hi sue, You hit the nail on the head.. my family moved to the east side, I went to IU and live in Michigan.... your description was very accurate (I am just cleaning up old emails and yours was one I decided to keep. Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: <kahluasue@aol.com> To: <hungary@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 6:57 PM Subject: [HUNGARY] Familiar Hungarian surnames > > > "I look at some of these Hungarian surnames and they are so familiar to > me. " > > > I feel the same way reading this board. I grew up in South Bend, IN, > where the large Polish community was the dominant ethnic group. I was > also raised Protestant (my parents had a "mixed" marriage) rather than > Catholic like many of my classmates. It wasn't until I began my genealogy > research that I realized how many Hungarians there actually were in South > Bend as I began seeing so many familiar surnames. > > > Someone asked a few weeks ago what had happened to the Hungarian community > in South Bend. The original immigrants mostly lived on the west or > southwest side of town near St. Stephen's Catholic Church and the Oliver > Company plant. The Oliver Company actively recruited workers in western > Hungary in the 1890s and early 1900s. After World War II, many of the > returning soldiers went to work for the Studebaker plant in town, bought > cars and moved their families to newer neighborhoods elsewhere in town. > When the Studebaker plant closed in the mid-60's, some men were able to > find jobs elsewhere in town, but others were forced to relocate to places > like Flint, MI, where they could find manufacturing jobs. They also > recognized the value of a college education, so they sent their children > to college when they could manage. Many of those children didn't return > to South Bend after college. They went to Indiana U. or Purdue and then > found jobs in Indianapolis after graduation. The! > Polish community dispersed in the same way. There are still many > Hungarian and Polish families in the South Bend area, but the old > tight-knit ethnic communities are gone. > > > Sue Straw > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > HUNGARY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >