jamesrebar – Rebar and Young Families

Margaret Oravetz Rebar Ancestors

(Four generations only. For a more complete generational report, please contact us.)

Generation No. 1

1. Margaret Ann Oravetz, born June 14, 1909 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; died August 13, 1981 in Johnstown, Cambria Co, PA. She was the daughter of 2. Jozsef Oravecz and 3. Maria Lelak. She married (1) John S. Rebar September 20, 1926 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA. He was born July 24, 1903 in Ramey, Clearfield Co, PA¹, and died March 8, 1977 in Johnstown, Cambria Co, PA. He was the son of Andreas Ribar and Katalin Kozak.

Notes for Margaret Ann Oravetz:

Marriage information from copy of original marriage certificate No. 27892.

Notes for John S. Rebar:

In LDS 1463005 (Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, Births, 1896-1905), Item 2, p. 212, #36, John Rebar’s birth is given as July 24, 1903. This entry is File 18, Registration number 7906, recorded July 11, 1955. I do not know why this was registered at this time.

Generation No. 2

2. Jozsef Oravecz, born January 7, 1881 in Opatka, Slovakia²; died July 31, 1935 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA³. He was the son of 4. Franciscus Oravecz and 5. Maria Kordovaner. He married 3. Maria Lelak March 31, 1909 in Barnsboro, Cambria Co, PA⁴.

3. Maria Lelak, born February 13, 1888 in Pereczes, Borsod Co, Hungary⁵; died June 13, 1942 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA⁶. She was the daughter of 6. Matyas Lelak and 7. Josepha Mihalik.

Notes for Jozsef Oravecz:

Joseph Oravetz died on July 31, 1935, at his home on Elder Avenue, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania. Cause of death was acute myocarditis and acute nephritis. Last Rites were administered by Rev. Frankovsky, and the attending physician was Dr. A. J. Silensky. The burial took plance on August 3, 1935.

Information relating to the death of Joseph Oravetz, including cause of death, Last Rites, attending physician, and burial date, are from the official records of the Bacha Funeral Home, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, Record #572. Bacha went out of business, but the records are kept by Charles Long, owner of the Long Funeral Home, Inc., Barnesboro. Grandson James Rebar copied the information directly from the Bacha record book on May 16, 1994.

The Lelak sisters (Mary, Josephine, and Margaret) emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary and not from Slovakia. Their father, Matthias Lelak, went to Hungary obviously to work in the mines, and he probably met Josephine Mihalik there. Josephine had emigrated there with her parents, Caspar and Theresa (Majdik) Mihalik. The records show that Josephine was born in Smolnik, Slovakia, while Matthias was born in Zakarovce, Slovakia. Joseph Oravetz also went to Hungary to work, probably living with his brother, John. He met Mary, one of the Lelak girls, and they got engaged. Joseph emigrated to America, arriving in New York on January 5, 1907, on board the Ultonia. He sent for Mary, who arrived in New York on October 14, 1908. Joseph apparently was working in a coal mine in Graceton, Pennsylvania, staying there with his brother Alex, who had emigrated earlier in the decade. Joseph Oravetz and Mary Lelak married on March 31, 1909, and they settled in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania. Mary’s sisters, Josephine and Margaret, followed later, arriving together in New York on October 22, 1913, on board the Friedrich der Grosse, which sailed from Bremen, Germany.

Notes for Maria Lelak:

From National Archives, Microcopy No. T-715, Roll No. 1156, Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1942: Maria Lelak, age 19 (sic), a servant, arrived alone in New York on October 14, 1908, on board the SS Friedrich der Grosse, which had steamed out of Bremen, Germany, on October 3, 1908. Maria had departed Diosgyor, Hungary, to marry her fiance, Jozsef Oravecz (Hungarian spelling), in the coal town of Barnesboro (listed in the ship records as ‘near Graceton’), Pennsylvania. Maria could read and write, was four feet eleven inches tall, blond, and had brown eyes. Her ticket on the Friedrich der Grosse was paid for by Jozsef. She listed as nearest next of kin her father, Matyas Lelak, of Diosgyor, Pereces, Hungary. (According to Albert Kovachik, her mother was deceased.) Maria’s place of birth is listed in the ship records, but it is blurred (it looks like Arany Idka, present-day Zlata Idka in Slovakia).

On her Declaration of Intention, Nr. 19079, filed 25 April 1941 at the Cambria County Court House, Maria is listed as 5 feet 3 inches tall, 150 pounds. The Declaration of Intention has Certification No. 6-96887 from the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization that declares her a legal immigrant. That same number, 6-96887, is written on her entry in the Friedrich der Grosse passenger list.

Information pertaining to the birth of Maria Lelak is from the official church records of the Roman Catholic Parish of Diosgyor, Hungary, which is part of the Archdiocese of Eger (LDS 0623336). I found this record on April 15, 1993.

Children of Jozsef Oravecz and Maria Lelak are:

1 i. Margaret Ann Oravetz, born June 14, 1909 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; died August 13, 1981 in Johnstown, Cambria Co, PA; married John S. Rebar September 20, 1926 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA.

ii. Rudolph Oravetz, born August 2, 1913 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; died January 1977 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; married Veronica Mae Keblesh July 12, 1941⁷; born January 26, 1917⁸; died September 18, 1972 in Memorial Hosp., Johnstown, PA⁸.

iii. Veronica Elizabeth Oravetz, born May 14, 1916 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; died June 9, 1998 in Altoona, PA (hospital); married Michael Kuzio September 13, 1941 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; born September 5, 1913; died May 28, 1995 in Elmora, Cambria Co, PA.

Notes for Michael Kuzio:

Mike died at home about 8:30 PM. I was a pall-bearer at the funeral, which took place on May 31, 1995, in Bakerton (Elmora), PA. Mike was Ukrainian Greek Orthodox, a rather unusual denomination. I am pretty sure that he was Carpatho-Rus, that his family originated in what is now western Ukraine.

Marriage Notes for Veronica Oravetz and Michael Kuzio:

Based on recollections of Dorothy (Rebar) Polenik, their wedding reception took place at the home of Joseph and Mary (Lelak) Oravetz. Verna and Mike then spent their wedding night in the Rebar house in Twin Rocks, and the Rebars spent the night at the Oravetzes. It was at the wedding reception that Matilda Kovachik met Gust Burkholtz — he was in town for a baseball game, and he and several others ‘crashed’ the reception.

iv. Mary Veronica Oravetz, born May 14, 1919 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; married George Oliver White July 17, 1944 in Canonsburg, PA; born January 16, 1910 in Cambria Co, PA; died September 23, 1997 in Washington Co, PA.

Generation No. 3

4. Franciscus Oravecz, born October 27, 1836 in Opatka, Slovakia⁹; died November 14, 1894 in Opatka, Slovakia¹⁰. He was the son of 8. Franciscus Oravecz and 9. Apollonia Gartsar. He married 5. Maria Kordovaner October 5, 1862 in Opatka, Slovakia^11,12.

5. Maria Kordovaner, born August 21, 1842 in Opatka, Slovakia¹³; died Aft. 1886 in Opatka, Slovakia. She was the daughter of 10. Joannes Kordovaner and 11. Anna Horvath.

Notes for Franciscus Oravecz:

On Franciscus’ baptismal record, there is a notation that he married Maria Kordovaner on October 5, 1862.

