A Hidden Cemetery

 

A Hidden Cemetery

 Genealogists love cemeteries. Some are huge, with thousands of grave stones; some are small churchyard cemeteries or family burial grounds. Some are just hidden and forgotten. Like the one I set out to find.

 While researching my Rogers roots in Dutchess County, New York, I came across documentation of a Rogers family burial ground near Beekman, Dutchess County, east of Fishkill, New York.  [1]

The Rogers Burial Ground was on the farm owned by my 5^th Great Uncle, Hezekiah Rogers (1738-1814) (brother of my 4^th g. grandfather, Zophar Rogers), sons of Hezekiah Rogers and Ruth Scudder of Huntington, Long Island, New York [2] Hezekiah and Zophar both married the Vincent sisters, Hannah Vincent and Jemima Vincent.  Hezekiah Rogers and his family came to the Beekman Patent about 1760. [3]

The compilation, Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, New York (1924), has a photograph on the frontispiece of the book of the Rogers Burial Ground and the editors transcribed the nine gravestone inscriptions on 21 May 1912. Even in 1912, the burial ground was overgrown and difficult to see.

 

Frontispiece of Old Gravestones of Dutchess County.

 The transcription of the 9 grave stones in the Rogers Burial Ground from
Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, p. 9.

 

A  Rogers researcher and distant relative, revealed a recent (1980s) photograph of some of the gravestones that showed they were overgrown and in decay. Apparently, nobody had been taking care of the grounds.

 

Photo of grave of Hezekiah Rogers taken circa 1980

 Find A Grave also recorded the burial ground and gave directions on how to find it. The Find A Grave site also has photos of each of the gravestones. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2333697/rogers-burial-ground

While taking a genealogy road trip through upstate NY in 2018, I put the Rogers Burial Ground on my agenda as we were driving right past it. I researched the area, got as close as I can with Google Maps, and pinpointed where I thought the graveyard should be. It wasn’t visible on Google Maps, but there was an area next to a local park that looked like it could be there.  Besides, it was quite close to “Rogers Avenue.” Probably no coincidence since this area was part of the original Rogers farm.

 

 Google Map of Route 9, Beekman Road. The Rogers Burial Ground is just to the right of the DFoherty Park Field.

The road the Burial Ground was supposed to be on was Route 9 (Beekman Road), a fairly busy country road in Dutchess County. My wife and I  located the local park and pulled in, just off the main road. Nothing was immediately visible. I walked along Route 9 a bit (avoiding traffic; there was not much of a shoulder!). After a few feet, I peered through the thickets and could just make out the edge of a stone wall. I found a break in the wall, which was obviously the original entrance and climbed in.  And there it was!  The graveyard was there. The grave stones were there, but many were toppled into the ground (some inscription side down, of course) and all were completely covered by overgrowth and woods.  Some of the erect stones were not very readable as it was quite dark in there, even on a bright sunny day. Comparing with photos my relative had made years ago, and the photos from Find A Grave, it was obvious that the site had much degraded since then.

 

 Rogers Burial Ground, Dutchess County, NY. Photo by Gene Major, 2018. Hezekiah Rogers. “In Memory of Hezekiah Rogers who departed this life January 24^th 1814 in the 76^th Year of his Age.”

I took some photos and was fortunate that the compilers of Old Gravestones back in 1912 had transcribed the stones when they were visible. I doubt if anyone in the local area even knows these stones are here anymore as you would really have to try and look for them.  Even though the graveyard was overgrown and hidden, it was exciting to actually find the stones myself and that my “cemetery gene” was working!

Rogers Burial Ground, Dutchess County, NY. Photo by Gene Major, 2018. The markers for John Rogers (on the left) and his wife, Mary Skidmore Rogers (on the right).

