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

Name	Born	Arrived NY	Ship	From	Stated Destination	Inferred Final Destination
András	1865 (1867)	1893	?			Duquesne, PA
		5 Apr 1901	Rhein	Bremen	Duquesne, PA	Layton, PA
		returned to Szürte from Star Junction 1909; left wife in Szürte May 1910
		10 May 1910	Grosser Kurfurst	Bremen	Star Junction, PA
János	1866 (1861)	22 Apr 1905	Pennsylvania	Hamburg	Layton, PA	Star Junction, PA
		returned to Szürte 1907; left wife in Szürte Dec 1909
		3 Dec 1909	Carpathia	Fiume	Helvetica, PA
Ferencz	1868	1893	?			Duquesne, PA
		Moved to Layton, PA (near Perryopolis) 1899; to Szürte early/mid 1904
		23 Oct 1904	Slavonia	Fiume	Layton, PA	Star Junction, PA
	wife, Mária	28 Dec 1904	Pannonia	Fiume	Star Junction, PA
		returned to Szürte 1909; left wife in Szürte Mar 1910
		26 Mar 1910	Carpathia	Fiume	Helvetica, PA
Sándor	1877	22 Apr 1905	Pennsylvania	Hamburg	Layton, PA	Star Junction, PA
		returned to Szürte from Star Junction 1908; left wife in Szürte May 1910
		10 May 1910	Grosser Kurfurst	Bremen	Star 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

Name	Born	Arrived NY	Ship	From	Stated Destination	Inferred Final Destination
Frank	1873	1895	?			Brownsville, PA
Sándor --> Alex Butcher	1875	1902	?			Brownsville, PA
Lajos	1881	22 Apr 1905	Pennsylvania	Hamburg	Brownsville, PA
		moved to Lemont [Furnace], PA 1906; returned to Szürte 1908; left wife Julia in Szürte Oct 1911
		3 Oct 1911	Kronprinz Wilhelm	Bremen	Uniontown/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

Name	Born	Arrived NY	Ship	From	Stated Destination	Inferred Final Destination
Ferencz	1860 (1866)	1903 ?	?			Brownsville, PA
		22 Apr 1905	Pennsylvania	Hamburg	Brownsville, PA
		back to Szürte 1908; left wife in Szürte Oct 1909
		2 Oct 1909	Pannonia	Fiume	Lemont [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?).

Ireland and Hungary

The title covers everything—both sets of grandparents. This post is mostly about Hungary, but starts with a little of interest on the Irish side.
For a long time I saw no reason to test for mtDNA. That was because I already knew the area where my mother's mother's mother's mother was baptized, having visited the parish while in Ireland 13 years ago. But curiosity got the best of me, and so I ordered the full sequence test, which provided the details that place my branch within H1am1. But that's not all. There are two more markers, besides the H1am1 markers, on which I am a full match with several people. Those additional two markers distinguish an as yet unlabeled sub-branch, apparently confined to Ireland, with names like Sullivan and Murphy. So it's interesting to see that the full sequence mtDNA test, at least in this case, narrows things down to a relatively small geographic area.
Having failed so far to obtain a baptismal record for my Hungarian grandfather, attention turned to his Hungarian mother-in-law. Fortunately my grandmother had obtained a copy of her own baptismal certificate back in 1927. Otherwise the record might have been lost forever, because my grandmother's r.c. parish, like my grandfather's g.c. parish, is now located in present-day Ukraine. Her certificate records the birthplaces of her parents, and it shows that my great-grandmother was born in Záhony, belonging to the parish of Mándok, which is in present-day Hungary. (Záhony is just across the Tisza River from present-day Ukraine.) The records for Mándok after a first glance this week revealed no obvious entry for my great-grandmother. But I will be taking a second look, partly to enjoy seeing again the label on the title page: Mándok, Archdiocese of Eger.

