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Family history research

Descent of the Zsombok family

The family tree was prepared by Péter Bárdossy, Hungary’s best-known and most highly regarded genealogist. He signs the seventy-two-page study as a genealogist and archivist-historian, board member of the Association of Hungarian Archivists and of the Hungarian Heraldic and Genealogical Society; the research was completed in Budapest in January 2017.

The study is far more than a list of names: after presenting the genetic family tree of humankind and the history of genealogy as a discipline, it works through the layers of parish sources — baptismal, marriage and death entries, canonica visitationes, censuses of souls, military conscription rolls — down to the individual generations.

The research started from the records of Antal László Zsombok (Monor, 22 November 1930) and traced the descent along four grandparental branches — Zsombok, Fekete, Kovács (Fáng) and Tonkó — back to the middle of the 18th century, on several branches to the first third of the 1700s. The genealogist explicitly marked uncertain identifications and gave a lifetime guarantee on the research.

The summary below covers the parts of the study that can be presented publicly. Data on living generations are not detailed here for privacy reasons; the full study, the accompanying Excel table and the drawn family tree are in the family’s possession.

The author of the research

Péter Bárdossy, genealogist and archivist-historian — board member of the Association of Hungarian Archivists and of the Hungarian Heraldic and Genealogical Society. The study was completed in Budapest in January 2017. The genealogist gave a lifetime guarantee on the work: should any error be proven, he will re-check and correct the branch concerned free of charge.

Zsombok · Zsambok · Zsambach · Zamboch

The male line — seven documented generations

The order and data of the generations follow the register references of the study. The surname also appears as Zsombok, Zsambok, Zsambach and Zamboch in the registers.

  1. 1

    c. 1730s

    Mátyás Zsambok & Ilona Hajtsár

    The earliest documented generation of the male line. Ilona Hajtsár died on 19 March 1795 at the age of 60, so she was born around 1735. Tarján and Szőlős (Komárom and Fejér counties), Roman Catholic.

  2. 2

    c. 1767 – 1827

    Pál Zamboch (Zsombok) & Terézia Krenor, then Erzsébet Nagy

    “Zsambach Paulus pastor Equorum Szőlösiensis” — herdsman of the horses of Szőlős, later herdsman of the cattle of Tarján. His first wife, Terézia Krenor, died on 6 July 1811; he married Erzsébet Nagy in Bánhida on 9 September 1811.

  3. 3

    1805 – 1855

    Pál Zsombok & (2nd) Apollónia Hlogyik

    In 1826 “Pastor pecorum Tarjaniensis”, a herdsman of Tarján; he died as a cottar at the age of 50 at house no. 41 in Tarján, of pulmonary consumption. In 1845 he married Apollónia Hlogyik, born in Bánhida in 1825.

  4. 4

    mid-19th century

    Pál Zsombok & Anna Gróff

    A herdsman in Tarján (1851: “Pasztor Tarjanensis”, 1883: “herdsman”). Anna Gróff was born in Tarján; her marriage entry records her as “Inquilini Héregiensis filia”, daughter of a cottar of Hérge; her parents were János Groff and Anna Mária Benöcz.

  5. 5

    late 19th century

    János Zsombok & Terézia Stach

    Born at house no. 139 in Gyermely. According to the registers his occupation was shepherd in 1887, day labourer in 1890, municipal forest ranger in 1893 and farmer in 1895. The remarks column of his marriage entry states: “the groom is permanently exempted from military service”. Terézia Stach descended from the German settler families of Tarján.

  6. 6

    1893 –

    Antal Zsombok & Lídia Fekete

    Antal Zsombok was born on 22 November 1893 in Kőbánya, together with his twin brother József. Lídia Fekete was born in 1903 into a Calvinist family from Monor and died in 1954. They married in Monor on 26 November 1927.

  7. 7

    1930 –

    Antal László Zsombok

    Born on 22 November 1930 in Monor, son of Antal Zsombok and Lídia Fekete. The research started from his records, and from here the genealogist traced the branches back to the middle of the 18th century.

  8. 1977 –

    dr. László Krisztián Zsombok

    Budapest, 1977 — who commissioned the research. Data on living generations are not detailed for privacy reasons.