Rogers Burial Ground, Dutchess County, NY. Photo by Gene Major, 2018

[1] J. Wilson Poucher and Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, eds., Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, New York: Nineteen Thousand Inscriptions, Volume II, (Poughkeepsie, New York: Dutchess County Historical Society, 1924), 9. A copy of the book is available at Familysearch.org: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/279093

[2] Records of the First Church in Huntington, Long Island, 1723-1799.  Being the Record Kept by the Rev. Ebenezer Prime, The Pastor During Those Years. (Huntington, New York: Moses L. Scudder, 1899), 33.  Hezekiah Rogers, Baptized by E.P. May 28, 1738.  A copy of the book is available at FamilySearch.org: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/29310

[3] Frank J. Doherty, The Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York: An Historical and Genealogical Study of All the 18th Century Settlers in the Patent, Volume 10, (Pleasant Valley, New York: Frank J. Doherty, 1990, p. 925).  

The Major-Gavay Family of Hungary, Part 6

 

The Major-Gavay Family of Hungary, Part 6

In Part 1, some background information was presented on the Major and Gavay families of Szepsi, Abaúj-Torna, Hungary (now Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia) and surrounding towns. Part 2 provided some historical context in which our ancestors lived in old Hungary.  Part 3 covered the immigration of the Major and Gavay families to the U.S.  Part 4 has the genealogy of the Major family in Hungary and the U.S. Part 5 covers the genealogy of the Gavay family in Hungary and the U.S. Part 6 covers the DNA of the Major family in Hungary.

Genealogists depend on three kinds of DNA tests:

• autosomal DNA. Everyone inherits DNA from both parents. This is kind of test that can tell you something about recent ancestry, back a few hundred years. It measures DNA contributed by both parents (and their parents, and so on) and is very valuable in researching families back a few generations.
• Y-DNA. This is a test that only males can take. Males in inherit y-DNA from their father (and their father and so on). These tests can tell you something about the paternal line and can go back thousands of years.
• mtDNA. This a test that measures mitochondrial DNA, which is inside every cell.  Both males and females can take this test, BUT only females can pass the  mtDNA from one generation to the next. Which means that mtDNA can tell you something about your maternal line going back thousands of years.

 

autosomal DNA test contributions from both parents. Y-DNA tests only paternal line. mtDNA tests only the maternal line.
 

The Major-Gavay family is fairly well documented in the genealogical records going back about 200 years or so. The autosomal DNA tests can tell us something about distant cousins and other relationships.

 

Haplogroups

But to understand our Major-Gavay ancient origins, we would need to look at what is called the haplogroup. Think of a haplogroup is a kind of “tribe.” The haplogroup will not tell us much about individual family members, but can tell us something about where we came from. Haplogroups measure precise mutations in the DNA and can be traced back thousands of years to specific times when those mutations occur.

 

Only three testing companies can tell you the haplogroup: Family Tree DNA, Living DNA, and 23andMe. Only Family Tree DNA offer the Y-DNA and mtDNA tests. A few years ago, the National Genograhic Project (from the National Geographic Society) offered a haplogroup result, but the Project has been closed.

 

mtDNA Haplogroups

All mtDNA haplogroups are designated by a specific set of letters and numbers corresponding to mutations or branches in the mtDNA. These mutations can remain UNCHANGED for hundreds or thousands of years. If you take a DNA test, that mtDNA haplogroup number is the same that your mother has, and her mother and her mother, and her mother, back to whenever the mutation occurred…unchanged. mtDNA haplogroups are designated by seven distinct letters (the 7 daughters of Eve): U, X, H, V, T, K, and J. [1]

 

I took the National Genographic, Family Tree DNA, and Living DNA tests and they all tell me the same maternal haplogroup: U5b1c2b. That means I (and my mom and my sister…and my mother’s mother, and her mother, etc.) belong to tribe U with a mutation of U5 and another mutation of U5b, etc. arriving at U5b1c2b.  Geneticists know fairly precisely when these mutations occurred.

 

The last time my mutation, U5b1c2b occurred was about 6,000 years ago. The U and U5 haplogroups are very, very ancient. These haplogroups trace populations back about 40,000 years and is the oldest of the 7 mtDNA groups. They were stone age hunter-gatherers that lived on the southern fringes of the glacier during the last Ice Age. U5 populations were pushed back to western Europe and beyond by later populations of horsemen and farmers. [2]

 

All that means is that my maternal line goes back UNCHANGED for 6,000 years. My mom’s maternal line is Irish, so that means her maternal line could have been in Ireland for about 6,000 years. Archaeologists have dated skeletons throughout Europe and Ireland and my specific mtDNA is found amongst them, including a massive study recently that confirmed at least one Viking skeleton has the same haplogroup. [3]

 

So what does this have to do with Hungarian DNA and genealogy?

