Surname Saturday ~ Hollander of Hungary

I am using the Surname Saturday prompt to review the ancestral lines for my husband's family.

As far as I know, the only Hollander who came to America was my husband's paternal grandmother, Lena, after she married her husband, Joseph Handler.

Thanks to the Family History Library, which has been microfilming (and now digitizing) records from around the world, I have been able to trace Bubbie Lena's ancestors for several generations through the vital records found on FHL microfilms. Hungary records before 1895 are still only on microfilm.

Hungary Civil Registration, 1895-1980 is available online at FamilySearch.org, though for Tolna District, the records are not yet indexed; you have to browse through them (which is kind of like scrolling through microfilm).

When I searched the microfilm in late 2011 and early 2012, the earliest Hollander I could find was Samuel Hollander, whose name is mentioned in the marriage record and death record for his son Leopold.

Generation 2: Leopold Hollander was born in the 1830s in Bezdán, Bacs-Bodrog, Hungary, according to his marriage record. He married Babette Kohn on June 9, 1862, in Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary.

The following part of his son's 1886 marriage record has the groom's name on the left: Samu (Samuel) Hollander with his occupation: Pipafaragó (pipe carver) and his birth place: Bonyhád. The next column lists the groom's parents' names: Lipod [Leopold] Hollander with his occupation, also Pipafaragó, and Betti Kohn, and their residence: Bonyhád.

Detail from 1886 marriage record of Samu[el] Hollander and Anna Honnenvald

Leopold's death record lists his occupation as házaló (peddler).

Birth records for Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary, provide me with the names of the children of Leopold and Babette, born between 1863 and 1883: Samuel, Rosalie, Herman, Hanni, Moritz, Abram, and Ignatz. Another son, Adolf, has Leopold and Babette listed on his marriage record.

I previously shared the death record for Leopold Hollander, who died on February 8, 1907, in Bonyhád of végelgyengülés (old age).

Wordless Wednesday ~ Two Dear Mothers

My husband's grandmothers:

And the back is labeled:

At left is Rose (Levitt) Goldstein (1902-1995) and at right is Lena (Hollander) Handler (1891-1983). The photo was taken on Rhodes Avenue in Akron, Ohio, in June 1952, a few months after Rose's daughter married Lena's youngest son.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday ~ The Photo Genealogist Looks at Hollanders in Hungary

Last week, when I attended the IAJGS 2013 Conference, I had the opportunity to have Ava Cohn, the Photo Genealogist, take a look at a photo that I shared in May 2012. It is believed to be of the Hollander family in Bonyhad, Hungary.

As I noted in the original post, family members believed that the woman sitting on the left was the mother of Lena (Hollander) Handler, named Anna Honenvald (or Honevald). However, Ava took a look at this photo and the one I have of Lena with her first-born son, Arthur, which I also shared in May 2012,

Arthur Handler (b. 1910), and his mother, Lena (Hollander) Handler

and said that she couldn't be Lena's mother; there was no family resemblance. Ava does think that the woman who is standing in the group photograph is related to Lena and could be a sister. She also noted that the two men at the right look like father (sitting) and son (standing).

Ava agreed that the 1911 date of the photo of Arthur and Lena is accurate and feels that the group photo is from the 1920's, 1919 at the very earliest. As I noted when I originally shared this photo, I need to continue to explore Hungarian Civil Records at FamilySearch.org to learn more about the family who remained in Hungary and see if I can possibly identify anyone else in the above photo. My working theory is that this is Lena's sister and family and she sent the photo to Lena in Ohio to remember her family by.

Honevald Family in Hogyesz, Hungary

Tolna County, Hungary.
Image courtesy Wikipedia

As I noted in my last post, I have been researching Bubbie Lena's mother's family in the village of Hőgyész, Tolna, Hungary by way of a Family History Library microfilm. The names in parentheses below are variations on the names I have found (and there are many).