The four researched branches

Zsombok

Tarján · Szőlős · Gyermely · Kőbánya

Roman Catholic

Generations of herdsmen, swineherds, shepherds and cottars on the border of Komárom and Fejér counties. The name also appears as Zsambok, Zsambach and Zamboch in the registers — the genealogist identified this variation from Latin entries, occupations and places of residence. Several German-named ancestors appear on the female lines. Anna Gróff (Groff), wife of Pál Zsombok, was born in Tarján, where in 1737 Count József Esterházy settled forty Catholic families from southern and central Germany; her father, Mihály Groff, was recorded in 1832 and 1833 as “Pasztor pecorum Tarjaniensis” — herdsman of the cattle of Tarján — and earlier as a cottar. Terézia Stach, wife of János Zsombok, is linked to the German-named families of the Pesthidegkút and Bag area: her paternal grandparents were Antal Stach (Stache) — a Lutheran “sutor”, i.e. shoemaker, at his marriage and a “master cobbler” in his burial entry — and Terézia Németh, daughter of György Németh and Anna Mária Schwartz; her maternal grandparents were János Heidenreich, “faber ferrarius”, i.e. blacksmith, and Éva Kretz.

German-named ancestors — Tarján, Pesthidegkút, Bag

Fekete

Monor · Ferencváros

Calvinist

A Calvinist farming family from Monor; Károly Fekete was a “smallholder” in 1901. The research reaches back to the resettlement of Monor, where the 1690 census still listed the neighbouring village of Újfalu among the abandoned places. Of the Roman Catholic sub-line of István Fekete the study states explicitly that “this branch of the family descends from the Germans settled in the 18th century”: between 1700 and 1760 Nagykovácsi was repopulated, at the invitation of the landowning Wattay family, by German-speaking settlers from the Black Forest region — chiefly from Hesse, Swabia and Württemberg — and the ancestors from the Buda area, Óbuda, Üröm, Pilisborosjenő and Szentendre belong to that group: Postl, Ofner, Hauck, Lang, Orthocker and Carl (Karl). According to the entry of his first marriage, Mátyás Postl was a discharged soldier and journeyman tailor from the Austrian town of Stockerau; by 1882 he is recorded as a “town burgher”. The Nagykovácsi and Szentendre ancestors include the names Braunszeisz, Schírk, Vagner, Főrwagner, Pitz, Schaeller, Schőrg and Hackelschmid, while the Soroksár and Újhartyán lines record Amhrein (Omrein), Beringer (Behringer), Panholtzer, Kaldeneker and Reder.

German settler ancestry — Nagykovácsi, Óbuda, Üröm, Szentendre, Soroksár

Kovács (Fáng)

Monor · Pest · Baja

Calvinist and Roman Catholic

György Fáng Kovács changed his surname to “Kovács” by ministerial decree no. 20319/1898; his career led from carpenter’s assistant through railway worker and village policeman to municipal field guard. He died on 7 December 1931 in Werbőczy Street, Monor. The Roman Catholic Fáng line of Baja carries German-named ancestors: Ádám Fáng (Fang, Fank) and Terézia Galinger; their son János Fang — a “pór” (peasant) in 1839 — and Éva Derkusz, whose name also appears as Erkoszer and Kosszer in the registers; further Anna Joss alias Bayer, her first husband Mihály Rausch, and Tamás Berkosz; the second wife of Ádám Fáng was Franciska Kriger, widow of István Majer. Szibilla Fáng, mother of György Fáng Kovács, is recorded in the baptismal entry as an “unmarried woman of Baja”. The names and the location point to the 18th-century German settlement area of Baja and the Bácska.

German-named ancestors — Baja (Bácska settlement area)

Tonkó

Csorna · Farád · Acsalag

Roman Catholic

A Rábaköz family recorded with a noble prefix: “Nemes Tonkó György” was born in Csorna in 1842, his ancestors being “Nobilis: Secus Famulus Csornensis” and landless cottars of Csorna. The branch is embedded in the medieval local history of Farád and Szil.

German ancestors in the family tree

Three of the four researched branches record German ancestors. For the Roman Catholic sub-line of the Fekete branch the study makes an explicit statement of origin and devotes a separate chapter to the history of the 18th-century resettlement; on the Zsombok and Fáng (Kovács) branches the German names and the settler villages mark out the descent. Every point of the summary below rests on register entries.

