Category Archives: Hajtovka

Hajtovka, Udol Slovakia

Hungarian Empire Census of 1828 – Hajtovka, Slovakia

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I was aware that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had taken a number of censuses, but those completed before the 1869 census were mostly heads of household or only those who were economically more stable than the serfs, who made up the majority of the population.

However, I have found the 1828 census for Hajtovka, Slovakia. Just the heads of household are named and I think the enumeration was done to determine tithes to the local nobility and the Church, to count farm animals and that sort of thing.

If you have family in the old Hungarian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, check out the 1828 census, which is digitally available from FamilySearch. It’s called Vagyonösszeírás, 1828.

One caution – You need to know the name of your ancestral village in 1828 in order to find the correct sheets. A wikipedia search using the modern village/town name might include its previous Hungarian name, which saves time as you won’t need to check a gazetteer.

What really interested me in this census, though, is the fact that the local Greek Catholic church books begin in late 1827 for Hajtovka and Ujak, the village next door where the church is.

Therefore, having the heads of household and all the surnames in the village in 1828 is quite fascinating.

Each head of family has numbers or check marks, if appropriate, under 13 columns of questions. There is a 14th column, which the census taker (likely the parish priest) could use to add any extra observations. These items are spread over two pages.

Here’s the enumeration of the very small village of Hajtovka. I chose this village because my grandmother’s family lived there as did many of my Rusyn cousins and Nana’s friends. NOTE: I have chosen to change the spellings to modern versions since I recognize almost all the names. First names are recorded sort of in Latin and surname spellings often weren’t standardized back then:

I used an online translation program to determine what the page heading, sections and column words meant. They are written in Latin, but one or two of the words must have had a different meaning, as you will see.

Page Heading – Names of the Contributors, They are of These:, Name of Place of Enrollment [Hajtufka = Hajtovka].

Column Labels

  1. Names of the contributors
  2. Contributing persons, married or unmarried
  3. Honorables (e.g. priest, cantor, nobility), Citizens, Colonists [transitory, maybe?], Inmates, Under the Inmates, Brothers, Sons, Daughters, Servants, Ancillaries (Others), Workers, Merchants, Buyers
  4. House From Which the Tax Is Paid/ Number, ??Perhaps amount owed
  5. Farm within the village/ orgies within the village [Orgies is one of those words that must have another meaning!], Customary Price
  6. Procreation of the Seeds of Nature (Crops??)/which he swore to commit by contributing to the lands under colonial or civil law/they give a proft to the taxpayers, taking every penny, how many harvests will he produce, what is the ordinary value of procreation [value of total crops?]
  7. Meadows/Try the colonial peer or the civil law, They give a profit to the taxpayers, taking every penny
  8. Vineyards/Able to measure weight, Give a profit by assuming each meter of posonienseta[???], Require miners, Let them produce urns after one miner, Average running cost of reproduction after meeting one miner
  9. Orchards & Prunes/ Scythe, They give a profit, assuming the extent of the harvester
  10. Livestock/Yoke of oxen, Unborn cows or mothers, Sterile cows, Bulls & Heifers over 3 years old/Bulls & heifers over 2 years old, Yoke of Cattle, unborn cattle or mothers, Bulls & heifers over 3 years old, bulls & heifers over 2 years old
  11. Livestock/Racing horses and livestock over 3 years old, racing horses and livestock over 2 years old, Sheep & rams, To be harvested at end of one year, Goats turning one year old
  12. Woods/Which occupy the bare earth, They bring in, weighing each year, from the acorns and the gain of the wood
  13. Little Food
  14. Observations

As you’ve read, some of these headings are as clear as mud, but you can get the general idea of the types of questions being asked, all for tax purposes.

Here is the second part of Hajtovka’s census:

In 1828, Hajtovka was a very small village with only 24 households. It appears that most were renters with a few sub-renters.

It is evident that my ancestors and their neighbors were poor serfs (as were most Rusyn people at this time) who had little. They didn’t own land and paid their taxes either by giving a portion of their crops to the local noble or by working the noble’s lands for an agreed amount of time.

Notice that person in House #6 – Joseph Szova, is the only one with an “observation.” He apparently wouldn’t cooperate because all columns are unmarked for his household and the comment is “infuriating!”

Joseph is part of my Szova family, but not in my direct line. I don’t know how he fits in, but he is likely the brother or father of Andrew Szova, who is my 4X great grandfather.

This census gave me an interesting look into the villagers in1828, aside from those who started appearing in the church records at the same time.

Hajtovka

My Rusyn Ancestors & Their Villages: Hajtovka, Slovakia

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I’ve decided to do a mini-series about the villages from which my Rusyn ancestors came, followed by family sketches of the earliest known ancestors and their descendants.

I have many distant Rusyn cousins here in America because our common ancestors left today’s Slovakia and made their way to New jersey, New York, Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania to improve their lives.

Some stayed permanently and became citizens, some came, but quickly returned home and many made multiple trips across the ocean to earn money and provide for their impoverished families, who had little hope for comfortable lives.

