GENEOLOGY OF THE BARTALOS FAMILY IN THE CSALLOKOZ AND IN
SZAP
GENEALOGICAL
RESEARCH - I.
FROM PRESENT TO
GYORGY BARTALOS (2005 TO AROUND 1650)
After gathering and sorting out available
information about our family, I have decided to engage the assistance of a
professional genealogist who resides in Slovakia . My choice fell on Dr.
Peter Nagy (nagy@centroconsult.sk) who proved to be an enthusiastic,
conscientious and a very knowledgeable professional who is also fluent in
Slovak, Hungarian and English. Our collaboration was both cordial and
productive. Since the steps we took in our research might prove instructive to
others, in the followings I will provide an outline of the dilemmas we
encountered and the methods we used to overcome them.
Our starting point was the place and date of my
grandfather's birth as we had solid evidence for that. Dr. Nagy thereafter
located the archive where the birth, marriage and death records from that
village (Szap/Sap) were stored and obtained a permission to study these records
that are now stored on microfilms. The archive was located in Bratislava . As it turned out, for the village of Szap the archive possessed birth records
from 1745, marriage records from 1748 and death records from 1746. By analyzing
these records we were able to trace our lineage back to an Istvan Bartalos who
was born in 1738 and died in 1801 and to his wife Judith Biro (born 1743, died
1800). At that point the vital records ended. Next came a visit to the
Calvinist church in Szap. The church has been active since at least 1600 and
records indicate that Bartalos family members were among its prominent
supporters. According to a church chronicle, preserved as an unpublished
manuscript and written by Mrs. Bela Csekes, wife of a former minister, in 1699
a fire destroyed most of houses in the village. The church perished too. After
the fire Andras Gal, the schoolmaster gave what remained from the church's
possessions to Ferencz Bartalos for safekeeping. There is indication (Kur, G.,
footnote on page 158) that some of these church records survived and in the
1930s they formed part of an archival collection in the city of Papa in Hungary.
Multiple sources indicate that nobility and landed
status was confirmed for Bartalos family members Gergely, Janos, Gyorgy,
Matyas, Jakab, Pal and Mihaly in the locality of NagyMad on June 12th, 1655 by
King Ferdinand III. Several sources erroneously refer to this document as
bestowing nobility. By reading the actual document one can see that the
document merely reconfirms preexisting nobility and land ownership of the
persons mentioned there. A document in the Archives of the city of Gyor , Hungary
indicates that during the 1725 census of noble brothers Ferencz and Istvan
Bartalos in Szap certified their nobility by, among others, the original
document given to their father Gyorgy in NagyMad. At that point we were only
one or perhaps two generation away from establishing a direct link between us
and one of the persons who had their nobility confirmed in the 1655 royal
document. Now Dr. Nagy decided to extend his search further. As it turned out
the same archive where the microfilms of the vital records from Szap were kept,
i.e. in the Bratislava Regional State Archives (in Slovak: "Statny
oblastny archiv v Bratislave") in their Bratislava County Collection No 1,
("Fond zupy bratislavskej 1), Bin Number 4 (Krabica c. 4) there were some
300 pages of documents pertaining to the Bartalos family filed under
"Nobilitaria Barthalos". While most of the documents await
identification and translation from medieval Latin or German or Hungarian, he
identified among the documents one that was written in Nagy Mad on June 20th,
1754 as part of another census of nobility. On the basis of local investigation
the document confirms the nobility of the brothers Marton and Istvan Bartalos
in Szap, who had been fathered by Ferenc Bartalos, the son of Gyorgy Bartalos
of NagyMad. With this document in hand we were able to establish direct descent
from the Gyorgy Bartalos of Nagymad, who is mentioned in the 1655 royal
confirmation, to my grandsons, Andre and Bruno. The line of descent is shown on
the chart "Descent from Gyorgy Bartalos".
Preceding discussions detailed how our research allowed
us to identify our forefathers first through the vital records of the Calvinist
Church of the locality Szap / Sap to 1745 and then through documents of the
general conscriptions of nobles in 1754-55 and in 1724 as well as through the
investigation and official certification of the nobility of our predecessors in
Szap / Sap, dated on November 07, 1754. With the help of these sources we were
able to trace our lineage to a Gyorgy / George Barthalos, who is one of those
who are named in the royal certificate of landed nobility (kurialis nemes in
Hungarian) of June 12, 1655.