 

My DNA tests can trace our Hungarian male population back thousands of years, but there is no data on the maternal line. A daughter of my father’s female siblings (Jennie Major or Nancy Major) would have to take the appropriate DNA test to reveal our Hungarian maternal line, which would be the Gavay line.  A male Gavay would have to test to determine the paternal Gavay line.

 

 Y-DNA Haplogroups

Our Hungarian haplogroup is R-L260. More precisely, R1a1g2,L260.

 

What does that mean?

 

The haplogroup won’t tell you specific people, but it does trace the paternal Hungarian line from my father (Eugene) to his father (our common grandfather) (Eugene, Sr.), to his father (our common great grandfather) (Stephen, our common ancestor), to his father (our 2x grandfather) (Joszef), to his father (our 3x grandfather) (Stephen), and so on, back thousands of years. In addition, my DNA has 2.1% Neanderthal and 2.2% Denisovian, which is pretty typical of European populations (whether that percentage came from maternal or paternal DNA is impossible to tell. Both of my parents have deep European roots). 

The Living DNA test gives the haplogroup as R-Z283, which R-L260 is a subclass.

 

                                                                                We are in the light green area.
 

So, where did we Hungarians come from?

The DNA tests identify specific markers in the paternal (called Y-DNA, for the Y chromosome) DNA going back 60,000 years or more. These markers identify specific shifts of populations.  The R-L260 haplogroup indicates that we left Africa about 60,000 years ago and moved north through western and Central Asia. The population then turned west across the grasslands of Russia into Europe. There they met the Neanderthals and interbred with them. Our R-L260 ancestors lived a hunter-gatherer life style, which paved the way for the settlement of Europe.

                                        We are of the lines to the right of blue.
 

Check here for more information on the R-L260 haplogroup.

 

About 13,000 years ago, our tribe was amongst the settlers of Eastern Europe grasslands, which gave rise to the Slavs and the Magyars.

 

Linguistically, Magyars are not related to Slavs at all. The Magyar language is Finno-Ugric of the Uralic class of languages and not Indo-European. There are tons of studies on the origin of the Hungarian language see [4] for example.

 

But genetically, Magyars and Slavs share a common origin. The R-L260 line is most common in Slovakia and the Czech Republic and Poland.  If you look at the map of Hungary where our Majors came from, it was a region dominated by Slavs.  All this confirms that our male Hungarian heritage is deeply rooted on eastern and central Europe and has been for thousands and thousands of years. 

 

However, our maternal Hungarian DNA origins may be quite different from our paternal Hungarian DNA origins and only a test that also gives the maternal haplogroup will be able to tell us.

 

References

[1] Brian Sykes, The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals our Genetic Ancestry (New York: W.W. Norton 2001).

[2] Boris Malyarchuk, et al. “The Peopling of Europe from the Mitochondrial Haplogroup U5 Perspective,” PLoS ONE 5(4) e10285. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010285

[3] Ashot Margaryan, et al. “Population genomics of the Viking world,” Nature, 585, (2020) 390-396.

 

[4] B. Csányi, et al. “Y-Chromosome Analysis of Ancient Hungarian and Two Modern Hungarian-Speaking Populations from the Carpathian Basin,” Annals of Human Genetics 72 (2008) 519-534.