From birth and marriage records, I find that Jacob (Jakob) Honevald (Honewald, Honenwald) and his wife Marie (Mari) Weisz (Weiss), who were married on November 14, 1854, had the following eleven children. Not all were born in Hőgyész.

• Johanna (Hany), born September 3, 1855. Married Salomon Heller on November 28, 1876. They moved to Bonyhád and had children born there.
• Betti, born about 1856. Married David Weisz.
• Moritz born about 1858. Married Sali Strasser.
• Lentsi (Anna) born November 6, 1861. Married Samuel Hollander on March 16, 1886. They moved to Bonyhád and had children there, including my husband's grandmother, Lina Hollander.
• Israel born June 5, 1863. Married Rozalie Fuhrmann on April 29, 1888.
• Leopold born May 14, 1865. Died December 3, 1866.
• Michel born November 15, 1866. Died December 15, 1866.
• Rosi born December 31, 1867.
• Rubi (Robi) born October 6, 1869.
• Josef born May 7, 1871.
• Sandor born November 23, 1873. Died August 23, 1874.

Wedding Wednesday ~ 1886 in Hungary: Hollander-Honevald

When I found Bubbie Lena's birth record in Bonyhád, Hungary, I learned that her mother was from Hőgyész, Hungary. So last month, I rented the microfilm from the Family History Library for Hőgyész and have been into my local Family History Library (NEHGS in Boston) to work my way through this microfilm to see what I can find out about this branch of my father-in-law's family. (I'm still not done.)

On March 16, 1886, in Hőgyész, Tolna, Hungary, Samu Hollander of Bonyhád married Lentsi Honevald of Hőgyész. Interestingly, I found that these records, unlike those from Bonyhád, included some Hebrew.

Groom's information: Samu Hollander, a pipafaragó (pipe cutter) from Bonyhád, son of Lipot Hollander and Betti Kohn, 23 years old, nőtlen (unmarried).

It looks like both Samu (Samuel) and his father Lipot (Lipod) were pipe cutters; they would have carved pipes from wood for smoking.

Bride's information: Lentsi (also known as Anna) born in Hőgyész, daughter of Jakob Honevald, a szabo (a tailor) and Maria Weisz, of Hőgyész.

Bride's information continued: born in Hőgyész, age 24, hajado (unmarried).

The next column indicates where and how many times the marriage was publicized. It looks like three times in both Bonyhád and Hőgyész. If my Hungarian experts want to weigh in on the exact translation, please do so in the comments. The next column notes the wedding date of March 16, 1886, and I would guess that the Hebrew below notes the date in the Hebrew Calendar (9 Adar II 5646?). (I use the Hebrew Date Converter at www.hebcal.com.)

The next column notes the wedding location in Hőgyész, and the last column notes the witnesses. Based on all of the other records I found, I believe Salamon Heller is Anna's brother-in-law and Lipod Hollander is, of course, Samuel's father.

From this marriage record, I learned Anna was also known as Lentsi, that she was born about 1864, and her parents' names were Jakob Honevald and Maria Weisz. From here, I found more birth and marriage records and still need to finish reviewing the microfilm for any death records.

My husband is descended from this set of second great-grandparents as follows:

Jakob Honevald = Maria Weisz

|

daughter, Anna Honevald / Honenvald = Samuel Hollander

|

daughter, Lena Hollander = Josef Handler

|

Father-in-law

|

Husband

Searching for Death Records in Bonyhád Hungary

I have (slowly) been working my way through vital records from Bonyhád, Tolna District, Hungary from the late 1890's into the 1900's at FamilySearch.org. The specific record collection is Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980. It is slowly being indexed, but Bonyhád is not indexed yet, so I have to scroll through the records image by image. And to top it off, the title and date ranges of the record types at the links are mostly incorrect, so I first had to figure out what the links really connected to!

