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Janos Kozak - Maria Hricz

Janos Kozák
(1) Maria (Hricz) Kozák
(2) Elisabetha (Scziranka) Kozák

Family Group Sheet

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10. Janos Kozák, born January 22, 1824 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia1. He was the son of 20. Georgius Kozák and 21. Maria Orosz. He married (1) 11. Maria Hricz. He married (2) Elisabetha Scziranka November 27, 1848 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia2.She was the daughter of Andreas Szcziranka and Maria Matto.

Notes for Janos Kozak:
Godparents: Andreas Szeman and Maria Mozgo, both of Also Mislye.
When he was married, he was listed as Janos Orosz in the marriage register. When his son, Georgius, was born in 1859, the pastor wrote in the parish register that his father, Juraj (=George) Kozak, married Maria Orosz and moved into her house and lived there; for that reason, his family name is Orosz.
On his birth record, his father, Georgius Kozak, is listed as being Roman Catholic, which his mother, Maria Orosz, is Greek Catholic.

Notes for Elisabetha Scziranka:
On Elisabetha Scziranka's death record, the notation originally read 'wife of Janos Orosz,' but the priest crossed out 'Orosz' and wrote 'Kozak' above it.
This last name has numerous spellings, but the most common I have seen is Szciranka.

Marriage Notes for Janos Kozak and Elisabetha Scziranka:
Janos Orosz Kozak and Elisabetha Scziranka were married the same day as his brother Georgius Orosz Kozak, who married Maris Bogus. On the marriage record it says that Janos Orosz, 22, married Erzsebet Sziranko, 20.

Children of Janos Kozak and Maria Hricz are:

  1. Elisabetha Kozak, born April 26, 1863 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia3; died December 9, 1886 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia4.

    Notes for Elisabetha Kozak:
    Godparents: Carolus Oberle, Maria Koteles, wife of Michael Kondas, farm laborer in Csany (Hungarian rendition of Cana). Her death date is noted in this record as well.

  2. Maria Kozak, born July 16, 1865 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia5; died 1953; married Valentinus Benedictus Valko Abt. 1885 in Slovakia.

    Notes for Maria Kozak:
    Godparents: Carolus Oberle, tenant farmer of Nizna Mysla, RC, and Elisabeth Mozgo, wife of Andreas Toth, RC, tenant farmer.
    I have a certified copy of her birth certificate, dated 18 November 1884, from St. Miklos RC Church in Nizna Mysla.
    She arrived in the U.S. in 1887 with her son Thomas, based (I think) on census records.

    Notes for Valentinus Benedictus Valko:
    Hungarian spelling is Valyko. His nickname was Barney, and I never heard him referred to by any other name. He arived in the U.S. in 1886.

  3. Anna Kozak, born June 18, 1868 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia6; married Peter Herpak June 30, 1886 in Vysna Mysla, Slovakia7.

    Notes for Anna Kozak:
    Godparents: Carolus Oberle, RC, and Elisabeth Mozgo, wife of Andreas Toth.
    Listed on marriage record as Anna Kozak (Orosz). The name Orosz is a family nickname, one of the second surnames used in villages to uniquely identify an extended family which has a relatively common surname.
    Anna was confirmed on June 25, 1879, in the Nizna Mysl'a RC church. She took the confirmation name of Maria, her sponsor was Maria Bogus-Kozak.

    Notes for Peter Herpak:
    Peter Herpak was a deaf-mute, according to a notation in his marriage record. On his birth record, his godmother is Maria Kondas, wife of Michael Pach, RC, tenant farmer, in Vysna Mysl'a.
    Peter was confirmed on June 27, 1879, in the Nizna Mysl'a RC church. He took the confirmation name of Joannes, his sponsor was Joannes Pach.

    Marriage Notes for Anna Kozak and Peter Herpak:
    Witnesses: Mihaly Kiselya, RC, farm laborer, and Janos Grega, RC, tenant farmer, Nizna Mysla.

  4. 5. Katalin Kozak, born January 26, 1872 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia8; died August 14, 1921 in Clearfield Co, PA9; married 4. Andreas Ribar November 23, 1891 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia10.
  5. Ilona Kozak, born March 12, 1875 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia11; died March 26, 1875 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia11.

