Recently there has been discussion about various mine explosions. My Hungarian born grandfather told me he was in a mine explosion in Johnstown, PA. when he was a young man there. I do not know the dates, but he lived there from 1900 (he was 10) to 1918. Does anyone know about this and when it happened? Someone told me there is a plaque outside the mine today. Any information would be appreciated. Jay Farrell

Cheryl, I could use such a girl. Too bad it is from 1925 and not 2005. Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: "cheryl BALOG wenberg" <cherlock@cheqnet.net> To: <HUNGARY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 9:31 AM Subject: [HUNGARY-L] PECSI, Mary News 1925 > > The Bridgeport Telegram Connecticut July 17, 1925 > > Situations wanted > > HUNGARIAN GIRL, 17, would like position doing light housework. > > Mary PECSI > 245 Howard Avenue > >

thank you. Evelyn

Is something missing in this link, it comes up page can't be found. Evelyn

Sorry, I missed a number... Hungarian Catholics in America www.newadvent.org/cathen/07545b.htm cheryl

Hungarian Catholics in Ameria www.newadvent.org/cathen/0754b.htm cheryl BALOG wenberg

The Sheboygan Press April 9, 1912 SHEPHERD OF THE SEA HUNGARIAN man of wealth has earned title. Has long devoted life, fortune, talents and strength in ministering to emigrants from his own land and other lands. COUNT VAY DE VAYA, Lord Abbot of St. Martin's in Hungary, has earned the title of "The Sheperd of the Seas", because he spends his life and wealth, his talents and his strength, in ministering to poor emigrants seeking fairer chances for life in distant lands. A man of lowlier birth, and one bred amid scenes of squalor and suffering might so spend his life without creating wonder that he should seek to help those who are his equals and intimates. COUNT DE VAYA is one of the richest, and one of the most influential men in Hungary. This wealth he is using to help the poor emigrants from his county and others, he has forsaken the ease and comforts that his riches would bring to sail with them on many troubled seas and teach them how to conduct themselves in the new life they are to face. "At home," he said, "the poor are forever watched ovry by the parish priest, who is their spiritual father. He tells them how they shall conduct their lives and listen and obey. Then also there are the neighbors with whom the peasant hopes to stand well and to be respected. This environment helps him to lead a Christian life, to be honest, industrious and strong to resist temptation. Then he hears of brighter opportunities in a new land, and he sells all of his little possessions and sails away. Everything that has helped him in the past, the teachings of the priest, the good word of old neighbors, the traditions of his home, are swept away from him and he finds himself on the sea with nothing to do and absolutely vacant mind, ready to be filled with anything anyone cares to pour into it. "This is a very trying period. All his life he has been a worker. He has toiled all day and night there were the family and friends to fill his mind. But here, upon the deep, his mind grows vagrant. It has nothing to anchor it. Like the mind of a little child, it is very receptive. If evil is poured into it, that evil may last as long as as he lives and be the controlling influence of his life. But if it is good, why, then he will be a good man as long as he lives. Now, the work that I am trying to do with all of the gifts that God has given me is to meet with these poor people and to fill them with the thoughts of our creator, with the duty we all owe to one another, and with the peace that comes from good and the torment that comes from evil." "I opened the first Hungarian Church in the slums of Chicago. This was n 1905. I have visited all of the different labor centers in the United States, and I have crossed the ocean 19 times. And always I am seeking to place in the hands of the helpless the sword of righteousness, with which to fight temptation. On one ship, the ULTONIA, from Fiume, I preached to 2,300 emigrants. I speak nine languages, and I preached to them, so all could understand, In Hungarian, in German and the Slav. A more devout people I have never saw. I am glad to say that I have seen something of the results of the seeds that I have sown. And if the work is continued, in a generation or two it will go far toward bettering conditions all over the world." cheryl BALOG wenberg

The Bee Danville Virginia Feb. 21, 1922 HUNGARY FEELS U.S. RESTRICTION Budapest, Feb. 20 The fate of HUNGARIAN immigrants who are being turned back at Ellis Island because they exceed the quota of admissions permitted by the American government, is giving great concern to the immigrants relatives and to the public. The articles of the Magyar Nepsza Va., a Hungarian newspaper published in the U.S. describing the despair and sufferings of these unfortunates, are being reproduced locally. Newspaper editorials urge Hungarian government to take up the matter. Serious charges are made against the Hungarian Emigration Bureau for permitting the emigrants to go to America in the face of the fact that they knew the quota had been exceeded. The relatives of these emigrants are preparing an appeal for help to President Harding. cheryl BALOG wenberg