  • Tarján, 1737 — the Zsombok branch. Tarján came into Esterházy ownership in 1727, and in 1737 Count József Esterházy settled forty Catholic families here from southern and central Germany. Anna Gróff (Groff), wife of Pál Zsombok, was born in Tarján within this settlement context; her father, Mihály Groff, was a herdsman and cottar of Tarján, and the family had children baptised both in Héreg and in Tarján.
  • Pesthidegkút and Bag — the second German-named line of the Zsombok branch. Terézia Stach, wife of János Zsombok, was born illegitimate and legitimised in 1861 following the marriage of the cottar András Stach. Her paternal grandparents were Antal Stach (Stache) and Terézia Németh: at his marriage Antal Stache was a Lutheran “sutor”, i.e. shoemaker, and in his burial entry a “master cobbler”; he died of cholera in 1849 at the age of 47. Terézia Németh was the daughter of György Németh and Anna Mária Schwartz; the Roman Catholic registers of Pesthidegkút begin in 1778. Her maternal grandparents were János Heidenreich, “faber ferrarius”, i.e. blacksmith, and Éva Kretz, whose forebears include the blacksmith Ferenc Heidenreich and Borbála Véber in the registers of Bag and Gödöllő.
  • Nagykovácsi, 1700–1760 — the Fekete branch. The study states literally of this branch: “this branch of the family descends from the Germans settled in the 18th century”. Depopulated under Ottoman rule, Nagykovácsi was repopulated between 1700 and 1760, at the invitation of the landowning Wattay family, by German-speaking settlers from the Black Forest region — chiefly Hesse, Swabia and Württemberg — who worked in agriculture, timber processing, stone and coal mining and lime burning; their Catholic church was built between 1742 and 1746.
  • The Buda hills, Óbuda and Szentendre — the German-named ancestors of the Fekete branch. This branch records ancestors named Postl, Ofner, Hauck, Lang, Orthocker and Carl (Karl) in the registers of Óbuda, Üröm, Pilisborosjenő and Szentendre. Mátyás Postl was a journeyman tailor and later a “town burgher”; the “Conditio, Locus originis, et domicilii” column of his first marriage entry records him as a discharged soldier and journeyman tailor from the Austrian town of Stockerau. According to the genealogist, Rozália Ofner could be identified precisely because of the rarity of her name and her link to Szentendre.
  • Baja and the Bácska — the Fáng (Kovács) branch. The Roman Catholic ancestors of György Fáng Kovács in Baja carry a series of German names: Ádám Fáng (Fang, Fank) and Terézia Galinger; their son János Fang and Éva Derkusz — elsewhere Erkoszer or Kosszer; further Anna Joss alias Bayer, her first husband Mihály Rausch, and Tamás Berkosz. The second wife of Ádám Fáng was Franciska Kriger, widow of István Majer. Baja and the Bácska were among the core areas of the 18th-century German settlement, so these names tie the branch to the German settler community of Baja.
  • Monor, 1753 — the local German presence. The landlord of Monor, the chapter of Eger, founded a new Catholic parish, and in 1753 Catholic German settlers arrived in the town; they built a small church in 1757 and a brick kiln around 1764. The Monor ancestors of the Fekete and Kovács (Fáng) branches lived in this mixed community of Calvinist Hungarians and Catholic Germans.
  • The framework of the resettlement. The royal settlement decree regulating the conditions of resettlement was issued in 1689, shortly after the liberation of Buda; the settlement campaign then ran in three major phases across virtually the whole 18th century — under Charles III, then Maria Theresa (patent of 1762) and finally Joseph II’s patent of 1782. The overwhelming majority of Hungary’s Germans came from central and southern German territories, and contemporary sources refer to them collectively as “Swabians”.

Notable findings

  • German settler families. The Stach, Krecz, Groff, Postl, Behringer, Ofner and Cservenj branches descend from the 18th-century resettlement. In 1737 Count József Esterházy settled forty Catholic families from southern and central Germany in Tarján; the study devotes a separate chapter to the three great phases of settlement from 1689 to the early 19th century.
  • Urban trades. The registers record a tailor (“sartor”), a bootmaker (“coturnarius”), a weaver-cottar (“textor inquilinus”), a gardener, a carpenter’s assistant and a town burgher — in Szentendre, Soroksár, Újhartyán and Pest.
  • Gaps in the registers. Several parish registers are incomplete: four pages are missing from the Farád baptismal volume, five years from the Szil marriage register and eighteen years from the Calvinist marriage register of Dunapataj. The genealogist marked uncertain identifications separately and highlighted them in an Excel appendix.
  • Ancestor loss. Mihály Darási (b. 1775) appears on two branches of the tree at once — also on the line of Lídia Fekete’s maternal grandmother — a phenomenon known in genealogy as “ancestor loss” (pedigree collapse).
  • Children born out of wedlock. Several branches include children born outside marriage — Terézia Stach, Luca Horváth and György Fáng Kovács among them — whose entries the research reconstructed from Latin “illegitima” columns, subsequent annotations and godparent relations.

Places

Tarján · Szőlős · Gyermely · Bánhida · Hérge · Kőbánya · Monor · Ferencváros · Soroksár · Szentendre · Újhartyán · Baja · Csorna · Farád · Acsalag · Szil · Alsónémedi · Dunapataj

The study adds a local-history chapter to every branch: the resettlement and 18th–19th-century economy of Monor, the German settlement of Tarján in 1737, and the medieval estate history of Farád and Szil.

dr. László Krisztián Zsombok Short stories