What Has Transpired Since the Trip of 2015?
I have not added to this blog since the big trip of 2017 when I became the first of the Szakács/Börczi clan to return to either Debrőd or Nemes Ládony. This time Tom and I are planning to again visit those towns but also to visit Barót, Háromszék, Romamia, the birthplace of my biological grandfather, Géza Balázs. We also hope to visit Olozstelek, Haromszék, Hungary, the village of Géza’s mother, and Nagy Baczon, the village of a great aunt who came to America, Juliana Kerestes.
A few months ago I finally sent a bit of money to get some records of the Romanian side of my family. From Grandpa Géza’s death certificate (and from the death certificate of his brother, Imré, I learned that they were the son of Ambrus Balázs and Rozalia Marko but I didn’t know if they had siblings or what happened to those siblings. A researcher uncovered a bit of information for me; Imré and Géza were 2 of 4 natural children born to Ambrus Balázs and Rozalia Marko; the others were Amália and Gyula (pronounced as “JUL-aw”, sort of). I do not know what happened to them but I would like to find out!</>
Ambrus was 1 of 4 children born to Pál Balázs and Anna Melcher. The only records I have on these folks is that they were orphans during the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Census of the area. I do know who each child married but that’s about it. I have not made contact with anyone from Barót, Olozstelek, or Nagy Baczon. I did get a relatively close DNA match with a guy whose father was born in Barót and whose mother is a Marko. The DNA match guy now lives in Chicago and his mother, like so many ethnic Hungarians from Romania, now lives in Hungary, Budapest to be exact.
There was a time, not too long ago, when the Ceaușescus were in power (1989) that speaking Hungarian in Romania was close to forbidden. A guy we know here (New Mexico, USA) and his wife also speak Spanish and went to visit Romania. His family still lives in Budapest but he wanted to see the place of his birth. (They moved to Budapest a few years before World War II and left just before the war broke out.) He said that speaking Hungarian in Romania was not a good thing and they could have been kicked out of the country (or jailed) for that offense; so, they spoke Spanish! He encouraged Tom and me to go visit and use our minimal Hungarian language skills.
We probably won’t find any living relatives, unless some suddenly emerge, but we should be able to visit some churches and graveyards. I would like to document the lives of my Romania relatives as I have my Hungarian and Slovak relatives.
So, this year’s trip will also include a trip to Romania–probably by train to get there and then by rental car to get around. Now, all this stuff probably doesn’t sound too exciting except for one thing: this is all in Transylvania–as in Vlad the Impaler country! As it turns out, Bran Castle isn’t too far from my ancestral towns. So, we are likely to return home with vampire souvenirs!
Back in the USA Before We Go
We also met some of the Balázs clan now living in California. Rhonda Hennesee, great grand daughter of Imré Balázs, and her mom, the former Cheryl Balázs met us a couple of months ago in San Diego, California. There are some familial traits which have emerged even though we weren’t looking for them. Rhonda and I share a small awkward physical problem which, for privacy sake, I don’t wish to discuss. Cheryl was apparently a kid who was all over the place physically and her parents sent her to dancing school so she could control herself. Same here. Are the coincidences or are they familial issues? I would like to think it’s the latter but who knows?
The 2017 Trip
The first couple of weeks
To be able to converse with all these Hungarian kin, Tom and I are going to Hungarian language school in Budapest! We hope to spend 2 weeks there in an intensive course and emerge speaking a bit of the language. I’ve been working on it slowly but I lack confidence and that’s what I hope to get. On our weekends, we want to visit Nemes Ládony and the nice folks there. One of my relatives married a guy from Devecser, Veszprem, Hungary, and, if we can, I would like to have maybe a weekend trip there.
The rest of the trip.
Our plans are to visit Transylvania for a few days after our classes are over. We want to visit Bran Castle and my ancestral villages and then head back to Budapest by train. (Taking a Hungarian rented car into Romania isn’t allowed by the rental agencies. Apparently the Romania roads are lousy.)</>
Of course we will visit Debrőd, the place where all of this began! I promised that I would try to bring some relatives along on the trip but, thus far, I haven’t had any firm takers. A lot of nibbles but no bites. I suppose this isn’t as important to them as it is to me. As I like to say, “I’m Hungarian–half Hungarian. It’s my better half!”
cybersyster 