The Daily Chronicle Elyria Ohio Nov. 8, 1902 TO PROHIBIT EMIGRATION The Hungarian Government is preparing to pass a law. Vienna, Nov. 8 The Hungarian government has introduced in the reichstag an emigration reform bill of sweeping character. One of the main provisions of this bill strikes a heavy blow at the North Atlantic steamship lines by empowering the government to route emigrants through the Hungarian port of Fiume. Up to the present time Hungarian emigrants have sailed chiefly from Hamburg, Bremen, Rotterdam and Antwerp, and last year a total of 70,941 Hungarian emigrants left these ports. The prospective loss to the German and other steamship lines sailing from the ports mentioned is likely to be even greater because Austria is now preparing a bill similar to the one introducerd by Hungary by which it is expected to send Austrian emigrants through Trieste. The Hungarian bill specifically prohibits the emigration of certain classes of people, including men who have not performed military service, parents who leave behind them children under the age of 15 years of age and persons without adequate traveling money or whose expenses are paid by foreign states or colonization societies. Under the bill, the government can forbid emigration to certain countries entirely and it can prevent the emigration of certain classes of artisans ewhen this is deemed expedient. chery BALOG wenberg

Diane, Please contact me regarding the VINCE / VINCZE family connection. E-mails to you are bouncing back. Thanks! Regards, Dusty Vince Fletcher researching Hungarian surnames: BIRO, DARABOS, KARCZAG, VINCE / VINCZE and all spelling variations

The Bridgeport Telegram June 11, 1927 Vital Statistics Marriages ZALTAN, Imre, nineteen of 603 Hancock Avenue and Grace PECSI of 245 Hancock Avenue. ________________________________________________________ The Bridgeport Telegram Nov. 12, 1927 Situations wanted Hungarian girl desires housework with good English family, Miss Julia PECSI, 403 Spruce St.

The Bridgeport Telegram Connecticut July 17, 1925 Situations wanted HUNGARIAN GIRL, 17, would like position doing light housework. Mary PECSI 245 Howard Avenue

Marika, Where did the coal mining disaster take place (in Dec 1907)? And do you have names of the 300 killed? I know this is a longshot, but my g-greatmother was widowed sometime before the birth of her second son, who was born May 1908. My g-grandfather was Joseph Soltesz. Presumably he died in the USA -- most likely in Ohio but possibly in PA or anywhere for that matter. Do you know if he was among the dead? Thanx, Sharon D. Guerra mailto:guerra_family@hotmail.com

Alex Nemeth wrote: > ... > Here is what I would like to say: > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > HAPPY BIRTHDAY > WE MISS YOU SO MUCH. > WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON. > WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOU COMING TO SEE US IN AMERICA SOMEDAY. > WITH LOVE, > > SANDOR > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Thank you in advance, > Alex Nemeth, Madison, Indiana Boldog szülinapot kivánunk! Nagyon hiányzol nekünk. Remélhetőleg találkozunk hamarosan. Várva várjuk, hogy meglátogass bennünket Amerikában valamikor. Szeretettel, Sándor Joe Equinunk, PA - USA jjarfas@ezaccess.net --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by ezaccess.net]

----- Original Message ----- From: <bbadzio@look.ca> To: <HUNGARY-L@rootsweb.com> to: Hungary LIST I apologize for asking for translation again, but it would really help me if someone would. Recently I found a cousin in Ajka, Hungary. Actually, we visited them for a week last fall. We did have a translator over there. Anyway, I would like to send a Birthday card. If someone would help me translate a few simple statements, I would sincerely appreciate it. I would be willing to pay you for this. Here is what I would like to say: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAPPY BIRTHDAY WE MISS YOU SO MUCH. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON. WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOU COMING TO SEE US IN AMERICA SOMEDAY. WITH LOVE, SANDOR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you in advance, Alex Nemeth, Madison, Indiana