In July 1995, Dorothy (Rebar) Polenik and I visited Opatka and located the grave of Franciscus Oravecz and Maria Kordovaner. The cemetery was the older of two in town, and it had only recently been cleared of brush and made ready for more burials. I estimate that it had been untouched for about 40-50 years, and most graves were unmarked. The Oravecz-Kordovaner grave marker was cast iron, but we could not make out the dates, nor did we have the materials with us to make an etching. In our travels to all the ancestral villages in Slovakia, this was the only grave marker we found for any of our ancestors.

Notes for Maria Kordovaner:

On Maria’s baptismal record there is a notation that she married Franciscus Oravecz on October 5, 1862.

Children of Franciscus Oravecz and Maria Kordovaner are:

i. Stephanus Oravecz, born December 8, 1864 in Opatka, Slovakia¹⁴; died November 1, 1872 in Opatka, Slovakia^15,16

ii. Franciscus Oravecz, born January 15, 1867 in Opatka, Slovakia¹⁷

iii. Joannes Oravecz, born July 13, 1869 in Opatka, Slovakia¹⁸; married Etel Soltesz May 14, 1894 in Opatka, Slovakia¹⁹; born December 16, 1876.

Marriage Notes for Joannes Oravecz and Etel Soltesz:

Remark written on marriage record: ‘With dispensation for third degree of consanguinity according to No. 1068 of 30 April 1894. The groom was transferred from Miskolc parish.’ They were second cousins. I do not know what it means to be transferred from another parish, but he was working in the Miskolc area at the time.

iv. Flori Oravecz, born April 22, 1872 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁰

v. Istvan Oravecz, born August 17, 1874 in Opatka, Slovakia²¹; died August 28, 1874 in Opatka, Slovakia^22,23

vi. Andras Oravecz, born October 13, 1875 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁴; married Maria Ducsay June 1, 1903 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁴; born Abt. 1882 in Velka Ida, Slovakia.

vii. Antal Oravecz, born May 2, 1878 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁵

2 viii. Jozsef Oravecz, born January 7, 1881 in Opatka, Slovakia; died July 31, 1935 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; married Maria Lelak March 31, 1909 in Barnsboro, Cambria Co, PA.

ix. Sandor Oravecz, born April 8, 1883 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁶; married Elizabeth Javorszky; born March 14, 1889 in Zdoba, Slovakia.

x. Maria Oravecz, born April 2, 1886 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁷; married Janos Mallak November 19, 1905 in Opatka, Slovakia²⁸; born August 25, 1882²⁹.

Marriage Notes for Maria Oravecz and Janos Mallak:

On the birth record for Maria Oravecz, her marriage is noted: her husband’s name is given as Janos Malak..

6. Matyas Lelak, born February 1, 1855 in Zakarovce, Slovakia³⁰. He was the son of 12. Tobias Lelak and 13. Barbara Baranko. He married 7. Josepha Mihalik Abt. 1881.

7. Josepha Mihalik, born February 20, 1859 in Smolnik, Slovakia³¹. She was the daughter of 14. Casparus Mathias Mihalik and 15. Theresia Majdik.

Notes for Matyas Lelak:

On Maria (Lelak) Oravetz’s birth record, her father’s (Matyas Lelak) place of birth is given as Zsakarocz, Szepes (present-day Zakarovce, Spisska Nova Ves okres). In January 1997, I examined the Zakarovce Roman Catholic parish records and initially could not find an entry on the expected date for Matyas’ birth. At first, I could find no evidence of there being any Lelaks in the town, so I ordered the microfilms of the RC parish records for several nearby towns in the hopes of finding more information. Upon re-examination of the Zakarovce registers, I discovered that the Thobias Lyalyak who was the father of a Matthias, born February 1, 1855, was noted elsewhere as Tobias Lelak. This is the correct family of Lelaks, though the name seems to be pretty consistently spelled as Lyalyak. The records point to their being ethnic Rusyn, but they were Roman Catholics during the 1800s, i.e. the period covered by the Zakarovce records.

Notes for Josepha Mihalik:

While in Pereczes, Hungary, in July 1995, my sister, Dorothy (Rebar) Polenik, and I visited the church where the children of Josepha Mihalik and Matyas Lelak (i.e. my grandmother, Maria Lelak Oravetz) were all baptised. I did not find a marriage record for them, so I do not know where they were married. Dorothy told me the story that Josepha died from complications related to a hernia she developed from picking up wet laundry. That was the first time I had ever heard that story. Albert Kovachik, whose mother was Margaret Lelak, verified that Josepha was deceased when the sisters emigrated to America.

Children of Matyas Lelak and Josepha Mihalik are:

i. Maria Josefina Lelak, born April 16, 1882 in Pereces, Borsod Co, Hungary (prob); died November 22, 1885 in Pereces, Borsod Co, Hungary.

3 ii. Maria Lelak, born February 13, 1888 in Pereczes, Borsod Co, Hungary; died June 13, 1942 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; married Jozsef Oravecz March 31, 1909 in Barnsboro, Cambria Co, PA.

iii. Gizela Lelak, born January 25, 1890 in Pereces, Borsod Co, Hungary.

iv. Jozefa Borbala Lelak, born January 30, 1892 in Pereczes, Borsod Co, Hungary; died 1931 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; married Joseph Herpak; born August 5, 1887 in Vysna Mysla, Slovakia³²; died 1952 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA.

Notes for Jozefa Borbala Lelak:

Known as “Pepi” by everyone in the family. She arrived in New York on October 22, 1913, on board the Friedrich der Grosse, traveling with her sister, Margaret Lelak. Josefa is listed in the ship’s record as Pepi Lellak, age 21. She was traveling as a Hungarian national, and was listed as ethnic Hungarian (‘Magyar’). Her last place of residence in Hungary was Diosgyor. Next of kin in Hungary was given as brother-in-law Oravecz, Esq., living in Pereczes. Margaret, traveling as Margit Lellak, 17, had the same information in her ship’s record. Their passage had been paid for by their brother-in-law, presumably meaning Joseph Oravetz, who was married to their sister, Mary Lelak, my grandmother. Pepi and Margit together were in possession of $6. The final destination of both was Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, to the home of their brother-in-law, Joseph Oravecz, my grandfather, at P.O. Box 294, Barnesboro. Pepi was 4 feet 10 inches tall, and Margit was 5 feet 4 inches. Both had been born in Pereczes, Hungary.

Notes for Joseph Herpak:

Joseph Herpak departed Bremen, Germany, on an unknown ship, list 7, #25 (Immigrants and Sterage Passengers Inspection Card). On the 1910 census, it says that he immigrated in 1903, but a stamp on the above-cited Inspection Card shows a clear date of 1902. It is then possible that the departure date was late 1902, with an early-1903 arrival date.

v. Margaret C. Lelak, born April 1893 in Pereczes, Borsod County, Hungary; died 1953 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA; married Joseph J. Kovacik January 17, 1916 in Braddock, Allegheny Co, PA; born October 16, 1891 in Dobrocz, Croatia; died 1973 in Barnesboro, Cambria Co, PA.

Notes for Margaret C. Lelak:

Margaret Lelak arrived in New York on October 22, 1913, on board the Friedrich der Grosse, traveling with her sister, Pepi Lelak. Margaret is listed in the ship’s record as Margit Lellak, age 17. She was traveling as a Hungarian national, and was listed as ethnic Hungarian (‘Magyar’). Her last place of residence in Hungary was Diosgyor. Next of kin in Hungary was given as brother-in-law Oravecz, Esq., living in Pereczes. Pepi (real name Jozefa), traveling as Pepi Lellak, 21, had the same information in her ship’s record. Their passage had been paid for by their brother-in-law, presumably meaning Joseph Oravetz, who was married to their sister, Mary Lelak, my grandmother. Pepi and Margit together were in possession of $6. The final destination of both was Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, to the home of their brother-in-law, Joseph Oravecz, my grandfather, at P.O. Box 294, Barnesboro. Pepi was 4 feet 10 inches tall, and Margit was 5 feet 4 inches. Both had been born in Pereczes, Hungary.

