Joyce, This is just terrific. I wrote up a similar travelogue last year, about meeting my cousins and was amply rewarded with email replies. So many people may never get opportunity to go and appreciate the stories. Other people are inspired by such adventure and the next thing you know, you've motivated others to begin their research and journey. Could you kindly refer us to the Jelsava web site? It would be most interesting! Congratulations. We look forward to part 2! Sincerely, Bill Tarkulich -----Original Message----- From: WHew536674@cs.com [mailto:WHew536674@cs.com] Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 8:55 PM To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: trip to Slovakia 1 (long) O.K. Vira, you talked me into it. This all started when I decided that pedigree charts needed more than names and dates, they needed some life. My father and his family came from Jelsava, Gemer County from 1900 - 1911. My grandfather, unfortunately, died before he had a chance to get here. As a result, he has always been a bit of a mystery to us first generation cousins, my father was too young to remember him, and grandma wasn't apparently talking too much. So I sought out to research the Kristofik family from Jelsava. As mentioned, pedigree charts need some life, and I wanted to know more about the area, the history, and the culture of the time. One of the things I did was to do a Google search on Jelsava to see if anything was out there. Got lucky, there was a web site with the history of the town, pictures of the churches, architecture, etc. Only one problem, it was written in Slovak and I couldn't read a word of it. Figuring that most Europeans know more than one language, I took a chance, and E-mailed the web master a short E-mail. And that is where my story begins. I eventually got a reply from him, (Rasto) and his English was good enough to communicate with. Over the course of the next few months, we became E-mail buddies. He mentioned that he would like to have his site up in English, so I said I would help him with it. He would send me his English version, I would rewrite it, and send it back, and eventually we got the site up in English, and now I could read it. He teaches at a high school (gymnasium, as they call it over there) and one day he mentioned that he teaches with a Margita Kristofik. I had already found a Margita Kristofik in the Slovak white pages in Jelsava, but that was her mother. Margita (Gita) gave Rasto a brief pedigree going back 4 generations on her. By then I had done a lot of research through the Evangelical church records of Jelsava, and had about 100 Kristofiks on just the marriage index from 1898 back to 1791. I had a file on each birth, marriage and death of the whole lot of them, not to mention my grandmothers side of the family. I figured that Gita and I were cousins two times over once through the Kristofiks, and once through my grandmothers family, and if I work at it, I'll probably find it again through another name. So, once that was established I knew that I had living relatives in Revuka, about 7 miles from Jelsava, and Gita's mother and sister still in Jelsava. I had heard about Helene's tours to Slovakia and the thing that appealed to me was that she will do just about everything possible to customize one's tour. I decided on the July 7 tour because that would bring me closest to Jelsava. Planned this tour for about 6 months. In the end, it was a dream come true. Of course the best part of the tour was meeting Rasto and my family. The tour was going to Detva for the annual festival and we would be arriving there on a Friday evening. Made arrangements with Rasto that he would meet me in Detva and bring me down to Revuka for the weekend. He was there and waiting with his wife and little boy, and the minute I got off the bus, I knew who he was despite all the people around. The ride to Revuka was absolutely beautiful, through the mountains and deep woods. When we arrived at my cousins, her 2 children, Milan, age 21 and Miska, age 19, were there ready and willing to be translators. Gita and her husband do not know English, but it really didn't prove to be a problem because her 2 children did and they would be home for the entire week end. I was hardly in the door when the celebrating began. Milan, (the father) brought out a bottle of champaign, Gita brought out the food, and we celebrated. The next day was to be a journey into the past, and one of the most incredible days of my life. Part 2 tomorrow. Joyce ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