My first trip to Hungary did not extend to my grandparents' birthplaces, but I did go to Eger, seat of the r.c. diocese for the region. Above is a view taken on June 2 from the castle grounds. The yellow building in the background, a little left of center, is the Cathedral of Eger. The closer church building, under restoration on the outside, is the Minorite (Franciscan) Church. It faces the white-and-gray-terraced Dobó Square. Behind the Minorite Church, extending above the church's roofline is the white, green-capped astronomical tower of the Lyceum. The 18th-century astronomical instruments on display in the Lyceum building are said to exist nowhere else in Europe except for the observatory in Greenwich.
It's been said that the Eger Castle is Hungary's Alamo, but I think a bettter analogy would be Fort McHenry. Even though Eger Castle did not inspire a Hungarian Star-Spangled Banner, there are books and poems celebrating the Stars of Eger (star having a double connotation, being a reference to the heroes who defended Eger, as well as a nod to the famous old astronomical observatory).
The guidebook recommended an overnight stay in Eger. I should have done that, instead of a day-trip from Budapest (two-hour bus ride each way). Maybe next time.

John Brooks and Philadelphia

Before visiting last week, I had been in Philadelphia only twice before, and that was when the Presidents were Ford and Carter. So I'm not qualified to call it Philly. Stlll, the people and places felt familiar. I took full advantage of the $11 Independence Pass, which provides all-day riding on the SEPTA transit system.
Information on Brooks families compiled in folders at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania revealed no connection to my ancestor. Probably he would belong to one of the "no more is known about this branch of the family" branches in one of their folders.

One thing that did catch my eye was in the HSP collection of Philadelphia City Directories. The 1833 directory lists a Lewis Brooks, Blacksmith, at 54 Noble St. His name had been spelled Brooke in 1825. He does not appear in the 1835 directory. The picture above documents my pilgrimage to the intersection of Noble and Front Streets, located in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, on the Delaware River side of I-95, just around the corner from the Spring Garden station on the Market-Frankford line. The Ben Franklin Bridge spans the distant skyline. The street sign with an arrow pointing left indicates that the present-day numbering begins at Front Street. (I-95 obliterated whatever portion of Noble may have once extended to the right.) I imagine that back in 1833 a low street number like 54 would have been located nearby.
Of all the theories I've considered about what the L.W. may have stood for in John L. W. Brooks, the simplest is that it stands for Lewis, especially if one were to emphasize the two syllables in pronouncing the name. The 1820 census for Northern Liberties has a George Brooks, which would fit the traditional naming pattern for John(Lewis)'s oldest son. On the other hand, the maternal grandfather was George, and he may have been the namesake. It isn't much to go on, but that's all I have for now. At any rate, the cobblestones/bricks make it easy to imagine this section of Front Street back around 1830.

Boundaries of some Greek-Catholic Parishes in Old Hungary

This post is limited to the area around the triple-point where present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine meet. The scale of the map below is approximately 50 km horizontally from western to eastern edge. The dashed lines are present-day international borders (shown only where they do not overlap with the old parish borders). The wavy/scalloped line is the Tisza River. It flows from east to west, reaching its northernmost point near the middle of the map. For the most part, parishes do not cross the Tisza. The one exception is parish No. 25. In 1920 part of the northern border of Hungary was placed along the northernmost segment of the Tisza. The remainder of the northern border of Hungary on this map diverges from the Tisza, off to the west and off to the southeast. The dashed line extending north from the river is a border established only after World War II. West of that line is present-day Slovakia, east of there is Ukraine.

Following are three tables listing the parishes, grouped according to the location of the parish's town namesake.

