so I'll round up to 29.

My number 29 ancestor is listed as Anna Weishaupt (1867-1951); here is her entry:

29. Anna Weishaupt was born on 06 May 1867 in Graber, Auscha District, Leitmeritz, Bohemia. She was the daughter of Joseph Weishaupt and Maria Anna Kasper. She was married to Johann Phillip Julius "John" Stuempges on 28 Sep 1887 at Newburgh's Corner, La Crosse County, Wisconsin. She died on 11 Jan 1951 at Antigo, Langlade County, Wisconsin. (Picture: Anna Weishaupt with husband John Stuempges and children, circa 1897.)

Three facts about Anna Weishaupt:

1) Anna was an ethnic German from Bohemia, immigrating as a two year old child on 10 Jun 1869 aboard the ship Helvetia.

2) Anna had a total of 11 children, 9 of them living to be adults and have children of their own. If she were to live to see all her grandchildren born, she would have had 28 grandchildren.

3) Anna had diabetes. I don't know which type and the severity of it, though. (I honestly don't know too much about diabetes to begin with). I was told by my great-aunt (sister to my grandmother..granddaughters of Anna), that my great-grandmother (Anna's daughter-in-law) was the family member to give Anna her insulin shots.

FamilySearch Find Of The Day: The Birth Record of Katalin Bárczay de Bárcza

Lately, I've been working on a branch of my Bódogh family that I know little about. My line comes from Tiszadob in Szabolcs county. Previous to that, they came from Gelej and before that Tiszaszederkény, both in Borsod County. Back in the mid-late 1600's a branch of my Bódogh's settled in Miskolcz, the largest city in Borsod county. I've been trying to document and connect this branch to the larger Bódogh family tree that I have compiled.

This birth record is for Katalin Bárczay de Bárcza. Although she is a cousin to me in her own right (a 12th cousin 5 times removed, through the Bárczay de Bárcza family), my connection to her is her husband: Géza Demeter de Szeő-Demeter. Géza, an early explorer of Africa, was the son of Ernő Demeter de Szeő-Demeter and Erzsébet Bódogh de Nemesbikk. Nemesbikk is a neighboring village to Gelej and Tiszaszederkény; the Bódogh families of Nemesbikk are already compiled and connected into my large Bódogh family tree.

What's really interesting is the occupation of Katalin's father! An extract of Katalin Bárczay de Bárcza's birth record is as follows:

Entry Number: 67
Town: Heő-Csaba (in Borsod County)
Registration Date: 04 Oct 1901
Name of Registerer: The father

Name of Father: Bárczai Bárczay István
Religion: Reformed
Occupation: Land owner; Chamberlain of Emperor and King
Residence: Heő-Csaba
Birthplace: Heő-Csaba
Age: 41

Name of Mother: Bárczai Bárczay Istvánné (Mrs. István) felhévizi Bihary Ludovica
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation: none
Residence: Heő-Csaba
Birthplace: Baracza, Gömör county
Age: 30

Birthplace of Child: Heő-Csaba
Birthdate: 29 Sep 1901
Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Name of Child: Ludovica Izabella Katalina

FamilySearch Find Of The Day: The Marriage Of My Cousin, Baron László Solymosy de Loós és Egervár

With the update of the FamilySearch database "Hungary Civil Registration, 1895-1980", I tried searching to figure out what exactly was new to the database. I believe it's the addition of Somogy county. I was actually able to find a marriage record for a cousin of mine, Baron László Solymosy de Loós és Egervár. I'm related to the Baron through his direct-maternal line great-grandmother, Baroness Angelika Izdenczy de Monostor és Komlós. My own 8th-great-grandfather was Márton Izdenczy de Komlós,
a relative of the Baronial Izdenczy de Monostor és Komlós
family. Here is an extract of his marriage record:

Page 5
Entry 13
Marriage Date: 24 Apr 1935, Inke (Somogy county)

Groom Name: Loosi és egervári Dr báró (baron) Solymosy László Ödön István
Groom Occupation: large land owner
Groom Religion: Evangelical
Groom Birth Place: Zalaegerszeg
Groom Birth Date: 27 Apr 1909
Groom Residence: Egervár (Vas megye)
Groom Father: néhai (deceased) loosi és egervári báró (baron) Solymosy Ödön
Groom Mother: zichy és vásonkeői Zichy Angella grófnő (countess)

Bride Name: Bolla Gizella
Bride Religion: Reformed
Bride Birth Place: Inke
Bride Birth Date: 11 Mar 1914
Bride Residence: Inke
Bride Father: Bolla Pál
Bride Mother: Balogh Franciska

Witness: Zábrák Viktor, Nagylózs
Witness: Dr. Bolla Pál, Vásárosnamény

Prime Minister of Hungary, Kálmán Tisza

I was randomly searching around the Budapest Civil Registration records today, and I stumbled upon a death record for a pretty well-known man in Hungary: Kálmán Tisza, Prime Minister of Hungary from 1875 to 1890. Here is an extract of his death record:

