It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about my father’s side of the family so I decided it was time. My 2X great grandmother was Maria Patorai and she married John Scerbak in Udol, Slovakia. The family is small even today, but it was even smaller in the early 1800s.

In fact, there is only one Patorai to be found in those earliest Udol church registers – Andrej/Andreas Patorai who married Maria Janoskova. They had one known child, John, born c1810. There are no known surviving church registers for Udol before 1828, so there is a bit of a gap to cover here.

However, Patorai in whichever spelling is quite a rare surname, so I took a look at FamilySearch to see if the name appears in other Slovak villages. It did, but not very often, so I examined the registers much more closely for two other towns, Lipovce and Nizny Slavkov, which are the only ones that have Patorai in the baptismal records on FamilySearch.

Udol, Nizny Slavkov and Lipovce
Source: Google Maps

The distance from Udol to Nizny Slavkov is about 20 miles. From Udol to Lipovce is about 38 miles. The distance from Nizny Slavkov to Lipovce is 25 miles. None were exactly day trips back in the 18th and 19th centuries, but it is also within the realm of possibilities that the Patorai clan migrated from one village to another seeking better opportunities.

The following baptismal records were found:

Lipovce:
1. John, son of George and Susanna, baptized 14 June 1770
2. John, son of Jacob and Elisabeth, baptized 20 January 1771

Then there is a gap in Patoraj births in Lipovce:
3. Anna, daughter of Andreas Patoraj and Elisabeth Tarbaj, baptized 10 July 1783
4. Andreas, son of Andreas and Elisabeth Tarbai, baptized 9 October 1787

Although marriage records also survive for Lipovce, the only marriages found were for:
1. Alexander Ujusky(?) and Anna Patoraj, 22 January 1753
2. George Patoraj and Maria Lasinszki(?), 27 June 1760
3. Andreas Patoraj and Elisabeth Tarbaj, 8 February 1778

George who married in 1760 could be the same George married to Susanna when their son John was born in 1770, but George didn’t marry Susanna in Lipovce.

The burial records yielded more Patorajs, but most were infants and none of those buried gave family relationships except for two:

Maria, buried 18 February 1761, aged 1
Elisabeth, buried 27 April 1761, infant
George, buried 30 August 1767, infant
Maria, buried 23 April 1769, aged 6
George, buried 14 April 1771, infant
John, buried 20 April 1774, infant
John, son of Jacob, buried 15 January 1776, infant
Anna, buried 17 June 1778, aged 65
John, son of George, buried 15 April 1782, infant
Jacob, buried 25 May 1784, aged 68

I continued to read burial records through 1815, but no other Patorajs were buried in that time period. With the high mortality rate, I believe they likely moved to another village/parish.

Given the uniqueness of the Patoraj surname, it is probably somewhat safe to say that Jacob and Anna were spouses, but that doesn’t really answer any questions about any of the other children and to whom they belonged.

Nizny Slavkov records provided even fewer clues. There is one Patoraj family who had children baptized there:

1. Michael, son of Jacob Patoraj and Elisabeth, baptized 23 August 1785
2. Martin, son of Jacob Patoraj and Elisabeth, baptized 13 August 1787
3. Jacob and John, twins, sons of Jacob Patoraj and Elisabeth, baptized 15 June 1790

There were only two burial records through 1805:
1. Anna Patoraj, buried 14 January 1785, aged 70
2. Paul, son of Jacob Patoraj, buried 30 April 1785, aged 3, but there was no baptismal record found for Paul back to 1780

In reviewing this data, I think it is possible that Andreas Patoraj who married Elisabeth Tarbaj in 1778 could be the parents of my Andrej/Andreas Patoraj who was the father of John Patorai in Udol, born c1810. Andreas born in 1787 would have been about 23 when John Patorai was born.

I find it very interesting, too, that although Andreas married Elisabeth Tarbaj in 1778 in Lipovce, the only two children who appear in the records weren’t born until 1783 and 1785. There are no infant burials for their possible children either, which again leaves open the question about transitory residence.

If I had to fit these Patorajs together into a family unit, I would surmise that Jacob and Anna, born c1716 and c1713, might be the parents of Anna, George, Jacob and Andreas, but there is no way to prove any of this as the only records that survive in this time period are church registers.

These people were all peasants, either farming or possibly having a trade by which to make their living. I wouldn’t even think of trying to connect these people unless their surname was as rare as Patoraj.

The only other avenue open for research is to begin browsing the church registers for other parishes along the loop from Udol to Lipovce to Nizny Slavkov and back to Udol. That will take some time, but it is doable.

 

While working on the Patorai/Patoraj/Patoray family, I discovered that sometimes John Patorai and sometimes his wife, Anna Szurgent, were called “recte” (right or correctly) Mikulik. Mikulik is a surname found in the village of Udol, Slovakia, but I am at a loss as to explain why each was given that alias at different times even though both were listed in the same record.