Notes for Joseph J. Kovacik:

Born Josef Kovacsic, arrived USA 6 October 1913, naturalized on 8 Dec 1927.

Joseph Kovachik (Jozef Kovacsic) was born in Dobrocz, Croatia, and his last permanent residence was given in his ship record as Frekete. He arrived in New York on October 6, 1913, on board the S. S. New York, that sailed out of Southhampton, England, on September 27, 1913. The ship records list the date of arrival as October 5th. He was accompanied by a friend, Lajos Vaczulczak, from Frekete. Both of them were on their way to the home of Joseph’s brother (or possibly cousin), Frank Kovacic (sic), 213 North Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

On possibly Joseph’s Declaration of Intention, it says that his ship departed Bremen, Germany, on September 23, 1913. I have conflicting dates of citizenship for him — one source says December 8, 1927, which another says February 16, 1927. The February date and the September Bremen departure may both have come from the index of naturalizations in the Ebensburg, Cambria County, courthouse.

Generation No. 4

8. Franciscus Oravecz, born August 23, 1806 in Opatka, Slovakia³³; died Abt. 1838. He was the son of 16. Franciscus Oravecz and 17. Anna-Maria Galata. He married 9. Apollonia Gartsar.

9. Apollonia Gartsar, born Abt. 1810; died Aft. 1842.

Notes for Apollonia Gartsar:

On June 19, 1847, Apollonia Gartsar gave birth to a daughter, Illona, who died on July 29, 1847. If this is the same Apollonia Gartsar, she evidently was not married at the time, because the notation in the baptismal register says that the father is unknown. Her second husband must have died. Godparents were Márton Schücz and Maria Kurilla.

Children of Franciscus Oravecz and Apollonia Gartsar are:

i. Franciscus Oravecz, born July 24, 1834 in Opatka, Slovakia³⁴; died Bef. 1836.

4 ii. Franciscus Oravecz, born October 27, 1836 in Opatka, Slovakia; died November 14, 1894 in Opatka, Slovakia; married Maria Kordovaner October 5, 1862 in Opatka, Slovakia.

10. Joannes Kordovaner, born December 17, 1809 in Opatka, Slovakia³⁵; died March 27, 1861 in Opatka, Slovakia³⁶. He was the son of 20. Andreas Kordovaner and 21. Elisabetha Marcsak. He married 11. Anna Horvath Abt. September 1834³⁷.

11. Anna Horvath, born Abt. 1821; died November 15, 1887 in Opatka, Slovakia³⁸.

Notes for Joannes Kordovaner:

On the baptismal record for his daughter, Erzsébet, Joannes’ name is given as ‘János Kordovanik alias Kordovaner.’ This is at least the second time I have seen this (the other occurence is unrecalled), and it makes no sense to me. It would seem that the family name could have been either Kordovaner or Kordovanik!

On Joannes’ birth record, if I have the correct person, his father’s name is given as Andreas Kordovanyi. Elsewhere, the name is spelled Kordovanik.

That this is in fact the correct Joannes is pretty much just an intuitive guess. There are no others born about this time in Opatka with the correct name.

Children of Joannes Kordovaner and Anna Horvath are:

i. Andreas Kordovaner, born August 9, 1835 in Opatka, Slovakia³⁹; married Theresia Ruby September 22, 1861 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁰; born September 16, 1838⁴¹.

ii. Theresia Kordovaner, born June 4, 1837 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴²; married (1) Fnu Ruby; married (2) Andreas Belicsak February 1, 1858 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴³; born Abt. 1832; died December 16, 1867 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁴; married (3) Stephanus Polyak January 17, 1869 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁵; born Abt. 1841; died August 15, 1891 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁶.

Notes for Theresia Kordovaner:

I may have made a mistake here somewhere. The Theresia Kordovaner who had been married to Andreas Belicsak may be a different Theresia. Based on the January 1869 marriage record for Stephanus Polyak and Theresia Kordovaner Ruby, the latter was a widow of presumably Fnu Ruby. Therefore, they could be different Theresias.

Notes for Andreas Belicsak:

On his marriage record, Andreas was listed as being an orphan.

iii. Eva Kordovaner, born December 19, 1838 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁷

iv. Veronica Kordovaner, born June 4, 1840 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁷; married Michael Polyak February 1, 1863 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁸.

5 v. Maria Kordovaner, born August 21, 1842 in Opatka, Slovakia; died Aft. 1886 in Opatka, Slovakia; married Franciscus Oravecz October 5, 1862 in Opatka, Slovakia.

vi. Sandor Kordovaner, born July 14, 1844 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁹

vii. Ferencz Kordovaner, born September 15, 1845 in Opatka, Slovakia⁴⁹; married Antonia Perhacs February 27, 1870 in Opatka, Slovakia⁵⁰; born Abt. 1849.

viii. Erzsebet Kordovaner, born December 2, 1848 in Opatka, Slovakia^51,52; married Antal Vindt February 27, 1870 in Opatka, Slovakia⁵³; born July 26, 1847⁵³.

ix. Janos Kordovaner, born April 11, 1851 in Opatka, Slovakia⁵⁴; married Erzsebet Schutz October 25, 1874 in Opatka, Slovakia⁵⁵.

x. Maria Magdalena Kordovaner, born October 20, 1856 in Opatka, Slovakia^56,57; died December 11, 1856 in Opatka, Slovakia⁵⁸

xi. Michael Kordovaner, born September 1, 1859 in Opatka, Slovakia⁵⁹; died October 1, 1859 in Opatka, Slovakia⁶⁰

12. Tobias Lelak, born September 8, 1815 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶¹. He was the son of 24. Joannes Lyalyak and 25. Helena Marcinaszko. He married 13. Barbara Baranko June 26, 1843 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶².

13. Barbara Baranko, born November 30, 1815 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶³. She was the daughter of 26. Michael Baranko and 27. Anna Palkov.

Notes for Tobias Lelak:

Tobias Lelak, age 8, was confirmed in 1823.

Notes for Barbara Baranko:

Barbara Baranko, age 9, was confirmed in 1824.

Children of Tobias Lelak and Barbara Baranko are:

i. Maria Lelak, born March 17, 1844 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁴

ii. Susanna Lelak, born January 7, 1846 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁴; died February 18, 1849 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁵

Notes for Susanna Lelak:

Christened Zsuzsanna Lyalyak.

iii. Erzsebet Lelak, born November 26, 1848 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁶; died December 7, 1850 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁷

Notes for Erzsebet Lelak:

Christened Erzsebet Lyalyak.

iv. Mathias Lelak, born August 25, 1851 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁸; died January 23, 1854 in Zakarovce, Slovakia⁶⁹

6 v. Matyas Lelak, born February 1, 1855 in Zakarovce, Slovakia; married Josepha Mihalik Abt. 1881.

14. Casparus Mathias Mihalik, born January 6, 1830 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁰; died July 7, 1893 in Pereczes, Hungary⁷¹. He was the son of 28. Mathias Mihalik and 29. Evamaria Lovasz. He married 15. Theresia Majdik February 5, 1854 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷².