First Group: Parish town located in present-day Slovakia

No.	Old Name	Current Name and District	Old County and District
1	Sámogy (musovce) (includes Lasztomér)	Šamudovce, Michalovce (separate Lastomír)	Zemplén, Nagy-Mihály
2	Kráska	Zemplínska Široká (Krášok), Michalovce	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
3	Sólymos	Iňačovce, Michalovce	Ung, Szobráncz
4	Sáros-Reviscse, Sárosrőcse	Blatné Revištia (te), Sobrance	Ung, Szobráncz
5	Porosztó	Porostov, Sobrance	Ung, Szobráncz
6	Felső-Némethi (mete)	Vyšné Nemecké, Sobrance	Ung, Ungvár
7	Korumlya (lak)	Koromľa, Sobrance	Ung, Ungvár
8	Falkus	Falkušovce, Michalovce	Zemplén, Nagy-Mihály
9	Dubróka (ovka) (includes Butka)	Dúbravka, Michalovce (separate Budkovce)	Zemplén, Nagy-Mihály
10	Márk	Markovce, Michalovce	Zemplén, Nagy-Mihály
11	Szalók (Szlavkovce)	Slavkovce, Michalovce	Zemplén, Nagy-Mihály
12	Bező (Bezsovci)	Bežovce, Sobrance	Ung, Ungvár
13	Lakárd (árt, Lekárt)	Lekárovce, Sobrance	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
14	Petrik	Petrikovce, Michalovce	Zemplén, Nagy-Mihály
15	Csicser (Csicsarovci)	Čičarovce, Michalovce	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
16	Mátyóc	Maťovské Vojkovce, Michalovce	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
17	Lelesz-Polyán (Bodrogmező)	Poľany, Trebišov	Zemplén, Bodrogköz
18	Zemplén (Zeume)	Zemplín, Trebišov	Zemplén, Sátoraljaújhely
19	Kis-Dobra	Dobrá, Trebišov	Zemplén, Bodrogköz

Any of the Slovak place-names can be searched for in the familysearch.org online catalog. There you will find, in addition to information about the availability of microfilmed Greek-Catholic records for that parish, an alert that church records for Slovakia are available online. Follow that link, and you will find another link inviting you to browse [an incredibly large number of] images. That link takes you to a list of denominations, from which you can re-select Greek-Catholic. You are then presented with a list of Districts (even though the page title says Counties). Selecting a district provides a list of parishes, and from there a manageable number of images. Most of the 19 parishes in the table above are listed on the browsing pages under one of two official Districts (Sobrance or Michalovce). But there appears to be an ongoing project to transfer some of the parishes into pseudo-districts named for a nearby main town. For example, Parishes 17 and 19 are listed under Kráľovský Chlmec (Chlumec, Hungarian Királyhelmec, the main town in the Old-Hungary district of Bodrogköz). Parish 15 has recently been moved out of Michalovce and into its own Vel'ké Kapušany (Hungarian Nagy Kapos) district. Similarly, parish 13 has recently been moved into its own Užhorod district. The link for Parish 2, although still listed under Michalovce, has recently been changed to its secondary Slovak name (Krášok). Parish 16 was available recently, but has since disappeared. I emphasize that these remarks refer only to the links as they are presented at the online site.

Second Group: Parishes in present-day Hungary

No.	Name	Old County and District
20	Cséke	Zemplén, Bodrogköz
21	Dámócz	Zemplén, Bodrogköz
22	Agárd	Zemplén, Bodrogköz
23	Ajak	Szabolcs, Kis-Várda
24	Tornyos-Pálcza (Tornyas-Pálcza)	Szabolcs, Tisza
25	Bács-Aranyos (Bácsaranyos)	Szabolcs, Tisza

Microfilm numbers for these parishes can be found in the familysearch.org online catalog.