Entry Number: 864
Date of Registration: 24 Mar 1902
Date of Death: 23 Mar 1902
Name of Deceased: borosjenői Tisza Kálmán nyugalmazott magyar királyi miniszterelnök országgyűlési képviselő (borosjenői Tisza Kálmán retired Royal Hungarian Prime Minister, Parliamentary Representative)
Birth Place: Nagy-Várad (Bihar county)
Residence: Budapest VIII Sándor u (utcza; street) 14
Religion: ref. (Reformed/Calvanist)
Age: 71
Spouse: Degenfeld Schomberg Ilona grófnő (Countess)
Father: néhai (deceased) borosjenői Tisza Lajos
Mother: néhai (deceased) Teleki Juliánna grófnő (Countess)
Cause of Death: vérér elfajulás szívhüdés (vascular degeneration heart failure)

St. Stephen's Day & My Connection To The King

In honor of St. Stephen's day in Hungary, I thought it'd be neat to highlight my own connection to the well-known Saint and first King of Hungary. My own 24th-great-grandmother was Szabina, Princess of Hungary. She belonged to the Árpád dynasty and was the daughter of King Béla IV and his wife Maria Laskaris.

King St. Stephen was connected to Szabina through two lines of descent: through both Szabina's mother and father. Through Szabina's father, St. Stephen was her 7th-great-uncle. Through Szabina's mother, St. Stephen was her 6th-great-uncle. You can see the connection in the chart to the right:

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday

Marcin (Martin) Domagalski & wife Agnieszka (Agnes) Gotowacirca 1898

This picture is of my 3rd-great-grandparents, Martin Domagalski and wife Agnes Gotowa. This couple had been a brick-wall for me for so many years, when I first began my research. I knew so little about their beginnings and where they came from prior to moving to Chicago. Lack of finding any information continued to make them more and more of a mystery over the years, which drew me to them even more. It didn't hurt that their headstone in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Cook County, Illinois, was huge and absolutely beautiful! It was and still is, the first place I stop every single time I go to this cemetery.. even if I'm doing look-ups for people not related to me. I always stop at their grave.

A few years ago, I finally cracked a piece of the brick-wall down and found that they had moved to Chicago from Medina, Orleans County, New York. Their first child, Josephine, whom I descend from, was the only child of theirs that was born in Medina. Sometime during the 1 1/2 year gap between the birth of Josephine and their next child, they moved to the "Back Of The Yards" area of Chicago. I believe they went to join Martin's sister Anna/Antonia Domagalska, married to Peter Paluszek. Along with Martin and Agnes, came the sister of Agnes and her husband: Apolonia Gotowa and Michael "Asher" Popiolek. Apolonia and husband Michael are buried in the plot to the south of her sister Agnes and husband Martin. They have an equally beautiful stone, although not as large.

After moving to Chicago, Martin and Agnes had eleven more children.. eight of them surviving (not including Josephine) to adulthood. Martin died rather young, at the age of 52, on 05 May 1917. The cause of his death is listed as "chronic interstitial nephritis", with a contributing cause of "Broncho pneumonia". Five months later, Agnes passes away, too. Her cause of death is a bit tragic and upsetting to even think about: "Shock and injuries jumped out of window", with a contributing cause of "temporarily insane". As sad as this is, I like to believe it was grief and caused by the death of her husband, five months earlier. A tragic but romantic ending.

The Hungarian Ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II; Part 7

This is a continuation of the Hungarian Ancesty of Queen Elizabeth II. This is part 7 and it highlights the ancestry of Judith Dániel de Vargyas, wife of Baron László Bánffy de Losoncz. Note #1: Numbers 30 & 31 in this post are the same as numbers 14 & 15 in Part 4. Note #2: There is another line of the Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor family (numbers 3, 6, 12 and 24) on the main page in Part 1 (11 and 22).

First Generation
1. Judith Dániel de Vargyas

Second Generation
2. István Dániel de Vargyas
3. Zsófia Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor

Third Generation
4. Ferencz Dániel de Vargyas
5. Judit Béldi de Uzon
6. Péter Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor
7. Klára Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György

Fourth Generation
8. Mihály Dániel de Vargyas
9. unknown
10. Pál Béldi de Uzon
11. Zsuzsánna Vitéz
12. Boldizsár Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor
13. Zsófia Tornya de Tornyafalva
14. László Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
15. Zsuzsánna Tholdalaghy de Nagy-Iklód

Fifth Generation
16. Péter Dániel de Vargyas
17. Borbála Mikó
18. unknown
19. unknown
20. Kelemen Béldi de Uzon
21. Mária Bánffy
22. unknown
23. unknown
24. János Kemény de Magyar-Gyerő-Monostor
25. Anna Sarmasági de Sarmaság et Mező-Kövesd
26. Tamás Tornya de Tornyafalva
27. Petronella Tholdy de Nagy-Szalonta et Fekete-Bátor
28. Ferencz Toroczkay de Toroczkó-Szent-György
29. Borbála Paczolay
30. János Tholdalaghy de Nagy-Iklód
31. Borbála Gyerőffy de Gyerő-Vásárhely