The Major-Gavay Family of Hungary, Part 2

 The Major-Gavay Family of Hungary, Part 2

In Part 1, some background information was presented on the Major and Gavay families of Szepsi, Abauj-Torna, Hungary (now Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia) and surrounding towns. Part 2 provides some historical context in which our ancestors lived in old Hungary. 

Historical Context

The earliest known direct Major descendant was Stephan Major known by the baptism of his son, Joseph, in 1812 in Nadaska, Abauj-Torna, Hungary to Stephan Major and Elisabeth Kotsis.  Stephan was probably born in the mid-1770s. The earliest known Gavay descendant was Franciscus Gavay known by the baptism of his son, Kalman, in 1868 to Franciscus Gavay and Elisabeth Tomas in Szepsi, Abauj-Torna, Hungary.  Franciscus was probably born in the 1830s. What was going on in Hungary during the period from 1790-1920?

 

The era between 1790 and 1848 was a particularly turbulent time for Hungarians. With the death of emperor Joseph II, nationalistic fervor, which was just starting to gain momentum, confirmed Magyar (Hungarian) as the official language. Joseph II and his predecessors had attempted to Germanize the region and the formation of a Hungarian state threatened the Hapsburg dynasty and the European powers. Upon his deathbed on 28 January 1790 Joseph II revoked all edicts, with the exception of those on religious tolerance and serfdom. In 1805, shortly after Stephan and Elisabeth had their 2^nd child in Nadaska, laws were first made in Hungarian and Latin – a first step in the recognition of the Hungarian language.

 

• In 1809, Napoleon urged the Hungarians to break away from the Hapsburgs, but the Hungarian nobles, aligned with the Austria, stood against Napoleon. They were decisively defeated by Napoleon’s army in the battle of Gyor in 1809.
• During all this time, remember that the majority of Magyars (and most non-Magyars in Hungary) were peasants.
• From 1835 to 1848, Ferdinand V was King of Hungary. By 1840, The Diet passed an act making Hungarian the country’s official language. On 15 March 1848, revolution broke out in Pest, essentially a revolt against the Hapsburg nobility. Franciscus Gavay and Elizabeth Tomas were probably born during this period.
• On 7 April 1848, The Batthyany government was formed, the first autonomous Hungarian government. Just 7 days later, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed the dethronement of the Hapsburg and the establishment of an independent Hungary. A few days later, the newly formed Hungarian army liberated Pest from the Hapsburgs. Istvan Major and Kalman Gavay were born in the mid-1850s.
• On January 1 1873, Pest and Buda and Obuda were unified under one name: Budapest.  Two years later, Istvan (Stephan) Major and Maria Hagen were married in Szepsi.
  
• In what was to be a portent of World War 1, Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied and in 1879 a dual alliance was made between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Germany and in 1882, Italy joined the alliance.
• Up until 1895, all births, marriages and deaths were recorded in church records. On 1 October 1895, civil registration began. Jeno” Major was born in 1895, so he would not have been found in the civil registration records.
• The period 1903-1906 is referred to as the “great crisis”. Europe was heading for war and alliances were formed and broken largely revolving around instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.  After the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June 1914, war was declared on Serbia on 28 July 1914. During this period, Kalman Gavay came to the United States several times, permanently arriving in 1910.
• In 1918, the Austrian empire collapsed with the end of World War 1. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were formed. Territories that were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were ceded to Czechoslovakia.
  

By 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Empire included many regions that were neither Hungarian nor Austrian. Many of these regions were Slavic, Romanian, Polish, and even Russian. The region of Abauj-Torna (essentially part of Galacia) was largely Slavic rather than Magyar, so these areas now comprised part of the new nation of Czechoslovakia (later the Abauj-Torna region became part of Slovakia when the Czech republic was split into two: the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

It was under these conditions in Abauj-Torna, where Magyars no longer had a country and were now ethnic outcasts that Eugene and Anna Gavay Major left Europe and immigrated to the United States. Kalman Gavay had immigrated many years before.  

 Part 3 will cover the immigration of the Major and Gavay families to the United States in the early part of the 20th Century. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks-Week 7: An Unusual Source

 

My grandmother, Gertrude McDonough (daughter of Frank McDonough and Mary Doris), had an autograph book (entries dated 1907-1920), which provided the evidence that linked Mary Doris to her brother and subsequently confirming the parents of Mary Doris and her birthplace in Ireland.