THE ROYAL EDICT OF 1655
Close reading of the above royal edict of
1655 reveals that it was not a conventional land grant, but rather a
confirmation of seven Barthalos noblemen along with other individually named
nobles, all residents of Nagymad, County of Pozsony, in their land holdings by
stating that the purpose of the royal document is to declare "… that the
totality of Nagy-Mad, which in fact has been in the possession of their [namely
that of the persons named in the document] ancestors for a long time through
the force of documents issued by our venerable Hungarian royal predecessors,
will remain in their possession and that they will have a document to that
effect…" This along with other documents implies that the settlement known
at that time as Nagy-Mad has been and in 1655 still was the property of an
extended family. However during the past 200 or so years when the adoption of a
family name became a necessity, they became known by a number of distinct
family names. Thus in the cited documents we find them listed by their first
and the then current surnames. It is clear, however, that these individuals as
well as the king's office were aware of their common ancestry from the Mogh
clan. It is noteworthy that the families and their members are not arranged in
alphabetical order. Their ordering most likely reflects their relative
importance within the community as determined by the size of their
landholdings. The Barthalos family is listed first. Members of the Barthalos
family appear in the following order: Gergely, Janos, Gyorgy, Matyas, Jakab,
Pal and Mihaly. While the document does not indicate the nature of their
relationship, it is likely that the most prominent member of the family and his
sons are listed first followed by other adult males and their sons in order of
decreasing prominence. Subsequent research suggests that the first three
members listed form a family unit, whereby the firstmentioned Gergely is the
father and Janos and Gyorgy who follow him are his sons. Jakab and Pal, who are
listed as 5th and 6th, were also brothers suggesting that Matyas, who is in the
4th position, was their father. At that time there was a noble landowner who
had properties in both Nagymad and Szap whose name was Mihaly Bartalos. He was
Gergely’s half-brother as their father Janos had children from three different
marriages. Most likely this Mihaly Bartalos is the person who is listed as the
seventh in the 1655 royal document.
While it is tempting to stop a family research project
once nobility is established, it is even more tempting to continue the research
into the more distant past and follow the records as far as they will take you.
While our research until now proved to be challenging it was also emotionally
and intellectually rewarding. Therefore I opted to continue my explorations.
THE BOGYAY FAMILY ARCHIVES AND THE
RECORDS OF THE CHAPTER OF GYOR
The earlier mentioned Bogyay family archive in the
Hungarian National Archives in Budapest
(filed under code P 61) contains several documents that provide glimpses of the
earlier history of the Bartalos family. In this respect noteworthy is a four
page register of events, or "Elenchus",
that contains notations in Latin about occurrences from the family's past. The
most recent event mentioned is from 1673 and the earliest from 1450. The entry
with the date 1450 mentions a new donation by King Ladislaus to Bartholomeo and
Marc the sons of Matthew (Mate in Hungarian) of Nagy Mad. This entry proved to be
correct in all but one aspect, the date was of by three years. The original
document is preserved in the National Archives of Hungary and is cataloged as item
DL70403. The date of issue of the document is May 18, 1453 and within is a
mention of Marc’ and Bartholomeo’s valued participation in several military
campaigns as the reason of the royal grant. Three other entries in this
Elenchus refer to a land purchase in Varbogya by Simon Barthalos and his sons
in 1551 and to the recognition and royal approval of the purchase by the
regent, Nicolas Olah in 1563. Thus this Simon Barthalos and one of his sons were
considered to be the ancestors of the erstwhile keepers of the Bogyay family
archives as were Matthew and one of his sons who were rewarded some 100 years
earlier. This recognition prompted the question: could these individuals be
also our direct ancestors? It was tempting to find out. In order to answer that
question, we needed to fill the gaps between the royal decrees of 1665, 1563
and 1453. Can we demonstrate genealogical continuity from 1453 to the present,
that is from the time the clan name became superseded by individual family
names and to follow the evolution of that name and its bearers through half a
millennium? It looked worthwhile to try it.. But where do we start looking?
Another document in this Archive, entitled "Extractus of the Bogyai alias Bartalos
family", contains entries from 1550 to 1667, largely covering the same
events mentioned in the "Elenchus". Noteworthy, however, is a
sentence on page 3 of this document that states that "These admissions are
celebrated by the Noble Chapter of Gyor" that is the official place where
these events were registered was the office of the Ecclesial Chapter of the
Archdiocese of the city of Gyor [Gyori Kaptalani iroda in Hungarian]. This was
a hint that was worth following.
Armed with this information, we initiated a search for
surviving documents from the Chapter of Gyor's
office. On the basis of documents deciphered from the Bogyay archives and from
microfilms found at the National Archives of Hungary
of documents from the Chapter of Gyor,
the following information was gained, regarding the ancestry of Gyorgy [George]
Barthalos, who was, up until now our earliest known progenitor. The available
data suggest, that he was born around 1645.
DIRECT DESCENT FROM GYORGY TO BRUNO
BARTALOS
[From around 1650 to
2005]
Gyorgy BARTALOS
born around 1650, died
after 1692
Son of Gergely Bartalos
- Bogyay (born around 1615, died 1697) and his second wife
Zsuzsanna Vizkelety
Land owner in Nagy Mad
and Szap, Hungary.