Third Group: Parishes in present-day Ukraine

No.	Old Name	Old County and District
26	Ungvár	Ung, Ungvár Town
27	Alsó-Domonya	Ung, Ungvár
28	Neviczke	Ung, Ungvár
29	Or (Or-Darma, Ör)	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
30	Minaj	Ung, Ungvár
31	Palágy	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
32	Kereknye	Ung, (Nagy)Kapos
33	Sztrabicsó	Bereg, Munkás
34	Gorond	Bereg, Munkás
35	Makkos-Jánosi	Bereg, Tiszahát
36	Árok	Ung, Ungvár
37	Antalócz	Ung, Ungvár
38	Köblér	Ung, Ungvár
39	Radváncz	Ung, Ungvár
40	Darócz (Ungdarócz)	Ung, Ungvár
41	Nagy-Láz	Ung, Ungvár
42	Horlyó	Ung, Ungvár
43	Iglinz (Unggesztenyés)	Ung, Ungvár
44	Orosz-Komorócz	Ung, Ungvár
45	Lehócz	Ung, Ungvár
46	Szerednye	Ung, Ungvár
47	Dubróka	Ung, Ungvár
48	Ignécz	Bereg, Munkás
49	Nagy-Lucska	Bereg, Munkás
50	Uj-Dávidháza	Bereg, Munkás
51	Rákos	Bereg, Munkás
52	Ruszkócz (Nagy-Ruszkócz)	Bereg, Munkás
53	Zsukó	Bereg, Munkás
54	Nagy-Mogyorós	Bereg, Munkás
55	Orlyova (Ungasfalva)	Ung, Ungvár

I have just started to participate in a project intended to establish what may have been microfilmed for these Ukrainian parishes. Information about the Munkacs Records Project can be found at the rusyns group site at yahoo.

In constructing the map of the parish boundaries, I relied on the online images of the 1877 Dvorszák Gazetter from the the University of Pécs, along with the Lazarus Military Maps (ca. 1910) from the Eötvös Loránd University, and the radixhub digitized extract of the information in the 1877 Gaztteer. The only additional information content here is the geographical relationship of the parishes to each other. To determine which villages belonged to which parishes, and how the villages were related to each other and to nearby topography, those sources should be consulted.

Family Finder Results, Part I

Results are back for both me and my Mom. There is much information to digest, and I will have more posts later. For now, some initial impressions about the matches.

Aside from the obvious parent-child match, the remaining matches (44 for me, 113 for my Mom; 25 overlap) are all distant cousins, perhaps very distant. FTDNA distinguishes between distant and speculative cousins, and provides an estimate of the relationship. My early reaction is to take those distinctions with a grain of salt. Initially my focus is on the length of and the number of segments in the matches.

On the list of matches results page, there are two lengths provided for each match: (1) the sum of the lengths of all of the matching segments and (2) the length of the longest matching segment. Those lengths are reported in centiMorgan values (FTDNA FAQ 52). The Chromosome Browser page provides more detail, but for only five matches at a time. Although I have looked at those details for only a portion of the matches, a consistent pattern has emerged. In each case there are several (usually at least eight, sometimes 16 or more) matching segments. All but one of those segments fail to meet the 5 centiMorgan minimum length required by the program for a match (FTDNA FAQ 30). But there is one much longer segment, and it is because of that one long segment that a match is reported (FTDNA FAQ 30). In each case the longest block happens to be the only segment longer than 5 centiMorgan.

Besides hypothesizing with distant cousins about possible connections that we may never be able to prove, it is also interesting to look at the results collectively. For example, there are 19 of my matches that do not overlap with my Mom's. About half of those are clearly tied to Eastern Europe; certainly their connection is through my Dad's ancestors. And about half of those ties are to the parts of present-day Poland and Ukraine that were known as Galicia when they were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It suggests that at least some of my distant ancestors migrated south across the Carpathian Mountains and subsequently became assimilated in Old Hungary. About three or four of my matches that do not overlap with my Mom's look like they ought to be connected through my Mom's ancestors--those matches have strong connections to the British Isles and Ireland. For each of those the longest block is less than 10 centiMorgan. This FTDNA FAQ 15 indicates a possible way that most of the match could still be through my Mom.

Genealogy DNA Tests

I recently ordered the Family Finder test from Family Tree DNA. Reading this, you probably don't need to be found; we already know how our trees are connected. Still if any of my known cousins were to take the Family Finder test, they would at least have a match with me. If on my Mom's side of the family, then they would also have a second, closer match. I had her order the test during FTDNA's recent sale.

Like other genealogy DNA tests, the utility of this test is limited by the number of people who have been tested. Unlike the original tests (YDNA and mtDNA), which potentially match along only one branch (father's-father's-father... or mother's-mother's-mother... ), the relatively new Family Finder test potentially matches along any branch. The more distant the relationship, the less the chance of detecting a match. So that is why I had my Mom take the test.