The Valley Independent Dec. 19, 1989 A tragedy rembered by Elizabeth HORNE JACOBS CREEK MINE EXPLOSION KILLED 220 Only six days before Christmas in 1907, a fiery explsion claimed the lives of some 220 people, stunning residents of the Mid-Mon Valley area who were busy preparing for the holiday. The explosion at DARR MINE in Jacobs Creek occurred on Dec. 19, 1907 at approximately 11:50 a.m. No one at the time had any idea of the cause of the explosion at the Darr mines of the Pittsburgh Coal Company. The body of one of the victims was blown ot of the shaft and landed one mile from the mine entrance, according to reports in the Daily Independent in 1907. The superintendent, William KELVINGTON was reported to be in the mine at the time of the explosion. Rescue procedures were begun on the 19th but were hampered by water that appeared in the mine. Two pumps were installed on Dec. 21st to assist rescuers. A temporary morgue was set up in the blacksmith shop to hold those bodies found. Many were unidentifiable, as the bodies had been dismembered in the explosion. In addition to being mutilated some of the bodies were also scaled by water in the mine that reached the boiling stage in some places. Mine officials made arrangements for the burying of unidentified victims in Smithton. Miners from other area mines flocked to DARR MINE without waiting for instructions from officials. The first miner to enter the mine after the explosion was said to be Will MC COLLIGAN, Mc Colligan lost a brother to the explosion. He worked arduously to pull bodies from the mine. His unconscious body had to be taken from the shaft several times. By Dec. 31, 1907 he was reportedly staying at the home of his aunt, Mrs. George BIPPUS of 12th Street and Highland Avenue in Monessen in the hope of regaining his health. Not over 50 Americans were known to be dead according to a Dec. 23, 1907 report in the Daily Independent. Following the disaster the Merchants Association of Connellsville and New Haven started a movement for the relief of Darr mine disaster. President John MITCHELL of the United Mine Workers of America telegraphed from Indianapolis authorizing district officials to draw upon the national treasury for $1,00 for families of the victims. Francis L. ROBBINS, president of the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, also attending a conference in Indianapolis, telegraphed instructions to start a relief fund, offering $100 himself and reported subscriptions of a dozen other operators to him of $10 to $20 each. Many of the wives and children of the victims needed passage back to their home countries since they had lost their only source of livelyhood. John SEIBERT of McKeesport who lost two brothers in the disaster told reporters in a Dec. 21, 1907 article that there were at least 50 former McKeesport residents, principally HUNGARIAN in the mine. In reverence to the dead miners, a saloon in close proximity closed on Dec. 20. The final count of deceased in what was nicknamed the "DARR DEATH PIT" reached 220 by Monday Dec. 30, 1907 cheryl BALOG wenberg