 

 

My grandmother was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on 22 July 1891. Her parents, Frank McDonough and Mary Doris came separately to the U.S. from Ireland about 1881 and were married in Greenwich on 25 September 1887.

 

The Irish birthplace of my g. grandmother, Mary Doris, was a mystery.   After several years of research, I did discover a few things:

• She was born circa 1860 based on the Federal census records, age at her marriage, age at the birth of her children, and age on her death certificate (which had the name of her parents wrong, but that’s another story!)
• The Doris surname was prevalent in County Longford, Ireland. A search of the available indexes settled on a Mary Doris baptized 12 April 1860 to James Doris and Catherine Lackey in Ballinalee, Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford. This family was also suggested by a genealogist that was hired working in Ireland. There was no one else named Mary Doris of the right age in Ireland, except for this family. 

 

• The death, in November [year obscured], of a Catherine Doris, was recorded in Mary Doris’ family bible having died in Brooklyn, NY. She did not indicate a relationship, but it was the only Doris name mentioned in her Bible.

• The death certificate of a Catherine Doris in Manhattan, New York on 3 November 1898 indicated that her husband was James Doris and that her parents were William Lackey and Bella Lackey. 

So I had good reason to suspect that my g. grandmother was the same as this Mary Doris, born in Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford in the town of Ballinalee to James Doris and Catherine Lackey and that she had a brother, Patrick Doris.

 

But was that enough to say that this Mary Doris born in 1860 in Ireland was my g. grandmother?

 

Enter my grandmother’s autograph book.  I had this little book in my possession, which was given to me by my mother. I had looked through it and tucked it away (trying careful to keep it in an archive-safe storage). The pages in this book contains sentiments, witty poems, and well wishes from friends and family from about 1907-1920.  

 

On several pages were writings and sentiments from a Marguerite Doris (sometimes called Rita), which she signed as “your cousin.” On another page were the signatures of Marguerite as well as Katherine Mary and Francis Doris, which were assumed to be Marguerite's siblings.

 

 

Who were these cousins? I went looking for a family that had these three siblings together in the same household.

 

Research in the NY State census and Federal census for New York identified one such family:  the 1905 state census as well as the 1900 and 1910 Federal census for Manhattan has the family of Patrick and Katherine Doris and three of his children: Marguerite, Katherine M., and Francis.

Patrick was born about 1865, about the right age to be Mary’s brother. Furthermore in the 1900 census his father, James Doris, age 70, is living with Patrick’s family.  

 

Is this the brother of Mary Doris and my grandmother’s cousins Marguerite, Katherine Mary and Francis that wrote in her book?

 

Using the clue of the cousins in my grandmother’s autograph book led me to this Patrick Doris and I was able to find his marriage record, which records his parents as James Doris and Katherine Lackey. He was baptized 13 May 1866 in Ballinalee, Cl.onbroney Parish, Co. Longford, the same village, parish and parents as Mary Doris.

 

Finally, a gravestone was found in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York, erected by Patrick Doris, naming his parents as from Co. Longford, Ireand. The stone reads:

 

“ERECTED BY

PATRICK DORIS

IN MEMORY OF

HIS BELOVED MOTHER

CATHERINE DORIS

DIED NOV 3RD 1898

A NATIVE OF

CO. LONGFORD, IRELAND

FATHER

JAMES DORIS

DIED MAY 28, 1918

SISTER

CATHERINE DORIS

DIED OCT. 21, 1934.”

 

So, an unusual source, an autograph book, led to the confirmation that my grandmother’s cousins were the children of Patrick Doris, brother of Mary Doris, who were in turn the children of James and Catherine Lackey of Co. Longford, Ireland.

 

The Major-Gavay Family from Hungary, Part 1

 

The Major-Gavay Family from Hungary

The next several blogs will provide some background, historical context and genealogy of the Major and Gavay family who immigrated from that part of Hungary which is now in Slovakia in the early part of the 20th century. In Part 1, the region where the Major and Gavay families lived prior to their immigration is described. Part 2 will explore the historical context of their lives in Hungary and events that led them to leave their homeland to start a new life.