It’s hard to imagine what their lives must have been like. First, until the 1890s, there was virtually no opportunity for any kind of schooling. Even at the turn of the 20th century, the opportunity to receive a 4th grade education was all that was offered.

Most of my ancestors lived just as their ancestors had before them – as peasant farmers working poor land, living in small homes inhabited by many people and with very high mortality rates for all.

A lack of medical care meant infant mortality was high – I’ve seen vital records for women who gave birth to 8 children, but only two survived childhood.

Every few years, cholera, typhus and diphtheria came to visit, leaving a hundred dead behind them. This was in a village of 750 people.

If one was healthy enough to survive childhood and the epidemics, there were many less serious maladies and accidents to claim more lives.

The 1869 census of one of my ancestral homes showed only two people in their 70s and not many more in their 60s.

It’s no wonder that so many decided to come to America.

My paternal grandmother’s villages will be the first two covered in this series of four.

Hajtovka and Ujak (today called Udol) , less than one mile apart and heavily Greek Catholic (today called Byzantine Catholic) were home to all of her family at least back to the early 1800s, when the church registers begin.

Village #1 is Hajtovka, home to two of my ancestral lines – the Szova and Murcko families.

Hajtovka is and always has been a very small village, nestled in the foothills of the Tatras Mountains near the Poprad River in eastern Slovakia.

As I mentioned, it has historically been Greek Catholic, with just a handful of Roman Catholic brides and grooms who lived in villages just west of Hajtovka.

Latitude & longitude:
49.260 degrees North
20.7730 degrees East

It is in the Stara Lubovna District of the Presov Region in northern Slovakia.

Although there is little in the way of written history, Hajtovka (pronounced High-Toe-Key) is an ancient village, first documented in 1427, when it was called Ayathuagasa. By 1773, it was known as Hajtuvka and Hajtuska. .

The length of the village is one small road and today’s population is but 72 people. It covers about one square mile. At its biggest, in the 1869 census, there were 313 souls. The population has declined steadily since then as residents leave for better lives in the cities.


Hajtovka, courtesy of Google Maps

Hajtovka has always had close ties with Ujak (Udol) because the two villages share the parish church of St. Dimitry.

The parish priest enumerated the following households in Hajtovka in 1853:

  1. Mola Hajtufken (Hajtovka millstone)
  2. Misko Liscsinszki
  3. Petro Liscsinszki
  4. ”             ” Senior
  5. Andrej Szova
  6. Janko Lesuf
  7. Misko Lesuf
  8. Misko Murczko
  9. Gmitro Szova
  10. Misko Fedus
  11. Josef Arendacs
  12. Misko Szova
  13. Janko Liscsinszki
  14. Janko Arendacs
  15. Vacant
  16. Misko Mucha
  17. Janko Fedus
  18. Misko Arendacs
  19. ”            ” Junior
  20. Janko Fabian
  21. Misko Murczko
  22. Misko Zavaczki
  23. Andrej Zavaczki
  24. (Pusrto)Nyemecz
  25. Suska Nyemecz
  26. Justo Knapik
  27. Vacant
  28. Misko Tengi
  29. Josef Sedlyar
  30. Jurko Murczko
  31. Janko Kravecz
  32. Janko Muhanin
  33. Maria Szova
  34. Janko Arendacs
  35. Janko Knapik
  36. Misko Huszar
  37. Vaszko Hanicsin
  38. Janko Szadlok
  39. Kacsmar Hajtufski

From these households, Liscinski, Murcko, Szova, Tengi and Sedlak are found in my own family tree while Arendacs, Fedus and Fabian are names I recognize growing up in Passaic, New Jersey.

Sadly, given today’s resident population, there may well come a day in the not too distant future when Hajtovka becomes an abandoned village.

Next up is the Szova family and descendants of Hajtovka, Slovakia.

 

 

 

 

 

Hajtovka, One Place Study, Udol Slovakia

History of St. Dimitry’s Parish, Udol/Hajtovka, Part 4: Industrial Revolution & Village Emigration

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The people of Ujak and Hajtovka, Slovakia had lived the same daily lives for hundreds of years, from the Rusyn settlement in the late 1500s until 1880.

Governmental and political changes did little to affect the lives of economically poor and uneducated people who struggled to survive. They were sometimes hungry, cold and without any means to better themselves.

In spite of the difficulties that life presented to them, the Rusyns were a hardy group and St. Dimitry’s parish reached its peak population with 400 in Hajtovka and 800 in Ujak by 1880. Even the never ending epidemics couldn’t wipe them out.

Unbeknownst to anyone, the time period from the 1880s to 1920 would bring about more drastic changes to the villagers’ way of life than any other historical event.

For the first time in history, a few opportunities for a better future were presenting themselves. The economic stranglehold that the nobility had on the peasants was diminishing. Men became able to work for themselves. Land ownership was even a possibility although money was still scarce. Daily wages for a 14 hour day in the village equaled pennies on the dollar.