Named in Royal Donation
of 12 June 1655
Ferenc BARTALOS
son of Gyorgy Bartalos
and his second wife
born 1680, Nagy-Mad or
Szap(?), Hungary
died 1754, Szap, Hungary
Marton BARTALOS
son of Ferenc Bartalos
born 1710, Szap, Hungary
died 1756, Szap, Hungary
Istvan BARTALOS
son of Marton Bartalos
and his first wife Judit Laszlo
born 1738, Szap, Hungary
died 9 Jul 1801, Szap, Hungary
Marton BARTALOS
son of Istvan Bartalos
and his second wife Judit Biro
born 31 Mar 1771, Szap, Hungary
died before 1858 in Szap, Hungary
David BARTALOS
son of Marton Bartalos
and Judit Szabo
born 16 April 1827, Szap, Hungary
died in Szap, Hungary
Mihaly BARTALOS
son of David Bartalos
and his second wife Maria Laszlo
born 27 September 1873,
Szap, Hungary
died 05 February 1945, Sap (Szap in Hungarian), Czechoslovakia
Mihaly BARTALOS
son of Mihaly Bartalos
and Johanna "Janka" Simon
born 03 July 1902, Szap, Hungary
died 09 November 1945, Edeleny, Hungary
Mihaly (Michal) K. BARTALOS
son of Mihaly Bartalos
and his first wife Roza Karola Knazovicky
born 1935, Bratislava
(Pozsony in Hungarian), Czechoslovakia
Michael A. BARTALOS Gabriel Z. BARTALOS Gregory
B. BARTALOS
born 1959, Germany
born 1965, USA born 1968, USA
sons of Mihaly K.
Bartalos and Eva Paula Starhoczki
Andre M. K. BARTALOS Bruno
BARTALOS
born 2000, USA born 2005, USA
sons of Michael A.
Bartalos and Lili Ong
GENEALOGICAL
RESEARCH - II.
The
Road From Gyorgy To Simon [1655
– 1551]
The name of Gyorgy's father was Gergely [Gregory]. He
was born around 1615, used the Barthalos and Bogyai surnames interchangeably or
together, married twice and had children from both marriages. The name of his
second wife was Zsuzsanna Vizkelety. The children from his second marriage
included Janos, the above mentioned Gyorgy, Istvan and Gergely. The father,
Gergely, appeared to be a man of considerable means as he was involved in a
number of land deals in the mid- 1600s, mostly in Szap and Nagy Mad. In some
documents his name is prefaced with the title "nemzetes es vitezlo"
[nobilis et egregious], in English approximation: noble and valiant. This is an
indication of his membership in the professional military order, called
"vitezlo rend", which was established to fight the invading Turkish
army. By exclusion of others it appears that the first three Barthalos named in
the 1655 royal document are this Gergely and his two older sons Janos and
Gyorgy. Presumably his two other sons, Istvan and Gergely, were not born yet in
1655. This Gergely also turned out to be a common ancestor to the Bogyays whose
often mentioned family archive is preserved in the National Archives of Hungary and
filed under P61. The progenitor of the Bogyays of Zala is Gergely's youngest
son, also named Gergely. (This Gergely had a son named Gyorgy who moved to
Zala. Gyorgy’s son Jozsef and his two sons named Pal and Jozsef became the
founders of the Bogyay family.) Thus the last common ancestor between us and
the Bogyays of Zala is Gergely, Barthalos alias Bogyay who was born around 1615
in Nagymad. With the point of divergence between our families thus established,
we could assume that Simon Barthalos named in the 1563 Varbogya document and
Mate of Nagymad and one of his two sons named in the 1453 donation were our
direct ancestors as well! But will we be able to demonstrate this? Let's get
back to the documents and try it.
Documents were telling us that Gergely's father was
called Janos. His birth was probably around 1585. He too used both the
Barthalos and Bogyai names and was married three times. Children from his first
marriage included Mihaly and Margit or Magdalena.
This Mihaly appears to be the same person who is named in the 1655 Royal edict
as the last of the Barthalos. Children from Janos' second marriage included the
above mentioned Gergely (born around 1610), Janos and Jakab Fekete of Dercsike.
He appears to have had two children from a third marriage. These identified
themselves as Gyorgy Nagy, who lived in Felbar, and Istvan Bogyai. (At this
point it is helpful to remember that the usage of surnames did not become
widespread until the late 1500s and that their usage in Central
Europe did not become uniformly regulated until the reign of
Emperor Joseph II, that is between 1780 to 1790. Thus, at this time, the choice
of the surname was a matter of individual preference.) We know that the above
named individuals were siblings because we have documents of their divisions of
inheritance. One such document concerns Margit and Mihaly and their inheritance
from their mother in Nagy-Mad dated December 02, 1651. The other document
concerns the brothers Gergely Barthalos-Bogyai, Istvan Bogyai, Gyorgy Nagy and
Jakab Fekete who signed an agreement on April 10, 1669 regarding their
inheritance in Szap from their father Janos. It was an agreement long in the
making as we know from other documents, that Janos was already dead by 1651.
