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The Thumb's Christmas

  Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller. One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book . In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone. Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Ji...
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MICHAL TATAR & MARIA HANECZAK

Present day Forbasy, in Northern Slovakia. It is easy to imagine Michal Tatar farming or keeping a herd of sheep in these hills.1

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

February 7, 2022:  Maternal Great, Great Grandparents #4 - Michal Tatar (1844-1907) and Maria Haneczak (1840-1900)

 

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

As the final entry in this ancestral writing challenge, the focus shifts to my last set of Slovak great, great grandparents, Michal Tatar and Maria Haneczak, the grandparents of our Grandma Kozlina.

Like most of our Slovak ancestors, Michal and Maria were both born in Forbasy, Stará Ľubovňa, Northern Slovakia, in the shadow of the High Tatras mountains. "Mihály" was born to Mihály Tatár and Zsófia Ludvig, and baptized on 8 September 1844 in nearby Gňazdá,  Pál Haneczak and Maria Matuscak were the parents of Maria Haneczak, baptized on 7 July 1840 in Gňazda. (Note that the given names were recorded in Hungarian at this time.)2

While little is known about the early lives of Michal and Maria, it is likely that Michal was engaged in some sort of farming as was common in the area, or perhaps he took care of sheep in the hills surrounding Forbasy.

On July 1868, Maria married Stephan Dudra from the village of Hertnek. Sadly, while Maria was pregnant with their first child, Stephan died on 24 September 1871. Maria did not even have their first child to console her, as their son John died shortly after birth in May 1872.3

The following year, Maria married our ancestor Michal Tatar, on 29 October 1873. The couple welcomed eight children into their family, though again, in those days of high infant mortality, at least four did not survive past childhood. Among those who did, however, was our great grandmother Anna Tatar Simonik.4

Detail of marriage record for Michal Tatar and Maria Dudra "nat" (born) Haniczak.

Maria passed away on 30 April 1900 in Forbasy, and Michal Tatar then remarried to Anna Ruzbassan in 1905. This marriage, however, was short-lived; Michal died on 19 March 1907.5

It is unclear how many of Michal and Maria's children may have come to the United States besides Anna, if any. Future research may reveal more of that story.

What is clear is that by coming to America, Michal and Maria's daughter Anna Tatar and her husband John Simonik sent ripples from Slovakia out into the world, and each of their descendants carries the spiritual DNA of that homeland with them.

 

BONUS: Morphing Surnames

Some descendants of the Haneczak line today go by the surname Honeychuck. How did this happen? Immigrants to the United States may have been able to speak little or no English and have been asked to give their names, birthplaces, etc., with perhaps no understanding of the questions they were being asked. They may not have been able to read or write in even their own language. Those to whom they gave information—record keepers, census enumerators, church personnel, etc.—likely attempted to spell the surnames phonetically as they heard them, so misspellings abounded, and over time, some of these spelling variations simple stuck. 

As one example, I have a DNA cousin with the last name Honeychuck, and it took me a hot minute to realize that we had common Haneczak ancestors several generations back in time. Another example: It possible that our Gilbride surname began as Kilbride; one can imagine a newly-landed Irish immigrant pronouncing the surname Kilbride, but it being heard as Gilbride. 

P.S. Surnames were never "changed" at Ellis Island. Ship manifests were always created at the point of embarkation, never the destination. The manifests traveled with the ships and were given to port authorities at the final destination.


CONTEXT: Cholera Epidemic

As I searched through volumes of burial records, it was clear that there was a cholera epidemic in the spring of 1873 in our ancestral towns of Forbasy and Gňazdá. The epidemic seems to have begun in early February and ended around mid-September of that year. Cholera—spread through contaminated food and water—took young and old alike, often several members of the same family in the same day or week. Few families appeared to be spared. 

During this time span I counted 98 cholera deaths, and even worse, deaths also attributed to "variola" or smallpox, and "phthisis" or tuberculosis. In small villages, this would have been a tremendous toll. Numbered among those who succumbed to the cholera epidemic during that time were members of our extended families of Tatar, Hanescak and Simonik.


Ages (in "ann" or years), and cause of death for several cholera victims, from church burial book.


NOTES

1 Forbasy Oficiálne Stránsky Obce, "Naša Obec," (https://www.forbasy.eu/index.php?id=26&gi=21#group-1 : accessed 7 February 2022), "Fotogaléria."

2 A' Kereszteltek Anyakonyve (Baptismal registry), Gňazdá, Stará Ľubovňa, p. 4, baptism of Mihály Tatár, 8 September 1844; Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-995F : accessed 7 January  2022); citing FHL film 4948404, image 326; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. Also: Ibid, p. 42, baptism of Maria Haneczak, 7 July 1849; Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR79-9MYX : accessed 7 January  2022); citing image 345.

3 Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev), Stará Ľubovňa, Gňazdá, Matrica Copulatorum Parochialis Ecclesia Gnezdensis, p. 126, #19, marriage of Stephanus Dudra and Maria Haneczak, 7 July 1868; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-93HB : accessed 7 February 2022); citing FHL film 4948404, image 147; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. Also: Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev), Stará Ľubovňa, Gňazdá,  Liber Mortuorum Ecclesiac Parochialis Gnezdaenis, p. 113, #62, death of Stephanus 24 September 1871; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-9Q1P : accessed 7 February 2022); citing FHL film 4948404, image 599; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic). Also: Ibid, p. 145, #37, posthumous baptism/death of Joannes Dudra, 15 May 1872; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR79-1R5 : accessed 7 February 2022); citing FHL film 4948404, image 499; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic).  

4 Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev), Stará Ľubovňa, Gňazdá, Matrica Copulatorum Parochialis Ecclesia Gnezdensis, p. 138, #8,  marriage of Michal Tatar and Maria Haneczak, 29 October 1873; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-938C : accessed 7 February 2022); FHL film 4948404, image 153; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. Also: FamilySearch Family Tree, Maria Haneczak LDCG-JCB (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDCG-JCB : accessed 7 February 2022).

5 FamilySearch Family Tree, Maria Haneczak LDCG-JCB (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDCG-JCB : accessed 7 February 2022). Also: FamilySearch Family Tree, Michael Tatar LDCG-JCY (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDCG-JCY : accessed 7 February 2022).





 

 



 

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