Lena Hollander Handler, 1911

I have written about my husband's grandmother, Lena (Holländer) Handler several times, first finding her passenger record, then, by exploring Bonyhád records on a Family History Library microfilm (Registers of Jewish births, marriages and deaths [to 1895]. Text in Hungarian and German) that I borrowed over a year ago, I found and shared her birth record. I also found enough additional records on that microfilm as well as in the online Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980, that I have pieced together several generations of her ancestors.

Her parents were Samuel Holländer and Anna Honenvald. I previously shared Samuel's 1863 birth record and I have been curious to know when he died. I have been looking through these records at FamilySearch.org and found death records for his mother, Babette (or Betti) Kohn Holländer in 1896 and for his father, Leopold (or Lipod) Holländer in 1907. (I have not yet found Samuel Holländer's death record.)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Hollanders in Hungary

Holländer relatives in Bonyhád, Hungary

Photographer imprint

Here is another photograph from my husband's late aunt's collection. Family members believe that the woman on the left is Lena (Holländer) Handler's mother, Anna (Honenváld) Holländer. I'm guessing that the woman standing next to Anna might be a daughter, therefore one of Lena's sisters. Could the man on the right be Lena's father, Samuel Hollander (born 1863)?

August 2013: I got to discuss this photograph with an expert.

I'm not sure when this was taken and I am hoping to do more research in the Hungary Civil Registration records to find more information on the Hungarian branch of the family.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mother and son

Arpad Handler (b. Jan 1910) and his mother Lena (Hollander) Handler

As I recently noted, I am thankful for having received a photograph collection from my husband's recently deceased aunt. This is the oldest photograph in the collection, which I would date to late 1910 or early 1911, based on Uncle Art's birth being in January 1910. (Immigration record lists his name as Arpad.) The photographer imprint is Molnár Lajos, Bonyhád, so I know the photo was taken before Lena immigrated to America. Perhaps this photo was taken to send to Josef, who had immigrated in April 1910, soon after Arpad was born. Lena and Arpad followed Josef to America in May 1911.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Another Holländer Wedding in Hungary

I'm working my way through the Hungary, Civil Registration Records at FamilySearch to find records of family members of my husband's paternal grandmother, Lena (Hollander) Handler (1890-1983). My newest find is a marriage record for Lena's younger sister, Roza Hollander. (See Roza's Birth Record about halfway down my post about Lena's siblings' birth records. Roza was born on December 4, 1892 in Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary.)

FamilySearch.org, Hungary Civil Registration, 1895-1980, Bonyhäd, Tolna, Hungary,
Marriages, (Házasultak) 1914-1917 (sic), image 157 of 190.
Record for Ernö Breuer and Roza Holländer, February 14, 1913.

The heading of the left-hand column reads: "A házasság-kötés helye és ideje (év, hó, nap)", which translates to "The bond of marriage place and date (year, month, day)" which, for Roza and Erno is in Bonyhád, on February 14, 1913.

A vőlegény: the groom.

Ernö Breuer's occupation looks like "kereskedősegéd", which translates to "trading assistant" in Google Translate. The izr- below his occupation indicates his religion.

Google Translate indicates that Ernö is Hungarian for Ernest.

Below that is his birthdate: May 29, 1887, in Bonyhád.

To the right are his parents' names: Sama- or Soma- Breuer and "néhai" Berta Tager. "Néhai" translates to "late" meaning that Ernö's mother was deceased at the time of his marriage.

A menyasszony: The bride.

Roza Holländer does not have an occupation. Her religion is indicated by izr-, and her birthdate here agrees with the birth record: December 4, 1892, in Bonyhád.

The column to the right names her parents: Sam[uel] Hollander and Anna Honenwald (or Honenvald?).

I find it interesting that the right-hand section, which has the header: "A házasságkötési tanuk családi és utóneve, lakhelye" (translates to "The marriage witnesses first and last name, home") indicates that one of the witnesses is Jakob Honenwald. This could be a relative of Anna Honenwald, the bride's mother, but I have yet to explore records from Hőgyész, the town that Anna came from.