Brick Wall: The Parents of Zadock B. Lacey of Sussex County, Delaware

 

Brick Wall: The Parents of Zadock B. Lacey of Sussex County, Delaware

 Every family genealogy has a brick wall - often more than one. One of my brick walls is identifying the parents, or at least the father of Zadock B. Lacey, born 25 September 1790 and died 28 March 1867. He married Mary Hopkins, daughter of Josiah Hopkins and Elon Coulter on 5 December 1812. [1] My g.g. grandfather, Thomas T. Lacey was born to Zadock B. and Mary Lacey in 1828 as recorded in a partial Bible record. [2] Zadock and his wife are buried in the Coolspring Presbyterian Church cemetery near Georgetown and Lewes, Sussex County, Delaware. [3]

Photos by author

There are no records, so far, that document the birth of Zadock B. Lacey, though he lived in and around the Indian River, Lewes & Rehoboth, and Broad Creek Hundreds of Sussex County, Delaware, where most of the Sussex Co. Lacey’s lived. The earliest recorded Lacey in Sussex County is the 1703 deed of John Lacey, where he purchased 200 acres of land on the "North side of Indian River" in Sussex County from Richard Ward, which was passed to his son Robert Lacey. [4]

A possible candidate is Hezekiah Lacey of Sussex County. His father was Robert Lacey, grandson of the John Lacey that first settled in 1703. Hezekiah’s father died in 1781 and the Orphans Court of Sussex County describes three children of Robert and Mary: Robert, Hezekiah, and Ann: all minors under age 14 in 1781. [5]

It is known that Hezekiah Lacey married an Elinor Barker on 23 Feb 1790 and Zadock was born in September 1790. [6] Perhaps the “B” is his middle name is for “Barker?”  In the 1800 census for Angola and Indian River Hundred, Hezekiah Lacey has one male in the family under 10, which could be Zadock and one male age 10-16. [7]

Of all the Lacey inhabitants in that area of Sussex County, Hezekiah Lacey seems to be of the appropriate age to be the father of Zadock B. Lacey.  Hezekiah Lacey disappears from the records after about 1828. Without any direct evidence, the research will continue in deeds and probate records and hopefully a more definitive answer as to the parents of Zadock B. Lacey will be found.

 

References

[1] C.H.B. Turner, Genealogical notes, Manuscript, Sussex County and Kent County, Delaware, Somerset County and Worcester County, Maryland: Surnames H-K, familysearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2686366: accessed 15 April 2021), transcription, “Mary Hopkins – Zadock B. Lacey marriage, 5 December 1812,” Hopkins Family Bible, p. 250; crediting Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

[2] Gene R. Major, A Delaware Record: Kent County Families: Moore, Wyatt, Lacey, Rogers (Wilimington, DE, Delaware Genealogical Society, April 1987).

[3] Personal visit by author.

[4] Sussex County, Delaware, Deed Book C-2 (1690-1710), p.89-92; Delaware, U.S., Land Records, 1677-1947, database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61025/ : accessed 1 January 2000), John Lacey from Richard Ward, 1 Feb 1703, image 72/518;citing  Land Records, 1677–1947, Recorder of Deeds, Sussex County, RG 4555, Subgroup 000, Series 030, Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware.

[5] Sussex County, Delaware, Orphans' Court Records, Liber C #3, 1780-1783),  p. 183-184, Mary Lacy, 1 August 1781; Delaware Public Archives, RG4840, Dover, Delaware.

[6] F. Edward Wright, Vital Records of Kent and Sussex Counties Delaware 1686-1800: "Lewes and Coolspring Presbyterian Church, Lewes, Delaware: Marriages" (Silver Spring, MD: Family Line Publications, 1986), p. 133. Note that the 1905 transcription of the church records: United Presbyterian Churches of Lewes, Indian River and Cool Spring 1756-1855, LDS film 441,441,  has
"1790 February 25 Hezekiah Lessee to Elinor Barker at Mr. Lessee’s." There is a later transcription by the WPA in the 1930s, which records a different entry: " Feb. 23, 1790. Hezekiah K.Lessee to Elinor Booker." The location of the original church records are not known, but the 1905 transcription seems to be a more careful and accurate transcription. Elinor's maiden name was likely Barker as there were many Barker family members in the Indian River Hundred area, but no Bookers.

[7] 1800 U.S. Census, Sussex County, Delaware, Dagsboro Hundred, p. 418, line 38, Hezekiah Lacy, image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7590/ : accessed 1 January 2021); citing NARA, RG29,  microfilm publication M32, roll 4.