    Notes for Ilona Kozak:
    Ilona Kozak is new to my database. Duncan Gardiner missed her birth when he researched the Kozaks. Ilona, or the alternate spelling Illona, is Hungarian for Helen.

  6. Maria Kozak, born May 3, 1876 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia12.

    Notes for Maria Kozak:
    This is very puzzling, as Maria (Kozak) Valco, born 16 July 1865, was still very much alive when this Maria was born! Father's name is given as Janos Orosz, and there is a notation in the remarks area that looks something like this: "helyam Kozak lap 226 lap 10-a. OO 281 lap 33-a." The Hungarian word 'lap' means 'page,' and the reference to Kozak on p. 10 is to George Kozak's baptismal entry, where it states that George's grandfather, also named George, married Maria Orosz and moved into her house, after which the family acquired the nickname Orosz. The reference to page 33 is probably the same kind of explanation, but I have not tracked it down yet. Please note that the priest made no mention of there being another Maria in the family.
    I have rechecked, and consistently, Janos Kozak's house number is listed as #93, the one exception being on the record for Katalin (Kozak) Rebar, my grandmother, where the house number is #95. For both Marias, it's #93!
    Confirmed 27 May 1890 at Nizna Mysl'a RC church; given confirmation name Helena. Was listed as 14 years old. (LDS 1923132)
    I have a strong intuition that this Maria Kozak married Andrej Straka, and it was to her that George Kozak sold the land back in Nizna Mysl'a back in 1904. My guess is that the property was in fact #93, and I have no idea how George came to own it, because he was not the oldest son. However, his older brother, Janos, born February 9, 1850, could have been dead by 1904, leaving George as the only living male heir.

Children of Janos Kozak and Elisabetha Scziranka are:

  1. Janos Kozak, born February 9, 1850 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia13; married Anna Oberle February 6, 1871 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia14.

    Notes for Janos Kozak:
    Godparents: Karoly Oberle and Anna Majoros. Unlike most of the other Nizna Mysl'a baptismal records, the 1843-1852 records usually do not give a baptismal date separate from birth date.

    Marriage Notes for Janos Kozak and Anna Oberle:
    In the marriage register, Janos Kozak is listed as Janos Kozak-Orosz, 22, farm laborer (zseller), son of Janos Kozak-Orosz, farm laborer of Also Mislye #93, and Ersebet Szciranka, both Roman Catholic.

  2. Michael Kozak, born March 23, 1854 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia15; died May 25, 1885 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia16.

    Notes for Michael Kozak:
    Father's name given as Joannes Kozak (Orosz). Godparents: Carol Oberle and Anna Majoros, RC.

  3. Elisabetha Kozak, born July 9, 1856 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia17; died February 26, 1860 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia18.

    Notes for Elisabetha Kozak:
    Father's name on birth register given as Joannes Orosz Kozak. Godparents: Carolus Oberle, farm laborer at Also Mislye 93, RC, and Anna Majoros, wife of Michael Lipniczky.
    On death record, father's name again given as Joannes Orosz Kozak.

  4. Georgius Kozak, born June 2, 1859 in Nizna Mysla, Slovakia19; died 1949; married Anna Maria Barnic Abt. 1881.

    Notes for Georgius Kozak:
    Godparents: Carolus Oberle, tenant farmer at Also Mislye, RC, and Anna Majoros, wife of Michael Lipniczky, RC.
    A notation was made in the parish marriage register that Jurai (=George) Kozak, father of Jan Kozak (and grandfather of this Georgius Kozak) married Maria Orosz and moved into her house and lived there; for that reason his family nickname is Orosz.
    According to the 1900 census records (done in June 1900), George arrived USA in 1889 and was already naturalized when the census taker made his entries. Three years later (1892), he was joined by his wife, Annie, and their son, Andrew. Annie told her daughter, Bertha Margaret, that she also brought a daughter, Zella, with her, and that Zella died shortly after their arrival.
    I am convinced that my grandfather, Andrew Rebar, came over with Annie and the children. Andrew arrived in 1892, he was George's brother-in-law (George was my grandmother's half-brother), and it is almost unthinkable that Annie would have traveled alone with the children when her relative was coming at the same time to the same place.
    According to the Clearfield County Alien Docket, George Kozak (same one?) arrived in New York on 21 May 1890. He declared his intention to become a citizen on 25 September 1903, and he received his citizenship on 30 September 1905. It was this George Kozak who sold a piece of property to Maria (Kozak) Straka in Nizna Mysla in 1904. Possibly it was illegal for a U.S. citizen to own property overseas, and that may be why he sold the land.