The Lethbridge Herald Oct. 7, 1967 Migration Forced by Feudal System Settlers seek Freedom By Howard Palmer What makes the Hungarians in Canada different from the rest of the immigrants from Eastern Europe? The major distinguishing factor is their language, which has no close linguistic affinity with other peoples in Canada. It is called Magyar, and like the Finnish and Estonian languages, is of Finno-Ugrian origin. John KOSA, a socioligist who has studied the Hungarians in Canada at great length, contends that this language distinction may have hastened their integration into Canadian society. Since their language isolated them from Canadians and other immigrants, they had to learn English more rapidly. The first Hungarian immigrants to North America were political refugees of the 1848 revolution in Hungary where they tried to achieve independence from Austrian rule. However, most of these regugees went to the U.S., and very few found their way to Canada. The next wave of immigration from Hungary to Canada occurred between 1884 and 1914. These people were mostly rural settlers who were forced to migrate because of the oppressive feudal system in Hungary. Crop failure and cattle disease accentuated the need to migrate. Between 1898 and 1912, Hungary's population was reduced 2,500,000 by emigrants who went mainly to North America. Many came as contract labor to the coal mines and other heavy industries. The Canadian government was very interested at this time in attracting some of the immigrants to open up the Canadian west. The government realized that the only way the could secure a regular influx of settlers to Manitoba and the N.W.T. would be to give financial assistance for the formations of group settlements which would serve as a neclei to which settlers of a particular nationality could be directed. Shipping agents were given $5 for each settler they could induce to come to Canada, and money was spent on advertising, but this was largely ineffectual. In 1885, CPR agents found Count ESTERHAZY, whose projects for the settlement of the Hungarians on farms in the U.S. had collapsed. Seeing the misery of his people in the coal mines, he wanted them to return to the land. After touring the prairies and recognizing the value of prairie soil, and having received a promise of finanacial aid from the president of the CPR, ESTERHAZY began to work fervently to accomplish his plans. Propaganda was sent to Hungary to induce migration, and some Hungarians in Pennsylvania were persuaded to move to the Canadian West. As a result, thirty-five families settled in Manitoba, west of Minnedosa, under the direction of Mr. DORY who taught them how to clear the land and speak English. Count ESTERHAZY helped to organize the Hungarian Immigration and Aid Society, and by June 1, 1886, another group was in the process of settling near Whitewood, Saskatchwan. They called the settlement ESTERHAZY. The count had also arranged for the settlement of another group, but he could not obtain a government loan to finance the project. He considered the possibility of quaerwring the new group in Esterhazy for the winter, but the town was destroyed by a prairie fire. He then arranged for the men to work in a coal mine near Medicine Hat for the winter. After a short period, the men felt that the company was mistreating them, so they left the mines. The government provided them with food during the winter. Immigration from the U.S. and Hungary continued as favorable reports from these settlements began to be received. By 1891, the original colonies had paid off all their debts, and were described by the Department of the Interior as the most successful settlers in the West. The early settlements no longer depended on grain farming, but branched out into other types of agriculture including cattle raising and dairy farming. Other settlements were started, and by 1911 there were 11,648 Hungarians in Canada, half of whom were living in Saskatchewan. Today, people of Hungarian origin are scattered throughout many parts of Saskatchewan, but the largest concentrations are in the Qu'Appelle Valley. In Alberta, the Hungarians first settled in scattered colonies between Lethbridge and Edmonton, with the largest group near Wetaskiwin. In Southern Alberta, many came to work in the coal mines at Coalhurst, Lethbridge, Hardieville and Taber. The majority of those who went into mining did so only as a temporary measure. They worked until they could get money to finance a farm of their own. It seems, however that many of these miners were not too well liked, as the superintendent of the N.W. Mounted Police complained lengthily of the "nasty habits" of Hungarians in his annual report of 1892. He wrote, "The Hungarian and Slavish miners are quarrel-some people and do not get on with each other at all well. They have a nasty habit of brining long-bladed knives into play..." Most of the miners were singe men, and many returned to Hungary when the mines were closed. Others went into farming, while some moved to the Paks? to mine. In the early 1900's a few Hungarians were engaged in ranching, while a number of others homesteaded. In 1903, many Hungarians went to newly opened land near Stavely. Others settled near Retlaw, Milk River, Taber and Wrentham. Of these, people, some came directly from Hungary, while others moved from the U.S. and Saskatchewan. In 1901, there were 167 Hungarians in Alberta. This number increased to 1,207 by 1911. In the Medicine Hat census division in that year which included Lethbridge, there were 418 Hungarians, 252 men and 166 women. Some of the men brought their families over from Hungary while others lost complete touch with them. A small number came to Canada to escape from unhappy marital situations. During the war years there was little immigration to Canada. In fact, the number of Hungarians in Alberta had decreased to 1,045 by the time of the 1921 census. This apparent decrease could be partially due to the fct that some wanted to disclaim Hungarian origin because of the defeat of Austria- Hungary in the First WW. Some Hungarians from this area served with the Canadian armed forces during the war. During the 1920's, a new exodus from Hungary began. This immigration was due to the wretched conditions which existed in the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was directed mainly towards Canada since the U.S. had lagely closed its gates to immigration from Eastern Europe. Ideas about the supposed "racial inferiority" of the people from this area were rampant in the U.S. at this time and had resulted in a restrictive quota system. Although some of these ideas had passed into Canada, and books were written to show how the crime rate of these people was much higher than other immigrants thus showing their inferiority, fortunately, these theories were not transposed into direct legislative action. Recent studies have shown that the crime rate among foreign born is less than that of the native born. This is to some degree amazing, since many crimes have been committed due to a lack of understanding of Canadian law, and the poverty ridden conditions under which many immigrants to Canada have had to live are quite conducive to crime. Ethnic group organizations have often been an important factor in the social control of immigrants, keeping many from disobeying the law. That Hungarians in North America have had a considerably smaller crime rate than other Eastern Europen groups is due partly to the unique family structure or "sib system", in which youths are closely supervised , since the crime of one member may bring shame upon the whole sib. The sib itself consists of a wide range of relatives, and a person's status in the Hungarian community is to a large extent determined by the sib to which he belongs. Immigration to Canada after the First WW was fairly sizeable. Those who sponsored immigrants had to guarantee their employment and vouch that they would not become public charges. In some cases, they even loaned money or sent steamship tickets. Between January 1926 and 1930, over 26,000 Hungarian immigrants entered Canada. By 1931, there were 40,582 Hungarians in Canada, with 5,502 in Alberta. About half of these were living in Southern Alberta. The vast majority became laborers on sugar-beet farms. Many of these same laborers now own the farms themselves. On the whole, those who bought farms were usually married, while the single men remained as laborers. Many were related to immigrants who had come earlier, and who has assisted financially. In Northern Alberta, with the help of the British Land Settlement Corporation, several hundred settled around Vermillion. However, harsh weather conditions which existed in that region caused many to migrate to other parts of Alberta and B.C.