The Ancestors of Faith Constance Rogers Major who arrived during the Great Migration (1620-1640)

 

The Ancestors of Faith Constance Rogers Major who arrived during the Great Migration (1620-1640)

 

The Great Migration of immigrants from England to the colonies occurred between the landing of the Mayflower in 1620 to 1640. Over 20,000 immigrants came to New England, mostly between 1634-1640. The first large group of about 1000 immigrants came in the Winthrop Fleet of 11 ships in 1630 supplementing the first wave of colonists at Plymouth.

 

 

Arrival of the Winthrop Colony, by William F. Halsall. W. F. Halsall - Tappan, Eva March. An Elementary History of Our Country. New york: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1914. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winthrop_Fleet.jpg)
 

The line of my mother, Faith Constance Rogers Major, has deep roots in colonial New England and a number of ancestors have been identified as among those that came in the Great Migration. Most of these immigrants are highlighted in Anderson (2015) and in the “great” Great Migration series of 12 volumes available from the New England Historic Genealogical Society. A partial list is the following (page numbers refer to Anderson (2015)).

• Henry Adams arrived about 1639 from Somerset and settled in Braintree, MA, p. 2. He is the 3^rd g.grandfather of President John Adams and my 10^th g.grandfather.
• William Buell arrived about 1640 and settled in Windsor, CT p. 48. My 9^th g.grandfather.
• William Denison and sons (especially Capt. George Denison) arrived on the “Lion” in 1631; settled in Stonington, CT, p. 92. Father of Capt. George Denison of Stonington and New London, CT. He was from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire and is my 10^th g.grandfather.
• John Frary, arrived about 1637 and one of the founders of Dedham, MA, p. 121. My 10^th g.grandfather.
• Edward Fuller, arrived on the “Mayflower” in 1620. P. 123. One of the Pilgrim’s, he and his wife died the first winter 1620-21, but his sons Mathew and Samuel survived. The Fullers were from Reddenhall, Norfolk. My 10^th g.grandfather.
• Matthew Fuller, son of Edward Fuller, was in Barnstable County by 1640. He came later during the Great Migration. My 9^th g.grandfather. [MacGunnigle, 1990].
  
• Robert Goodale arrived on the “Elizabeth” in 1634 with his family and settled in Salem, MA, p. 134. My 9^th g.grandfather.
• Robert Jennison arrived about 1635 and was a settler of Watertown, MA, p. 184. My 9^th g.grandfather. My 9^th g.grandfather. [Hill, 1908]
• Robert Lay arrived before 1637 and settled in Saybrook, CT. My 9^th g.grandfather.
• Thomas Lord and wife arrived on the “Elizabeth and Ann” and settled in Hartford and Stonington, CT, p. 211. One of the first founders of Hartford. The family was from Towcester, Northamptonshire. My 10^th g.grandfather.
•  Joseph Morse arrived on the “Increase” in 1635 with his family and settled in Medfield, MA, p. 233. My 9^th g.grandfather.
• Henry Rowley arrived about 1632 to Scituate and Barnstable. His son, Moses Rowley married Elizabeth Fuller, daughter of Matthew Fuller and granddaughter of Pilgrim Edward Fuller, p. 290. My 9^th g.grandfather.
• Thomas Skidmore came about 1635 and settled in Saybrook, CT and then Huntington, Suffolk, Long Island, p. 306. He was from Westerleigh, Gloucestershire. My 9th g.grandfather.
  
• Thomas Stanton arrived on the “Bonaventure” in 1637. Eventually settled in Stonington, CT. p. 318. One of the founders of Stonington. He was a native American interpreter during the Pequot War. My 9^th g.grandfather.
• William Tuttle and wife Anna arrived on the “Planter” in 1635. The family was from Ringstead, Northamptonshire; settled in New Haven, CT, p. 344. My 9^th g.grandfather.

 

Source:

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640: A Concise Compendium (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015).

 

Edwin A. Hill, “The Descendants of Robert Lay of Saybrook, Conn.” New England Historic and Genealogical Register 68 (1908), pp.172-173.

 

Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle, Edward Fuller of the Mayflower: Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1990) 4:5-6.