15. Theresia Majdik, born October 13, 1832 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷³; died March 23, 1893 in Diosgyor, Hungary⁷⁴. She was the daughter of 30. Michael Majdik and 31. Anna Maria Szutor.

Notes for Casparus Mathias Mihalik:

Information on the marriage of Casparus Mihalik and Theresia Majdik is from the official Roman Catholic Church records of Smolnik, Slovakia, held in the Levoca State Regional Archives. This material has been microfilmed by the Mormons and can be found on LDS reel #1791531.

All information pertaining to the births of the children of Casparus and Theresia can be found on the same LDS reel (1791531), which contains the Smolnik Roman Catholic baptismal records for the years 1852 to 1882.

Information related to the death of Casparus Mihalik is from the Roman Catholic parish register of births, marriages, and deaths for Diosgyor, Hungary. His death record is number 75 for the year 1893, and can be found on LDS microfilm reel number 0623337. Casparus died on 7 July 1893 in Pereczes (Hungarian spelling) of old age; he was 63 years old. He was buried on 14 July 1893 in Pereczes. It should be noted that he and Theresia did not die in the same location, nor are they buried in the same place — she died and is buried in Diosgyor.

Casparus and Theresia (Majdik) Mihalik emigrated from Smolnik to Pereces, probably in the late 1870s, with their entire family.

Notes for Theresia Majdik:

Information related to the death of Theresia (Majdik) Mihalik is from the Roman Catholic parish register of births, marriages, and deaths for Diosgyor, Hungary. Her death record is number 43 for the year 1893, and can be found on LDS microfilm reel number 0623337. Theresia died on 23 March 1893 in Diosgyor of tuberculosis; she was 61 years old. She was buried on 25 March 1893 in Diosgyor. It should be noted that she and Casparus did not die in the same location, nor are they buried in the same place — he died and is buried in Pereces.

Casparus and Theresia (Majdik) Mihalik emigrated from Smolnik to Pereces, probably in the late 1870s, with their entire family.

Children of Casparus Mihalik and Theresia Majdik are:

i. Casparus Mihalik, born October 22, 1854 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁵

ii. Theresia Mihalik, born September 23, 1856 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁶

7 iii. Josepha Mihalik, born February 20, 1859 in Smolnik, Slovakia; married Matyas Lelak Abt. 1881.

iv. Franciscus Mihalik, born March 31, 1861 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁶

v. Rosalia Mihalik, born August 29, 1863 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁶; married Stanislas Masek May 26, 1912⁷⁷.

vi. Joannes Mihalik, born November 19, 1865 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁸; married Ilona Krausz.

vii. Adalbertus Mihalik, born June 17, 1868 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁷⁹; died March 20, 1890 in Diosgyor, Borsod Co, Hungary⁷⁹

Notes for Adalbertus Mihalik:

On his death record, his name is given in its Hungarian form: Béla Mihalik.

viii. Jacobus Ignatius Mihalik, born June 24, 1870 in Smolnik, Slovakia⁸⁰

1. Clearfield Co, PA, Births, 1896-1905, p. 227.
2. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 61.
3. Bacha Funeral Home Records, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania
4. Declaration of Intention, No. 19079
5. Birth Register, RC Parish of Dyosgyor, Hungary (LDS 0623336)
6. Barnsboro Star, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, 18 June 1942, p. 1
7. Marriage licence
8. Obituary, Barnesboro Star, Barnesboro, Pennsylvania
9. Opatka RC parish birth register 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3)
10. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950, p. 69 #8 (LDS 1923150, Item 1)
11. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 6, #6.
12. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 6.
13. Opatka RC parish birth register 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3)
14. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4).
15. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1)
16. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 32.
17. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 37.
18. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 44.
19. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), p. 23.
20. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 51, #5.
21. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 55.
22. Opatka RC Parish Death Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1).
23. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 55, (notation of death date written on birth record).
24. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 56.
25. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 58.
26. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 63.
27. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 66.
28. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 66, #10, (date of marriage noted on birth record).
29. Opakta RC parish marriage register (Duncan Gardiner)
30. Zakarovce RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1876 (LDS 1791927, Item 3), p. 7.
31. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1852-1863 (LDS 1791531), #14, pp. 172-173
32. Copy of birth record made from original parish register, 4 July 1912; Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, p. 11, #87 (LDS 1923135, Item 2)
33. Opatka RC parish birth register 1789-1824 (LDS 1923149, Item 2)
34. Opatka RC parish birth register 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3)
35. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1789-1824 (LDS 1923149, Item 2).
36. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950, p. 23 (LDS 1923150, Item 2)
37. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 2), length of marriage given as 26 years and 9 months at time of death.
38. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950, p. 59 (LDS 1923150, Item 1)
39. Opatka RC parish birth register 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3)
40. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 5.
41. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 5, (birth date written on marriage record).
42. Opatka RC parish birth register 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3)
43. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 3.
44. Opatka RC Parish Death Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), p. 39.
45. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), p. 12.
46. Opatka RC Parish Death Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), p. 64.
47. Opatka RC parish birth register 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3)
48. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4).
49. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3).
50. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), p. 13.
51. Opatka RC parish marriage register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), birth date written in.
52. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3).
53. Opatka RC parish marriage register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1)
54. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1824-1852 (LDS 1923149, Item 3).
55. Opatka RC Parish Marriage Register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 1), p. 15.
56. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 2)
57. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 10, #9.
58. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 2)
59. Opatka RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1852-1888 (LDS 1923149, Item 4), p. 17, #15.
60. Opatka RC parish death register, 1852-1950 (LDS 1923150, Item 2)
61. Zakarovce RC Parish Birth Record, 1787-1827 (LDS 1791927, Item 1).
62. Zakarovce RC Parish Marriage Record, 1828-1851 (LDS 1791927, Item 2), p. 12.
63. Zakarovce RC Parish Birth Record, 1787-1827 (LDS 1791927, Item 1).
64. Zakarovce RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1828-1851 (LDS 1791927, Item 2).
65. Zakarovce RC Parish Death Record, 1828-1851 (LDS 1791927, Item 2).
66. Zakarovce RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1828-1851 (LDS 1791927, Item 2).
67. Zakarovce RC Parish Death Record, 1828-1851 (LDS 1791927, Item 2).
68. Zakarovce RC Parish Baptismal Record, 1828-1851 (LDS 1791927, Item 2).
69. Zakarovce RC Parish Death Record, 1852-1876 (LDS 1791927, Item 3), p. 151, #11.
70. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1822-1843 (LDS 1791530), p. 98
71. RC parish register of BMD, Disogyor, Hungary 1872-1895 (LDS 0623337)
72. Smolnik RC parish marriage register 1852-1863 (LDS 1791531), #5, pp. 13-14
73. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1822-1843 (LDS 1791530), p. 138
74. RC parish register of BMD, Diosgyor, Hungary 1872-1895 (LDS 0623337)
75. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1852-1863 (LDS 1791530)
76. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1852-1863 (LDS 1791531)
77. Written on birth record.
78. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1864-1883 (LDS 1791531), pp. 43-44
79. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1864-1883 (LDS 1791531), pp. 97-98
80. Smolnik RC parish birth register 1864-1883 (LDS 1791531), pp. 145-146

1995 Trip to Slovakia

The following is an excerpt from my diary for two days in 1995 that changed my life, the days I was able to visit six of my family’s ancestral villages in Slovakia and Hungary.