May 2013 update: Jakob Honenwald is Roza's maternal grandfather, of Hőgyész.


There are not many stories handed down from this side of the family. What my father-in-law remembers from his youth is that his mother's family in Hungary would write to them, often asking for money because times were hard for them in Bonyhád.  Times were hard everywhere and the family in America did not always have money to send.

During the early 1940's, the letters stopped coming. It was in the spring and summer of 1944 when Bonyhád Jews were removed from their homes into a ghetto, and ultimately sent to Auschwitz.

By the time my mother-in-law got to know her husband's mother, Lena (known to the grandchildren as Bubbie Lena), all she ever said about her family was that she had a sister, but now she had no family - that they were all lost in the Holocaust.

Now that I know that Lena's sister married a man by the name of Breuer, I can start looking for that name in various records.

Wedding Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt from Geneabloggers, the genealogy community's resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Holländer and Händler in 1909

As I mentioned in an earlier post about finding birth records for Lena's siblings, civil registration started in Hungary in October 1895. These civil registration records can be found at FamilySearch.org's Collection List, under Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980, where at this time, there are over 5.5 million unindexed images. This just means that you have to find the community you want and search screen by screen, like going through a microfilm roll.

I have been working my way through the (unindexed and mis-titled) images for Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary, looking for any record with the surname Holländer. I have found a few Holländer birth and death records, but I really wanted to find the marriage record for my husband's paternal grandparents.

I knew that Lina Holländer and Josef Handler had married around 1908-1909 because their oldest son was born in January 1910, Josef immigrated to America in April 1910, and Lina and her son immigrated in May 1911. See my post about passenger lists for these details and how much I learned.

Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary, "Civil Registration, 1895-1980" Marriages (Házasultak) 1914-1917 [sic],
Image no. 86, (1909, no. 20). Marriage record for Jozsef Handler and Lina Hollander

Jozsef Händler, (izr. = Jewish), born August 24, 1884 in Ilok (Hungary) married Lina Holländer (izr. = Jewish), born September 5, 1889 in Bonyhád. It looks like his occupation is Fuvaros, which Google Translate tells me is "Carter" and his parents' names are Aron and Szah (?) Händler. Lina's parents' names are Samuel Holländer and Anna Honevald, which I already knew from the birth records for her and her siblings. The names in the following column are names of the two witnesses, Antal Engelmann and Salamon Heller, both of Bonyhád.

Handwritten records are a challenge. The items here that I'm unclear on are:

Jozsef's occupation: does this look like fuvaros? If so, is "carter" an accurate translation?

What is the word above Aron Handler's name? I wonder if it means "the late" Aron Handler and he was no longer living? It is believed that Joseph's and Lena's oldest child, Arthur, was named after this grandfather. Update (3/24/2012): I found another, more legible, instance of this word: "néhai", and yes, it does translate to "late" as in he was deceased at the time of his son's marriage.

What is Jozsef's mother's name? My first instinct was Leah, but on closer look and comparing letters with others on the page, the first letter is not "L" and the second letter looks like "z" not "e". The 1911 passenger list has a Roza Handler so perhaps this is a variation on the "zah" sound of the name? Update (3/25/2012): Thank you to a reader from Jerusalem with generations of ancestors in Hőgyész, Tolna, Hungary, who emailed me to let me know that she reads this as Szoli which is an equivalent of Sara.

All in all, I am pretty excited to have found this record. I will still work my way through these records, looking for Hollanders to try to piece together Lina's family, who are believed to have died in the Holocaust, as there were no more letters after World War II. To find these cousins, I need to find out who her sisters married.

Wedding Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt from Geneabloggers, the genealogy community's resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Joseph and Lena Handler

Joseph and Lena Handler

Lena (Hollander) Handler

Joseph Handler, Isabelle (Brustein) Handler, Lena (Hollander) Handler

All I know for sure is that these photographs were taken in the early 1940's, most likely 1943 in Akron, Ohio. Isabelle married Louis Handler, Joseph and Lena's son, in September 1943, when he was likely home on leave. (Read about the Handler brothers' WWII service here.)