The Major-Gavay Family of Hungary, Part 5

 

The Major-Gavay Family of Hungary, Part 5

In Part 1, some background information was presented on the Major and Gavay families of Szepsi, Abaúj-Torna, Hungary (now Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia) and surrounding towns. Part 2 provided some historical context in which our ancestors lived in old Hungary.  Part 3 covered the immigration of the Major and Gavay families to the U.S.  Part 4 has the genealogy of the Major family in Hungary and the U.S. Part 5 covers the genealogy of the Gavay family in Hungary and the U.S. 

The Gavay Family 

Franc¹ Gavay was born in Hungary, probably in Abauj-Torna county along the Bodvou River sometime in the 1830s.  He married Elisabeth Tomas (or Tamas) probably around 1855.  No marriage record has been found in the Hungarian church records, but their names are recorded as the parents of Kalman Gavay, father of Anna Gavay. Franc and Elisabeth had four known children, all born in Szepsi, Abouj-Torna (now Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia):

i.               Franciscus² (Frank) Gavay, baptized 30 Oct 1856

ii.             Maria² Gavay, baptized 12 Mar 1860

iii.            Rosalia² Gavay, baptized 22 Aug 1863

iv.            Kalman² Gavay, baptized 29 Jan 1868

 

The record above from the Hungarian Roman Catholic Church records for Szepsi shows that Kalman (spelled Colomanus) was born January 28 and baptized January 29, 1868 with his parents given as Franc Gavay and Elis[abth] Tomas, both of Szepsi.

Kalman² Gavay was born 28 January 1868 in Szepsi, Abauj-Torna, Hungary. He died 1 January 1951 in Stamford, Fairfield Co., CT. He married (1) on 20 August 1893, Ilona (Helen) Frankovics (or Frankovits), daughter of Franciscus Frankovics and Agnes Maurzky in Somodi Hungary. She was born 19 May 1869 in Jaszo, Abauj-Torna, Hungary. She did not come to the United States with Kalman and probably died before 1920 in Hungary. He married (2) Bessie or Barbola Gavay in 1921 in Stamford. She is probably the wife of Kalman’s deceased brother, Francis, and is likely the passenger, aged 54, on the 1920 manifest with Eugene Major and Anna Gavay Major. See Part 3.

Birth and Baptism record for Helena (Ilona) Frankovits, 19 May 1869, bapt. 20 May 1869, daughter of Franciscus Frankovics and Agnes Maurzky in Jaszo, Abauj-Torna, Hungary (now Jasov, Slovakia).

 

Marriage record of Kalman Gavay and Ilona Frankovits, 20 August 1893, Somodi Hungary. Although the marriage took place in Somodi, southwest of Szepsi, the marriage record shows that Kalman was from Szepsi and Ilona was from Jaszo (north of Szepsi).

 

Kalman was already living in Stamford, Connecticut (on Sound View Avenue) when his daughter Anna Gavay Major and son-in-law Jeno (Eugene) came to America in October 1920.  From the immigration ship passenger list for Ellis Island, he arrived on June 15, 1899 at age 31 (single) on the ship Kaiser Friedrich out of Bremen, Germany.  Although Kalman married Ilona in 1893, he lists himself as “single”.  Ilona possibly died before 1899? At some point he must have gone back to Hungary because another ship record has him arriving again on August 25, 1903 on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse out of Bremen at age 34 and married. See Part 3.

 

He went back to Hungary again, because a ship record says he left New York City on 17 April 1907 and arrived in Liverpool, England on the ship Carmania. He may have remained in Hungary until 1910, when he appears on the passenger list of the ship SS Uranium arriving at the port of New York City out of Rotterdam, Holland, on 19 October 1910. He is traveling with his two children Maria, age 15, and Ferencz [Frank], age 14. The nearest relative for Kalman and the children are given as Ilona Gavay (wife and mother) in Hungary, so perhaps Ilona was still alive (?). Kalman is going to Stamford, but the children are going to New York City to a friend,  Lajis Hesaros. See Part 3.