July 11, 1995

The most exciting day of my life had finally arrived. Many years before, when my father first pointed at my map of Slovakia and showed me where his father and mother had come from, I knew I would someday get to visit that village. That I would also be able to visit nearly all the birthplaces of my ancestors on the same trip, is something that I never could have imagined! From the day that I first saw the advertisement in Helene Cincebeaux’s periodical, Slovakia, to this moment was a time of intense curiosity and frequent impatience, but I was finally really on my way to Nizna Mysla!

Our driver, Ladislav (or Laco, his nickname), and our interpreter, Hana (or Hanka, her nickname), met us at the front desk of the Hotel Saris in Presov about 8:30 AM. After we established our route, which had changed from what I originally thought it should be, we were on our way. It took about 15 minutes just to get out of Presov, but it was straight superhighway all the way to Kosice. The Slovaks use the same sign color (blue, mostly) as the Germans do on their autobahns, and the construction was essentially the same, which made me wonder if Germany had provided engineering expertise to them. The trip from Presov to Kosice was almost identical to the journey from Munich to Garmisch, except there were no Alps at the destination. Kosice is quite a large city (about 300,000) (see photo above), and is quite clean compared to Bratislava. The numbers of communist-era high-rise apartment buildings surrounding the city is beyond belief. We had heard stories of how it is almost impossible to find anyone in the sea of high-rises because the streets and buildings are so poorly marked.

We were in Kosice only long enough to get though it. After a couple wrong turns, we reached Valaliky, where we got off the main road and started village-hopping. In Geca, we struck paydirt — we found the church where Joannes Ribar and Barbara Majoros were married in 1860. The church was locked, but a woman there spoke with one of the men (who we suspect was the priest) working on the construction of a new church, and he sent off someone to get the key. After what seemed like hours, the man returned with a woman, who opened up the church, turned off the alarm, and let Dot and me go inside. It was spectacular on the inside, painted exactly like all the churches in Bavaria. The master painter dated his work; I don’t remember the date, but it was in the 1700s. I took quite a few pictures, and Dot and I each made a donation. At the exterior door, just inside, there was a gypsy woman kneeling on the floor. The Slovak women gestured for her to leave. She did not bother us, but I regret not giving her something — it was mean-spirited of me.

Geca, Slovakia, RC Church — Ceiling of Roman Catholic church in Geca, Slovakia

The church cemetery is just outside town, and we stopped there for a short while, but we found nothing of significance.

Our next stop was Cana, where we thought Mary Molnarko’s parents were married. We stopped to ask some townspeople if the church a few blocks off was the Roman Catholic church, and if it was there around 1930 when Mary’s parents were married. They answered yes to both questions. Rather than head straight for the church, Laco led us across the street. At first, I was annoyed, because I thought he was trying to show us the main shopping area of town, which we had no interest in seeing, but I soon realized that he was leading us to a government building where regional records are kept. Laco pulled some strings and got the lady there to make a copy of the entry for the marriage of Mary’s parents. Had I read the copy, I would have immediately seen that they were married in the next town, Zdana! But, I didn’t read the document, and we went to the church in Cana to take some pictures for Mary. It had recently been renovated and completely modernized inside, but a local fellow said that it was really in need of repair when the renovations were made, and that apparently there was not much left to salvage of the original interior, and the frescos were painted over! The man took me to the rear of his house and gave me a drink of water from an outside spigot, and we filled up a bottle to take with us. It was very hot.

Nizna Mysla from a distance — View of Nizna Mysla from about 2 kilometers away.

Nizna Mysla RC church — Nizna Mysla Roman Catholic church.

The next stop was Nizna Mysla, and it all went by too fast for me. The church sits on a hill (picture at left), and there’s a long set of steps leading up to it (pictured at right). At the base of the steps are the buildings that would seem to have belonged to the wealthy people in town. I am sorry that I did not take any pictures of them. The town is so hilly that it was not convenient to walk and take pictures. On the way up the stairs we met the groundskeeper, who said we could go inside the church. We were able to enter the church, but only into an alcove. Our way at that point was blocked by a set of locked inner doors. However, the same gentleman appeared with a set of keys and opened up the inner doors for us. What a spectacular church! It was even nicer than the one in Bruckmuhl, Germany, where Carolyn and I had lived for three years in the late 1980s. Obviously, the propertied class had a lot of money. The question that came to my mind was whether or not the peasants were allowed to use the church for baptisms, weddings, etc., and Helene assured me that the churches in feudal Slovakia were used by all the townspeople.

Nizna Mysla RC Cemetery — Nizna Mysla Roman Catholic church cemetery.

The cemetery (pictured at right) is surprisingly far from the church, and it has the most gorgeous view of Vysna Mysla. Dot and I hunted for quite a long time, but we could find no Rybar or Ribar graves. I found the grave of the Maria Kozak who was the wife of Andrej Straka and was the woman who had purchased land from George Kozak in 1904 (I have the paperwork from the sale). From the looks of the headstone, the Strakas were apparently fairly well-off. The stone had no dates on it. We also found the grave of Jan Herpak (1888-1976) and his wife, Maria (1893-1972), probably cousins of Uncle Joe Herpak. There also were several Herpak graves that had wooden crosses on them (Anna, Jan, and Jozef), no dates.

Vysna Mysla, Slovakia, as seen from Nizna Mysla.

We left the cemetery and tried to get to Vysna Mysla (picture at left, as seen from Nizna Mysla), but the road led only to the train station. We doubled back and eventually found the right road. The church in Vysna Mysla does not stick out in my mind at all. The cemetery was directly behind the church, so Dot and I did a cursory check through it. We found the graves of several more Herpaks: Augustin, born in 1935, and Ladislav, born in 1925. Nothing about the place struck us as special, so we gave up. It was really starting to get warm, and we were all getting a little tired.

We left Vysna Mysla and drove again through Nizna Mysla. Our destination was Paca. Along the way, we passed the great steel mills of Velka Ida that I had read about many times in literature about this area. Since we were getting hungry, we stopped at Motorest Dubky, where Dot and I had soup with chunks of smoked ham, and an entree of pork and boiled and buttered potatoes. We also had lots of mineral water because the temperature had climbed to about 90 degrees.

The trip to Paca was essentially uneventful, but I was constantly reminded of Duncan Gardiner’s article about his train trip through this area. The tracks parallel the road, so our journeys were along the same route. Just before the turnoff for Paca, the castle of Krasna Horka popped into view. A beautiful and extremely well-preserved medieval fortress, Krasna Horka dominates the entire region (see picture above). This was obviously an important trade route at one time.

Mathias Mihalik left his village of Paca sometime around 1818, probably passing underneath the fortress walls, as he journeyed to Smolnik over the mountains. We made the same journey on this day, only in a VW Rabbit with a Beatles tape playing in the car’s cassette player! The view from the top of the mountains looking down toward Uhorna (pictured above) was absolutely breathtaking, and the pictures of the scene completely failed to capture the Alpine beauty and serenity. Sheep were grazing down near the town. From Uhorna to Smolnik, the elevation gradually dropped. Just outside Smolnik we found the cemetery. A fairly careful search turned up very little: Ludovit Mihalik, born 21 May 1909; Jan Mihalik, born 17 June 1903; and Jozef Lovasz, born 27 February 1880. Dot and I did not search very extensively, because we were running out of time, and we still had several more stops on our itinerary.

Smolnik was not at all what I expected. It is a beautiful Alpine town with large numbers of people of German descent. The buildings are quite nice, and very German-looking. The next town down the hill is Smolnicka Huta, which means Smolnik Forge, so it is probable that Smolnik had the German artisans, as well as an area that housed the ore miners, and Smolnicka Huta had the forge that produced the iron, and probably also the tools this area was famous for.