    Notes for Anna Maria Barnic:
    According to oral information provided by Bertha Margaret Kozak Kost to her daughter, Anna Marie Kost Closson, Anna Marie Barnic Kozak was born in or before 1860 in Vienna, Austria, and her parents died in the cholera epidemic of 1860. She died about 1916 at age 51 of a heart attack. According to the 1910 census records, she was 46 in May 1910, when the census taker visited her neighborhood. Therefore, all these facts put together would put her birth date at about 1864. From my research of death records in the Smolnik area, there was a cholera epidemic raging through the area about 1865.
    The 1885 date of marriage given in the oral history also clashes with the information from the census, which lists them as having been married for 29 years in 1910, i.e. they would have been married about 1881. Based on Andrew's age of 27 in 1910 (from census records), he would have been born in 1883, so the 1881 date is looking more likely.
    From the oral history: George and Anna Marie (Barnic) Kozak were married in 1885, had children Andrew and Zella. George came to USA in 1888, worked for two years and sent for Anna and the children. Zella died shortly after they arrived. In the census records, Andrew gave his arrival date as 1890, while George and Anna gave it as 1892.
    I also tend not to believe Bertha's recollection that her mother came from Austria. As usual, this seems to be wishful thinking. It is more likely that her memories were of Kosice, which was an historical center, and was a beautiful, clean, and sophisticated city.
    I believe that my grandfather, Andrew Rebar, came on the same ship as Anna and her two children. I base that only on the fact that he also arrived in 1892, that Anna's husband, George Kozak, was my grandmother's half-brother, and it is inconceivable to me that Anna would have travelled alone with two small children.

Endnotes

1. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register 1806-1832 (LDS 1923132, Item 1)
2. Nizna Mysla RC parish marriage register #75, 1843-1852 (LDS 1923132)
3. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, 1858-1886, p. 69, #48 (LDS 1923133)
4. Nizna Mysla RC parish death register 1856-1886, p. 319 #93 (LDS 1923134, Item 3)
5. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register VIII, 1858-1886, p. 107, #74 (LDS 1923133), and copy made of original birth record on 18 November 1884.
6. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, 1858-1886, p. 163, #80 (LDS 1923133)
7. Nizna Mysla RC parish marriage register, 1882-1918, p. 39 #15 (1923135, Item 3)
8. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, 1858-1886, p. 226, #10 (LDS 1923133)
9. Death certificate, State of Pennsylvania, Nr. 77579, August 15, 1921
10. Nizna Mysla RC parish marriage register 1882-1918
11. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register 1858-1886, p. 281, #33 (LDS 1923133)
12. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register 1858-1886, p. 303, #57 (LDS 1923133)
13. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register 1843-1852, p. 74 (LDS 1923132)
14. Nizna Mysla RC parish marriage register 1863-1881, p. 74 #5 (LDS 1923134, Item 2)
15. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, 1852-1858, p. 27, #22 (LDS 1923133)
16. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register 1852-1858, p. 27, #22 (LDS 1923133). Notation made on birth/baptism record.
17. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, 1852-1858, p. 56, #61 (1923133)
18. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register 1852-1858, p. 56, #61 (LDS 1923133). Notation made on birth/baptism record. Also Nizna Mysla RC parish death register 1856-1886, p. 39 #9 (LDS 1923134, Item 3)
19. Nizna Mysla RC parish birth register, 1858-1886, p. 10, #39 (LDS 1923133)


© 2006 James Rebar