I first had my YDNA tested a little over eight years ago. The results appear as kit 10698 at the Hungarian/Magyar project, and also at the R-U152 project. Those two projects continue to answer my initial curiosity about how my Toth grandfather fits into the big picture in that part of Europe. Though I've been in contact with European Toth cousins, finding someone willing to do a YDNA test to prove the connection is of secondary interest.

On the other hand, the possibility of proving a Meagher connection was the primary reason I encouraged my mother's first cousin to have his YDNA tested. He did that a little over seven years ago. I started a Meagher surname project solely for the purpose of obtaining a discounted, group price for his test. That Meagher project has taken on a life of it's own, as part of the big picture in Ireland.

In the hope of proving my great-grandfather's connection with the James and Ann Meagher family of Ohio, I contacted about two dozen Meaghers in Ohio, encouraging them to have their YDNA tested. It's kind of a Catch-22. If I was certain about their connection with my family tree, I wouldn't need the YDNA for proof. Since I and they are uncertain, I haven't asked more than twice.

It will probably be the same way with the Family Finder test. Any descendant of the Patrick and Nancy Meagher family of Ireland would be, at most, a third cousin of my Mom, perhaps once or more removed. That would probably be getting close to the limit of the Family Finder test, but there could still be a faint trace of a connection. It will be interesting to see what may develop.

Oct 11 Update, including Powers to Higgins to Hagarty

Having restored and updated a number of the families on my genealogy pages, a priority has been to restore and update the BrooksHumbertson and the BrooksPowers pages. Those two families, when complete, will fill in key links on the Trees page. There is much information, and yet many missing pieces.
While looking back through my notes and rechecking the facts on Brooks, expecially in the Frostburg area, I ran into some new information. For example, my great-grandfather Thomas Meagher appears in the 1895-96 directory for Frostburg which is available online at the Western Maryland Historical Library site. We already knew that my grandmother had lived in Frostburg as a young girl. But since we know so little about her father, it is nice to see his name in print in the directory. The directory also lists several members of the Powers family living near the corner of Maple and College. That is the vicinity where I remember my grandmother pointing out she had lived [see footnote no. 8 on the MeagherBrooks page]. The 1895-96 directory lists the residence for Thomas Meagher as New. I don't know if that was a street name, or if it indicated a new entry.
The 1895-96 directory also helped with sorting out the Powers-Higgins-Hagarty connection. You can see that connection in the descendants for PowersKilleen at the bottom of the Trees page, as well as on the new HigginsPowers page. When I mentioned to my Mom that I had figured out where the Hagarty name fit, and that the Hagartys had lived in Duquesne, my Mom immediately exclaimed, Oh, Margaret Mary! As memory has it, it seems that neither Nell (Meagher) Thompson, who lived not far from Duquesne, nor her sister Irene (Meagher) Murtha were close to their second cousin, Margaret Mary Hagarty. But their brother Tom Meagher, the funeral director, stayed in touch with Margaret Mary. My Mom recalls a day ca. the early 1930's when her Uncle Tom took her mother to visit Margaret Mary in Duquesne. The Murtha children stayed behind in Mt. Pleasant with Grandmother Annie babysitting. Besides living in the town of Duquesne, it appears also that at the time Margaret Mary would have been attending or would have recently graduated from Duquesne University. While visiting Margaret Mary, Tom took his sister to Kennywood [Amusement Park]. Kennywood would have been an easy half-mile walk from Margaret Mary's house on Oakmont Avenue. Margaret Mary's mother, Ellen (Nellie), would have still been alive then. Ellen's brothers (Margaret Mary's uncles) Dennis Higgins and possibly Patrick Higgins may also have been there. (This rootsweb post has Dennis and Patrick living with the Hagartys in 1910). I suspect that Dennis Higgins (b. 1873) may have been the namesake for Dennis Meagher (b. 1902).