The name of Janos' father was Mihaly. He is believed to
have been born around 1555. He appeared to be the first-born child in the
sibship followed by siblings Janos, Gyorgy and sister Ilona. Mihaly too used
both the Barthalos and Bogyai designations for his surname. As the usage of
Bogyai, meaning from Bogya in Hungarian, indicates descent from Simon Barthalos
(born around 1500), who initially settled in Varbogya in the early 1550s,
Mihaly must be the son of one of Simon Barthalos' son. Simon is known to had
four sons and one daughter, they were named Benedek, Peter, Janos, Mate and
Borbala respectively.
We indeed found a document which listed the siblings
Mihaly, Janos, Gyorgy and Ilona as the children of Janos. Thus the oldest son
of Simon Barthalos, who moved from Nagymad to Varbogya around 1551, is our
connection to Simon Barthalos. With this we have traced our direct ancestors
back half a millennium.
DIRECT DESCENT FROM SIMON TO GYORGY BARTALOS
[From around 1500 to 1650]
Simon BARTALOS
(born around 1500 in
Nagymad; moved to Varbogya around 1551;
named along with his
four sons in the royal decree of 1563.
▼
Janos BARTALOS and his wife
Orsolya
(oldest son of Simon; born
around 1525; moved with his father from Nagymad to Varbogya)
▼
Mihaly BARTALOS - BOGYAY
(born around 1555;
used the last names Bogyai and Barthalos)
▼
Janos BARTALOS - BOGYAY and his second wife
(born around 1585;
owned land in Nagymad, Bogya and Szap;
used the last names
Bogyay and Barthalos; settled in Szap)
▼
Gergely BARTALOS - BOGYAY and his second wife Zsuzsanna VIZKELETY
(born around 1615;
died in 1697;
engaged in intensive land dealings; had
properties in Nagymad, Varbogya, Szap,
Dercsika and other
places; .
Used the last names
Bogyay and Barthalos.
he is the first listed
in the 12 June 1655 royal decree
followed by his sons Janos and Gyorgy)
▼
Gyorgy BARTALOS and his second wife
(born around 1645,
died after 1692; lived and died in Szap;
used solely Barthalos
as his last name)
[Overlap begins here with previously
established pedigree.]
GENEALOGICAL
RESEARCH - III.
FROM SIMON BARTALOS TO BARTALAN OF MOG (1551 TO 1453)
This hundred year period marked the time
when the use of family names become universal in Hungary. Thus heads or future heads
of families picked names by which they and they family members were to be
known. A notation in a list of significant family events - called Elenchus
-from the 1600s lists Mate’s sons Bertalan/Bartalan and Mark, who in 1453 were
recipients of a royal donation, as family members and thereby as ancestors.
Thus the Bartalos name must have arrived through the transformation of the name
of Bartalan of Mog[h] to Bartalos through the mechanism described by Kazmer (“About the name “Bartalos”).
GENEALOGICAL
RESEARCH - IV.
DATA ON THE MOG[H] CLAN - FROM PAL (1270) TO BARTALAN (1453)
A very important document of the late medieval history of the
Mogh clan is a document that survived in two copies to our days. They are filed
at the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest
under the designations DL 70397 and DL 70402. From this document and other
documents we could establish a direct descent from a Pal (Paulus), who was born
around 1270 to Bartalan, the originator of our family name, who died sometimes
in the second half of the XVth century.
Pal, born around 1270,
his sons were Miklos and Jakab;
Miklos, born around 1300,
his sons were Pal, Andras and Istvan;
Andras, born around 1330,
his sons were Mihaly, Janos and Peter;
Mihaly, born around 1360,
his sons were Domokos, Mate and Jakab; and
Mate, born around 1390;
his sons were Bartalan and Mark;
Bartalan, he was born probably
1420-30.
His son, who likely was called Bartalan too, was probably born around 1450-60.
I suspect that the
children of this second Bartalan were the firsts who were designated by the
surname Bartalos.
Thus we can say with confidence that for over 800 years
(at least from the 1200s) our Mog[h] ancestors lived at and were in the
possession of the village in Slovakia that is now called Mad and that the name
of this village derived from their name.
Further, my family can be regarded to represent the Nagymad
- Varbogya - Szap - USA
branch of the Bartalos family of the Mogh clan of Nagymad.
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