Roman Catholic Church in Zakarovce, Slovakia

The next stop on our journey was Zakarovce, a very picturesque and rugged town that, like Paca (and Opatka too, for that matter), is built up the valley along a stream, making it very long and narrow. This layout is very common in Slovakia, and I presume it was done to allow for the maximum use of the surrounding land for farming. Zakarovce is the place of birth of Matthew Lelak, thus still kind of a mystery, and not much more than a genealogical stopping place right now until I can research it further through the LDS Family History Center records. We were short of time, but we went up to look at the church (pictured above). There was a Mass being said to a packed house, but we didn’t realize that until we looked inside, because the congregation had all arrived on foot and there were no cars parked in the street. The cemetery lies above the church on the hillside, and it is quite large. I hope to return some day to go through it. At the base of the stairs from the church was a plaque to the Soviet Army for liberating Zakarovce, but I did not take a picture.

I gave the driver the option of returning to Presov or going on to Opatka, where the Oravec side of the family lived for generations. He said the roads were not too good, so he planned to go past the road to Opatka anyway, so why not stop in? Boy, was I glad that we did! Opatka sits at the end of a 5- kilometer lane through beautiful pine forests. The church sits in the middle of town on a small rise (see picture at left), and is as peaceful and serene a spot as any I have ever seen. After several tries, we located the cemetery and Dot discovered the grave of Ferenc Oravec and Maria Kordovaner, our great-grandparents (see marker at right). The grave is marked by an iron cross with a metal plaque. We had a very hard time reading the plaque and tried to make a rubbing, but we didn’t have a pencil. I did the best I could with a film canister, but I’m afraid the results are not very good. Had I been more alert, I would have taken care to write down the inscription, so I really screwed up. The horseflies were everywhere, and they made us wonder if Grandpa left Opatka because of them!

Grave Marker for Ferenc Kordovaner — Grave marker for Ferenc (Francis) Kordovaner, Opatka, Slovakia

Opatka has two cemeteries. The one located where the road enters town, is well cared-for and is obviously the newer of the two; the one which has my great-grandparents’ grave is older and appears to have been only recently re-opened. A young man on a motorcross motorcycle had to show us the road to the older cemetery, and the driver scraped bottom several times as we drove along it. Most of the graves in the older cemetery are unmarked, and nearly every one is very old. The Slovaks do not seem to preserve graves beyond a certain age, presumably because no-one pays for the upkeep. I fear that my great- grandparents’ grave will suffer the same fate if our family does not do something. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that the only reason the cemetery still had the grave markers was because it had been abandoned for decades. Now that it is being re-used, who knows what will happen to the existing markers?

Dot told a story about friends of Grandma and Grandpa Oravetz who use to visit Barnesboro from Homer City. The family, whose last name was Kalafus (spelling uncertain), were probably friends from Pereces, Hungary, where Grandma was born and raised. The newer cemetery in Opatka had many Kalafus names, and I know from my genealogical research that some Kalafus men had emigrated to Pereces at about the same time as Grandpa. This friendship undoubtedly went back a long way.

July 12, 1995

We were met in the hotel lobby at 8:30 AM by Laco and Hana. Although Hana’s English language skills were rusty, and it sometimes was stressful trying to communicate with her, she was indispensable to us, and she got our point across every time we needed her help. Laco lived in Pezinok, just outside Bratislava, but he had an unerring knack for finding the right road everywhere we went. But on this day, the way was straightforward — the main highway straight south to Miskolc, Hungary.

We crossed the border south of Kosice. Laco again had to pull some strings to get us across (I don’t want to give details here), apparently because Dot and I were crossing the border with two Slovak nationals and were not with our tour group. I exchanged $20 on the Hungarian side for about 2200 Forints, and the fellow examined every bill (a $10, a $5 and five $1s) on both sides to make sure they were not counterfeit. It was another scorcher of a day.

We reached Miskolc about noon, but it was not obvious which direction would get us to Diosgyor and Pereces, which are outside of town. Laco got lost a couple time, but his sense of direction came through again. We finally located the Diosgyor Catholic church and took some pictures. A very helpful off-duty policeman helped us find the cemetery. No luck on finding any Mihaliks. Most of the graves are fairly recent. As near as I have been able to determine, the Mihaliks lived in Pereces, but the Pereces church was part of the Diosgyor Diocese, and the latter town played a role in the lives of several of my ancestors.

From the cemetery, Laco was able to find the road to Pereces very easily. We went straight to the church, which is no longer an operational church, but the cemetery is booming. Plaques near the front door indicated that a Jozsef Mihalik died in WWI, and a Janos Oravecz died in WWII. There were also three Gedl men who died in WWII (one of my female ancestors was a Gedl).

The man working in the cemetery tried to be helpful, but we couldn’t convince him that we were searching for Mihaliks and Lelaks, not Matyases. My great-grandfather was Matyas Lelak, but his name in Hungarian would have been rendered as Lelak Matyas, as they give the last name first. The situation got so mixed up that I finally got testy, and I think I hurt the worker’s feelings. The Hungarians also don’t seem to preserve markers on graves beyond a certain length of time, and Dot and I were unable to find any ancestors’ graves. The older section of the cemetery lies on the hillside, and I searched through nearly every one without much success. Without markers, any such search is pretty fruitless. It is impossible to say if the graves were re-used or just neglected, but it is obvious from the mounds of earth that there are plenty of people buried there. It was enough of a thrill for me to actually be in Pereces, so the trip was worth every penny it cost just for this moment. I wish we could have seen more of Miskolc, an obviously very beautiful and old city, but our timetable did now allow it — Laco offered to stop in town, but we were too hot and exhausted to take him up on the offer.

Dot told a story one night during this trip that I had not hear before. She said that great-grandma Josepha (Mihalik) Lelak was washing laundry in a stream and lifted a heavy load of carpets and ruptured her stomach muscles. She died not long after that. I couldn’t help wondering if the stream in Pereces that I saw from the car was the same stream where she hurt herself.

On the way back into Miskolc, we stopped in probably Diosgyor to eat. Laco asked someone (I don’t remember who) to recommend a place to eat, and we found a great restaurant. It was a beautiful wood-paneled pub, and was totally deserted. Laco talked with the waitress forever to explain that we wanted some authentic Hungarian food. At least that is what seemed to be going on — my experience to this point was that Hungarians talk a great deal to say very little. As I write this 6 months later, I don’t recall what lunch consisted of, but I remember it was a tad greasy, and I also recall that what Laco was eating looked better to us. Hana is a vegetarian, and I think her food also looked better to us!

The mystery of Pereces only deepened with our visit there. Grandpa Joseph Oravetz went to work there around the turn of the century, probably staying with his brother John. I am guessing that Joseph must have lived close to the Lelak house, because it was in Pereces that he met Mary Lelak, my grandmother. The scenario I have created is that Joseph’s and John’s brother, Alex, also went there to work. It was Alex who was the first to emigrate to America, and when Joseph emigrated later (in January 1907), he stayed with Alex in the small coal town of Graceton, Pennsylvania. When Grandma emigrated in October 1908, she and Grandpa stayed with Alex and his wife for a couple months before moving to Barnesboro. Ahem, Mom was conceived during this time, and Grandpa and Grandma did not get married until they moved to Barnesboro.