 

My grandfather, Jeno” (Eugene) Major (pronounced "My-yor") and my grandmother, Anna Gavay, immigrated in 1920 to the United States from the Hungarian town of Szepsi. Szepsi, now called Moldava nad Bodvou, is now in Slovakia (formerly part of Czechoslovakia, formerly Hungary) southeast of the city of Kassa (now Kosice) in northeast Hungary and Slovakia.  The Major and Gavay families lived along the towns around the Bodva (Bodvou) River in the former Abauj-Torna county, which now approximates the border between Hungary and Slovakia.  The Major family can be traced back to the late 18^th century through Roman Catholic parish church records. The towns where the Major’s lived include:

• Szepsi (now Moldava nad Bodvou in Slovakia)
• Torna-Ujflau (now Turnianska Nova Ves in Slovakia
• Nadaska (or Torna-Nadaska, still in modern Hungary
• Szilas, still in modern Hungary.
  

 

The Gavay family came from:

•  Somodi (now Drienovec, in Slovakia)
• Szepsi
• Jaszo (now Jarov, in Slovakia)

 

Anna Gavay and her siblings were born in Somodi although her father and grandfather were born in Szepsi.

The towns around the Bodva River.

The Major and Gavay family lived around the Bodva River in Hungary, which now straddles the boundary between Hungary and Slovakia.  Eugene (Jeno) Major was born in the town of Szepsi (now called Moldava nad Bodvou).

 

Eugene Major was the son of Istvan (Stephan) Major and Maria Hagan and he was born in the town of Torna-Ujfalu (now in Slovakia, called Turnianska Nova Ves). Stephan was the son of Jozef Major and Barbara Meszaros. Jozef was born in the village of Nadaska (sometimes called Torna-Nadaska and is still in Hungary, right on the border between Hungary and Slovakia. Jozef was the son of Stephan Major and Elisabeth Kotsis, also of Nadaska.

 

His wife, Anna Gavay was born in the nearby town of Somodi (now in Slovakia, called Drienovec). She was the daughter of Kalman Gavay and Ilona Frankovits (or Franckovics). Kalman was born in Szepsi and Ilona was born in Jaszo (now Jarov or Jasov, Slovakia). Kalman was the son of Franciscus Gavay and Elizabeth Tomas (or Tamas); both were from Szepsi.

 

Szepsi was the largest town along this part of the Bodva River.

Szepsi was the former district seat and birthplace of the Hungarian Reformed preacher and writer Márton Szepsi Csombor (1595-1622), the author of the first Hungarian guide-book, Máté Szepsi Laczkó (1576-1633) wine-improver and "inventer" of the old Tokay (wine).

 

The following is an excerpt from the Geographic Dictionary of Hungary By Elek Fenyes (1851). Translated from the Hungarian:

SZEPSI, an old well-known Hungarian city in Abauj County; 5 hour distance West of Kassa, next to the Bodva [River]; fetile [land] on the plain; 1,082 Catholics , 67 Evangelicals, 1,232 Hungarian Reformed [Presbyterian], 6 “unlisted [n.e.]” Greek Orthodox, 22 Jewish inhabitants, who were the royal wheelmakers. They were the ones that took the royal coach to the camp where liberties were bestowed upon them [by the nobility].

 

Today there are mostly craftsmen, mainly bootmakers and tanners.  There are Catholic and Hungarian Reformed Churches, a casern for the cavalry, an apothecary, three mills on the Bodva [River], a large vineyard, and a large town hall. The Catholic parish in Kassa County is not only the oldest but also the most luxurious. The grain sold in the weekly markets was especially well-known throughout the country.

 

In the past, the city was surrounded by a stone wall. On 26 November 1683, Janos Sobiesky returned with his army made up of 40,000 men. Here it was agreed upon, that districts of the lower mountain area which includes Tokaj, Tarcal, Tálya, Mád, and Benye, would promise 1,000 barrels of wine to the ruling nobility so that Sobiesky would not led his men through the area. In the agreement, the Okolicsányi family owned the most land [“had the most influence”] amongst the landowners.

The two photos below from the Magyarorszag Varmegyei Es Varosai Enciklopedaja (Sziklay, 1896). The third is a postcard of Szepsi circa early 1900s.

 

The town of Somodi, home to Anna Gavay, was first mentioned in historical texts as early as 1335.  In 1887 a large coal deposit was found near Somodi.  Somodi is the home of the Classicist Bishop Rest-home and Karstic bushforest (nature conservation area, 78 hectares).

 

The photo below from the Magyarorszag Varmegyei Es Varosai Enciklopedaja (Sziklay, 1896)