The meteoric growth of businesses in the Western world hadn’t yet made their way to Eastern Europe. That quickly changed as agents for European and American businesses sought out workers willing to emigrate and work for low wages in their new homeland.

The definition of “low” pay was seen very differently in the eyes of the villagers. By U.S. standards, factory workers worked long hours for little pay. However, what an American factory worker earned in an hour equaled Rusyn wages for that 14 hour work day.

Colonial emigration to America meant that men and/or their families left Europe for life across the pond. Young single girls generally didn’t set out on a long difficult voyage alone in that time period.

The Rusyn emigration to America was different. At first, it was the young men who headed across the Atlantic to find out if what they had heard about opportunities was really true. They likely had no expectation of returning home to friends and family, but would send word about their new lives.

Word received back at home was positive – men easily got work, often for the same company with factory shifts set up so that people speaking the same language would be working together. Money began flowing back home to their families. That, in turn, encouraged not only young men, but unmarried young women to head for the United States.

Passaic, New Jersey was a popular landing point for most residents of Ujak and Hajtovka who emigrated. The effect of the decrease in population can be seen in St. Dimitry’s church books with notation after notation made by the priest – “Emigrated” or “Amerika.”

Some residents who emigrated decided, for whatever reason, to return home. In those cases, the priest often wrote in the Observations column of the parish register – “Married in Amerika. Proof of marriage not shown.” In those cases, the priest actually left the legitimate/illegitimate status of a baby being baptized in Ujak empty because the couple failed to bring back a certificate from (usually) St. Michael’s Church in Passaic confirming the date of marriage.

My own family is a good example of what this emigration did to village families.

My 2X great grandparents, John Scerbak (1836-1916) and Maria Patorai (1839-1912) were the parents of eight children, of whom only three survived to adulthood and married:

1. John, born 18 July 1862
2. Michael, born 17 February 1868
3. Anna, born 11 June 1870

John married Catherine Dzuriczki in the late 1880s and they are one of the couples with the priest’s entry of married in America, but proof lacking.

John and Catherine returned home to Ujak before the birth of daughter Maria in August 1894. However, by September 1899, they were living in New Jersey, where they spent the rest of their lives.

Michael, my great grandfather, is found on a passenger list in 1890, arriving in New York. My great grandmother, Anna Murczko, also left Ujak sometime before October 1892, when she and Michael married at St. Michael’s in Passaic.

Michael and Anna lived in Passaic for about five years before they moved permanently back to Ujak. However, in future years, three of their five surviving children emigrated to America and never returned to the village.

The youngest of John and Maria (Patorai) Scerbak’s children, and their only daughter, married Michael Zavaczki and lived out their lives in Ujak. The village child mortality rate affected this family is a big way. Three of their four children died as toddlers. Their youngest child, Joseph, also lived in Ujak, where he died in 1999.

My great grandmother’s family faced much the same fate. Anna (Murcko) Scerbak was the daughter of John Murcko (1831-1917) and Maria Szova (1845-1925). They were the parents of six children of whom four lived to adulthood.

Anna was the eldest. Daughter Susanna left for America and married John Kovalycsik at St. Michael’s in 1894. They lived out their lives in New Jersey.

Son John married Maria Fedus and emigrated to the U.S.

John and Maria (Szova)’s youngest, Helen, married Stephen Pristas and settled in New Jersey.

It is estimated that from the 1880s until 1920, 75,000 Rusyns emigrated to the United States. Most lived in small villages like my family.

I’ve read that houses in Ujak (renamed Udol in 1948 after the Communist takeover) and Hajtovka didn’t even have electricity until the 1960s!

A quick review of the village population through the years clearly illustrates the decline:

Hajtovka
1869 – 313
1890 – 281
1921 – 196
1970 – 160
2021 – 91

Ujak (now Udol)
1869 – 718
1890 – 685
1921 – 524
1970 – 574
2021- 303

The United States closed its borders to most immigration by 1921. Hajtovka’s inhabitants decreased from 313 to 196, while Ujak’s decreased from 718 to 524.

I recognize so many of the surnames found in St. Dimitry’s records – somewhat Americanized in spelling – because I wrote out the addresses on Nana’s Christmas cards. Pristas, Chanda, Biss, Fedus, Kovalycsik, Murcko, Sedlak, Hrinya, Mikulik and the list goes on.

I even recognize some of the names of my classmates, who as I was growing up, I had no idea were from Nana’s villages – like Warholak and Arendacs.

The same families who made the villages what they are also left an imprint on Passaic.

By the 1960s, even while under Communist rule, the decline continued as young people left to find work in nearby cities.

My grandmother’s youngest brother, who, by the way, she never met as he was born after she returned to America in 1910, lived out his life in the village, married and had six children.

The family still has a house in Udol, but it is for weekend getaways, not a permanent home.

Life goes on in St. Dimitry’s parish. It is drastically different than life in the 1800s, but it is still there.

A trip to Slovakia is on my bucket list. I want to walk in their footsteps! Maybe when this pandemic ends. 🙂