Last Updated: April 28, 2010

Clearfield Rebars

The Rebar Family (Clearfield County, Pennsylvania)

My mother’s and father’s ancestors lived very close to one another in the tiny country of Slovakia, but they did not know each other there, and their backgrounds were very, very different. The Rebar name was originally spelled Ribár, presumably having some connection with fishing (rybár is the Slovak word for ‘fisherman’), although the family were all farmers. My mother’s ancestors were ore miners from the mountainous region just to the west of the area where my father’s ancestors tilled the soil. Oddly enough, it was mining and not farming that ultimately brought my mother and father together in the United States. (See the 1996 reunion for the complete Oravetz story.)

Present-day Slovakia is a very mountainous country. In Eastern Slovakia, near the city of Kosice, the arable land is limited to the valley floor that begins some miles north of the city and gradually widens out as it nears the Hungarian border. The principal stream in the valley is the Hornád; near Nizná Mysl’a the Torysa and the Olsava join the Hornád, which continues on into Hungary. The land is agriculturally rich; hot summer temperatures are ideal for growing grains, and vegetables grow well and abundantly on seemingly every square inch of privately-owned land. Working in these fields was the only life that the Rebars had known for centuries. They belonged to the class of farmers known as ‘cotters’ (Hungarian: zsellér, often seen in church records in its Latin form, inquilinus).

Overlooking valley from RC church in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia — Dorothy Rebar Polenik and James Rebar, July 1995, at Roman Catholic church in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia.

The Ribárs probably did not migrate to this area until the 1700s, but future research could prove me wrong about that. What is known about the population of the area is this: after the defeat of the Turks in the late 1600s, the land that they had occupied for 150 years was given back to the landowners, who colonized it with large numbers of artisans and peasants from all over Europe, especially Germans, Serbs, Croatians, and Slovaks. In the first group to arrive in the Nizná Mysl’a area to take advantage of the offers of land were the Germans, who acquired the better parcels of land, and who belonged to the uppermost class of farmers. Technically, only this class of farmer was called ‘farmer’ (Hungarian telkés, Latin colonus). To this class belonged the Herpáks (spelled Herpach in the earliest records), who were German ancestors of the Herpaks and Prusaks in our family. Any farmer who was not a telkés was, by definition, a zsellér. Andrej Ribár, my grandfather, was a zsellér, and therefore had a later arrival to the area. What little land a zsellér owned was of a lower quality than the land belonging to a telkés.

Land in Slovakia was passed down to successive generations and was divided into smaller and smaller plots, until by the year 1900, half the landowners in Hungary, of which Slovakia was a part, were scratching out a living from plots too small to meet basic needs. In spite of frequent outbreaks of cholera, smallpox, dyptheria, and typhus, a high infant mortality, and a very high death rate from tuberculosis, the population still remained too high for the ability of the land to sustain it. Andrej Rebar and his wife, Katalin Kozak, emigrated to the United States, like thousands of other Slovak families, for purely economic reasons. The rich coal fields that lay under Pennsylvania simply offered more of an opportunity to get ahead.

For reasons still unclear to me, Andrej Ribár’s family who were the first to arrive in the United States chose Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, as their destination. Clearfield County was settled in the early 1800s by farmers and loggers, and legend has it that it got its name from the cleared fields that were already there when the first white settlers arrived. In the latter part of the 19th century, as the virgin timber was all but gone, victim to the logger’s saw, the industrial revolution was already in high gear in the nearby cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and the furnaces needed high-grade coal and coke to produce the steel. The problem lay in a chronic shortage of manpower in the rural areas that produced the coal, so the big coal companies and the steamship lines found a perfect marriage — the steamship companies made their sweeps through Europe, already overcrowded and disease-ridden, offering passage to the New World and jobs; the passage was paid for by the coal barons and America’s newest immigrants were able to pay for the tickets with their labor in a very short time, and even save money to send for their loved ones. Many of the newcomers never intended to stay, and they made frequent trips back home, finally using their new-found wealth to buy property in the Old Country. Many more, however, opted to stay in the United States, where the opportunities for personal growth were not restricted by the centuries of feudal rules and regulations that had kept most of these people as the poorest of the poor.

How did Andrej Ribár, descendant of a very long line of poor farmers, ended up in Ramey, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, in the Spring of 1892? He had no experience in the coal mines, but he knew a good deal when he saw one, and in this deal he saw his one chance to own more than a sliver of land. He had married Katalin Kozák in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia, in October 1891, in the beautiful Catholic Church that overlooks the valley south of Kosice. Katalin’s half-brother, George Kozák, had been living in America since 1889, and he was eager for his wife, Anna Maria (Barnic), and two children to join him. But it was not wise for a woman to travel alone with small children, and so Andrej said his good-byes to his new bride and boarded the train in Kosice with George’s wife and children. Andrej would not see Katalin again for four years. We do not know why she did not travel with him, but it’s likely that they lacked the money for another ticket, or Andrej simply wanted to get established in America before sending for his bride.

Andrej’s early years in America are somewhat a mystery. In all liklihood he stayed with George and Anna in Ramey while he saved the money to send for Katalin. It was not until 1896 that Katalin was finally able to join Andrej in America, and they settled into a small-town routine in Ramey. They began their family immediately, eventually having seven children. During these years the family name underwent numerous permutations before eventually becoming Rebar. There are records which give the spelling as Ribar, Rybar, and even Reeber (which is on my father’s birth record at the courthouse). Oddly enough, even though the spelling in every case in the Nizna Mysla Roman Catholic parish records for the 19th century is Ribár, the only variant of the name I was able to find in Slovak telephone books in 1995 was Rybar!

Andrej’s ancestors had worked the fields as farm laborers for centuries, and Andrej was not well-disposed to working in the coal mines. His health also began to deteriorate from the cold and damp in the mines, and he developed tuberculosis. On August 1, 1907, Andrej purchased a 128-acre farm for $520.00 cash and a promise to pay another $520.00 within three years. The seller retained mineral rights to all the coal underlying the farm except for the five acres the farmhouse and buildings were situated on. The deed was written such that the seller could not be held liable for any destruction to the land or water resulting from the mining of the coal there, including any damage from deposit of the coal waste on the property. I have only seen the property twice in my life; it appears to be nice, flat bottom land, but my father said that it kept the family in virtual poverty the entire time they lived there, which was only about 12 years.

Both Andrej and Katalin died in 1921, he from pulmonary tuberculosis and complications from miner’s asthma, she from acute nephritis. Katalin died in August, and upon her death, Andrej went to went to live with his daughter, Anna, taking his two youngest children, George and Catherine, with him. On the evening of November 14th, a Monday, he bid good-night to his daughter and went to sleep on the couch, taking young George with him. During the early morning hours of November 15th, Andrej passed away quietly in his sleep.

Last Updated: April 28, 2010

Introduction

I am an American of Slovak descent. My search for my roots began with a handwritten copy of the only words written in my maternal grandparents’ Bible: Joseph Oravetz rodil sa v Europe v Ceskoslovensku Opakey v Zupe Cily, Stolicy Abaujsky. Maria Oravetz rodila sa v Europe na Perecesu v stolicy Borsodskej. Loosely translated, the passage says that my grandfather, Joseph Oravetz, was born in Europe in the Czechoslovakian village of Opaka in Abov County, and my grandmother, Mary Oravetz, was born in Europe in the village of Pereces in Borsod County. At the time of their births, Slovakia was the northernmost portion of Hungary and was divided into Zupy (singular: Zupa), of which Abov and Borsod were two, the latter being in present-day Hungary. The counties were also referred to by the term Stolica. This information gave me the names of the villages and the counties, but to this day I do not know the significance of the word ‘Cila’ (in the phrase ‘v Zupe Cily’), because there was no such county, but it may be something entirely different in the original passage, which I have not seen.