O.K. Vira, you talked me into it. This all started when I decided that pedigree charts needed more than names and dates, they needed some life. My father and his family came from Jelsava, Gemer County from 1900 - 1911. My grandfather, unfortunately, died before he had a chance to get here. As a result, he has always been a bit of a mystery to us first generation cousins, my father was too young to remember him, and grandma wasn't apparently talking too much. So I sought out to research the Kristofik family from Jelsava. As mentioned, pedigree charts need some life, and I wanted to know more about the area, the history, and the culture of the time. One of the things I did was to do a Google search on Jelsava to see if anything was out there. Got lucky, there was a web site with the history of the town, pictures of the churches, architecture, etc. Only one problem, it was written in Slovak and I couldn't read a word of it. Figuring that most Europeans know more than one language, I took a chance, and E-mailed the web master a short E-mail. And that is where my story begins. I eventually got a reply from him, (Rasto) and his English was good enough to communicate with. Over the course of the next few months, we became E-mail buddies. He mentioned that he would like to have his site up in English, so I said I would help him with it. He would send me his English version, I would rewrite it, and send it back, and eventually we got the site up in English, and now I could read it. He teaches at a high school (gymnasium, as they call it over there) and one day he mentioned that he teaches with a Margita Kristofik. I had already found a Margita Kristofik in the Slovak white pages in Jelsava, but that was her mother. Margita (Gita) gave Rasto a brief pedigree going back 4 generations on her. By then I had done a lot of research through the Evangelical church records of Jelsava, and had about 100 Kristofiks on just the marriage index from 1898 back to 1791. I had a file on each birth, marriage and death of the whole lot of them, not to mention my grandmothers side of the family. I figured that Gita and I were cousins two times over once through the Kristofiks, and once through my grandmothers family, and if I work at it, I'll probably find it again through another name. So, once that was established I knew that I had living relatives in Revuka, about 7 miles from Jelsava, and Gita's mother and sister still in Jelsava. I had heard about Helene's tours to Slovakia and the thing that appealed to me was that she will do just about everything possible to customize one's tour. I decided on the July 7 tour because that would bring me closest to Jelsava. Planned this tour for about 6 months. In the end, it was a dream come true. Of course the best part of the tour was meeting Rasto and my family. The tour was going to Detva for the annual festival and we would be arriving there on a Friday evening. Made arrangements with Rasto that he would meet me in Detva and bring me down to Revuka for the weekend. He was there and waiting with his wife and little boy, and the minute I got off the bus, I knew who he was despite all the people around. The ride to Revuka was absolutely beautiful, through the mountains and deep woods. When we arrived at my cousins, her 2 children, Milan, age 21 and Miska, age 19, were there ready and willing to be translators. Gita and her husband do not know English, but it really didn't prove to be a problem because her 2 children did and they would be home for the entire week end. I was hardly in the door when the celebrating began. Milan, (the father) brought out a bottle of champaign, Gita brought out the food, and we celebrated. The next day was to be a journey into the past, and one of the most incredible days of my life. Part 2 tomorrow. Joyce

On our last trip to Slovakia, we came across this dish in a restaurant. I had never had or heard of it, but they told us it was a favorite traditional dish. When my cousin was visiting with us a few summers ago, she wanted to prepare dinner one evening. She made what she called Black Mountain steak. It wasn't steak at all - she pounded pork cutlets until they were reasonably thin, then coated them with a coating like potato pancakes and fried them - quite similar, I think. Lorrie WHew536674@cs.com wrote: > Dear List, > Forgive me it this is considered off topic, but I just got back from Slovakia > and had a meal that I can't get off my mind. I have just spent a couple > hours searching for it on google, but can't find a recipe. It was sauteed > pork and potatoes in a potato pancake. It was sooooo good. If anyone has > the recipe or knows where I might find it please let me know. > > Thank you, > Joyce

Off topic is very subjective and I don't see how a question about something as basic as the food our ancestors' ate is not within the category of "roots" and genealogy (but then there are some who might disagree ;-) It is a common dish in the Spiš area, I had it at the Hotel Arkáda Restaurant in Levoča and the Hotel Metropol in Spišská Nová Ves and saw it on the menu at other restaurants as far east as Košice and north as Bardejov. Go to: http://www.arkada.sk/stravov2.htm it is listed as a Levoča delicacy. There is also a similar dish that I think is called the "Farmer's Hatchet", it has a selection of pork, beef, liver, and chicken all served on a potato pancake with a few vegetables. There wasn't any special sauce or dressing, just the grilled meat with potatoes and a few other vegetables such as onions and cabbage. I don't have a recipe, but it isn't a particularly complicated dinner. I'm sure you can duplicate it with a minimum of experimentation. Dr. "Q" WHew536674@cs.com wrote: > Dear List, > Forgive me it this is considered off topic, but I just got back from Slovakia > and had a meal that I can't get off my mind. I have just spent a couple > hours searching for it on google, but can't find a recipe. It was sauteed > pork and potatoes in a potato pancake. It was sooooo good. If anyone has > the recipe or knows where I might find it please let me know. > > Thank you, > Joyce

