The Kardos Saga, episode 6.

Hungarian Jeno Kardos transformed into Eugene Kardos (Grandad) when he stepped off the boat in New York City in 1906. Nearly everything about his old life was a mystery, after that point. The only place I ever saw his full birth date was on his draft registration records, for both World War One and Two. He didn’t serve, but he did register. His parents’ names existed on a few scribbled notes on the backs of family photographs and notes, and the same names were on his death certificate. His parents were Leopold and Sara. In Hungarian that’s Lipot and Sarolta.

I couldn’t find them anywhere else, either of them. Not at first.

 It turns out records are extremely localised in Hungary. I mean extreme in a way I’d never heard of. For example, it would be useful if I could find great-granddad Leopold’s death record, which would contain lots of various data. However, such a document’s location very much depends on where he died – fairly precisely. Every small parish and neighbourhood holds local records. Very local.

 If he died at home, then the record would be in that neighbourhood’s archive. But, if he went to hospital in another district – and there are many small districts in Budapest – then the record would be held in that neighbourhood. If he had a heart attack across town and died on that street, then that street’s neighbourhood would hold the records.  You really need to know which street he died on. I do not know this.

 I could try his last listed address. At this rate, I could learn the Hungarian language from scratch along with a map to their labyrinthine civil records system, if I had another lifetime.

 I went back to the facebook group who helped before, some of whom have paid subscriptions to specialist genealogy websites that could hold these documents I was unable to locate, on either civil or church records. Yet again, they knew the ropes, had the connections, and were quick. They came up with a stack of documents, not from the church or civil record, but from Jewish records. That explains a lot too.

 There was so much, some a bit confusing, and all overwhelming, that I decided it’s time to invest in a professional genealogist to help. I decided to include this as part of my 60^th birthday present of a Family Tree Tour to myself.

If they have their records right (and I really think they do, but I am a stickler for double and triple checking), then Eugene was not the only child we imagined him to be. Leopold/Lipot and Sara/Sarolta had quite a few kids, and Grandad Eugene was the youngest.

1)     Roza (born 1870, Budapest)

2)     Lujza (b 1873, Vienna)

3)     Berta (b 1874, Vienna. Married young and died age 23, in 1897. Husband Jozseg Peto survived her by many years)

4)     Frederika/Frida (born 1877 Vienna, married a Jewish man, Elemer Szente, in Budapest, 1904. This marriage record confirms lots of other data. But why was she labelled “legitimate”, when none of the others were?

5)     Markus/Mark (b 1878, Budapest)

6)     Rezso/Rudolf (b 1879, Budapest. Married in 1912, in Budapest, to Aranka Hollander).

7)     Jeno/Eugene/Granddad (b 1884 Budapest, died 1948 New York City)

Now, here’s where our rubric cube starts to come together.

When Jeno/Eugene arrived for the first time in New York City, he listed his contact person as Rudolf Kohn.

This could be his brother, and here’s why: a stack of birth, marriage and other documents all match up with another key document spelling out how my great-grandparents changed their surname, and their kids’ names, in 1888, from Kohn to Kardos. It all tallied up. Then the documents really fit together. They all say things like, born Kohn, named changed to Kardos 1888, in Budapest.

 But, this new mountain of data wants checking, and I am in over my head, and now I will find an expert to help me continue. Bear with me while I swim through a sea of details. I’ve waited most of my life to look into all this, and I want to get it right.

With thanks t0 the Hungarian Exchange genealogy group

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