A picture or two or three is worth a thousand words, so here is the mystery.

First, we have the marriage record for John Patoraj and Anna Szurgent, who married in Udol on 22 November 1836.

1836 Marriage Record

Column 1 – Joa Paterej, gc, Col Ujak, Anna Szurgent, gc

Translation: John Patoraj, Greek Catholic, Parish Ujak, Anna Szurgent, Greek Catholic

Column 3 gives John’s parents as Andreas Patorej, Greek Catholic, Ujak, Maria Joanoskova. Anna’s parents are John Szurgent, Greek Catholic, Anna Gmitritisin, Greek Catholic.

Next, we have the baptisms of their children. The second column is the important one in these records:

1.  Maria, 5 March 1839

Month March

Joa Pateraj
gc Col Ujak
Anna Szur
gent

Translation: Parents – Joannes (John) Pateraj, Greek Catholic, Parish Ujak, Anna Szurgent

2. Anna, 24 August 1842 (first column =  dto or ditto). Again, note column 2:

Joa Patoray
gc Col Ujak
Anna Miku
lik
Translation: Parents – Joannes (John) Pateray
Greek Catholic, Parish Ujak, Anna Mikulik

Okay, pause here. Did Anna Szurgent die and John married again to Anna Mikulik? Well, there is no burial record for Anna Szurgent, nor is there a marriage record for John Patoraj. Remember, this is an extremely uncommon surname even in this tiny Udol village. Let’s go on:

3. John, 18 March 1849

John’s 1849 Baptism

Again, look at column 2 –

Mikulik, Ja
nos et Szur
gent Anna
Greek Catholic

Translation: Parents are Janos (John) Mikulik and Anna Szurgent!

The question here is who, if either of these people is the Mikulik and why do they have this alias???

Next in the family is Michael, but in between these two births, the Hungarians took over the local government and the records changed overnight from Latin to the Cyrillic alphabet.

4. Michael 11 June 1851

Cyrillic Alphabet Entry, 1851

Column 3 is Michael and column 4 has the parents – Patoraj John and Szurgent Anna.

5. Peter, 3 (month?) 1856

Cyrillic Alphabet Entry

The far right columns are the ones to look at with this entry, as they have the parents’ names and the village and house number (Ujak 38).

Parents are John Patoraj and Anna Szurgent, based on the fact that the letter that looks like our N is a P in the Cyrillic alphabet and our S is a C in Cyrillic.

6. Susannah, 18 December 1859

Thankfully, the Hungarians were gone and the priests reverted to Latin entries in the church register:

1859 Baptism

Parents are John Patoraj, Greek Catholic, Parish Ujak and Anna Szurgent, Greek Catholic and the family had moved to Ujak house #1.

That wasn’t the end of the alias situation because when son John married in 1873, Mikulik was again mentioned:

1873 Marriage Record

Joan, (father Joannis Patoray recte Mikulik Col. Ujak filius
Translation: John, John Patoray correctly Mikulis, Parish Ujak, son

The Patorajs lived in house #1. John married Anna Fecsisin, daughter of Peter of Ujak, but no house number recorded.

A couple of baptismal records for John’s and Anna’s children also mention the Patoraj/Mikulik alias.

Anna Szurgent Patoray died 20 July 1873 during a cholera epidemic and was buried the next day.

Burial Record for Anna Szurgent Patorey, 1873

No burial record has yet been found for John Patoraj/Mikulik. It will take some searching because the records again switch from Latin to Hungarian and baptisms, marriages and burials are not in consecutive years.

The question remains – why did either of them use the Mikulik alias and was the Mikulik name attached to Anna or John? Anna was apparently not a widow when she married John in 1836. Village records only begin in 1828 so there are no records found for their parents that would indicate why Mikulik was being used as an alternate surname.

Readers, any thoughts on the matter would be most appreciated.

Previously, I shared the very scarce data to be found on the Patoraj/Patorai/Patoray family in Slovakia.

Here is a map of the villages where Patoraj records have been found:

Andreas Patoraj, baptized on 9 October 1787 in Lipovce, Slovakia may well be the man who married Maria Janoskova and who had the son John, born c1810. This is all speculation, but given the uniqueness of the surname and the fact that Andreas born in 1787 is of an age to be the father of a child born about 1810, I think it’s a distinct possibility. Add to that the fact that there are no other Andreas Patorajs to be found in the records and there are no records that create any conflict with this theory, it is one that I will keep in the back of my mind as I read church registers page by page trying to determine where else the family may have lived.

However, there are most definitely Patorais living in the village of Udol by the mid 1800s. The family remained small and they stayed put until the later 1800s and early 1900s.

The marriage record of John Patorai to Anna Szurgent gives the names of their parents. John is identified as the son of Andreas Patorai and Maria Janoskova.