Dear List, Forgive me it this is considered off topic, but I just got back from Slovakia and had a meal that I can't get off my mind. I have just spent a couple hours searching for it on google, but can't find a recipe. It was sauteed pork and potatoes in a potato pancake. It was sooooo good. If anyone has the recipe or knows where I might find it please let me know. Thank you, Joyce

Mary, Yes, it is daunting at first. What I did was to go to the end of the film, which would be the most recent (i.e., 1898) and work backwards. First of all, the writing is more legible than what you will find in 1790s records. Had I started out at the beginning of the film, and saw that writing from the 1790s, I would have given up before I started. There was no way I could have read it. To learn the handwriting, I would take a name or names that I knew, and study the letters, and after a while you get familiar with the old handwriting. You will also become familiar with the different names. Most of the names I saw over and over in the 1890s, are still with me in the 1790s. It takes time at first, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. And yes, the headings and what the minister or priest writes can have different spellings than what you find on a web site. The nice thing about it is that it remains pretty constant. The records I am reading are in Slovak, then Hungarian and now Latin. It gives entry #; date: name of baby: name of parents: legitimate or illegitimate; name of godparents: name of minister, you don't even have to look at the top of the page to know what was entered. Sometimes I didn't know if I was in Hungarian or Slovak records unless I bothered to look at the top of the page. In the more recent records they give the profession of the groom and then you have to go to your lists to try and figure out what it was, but aside from that, and cause of death, if it is mentioned, it's pretty straight forward. By the time you get back to the 1790s, you will be able to zip through it like a pro. Have fun (and don't cuss out the minister too much, I've done it enough for everyone) Joyce

To all listers, From a website that Cathy gave to me, I printed out nine pages of translations - Latin and Hungarian. There were also translations for the headings of Baptism, Marriage, and Deaths recorded in the Parish Records on film at the LDS. Last evening armed with my notebook, pen, and translations I started to look at Kosice church records. The column headings were almost all written a bit different than the headings in the tables on the internet site, but I went to work on translating them. From the start I have two strikes against me, I am not Slovak - am not familiar with the language as my husband is, and I am not familiar with the penmanship. I am determined though. This is a list of the words without the character marks, and my translation. I would appreciate any help you can give me. Are any of my translations correct? I will enter this information into excel, and take a blank table to the LDS tomorrow morning, and try again. Honor Napjan/Month, Day of Keresztelonek/Name of Baptizer Kereszteltnek/The one who is baptized Szuleknek/Parents' names or name of parents Vallasuk/Their religion Rendjok es Allapotjuk/___________ and marital status Nevei a Kereszt es Aytonok/Godparents and occupation Lakhelyok/Residence Eszrevetel/Comments I could not find any word to match Rendjok or Aytonak. Thank you all for any help. Mary

Ahoj, I'm new to the list. I figure I should introduce myself. My family comes from Gemer and Spis Counties. Some of the towns I'm researching include Roznava, Detva, Rimavska-Sobota, Rudnany, Markusovce, Iliasovce, Betlanovce, Porac, Cucma, and Nadabula. Surnames include Tollassy, Jagersky, Bodnovic, Krispinsky, Badinka, Podrasky, Sumansky, and Geletka, among others. My website is called People and Places of Slovakia. You can visit me at http://www.geocities.com/tollassy Well, that's all for now. Regards, Ali Jagersky :) -- __________________________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup Get 4 DVDs for $.49 cents! plus shipping & processing. Click to join. http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/990-1736-3566-59

Hello to All, I have Stankovce(Zemplin)church records on indefinite loan at my local Family History Center. It includes christenings and burials of the 1800's. Please contact me if I can help. Thanks, Peggy

Hello to All, I have the Parchovany church records on indefinite loan at my local Family History Center. I am willing to look up records for christenings, marriages, and burials for the late 1700's to mid-1800's. Please contact me if I can help. Thanks, Peggy

Please forgive me for this off-topic message, however, it has just occurred to me that in my query regarding a 'TRANSLATION' of the word Zupa, I incorrectly asked for a "TRANSCRIPTION" - a senior moment, I'm afraid, and my apologies to all who couldn't understand what I was referring to. Regards, Pat

