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Readers Add More Tips for Using Church Records

Grace Church, New York, 1850. (Smithsonian Open Access) Several readers commented on last week's post on finding church records , adding tips and insights that are too good not to share. My friend Barbara from Pennsylvania wrote, "Baptismal records often reveal children that were not known. I know this to be true from all the research I've done here in Pennsylvania in Catholic sacramental registers of parishes that existed long before civil records were in place. Those unknown children often died young and were 'forgotten'  because families didn't discuss losing small children, no one recorded the death, cemetery records were not diligently kept, or nothing appeared in the local newspaper. If it weren't for those baptismal records, they truly would be unknown or forgotten."  I was reminded by Barbara's comment that I had found the baptisms of three children I was not aware of previously in my Becker family in Catholic church records from St. ...
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STEPHAN SZIMONIK

Panoramic landscape, Stará Ľubovňa, Slovakia, near the Forbasy home of Stephanus Szimonik.1

 

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

February 3, 2022:  Maternal Great, Great Grandfather #3 - Stephan Szimonik (1850-1927)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

As I move into the final four profiles of this challenge, the focus shifts once more to my Slovak lineage. Today's subject is Stephan Szimonik, 2nd great grandfather, and Grandma Kozlina's grandfather.

Stephan Szimonik, son of Antonius Szimonik and Thecla Hajoszteks, was born in Forbasy, and baptized at the Catholic church in Gňazdá, Stará Ľubovňa on 26 March 1850.

The surname spelling of "Szimonik" is the Hungarian spelling of the Slovak name Simonik. Depending on what time period events were recorded—such as church records—the spelling of names might be Hungarian, Slovak or Latin, and so variation in spelling is quite common.2

Detail of Stephan's baptism.

At the age of 25 Stephan Simonik married a widow, Catharina Skapura, 31, whose previous married name was Tatar. It is possible that Catharina had been married to a member of the extended family of Anna Tatar, our great grandmother, who later married John Simonik.3

Stephanus' bride Catharina was noted a "vid Tatar," or "widow of Tatar."

Stephan and Catharina had six children, four sons: Jacob, John (our great grandfather), Adalbertus, and Laurentzius (Lawrence), as well as two daughters named Maria. In a typical naming tradition, the second daughter born in 1880 was named Maria in honor of another daughter named Maria, born in 1875 but who died in 1879—a custom known as necronymics.4

For some reason not quite understood, it appears that the marriage of Stephan and Catharina was not recorded until 1875, and by then they had three children: Jacob, John and Maria. One theory put forth by another researcher, is the Stephan and Catharina may have declared a marriage in her home village of Kolacovs, but later on this was not confirmed. And in fact, the couple's third child, Maria was first recorded at baptism as as "illegitimate" and her status later changed to "legitim."5

Stephan died on 20 July 1927 at the age of 77 in Forbasy.6

 

BONUS: Lineage chart of Stephan Szimonik to me.


 

NOTES

1 Dusan Bajus, Stará Ľubovňa Panoramio, 2009, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:064_01_Star%C3%A1_%C4%BDubov%C5%88a,_Slovakia_-_panoramio_(3).jpg : accessed 3 February 2022). This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

2 Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev) Stará Ľubovňa, Gňazdá, Baptisms, marriages, deaths, index (Krsty, manželstvá, úmrtia, zoznam) 1801-1888, p. 49, Stephanus Szimonik, 26 March 1850; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-9SQD : accessed 3 February 2022) ; citing FHL film  image 348; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. 

3 Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev) Stará Ľubovňa, Gňazdá, Baptisms, marriages, deaths, index (Krsty, manželstvá, úmrtia, zoznam) 1801-1888, p. 142, marriage of Stephanus Szimonik and Catharina Skapura; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-93QW : accessed 3 February 2022), citing FHL film 004948404, image 155; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. 

4 Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev) Stará Ľubovňa, Gňazdá, Baptisms, marriages, deaths, index (Krsty, manželstvá, úmrtia, zoznam) 1801-1888, p. 5, birth/baptism of Maria Szimonik, 4 July 1880; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-9QK6 : accessed 3 February 2022); citing FHL film 4948404, image 645 of 726; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. Also: Ibid, p. 183, Maria Stephani Szimonik, 25 April 1879; "Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R79-9QT7 : accessed 3 February 2022);  citing FHL film 4948404, image 634; Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia. 

5 FamilySearch Family Tree, entry for Stephanus Szimonik LDCR-RF4 (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDCR-RF4 : accessed 3 February 2022). Also: FamilySearch Family Tree, (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/collaborate/LDCR-RF4 : accessed 3 February 2022); Lothar Klein, Collaborate entry, "Marriage and children of Stephanus Szimonik and Catharina Skapura" 19 December 2016.

6 FamilySearch Family Tree, Stephanus Szimonik LDCR-RF4 (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDCR-RF4 : accessed 3 February 2022).

 

 



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