It is likely that John had a sister, Maria, born c1807, who married John Mudrik, c1827. John and Maria’s marriage is not found in 1828, the first year marriages appear in the Udol parish register, but they had four children baptized there: Michael in 1829, Anna in 1831, Peter in 1834 and Maria in 1839. No burial record has yet been found for Maria Patorai Mudrik, but John was buried on 31 October 1847, aged 40 years.

John Patorai, born c1810, married Anna Szurgent on 22 November 1836 in Udol. They had the following children, all born and married in Udol:

1. Maria, born 5 March 1839; died 27 January 1912; married John Scerbak, 11 February 1861.
2. Anna, born 24 August 1842; died 29 January 1902; married Michael Knap, 20 November 1870; Anna is probably the mother of Elias Patorai, born 17 March 1868, recorded as illegitimate. Michael Knapp was born 15 February 1841; died 9 December 1907. Michael and Anna had three children – Michael, born 6 December 1875, Peter, born 22 March 1885 and died 24 March 1888 and Anna, born 5 July 1887.
3. John, born 18 March 1849; married Anna Fechissin, 27 January 1873.  His marriage record and a couple of his children’s birth records give his father’s name as John Patoray (recte?) Mikulik. I think it is equivalent to the “dit” names in French or, in other words, an alias. I find no birth/baptismal record for John Patoray in 1849, but there is a John Mikulik, baptized 18 March 1849, the son of John Mikulik and Anna Szurgent.
4. Michael, born 11 July 1851, although a baptismal record hasn’t been found yet; died 18 October 1902; married Helen Miklus, 9 February 1874
5. Peter, born c1856; married Maria Buk, 7 February 1881
6. Susanna, born 18 December 1859; married (1) Elias Tidik, 7 February 1881 (2) Michael Miklus, 22 January 1885

Since this post is covering the Patorai surname, only the sons will be continued here. In the future, I will probably revisit this family and add the daughters’ descendants:

3. John, born c1849; married Anna Fechissin, 24 January 1873 and had the following children, all baptized in Udol:

1. Maria, born 11 November 1873; she is probably the one who married John Fechissin and had two daughters born in Udol – Maria, 4 October 1900 and Anna, born 23 March 1905 and died 17 April 1906.
2. Anna, born 8 December 1879; married Nicholas Pruzinski. He was born c1875; died 1923. They had three sons and a daughter born in Udol between 1908-1914.
3. Michael, born 24 December 1884
4. Daughter, stillborn, 8 November 1886
5. Stephen, born 7 June 1888; died 2 October 1889
6. Veronica, born 9 August 1890

4. Michael, born 11 July 1851; died 18 October 1902; married Helen Miklus, 9 February 1874 and had the following children, all baptized in Udol:

1. Michael, bapt. 2 January 1876
2. John, bapt. 16 December 1878
3. Maria, bapt. 1 May 1881; died 24 February 1888
4. Helen, bapt. 5 November 1882; she is probably the one who married John Hrinya. They had three children born in Udol – John, 22 October 1900, Stephen, born 21 February 1909 who married Maria Michalko on 1 October 1932 and Nicholas, born 7 June 1914.
5. Anna, bapt. 28 December 1884; died 25 March 1892
6. John, bapt. 8 November 1886; died soon
7. Maria, bapt. 18 November 1888
8. Nicholas, bapt. 2 November 1890
9. Stephen, bapt. 18 February 1894

5. Peter, born c1856; died 8 May 1934, Plains, Luzerne, Pennsylvania; married Maria Buk, 7 February 1881, Udol, Slovakia. Mary was born c1862, Udol, Slovakia; died 1926. Both are buried at St. Peter’s Greek Catholic Cemetery, Lodi, New Jersey. They had the following children:

1. Peter, born 13 October 1882, Ujak, Slovakia; died 14 August 1894, Udol, Slovakia
2. Elias, born 23 July 1885, Udol, Slovakia; died 2 January 1912, New Jersey; married Susanna Chunda. They had a daughter, Maria, born 11 August 1882, Udol, Slovakia and a son, Stephen, born 30 July 1898, Udol, Slovakia; died 19 October 1926 in the U.S.
3. Maria, born 12 January 1888, Udol, Slovakia; died September 1972; married John Hrinya. He was born 28 April 1888; died April 1978. Maria returned from Ujak to Passaic on 3 December 1903, accompanied by her little sister, Helena, aged 9. Father is named as Peter Patoray and the family lived at 132 Third Street, Passaic, NJ.
4. John, born 3 September 1890, Udol, Slovakia; died 8 October 1890, Udol, Slovakia
5. Anna, born 17 October 1891, Udol, Slovakia; died 31 December 1894, Udol, Slovakia
6. Helena (aka Julia), born 21 April 1894; died after 1910
7. Michael, born 7 June 1905, Passaic, Passaic, New Jersey; died 27 July 1955, probably New York
8. Anna, born c1907, New Jersey

There are a few loose ends around, which I will have to investigate a bit more thoroughly to sort them out. As you can see, this family isn’t very big!