Friday, April 25, 2014

Meszaros Relatives to Southwest Pennsylvania

My grandfather was Emery Toth, and his mother's maiden name was Meszaros. When Emery came to America in 1905, his arrival record at Ellis Island shows that he was going to join at his final destination his cousin Franz Meszaros (see note 7 on the TothBarko page). Had that relationship been recorded as uncle, then connecting the dots would have been simple. But cousin leaves the relationship possibly much more distant. The story gets even more complicated.
Through 1910 at least eight distinct Meszaros men emigrated to southwest Pennsylvania from the village of Szürte (present-day Strumkivka, Ukraine). Some of them made the trip to America two or three times. They could not have all been brothers to each other since three of them had the same name: Ferencz(Franz)--English Frank. They must have been representatives of at least three distinct Meszaros families back in Szürte (whose total population in 1877 the Gazetteer put at just a little over 1,000: 289 Roman Catholic, 198 Greek Catholic, 467 Reformed, 182 Jewish, and 2 Lutheran).
I've used information from the Ellis Island website to try to piece together the actual brothers, their birth years and their movements. Although the Ellis Island index goes back to 1892, records from the 1890's have only vague information about departure and destination (left Hungary, going to New York), so it's difficult if not impossible to identify specific Meszaros departures from Szürte in the early years. The details about those early years are estimated based on later records. The brothers are listed in order of their estimated year of birth, which for two of them is calculated from their ages in the 1920 census. The other six are calculated from their stated ages on their multiple arrival records, with the first year listed being the one I think most likely correct.

Mészáros Family One
NameBornArrived NYShipFromStated
Destination
Inferred Final
Destination
András1865
(1867)
1893?Duquesne, PA
5 Apr 1901RheinBremenDuquesne, PALayton, PA
returned to Szürte from Star Junction 1909; left wife in Szürte May 1910
10 May 1910Grosser KurfurstBremenStar Junction, PA
János1866
(1861)
22 Apr 1905PennsylvaniaHamburgLayton, PAStar Junction, PA
returned to Szürte 1907; left wife in Szürte Dec 1909
3 Dec 1909CarpathiaFiumeHelvetica, PA
Ferencz18681893?Duquesne, PA
Moved to Layton, PA (near Perryopolis) 1899; to Szürte early/mid 1904
23 Oct 1904SlavoniaFiumeLayton, PAStar Junction, PA
wife,
Mária
28 Dec 1904PannoniaFiumeStar Junction, PA
returned to Szürte 1909; left wife in Szürte Mar 1910
26 Mar 1910CarpathiaFiumeHelvetica, PA
Sándor187722 Apr 1905PennsylvaniaHamburgLayton, PAStar Junction, PA
returned to Szürte from Star Junction 1908; left wife in Szürte May 1910
10 May 1910Grosser KurfurstBremenStar Junction, PA
My grandfather was on the same boat in April 1905, the Pennsylvania, with János and Sándor. They all gave Layton as their final destination, apparently not knowing that Ferencz had settled in Star Junction (also near Perryopolis) when he returned in late 1904. Also with János in 1905 was his daughter Erzsébet, age 16. It's interesting to notice that all four brothers, after having returned to Szürte over a two-year period 1907-1909, all returned to America within the six-month period of Dec 1909-May 1910. Helvetica may have been Helvetia, in Clearfield County.

Mészáros Family Two
NameBornArrived NYShipFromStated
Destination
Inferred Final
Destination
Frank18731895?Brownsville, PA
Sándor -->
Alex Butcher
18751902?Brownsville, PA
Lajos188122 Apr 1905PennsylvaniaHamburgBrownsville, PA
moved to Lemont [Furnace], PA 1906; returned to Szürte 1908; left wife Julia in Szürte Oct 1911
3 Oct 1911Kronprinz WilhelmBremenUniontown/Lemont Furnace, PA
Ages and emigration years for Frank and Sándor are from the 1920 census. The 1920 census has Frank's wife emigrated 1900. I have only a second-hand report, from his younger daughter relayed from her older sister, that Frank Meszaros did have brothers Sándor and Lajos in Brownsville, and that Frank was from Szürte. They also understood that he had traveled back to Szürte. I believe that those return trips would have been before 1900. In 1920 the family was living in a Frick house in Luzerne Township, presumably the Hiller Patch. Frank's oldest daughter, Mary, was 18 in 1920. She was my Dad's godmother (in 1918). Later the Frank Meszaros family lived on Clover Street, on Brownsville's southside, and after that they moved to the Tarrytown, NY area. Frank's children and grandchildren from New York often visited Brownsville, through at least the 1970's. Franks's brother Sándor anglicized his name to Alex Butcher. (Mészáros, like Tóth, is a very common Hungarian surname. The word mészáros means butcher.) I have not been able to locate Sándor/Alex in the Ellis Island records. Alex Butcher seems to have been a sort of godfather/matchmaker for the Hungarian community in Brownsville. It was said that my grandparents met at a party at the Butcher house. Alex Butcher signed as a witness for Steve Shurilla's naturalization papers in 1912. In the 1920 census the Butcher family was listed beside the Shurilla family, both adjacent to St. Peter Church on Brownsville's Northside.

Mészáros Family Three
NameBornArrived NYShipFromStated
Destination
Inferred Final
Destination
Ferencz1860
(1866)
1903 ??Brownsville, PA
22 Apr 1905PennsylvaniaHamburgBrownsville, PA
back to Szürte 1908; left wife in Szürte Oct 1909
2 Oct 1909PannoniaFiumeLemont [Furnace], PA
At Brownsville in 1905, this Ferencz was going to meet his friend, István Recsko. At Lemont Furnace in 1909 he was going to meet George Horbacs (Horvath?).