 

Kalman and Ilona had five known children, all born in Hungary (there may have been a 5th child named Ilona, but there are no records):

i.               Mary³ Gavay, baptized 2 Oct 1894 in Somodi, Hungary. She died 26 Jan 1981 in Stamford, Connecticut. She married Stephen Nyitrai, son of John Nyitrai and Mary Elizabeth Gaspar of Norwalk, Conn. on 21 August 1916 in Stamford, Conn. Mary and Steve lived at 47 Sound View Ave., Stamford, Conn. with Anna and Jeno as well as with Anna's father, Kalman. Mary Gavay Nyitrai and her husband, Stephan also lived at 127 Lockwood Ave., Stamford, Connecticut (which they owned). Stephan was a machinist in a lock shop, so he must have had enough money to buy property. They had one son:

a.     Ernest⁴ born 6 Mar 1917, died. 5 Apr 2014 in Stamford, CT. Not married.

 

ii.             Frank³ (Ferencz) Gavay, baptized 10 Dec 1895 in Somodi, Hungary as Ferencz Gavay. He died 21 Feb 1984 in Stamford, CT. He married 29 Jul 1929 Stefanie (Stefanka, Stephany)  Margaret Schwetz Gavay (born 20 Aug 1902 in Bradejov, Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia), the wife of his brother Kalman Gavay (1902-1928), after he passed away in 1928.  Stephanie was born as Stefanie Schwetz, daughter of Edward Schwetz and Veronika Kosak. She came to the U.S. in 1920 on the ship SS France out of Le Harve, France with her relatives (probably aunt and cousin). Her arrival and naturalization papers have her name as Schwetz and not Svec, which must have been a later addition. Frank and Stefanie (Stephenany, as she was called) had two children, born in Connecticut:

a.     Frank⁴ born 22 Jan 1934 in Stamford, Conn., married Gerri Burr 1 Jul 1962.

b.     Vilma⁴ born 16 Jan 1931 in Stamford, Conn. Not married.

 

Declaration of intention for Stefanja Schwetz, 20 March 1924. She declares that she was born 20 August 1903 in Bartfam, Czechoslovakia. Bartfam is the Hungarian name for Bardejov. She is short, 5'1"" and has a burn scar on her right forearm.
 

 

iii.            Anna³ Gavay, baptized 12 March 1897 in Somodi, Hungary. She died 13 April 1991 in Darien, CT. She married Jeno (Eugene) Major 5 Apr 1920 in Szepsi, Hungary (see Part 4).

 

iv.            Kalman³ Gavay, born about 1902 in Somodi, Hungary (birth records in Somodi, Hungary only go to about 1900). He died 4 Jan 1928 in Darien, Conn. He married Stephanie M. Schwetz on 29 May 1926 in Stamford (see entry for Frank Gavay).  They had one child, born in Stamford:

a.     Helen⁴ born 18 Mar 1927 married John O’Grady. Died 27 Nov 2010.

 

v.              Elizabeth³ (Betty) Gavay?), born in Hungary (?). Possible daughter form Kalman’s 2^nd marriage to Barbola Gavay? There are no records in Hungary or U.S. to confirm her birth.

 

Gavay family photo taken circa 1897 in Hungary. The photo shows Kalman Gavay [standing];

Elizabeth Tomas [old woman, seated, mother of Kalman];Ilona Frankovits Gavay [wife of Kalman, seated]. Child in white dress is probably Maria Gavay (1894) and the boy is probably Ferencz (aka Frank) Gavay (1895). Anna Gavay, born 1897 does not appear, which dates the photo to sometime before March 1897. Very possibly Ilona is pregnant with Anna in this photo.

Wedding picture of Gavay family 29 May 1926 (wedding of Kalman Gavay and Stefanie Schwetz (aka Svec). Back row from left to right: Anna Gavay Major, Jeno Major, Frank Gavay (brother of Anna), Stephen Nytrai, Mary Gavay (sister of Anna and Frank). Bottom row from left to right: Jennie Major, Eugene Major (children of Anna and Jeno), Kalman Gavay (father of Anna and siblings), Stefanie Margaret Schwetz (bride), Kalman Gavay (groom and brother of Anna, Frank, and Mary. After Kalman’s death on 4 January 1928, his brother Frank married Stefanie on 29 July 1929), Ernest Nytirai (son of Stephen and Mary).

 

 Part 6 will explore some DNA aspects of the Major family.