I knew very little more than the above until I took a basic genealogy adult education class in the Autumn of 1983. In the class, I learned of various genealogy working aids from Everton Press in Utah that would help me with Eastern European genealogical research. A woman in the class was able to get me a map of Hungary from a bookstore in Washington, D.C., and at about the same time I purchased a map of Slovakia; neither map was very detailed because of communist paranoia about such matters, but they contained a wealth of information for my research. We also took a field trip to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where I learned of the treasures to be found in the ship records and in the census records.

Thanks to the genealogy class, and its instructor, Connie Catania, I was able to get copies of several important documents: a copy of my maternal grandmother’s ship record at the National Archives; the Declaration of Intention papers from the Cambria County courthouse in Pennsylvania for both my maternal grandparents; and copies of my paternal grandparents’ death certificates from the Pennsylvania vital records archives. Knowing where to search is the key to success in genealogical research.

A serendipitous event in about 1986 changed the course of my research. Even though I knew my maternal grandfather’s place of birth, Opaka, I did not know precisely where it was. At the 1986 family reunion, Flo Oravec, Alex’s wife, handed me a copy of Alex Oravec Sr.’s birth certificate, and said something like, “I don’t know if this will help you any.” Well, it was the nugget I was searching for. Alex Sr. was my grandfather’s brother, and there in black and white was the place of birth: Opátka, Kosice Diocese, Kosice District. Subsequent research revealed that Opáka (with the accent mark on the first ‘a’) is the Hungarian name for the town of Opátka.

Tracking down the precise location of Pereces (alternate spelling: Pereczes) in Borsod County, Hungary, turned out to be relatively easy, but it took some analysis to piece it together. The first clue was on Mary Lelak’s ship record (remember, she and Joseph Oravetz were not yet married), which listed the nearest relative in the country of origin as her father, Matyas Lelak, in Diosgyor, Pereczes, Hungary. From a genealogical handbook on Hungary, I found out that Borsod County existed pre-1920 in northeast Hungary, and was incorporated into present-day Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, of which Miskolc is the county seat. The real breakthrough came from the map of Hungary that my classmate had bought for me; it contains an enlargement of Miskolc that shows a suburb named Diósgyör, and nearby the village of Pereces. Spelling and diacritical differences aside, I knew I had the place. I also soon discovered that the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) had microfilmed Hungarian parish records in the 1960s, and I was able to make copies of the birth certificates of my grandmother and one of her sisters. I also discovered that an older sister died of scarlet fever at the age of three.

From the Hungarian parish records, I also learned that my maternal great-grandparents were both born in Slovakia (Mátyás Lelák in Zakarovce (Hungarian: Zsakarócz), Spis County; and Jozefin/Jozéfa Mihalik in Smolní k (Hungarian: Szomolnok), Abov County). They somehow both ended up in Pereczes, a medium-sized mining town just to the west of Miskolc, Hungary. Judging from parish records, I would suspect there was a mass migration to this region of Hungary sometime in the mid- to late-19th century. When I went through the birth and death records for the Roman Catholic Parish of Diósgyör, I noticed that hundreds of the parishioners had immigrated from Abov County, and all the men were either ore miners or ironworkers.

The answer to the final mystery, how I discovered where the Rebar ancestral village is located, will be forever lost in the mists of time. The sad fact is that I do not remember. The only thing I can recall is my father pointing to a spot on the map and explaining that there were two villages side-by-side with the same name, except that one was the upper town and one was the lower, or something like that. And somehow I also knew that Joseph Herpak, Dad’s cousin, came from one of the villages, and the one he came from was the ‘other’ one. I have a copy of a document that says Herpak came from Felsö Mislye, and a copy of Maria Kozak’s birth certificate that gives her birth place as Alsó Mislye. At the time, I did not know who Maria Kozak was, but I knew she was related (she was my dad’s aunt, and also Joseph Herpak’s). Somehow, some way, I found out that these town names are the Hungarian renditions of present-day Vysná Mysl’a and Nizná Mysl’a, respectively. Whether by luck or intuition, I finally could say with some certainty that the Rebars came from Nizná Mysl’a, and U.S. census records gave me fairly accurate dates of birth.

By the end of 1991, I had reached a stone wall in my genealogical research, because any further information would have to come from Eastern Europe. However, for many reasons, it did not look likely that I would ever be able to travel there to conduct the research myself. One day, while leafing through Nase Rodina, the newsletter of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, I learned that Dr. Duncan Gardiner, a certified genealogist from Ohio, was to embark on another of his research trips in the summer of 1992, and I wrote to him for help in getting critical documents. I did not know at the time exactly how helpful he would turn out to be.

All that I was able to provide to Dr. Gardiner was the meager assortment of documents I had collected up to that time, and since nearly all of them were ship and census records, they were, by their very nature, subjective and often contradictory. The details were very skimpy, as nearly all of our important family documents had been lost, largely through indifference and neglect.

Dr. Gardiner’s findings exceeded my wildest expectations. He was able to trace three entire lines (Ribár, Kozák, and Oravec) back to the late 1700s. Since then, I have been able to do the same for the Mihalik, Majdik, and Lovasz families. All of these newly-found hundreds of relatives are very real to me, whereas only a few short years ago, their names were completely unknown to me.

So, what did all this research get me in the end? First of all, a sense of continuity with the past. Until these people and places became known to me, that whole geographic area where they originated was just the ‘Old Country,’ and I couldn’t accept the finality of that phrase. For future generations, there is now a real past that pre-dates 1890. But, most important of all, are the facts written below, from which all of my research can be reconstructed should all my papers get lost or thrown away.

Here, then, is the distillation of my research:

My paternal grandfather, Andrew Rebar, was born Andreas Ribár on July 6, 1866, in Nizná Mysl’a, Slovakia, and Katherine (Kozak) Rebar was born Katalin Kozák on January 26, 1872, in the same town. Very little anecdotal information exists on either of them, because they both died in 1921, and anyone who would have known them is long gone from this Earth. There is factual information, such as the fact that they married in November 1891 in Nizná Mysl’a, and Andrew emigrated to the United States very shortly after that, arriving early in 1892. He saved his money and sent for Katherine around 1896. Since I do not have specific dates that either arrived in this country, I have no ship records for either of them.

My maternal grandfather, Joseph Oravetz, was born Jozsef Oravecz on January 7, 1881, in Opátka, Slovakia, a small town in the northwestern section of present-day Kosice-Vidiek County, about 15 miles northwest of Kosice itself. He left Opátka near the turn of the century and went to Pereces, a village outside Miskolc in Borsod County (present-day Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Hungary), to work, probably staying with his brother, János Oravecz, and the latter’s wife, Etel (Soltész). My maternal grandmother, Mary (Lelak) Oravetz, an ethnic Slovak, was born Mária Lelák on February 13, 1888, in Pereces, the same village where Joseph Oravetz went to work. At the time, there was no separate country of Slovakia, so neitherMary nor Joseph technically were not ‘outside’ their native country, just living in a different part of it. Evidently, they became engaged to be married while living in Pereces, but the decision was made to emigrate before the marriage took place. Joseph then emigrated to the United States in 1907, staying with his brother, Alex. He sent for Mary in late-1908. They married in March 1909 in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania.

James M. Rebar
Bowling Green, Ohio USA
November 10, 2020

Last Updated: April 27, 2010