Hi Peter: Thank you so much for your help. It makes sense now and it would appear logical that the "XX or XIX" is probably the roman numerals for the county number. Bill Tarkulich, also of this list, is in agreement. I am very grateful. Regards, Pat ________________ hladky wrote: > Dear Pat, > > ZUPA means something like COUNTY or DISTRICT, so ZUPA XX is County No. XX - > XX it could be Roman number 20. > > Dobroniva - now it is little town, or village Dobra Niva near the town > Zvolen - or Zolyom in times of Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy. Zvolen / Zolyom > was the site of of County / Zupa. > > Best regards > Peter Hladky >

Hi Bill: Many thanks for your response. The "XX or XIX" is repeated in several of the entries, all with "zupa" in front. Now that I know it is referring to a county, it makes sense, and the roman numerals are most likely referring to the county number. Peter Hladky of this list also agrees with you. Much appreciated. Regards, Pat _________________ Bill Tarkulich wrote: > "zupa" refers to a county or in some cases a district. > The subsequent letters appear to be Roman numerals. Its difficult to > say if the numerals were associated with the rest of the context. Do > you see this repeatedly or just in this single passenger entry/row? > Bill Tarkulich > >

"zupa" refers to a county or in some cases a district. The subsequent letters appear to be Roman numerals. Its difficult to say if the numerals were associated with the rest of the context. Do you see this repeatedly or just in this single passenger entry/row? Bill Tarkulich -----Original Message----- From: Pat Galovich [mailto:bill-pat_galovich@telus.net] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 1:59 AM To: SLOVAKIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: TRANSCRIPTION PLEASE - "ZUPA XX" A passenger list manifest record includes the term "ZUPA XX" and/or "ZUPA XIX" after the place of origin, ie, "...at Dobroniva, zupa XIX". Would someone please be able to tell me what this means? Many thanks. Pat, Mission, B.C. ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

A passenger list manifest record includes the term "ZUPA XX" and/or "ZUPA XIX" after the place of origin, ie, "...at Dobroniva, zupa XIX". Would someone please be able to tell me what this means? Many thanks. Pat, Mission, B.C.

Hello, all - Lately, I haven't been able to completely download any of the digests. The page gets as far as the header, but I can't read any messages. Is anyone else having this problem? If you know how to solve this problem, please email me OFF-LIST (since I can't open the messages through the list!). I haven't been able to read any digests since #79. If anyone saves these intact, I would VERY much appreciate it if you could forward #79-87 to me so that I could try to open them through the forward. Thanks! Judith

I am still searching for the immigration date and ship of my grandmother Zofia Susan Smehil. I have year as 1907 but cannot find any record of her. I've been told she was 17 when she immigrated to the United States but don't know what port and if she traveled with anyone else. I have yet to find any information at Ellis Island. She came from Zilina. Help is needed! Thank you, Darlene Bugan

I have a web site saved around here somewhere that has a story about a Bartok that was in the village of my ancestors, Abara, Zemplen , Hungary. This is sometimes been also the county of Ung because of poitical reasons, but, I have a relative still living there with that last name. The town is now known as Oborin, Slovakia. If I find the url to the site I'll send it to the list. Dan Almashy Danville , Va. DLAlmashy@webtv.net See the USA in a Chevrolet!! http://community.webtv.net/Dans57/Dans57andOther

I have friends named Bartek, they "sprang up" in Nebraska! Any possibility of a relation you are looking for?? I'm sure you know that Slovakia was Hungary/Austria until the end of WW1, so a notation of Hungary is correct for Slovakia until the about 1919-1920 (Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye [September 10, 1919] and the Treaty of Trianon [June 4,1920]). Dr. "Q" "John J. Kubla" wrote: > Thanks every one. > > I found a Istvan (Stephen) Bartek from Ungarn in the Hamburg Ship > records. It didn't say any town. My great Uncle Stephen Bartek was Stara > Bystrica(O bestercze). I am not much good at spelling these names. > > Burgenlaenderin@aol.com wrote: > > > Ungarn is German for Hungary.

Thanks every one. I found a Istvan (Stephen) Bartek from Ungarn in the Hamburg Ship records. It didn't say any town. My great Uncle Stephen Bartek was Stara Bystrica(O bestercze). I am not much good at spelling these names. Burgenlaenderin@aol.com wrote: > Ungarn is German for Hungary.