In a previous article, [email protected] ("k.esplin") says: >I have an elusive Hungarian ancestor. We thought we knew where he was >(Sarospatak, Bereg, Hungary), but I searched every birth record, and he >wasn't there. During his life, he was very secretive about his origins, >so I suspect we may have guessed the wrong place. > >Question-- Is there some sort of index of Hungarian persons?.... Like a >Hungarian version of the AIS? >(Yeah, yeah, dream on....) > >His vitals... > >Charles (Karoly) Marton >born Oct 26 1886 in ???? Hungary >Immigrated without parents to US sometime before 1907-- rumored to have come >through Canada >First record of him is found -- marriage, 1907, West Virginia coal mining >areas >Parents listed on Catholic marriage certificate as >Karoly Marton and Maria Kurscivis My situation is similar to yours. Grandfather immigrated alone from Hungary in 1907, landed at Ellis Island, whereabouts uncertain till 1915 (though he told US customs he was bound for Greensburg PA, we never found proof he actually went there). Married in Youngstown OH in 1915. His obituary in 1949 shows his birthplace as Vilok, Ugocsa, Hungary. This was later found to be inaccurate. He applied for US citizenship in 1937 in Youngstown (why did he wait 30 years? who knows?). He was turned down for citizenship because of lying about a past arrest, but the application is still on file at the court house annex. The citizenship application shows the name of his actual village, which is several km outside of Vilok; also the name of the ship he arrived on, and the date of arrival. An interesting twist--his landing record shows him under his "real" name, which we corroborated via a family bible, but he began using an americanized name early on. The "American" name he chose was "Martin", similar to yours Marton. My suggestion is to check his naturalization record, even if he wasn't naturalized. He may have applied but never completed the process for whatever reason. -- Gary N. Deckant [email protected] Youngstown, Ohio