The Daily Intelligencer Nov. 10, 1980 Charleston, W. Va. (AP) West Virginia coal helped fuel the nation's industrial groath, but the rich , dark veins have never been mined without loss of life and limb. More than 20,000 miners have been killed since men first began mining coal in West Virginia, according to the State Department of Mines. Countless more have suffered crippling injuries and contracted disabling diseases. The latest deaths came Friday, when five men were killed as methane gas exploded in Westmoreland Coal Co's. Ferrell No. 17 mine in Boone County. The force of the explosion blew large cinder blocks 150 feet. Westmoreland spokesman Steve Anderson said the mine's ventilation system, designed to prevent a buildup of the volatile methane gas, somehow had failed. United Mine Workers President Sam Church, who flew from Wash. D.C., to join relatives in a silent vigil at the entrance of the mine, told reporters at the scene "We must mine coal and mine it safely. America's coal cannot and will not be dug at the cost of mine workers blood." But history defies Church's statement. Nobody seems to know for sure when the first person died in a West Virginia mine. The first major disaster took place nearly a century ago at Newburg, in the northern part of the state. Thirty nine men were killed Jan 21, 1886, when an explosion ripped through the Mountain Brook shaft of the Orrel Coal Company. The blast was the first of some 40 major explosions to be recorded by the Department of Mines. The nation's worst mining disaster occured in N. West Virgina, at Monongah, on Dec. 6, 1907. The explosion at the Fairmont Coat Co., killed 361. Then came the explosion at Benwood, near Wheeling, on April 28, 1924, which took 119 lives. An explosion at Layland, in the New River Gorge, claimed 114 lives in 1915, and 97 miners died in 1927 when a mine blew up at Everettville. The latest such disaster, a 1968 blast that killed 78 men at Farmington, prompted the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, which required increased inspections and additional safety equipment. Deaths were reduced, but continue. So far this year, 30 West Virginia miners have been killed. Thirty-five West Virginia miners died in 1979, compared with 29 in 1978 and 28 the previoius year. These latest deaths increased West Virginia's mine fatality count since 1900 to 19,963 an average of nearly 250 deaths a year thus far in the 20th century. Last week's acciedent marked the first multiple-fatality gas explosion in W. Virginia since 1972, when five miners were killed. In the early part of the century, most of the deaths came when methane gas and coal dust explosions wiped out significant portions of some coal mining communities. In those years, when children worked in the mines alongside adults, it was not uncommon for disaster rescue teams to find fathers with their lifeless fingers wrapped protectively around the bodies of their teenage sons. Today, the sons live to bury their fathers. "I think it's hardest on the boys, because of sports, hunting and fishing, things I'm not able to do with them," said Shirley WENTZ, a Fayette County widow whose husband, Harold, was one of last year's victims. cheryl BALOG wenberg

The Progress Clearfield Pennsylvania April 4, 1976 Pennsylvania People By Robert Glass Associated Press Writer Questions and Answers Q. What's the worst mining disaster that ever occurred in Pennsylvania? A. It was in Jacob's Creek in Northeastern Fayette County when 239 miners were killed in an explosion Dec. 19, 1907. The tragedy followed by only 13 days the worst mining disaster in U. S. history when 361 men died in a Monongah, W. Va., mine. cheryl BALOG wenberg

The Chronicle Telegram Ohio Jan. 19, 1959 Obituaries Sheffield Lake Mrs. John MUSZKA age 70 died yesterday morning in her home, 680 Kenilworth Ave., following a lingering illness. She was a native of Hungary and came to Lorain 47 years before moving to Sheffield Lake six years ago. Mrs. MUSZKA was a member of the Hungarian United Church of Christ, Ladies Guild of the church and Herhovay Lodge. Survivors: Husband: John MUSZKA Daughter: Mrs. Goldie GAINOK of South Amherst Daughter: Mrs. Olga KONIVES of Lorain Daughter: Mrs. Dorothy KERN of Sheffield Lake Son: Paul YUHASZ of Lorain Son: Rudolph YUHASZ of Lorain 11 grandchildren, a great grandchild, and three brothers and four sisters in Hungary. Emil Dovala Funeral Home Services at the Hungarian United Church of Christ Burial at the Ridge Hill Memorial Park.