I would love to confirm the location of these photos. The Handlers were living on Rhodes Avenue at this time. Could these photos have been taken on Rhodes Avenue in September 1943? (Updated on March 10, 2012): After discussing this and other photos with my father-in-law, I can confirm that these photographs were taken on Rhodes Avenue in Akron, Ohio, and very likely in September 1943.


Wordless Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt from Geneabloggers, the genealogy community's resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Mappy Monday ~ Handler and Hollander from Hungary

I've been writing about my husband's paternal grandparents, Josef Handler and Lena Hollander. They immigrated from Hungary in 1910 and 1911. I know Lena was born in Bonyhád, Hungary and naturalization records indicate that Josef Handler was born in Ilok, formerly in Hungary and now part of Croatia.

The following screenshot, from Google Maps, shows the locations of their birthplaces on a current map of eastern Europe.

From Google Maps

"A" represents Ilok, Croatia, and "B" represents Bonyhád, Hungary. They are about 180 kilometers (about 112 miles) apart.

In contrast, going back one generation, Lena's parents were born in towns much closer to each other. (Their birthplaces are indicated on Lena's birth record and her siblings' birth records.) Samuel Hollander was born in Bonyhád, Hungary, and his wife, Anna Honenváld, was born in Hőgyész, Hungary, about 27.6 kilometers (about 17 miles) north.

From Google Maps

In this map, "A" represents Hőgyész, Hungary, "B" represents Bonyhád, Hungary, and "C" represents Ilok, Croatia. I have added the country names in yellow because they did not appear on the map at this magnification.

If you want to have some fun looking at an interactive map of Europe throughout history, visit European History Interactive Map. 

Mappy Monday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors. 

(Almost) Amanuensis Monday ~ Birth Record for Samuel Hollander

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. This is (Almost) Amanuensis Monday because below is an 1863 Hungarian record that is handwritten in German so I don't feel that I'm truly copying and translating exactly what is in this record; I'm just doing my best. 

I've written about finding the birth record for Bubbie Lena (Lina Hollander Handler) on a Family History Library microfilm of vital records for the Jewish residents of Bonyhád, Hungary. I also found at least four siblings of Lina's in Bonyhad's Jewish birth records up to 1895.

This very useful (for me) microfilm, "Registers of Jewish births, marriages and deaths for Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary. Text in Hungarian and German." FHL microfilm no. 642923, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, starts with records in the late 1850's. Following is the birth record for Samuel Hollander, Lina's father.

Lena Hollander's siblings

While researching the birth record for my husband's grandmother, Lena (or Lina) Hollander, in Bonyhád, Tolna District, Hungary, I did my best to look at every page on the microfilm of records and decipher the handwritten records to look for any other Hollander records, especially siblings. Family members vaguely remember Bubbie Lena mentioning that she had a sister or maybe two sisters.

I found the following records of children born to her parents, Samuel Hollander and Anna Honenváld on the same microfilm: "Registers of Jewish births, marriages and deaths for Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary. Text in Hungarian and German." FHL microfilm no. 642923, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

See Lina Hollander's birth record for details of the headings and how I figured out the translation.

Closeup of above record, far left

Daughter, Fanny Hollander was born on May 12, 1888. (I'm not sure about this name. If you think it reads something else, please let me know in the comments below.)

Closeup of above record, center left

Her father is Samuel Hollander, who was born in Bonyhád and her mother is Anna Honenváld, who was born in Hőgyész (also in Tolna District, Hungary). The family lives in Bonyhád. The midwife's name is Bertha Hausser (or Hausner).

Closeup of above record, right

Fanny Hollander's naming ceremony was held in Bonyhád on May 21, [1888], and the name of the officiant is Sol Gurwitz. (Again, if you think the name is something else, please let me know in the comments.)

Amanuensis Monday ~ Bonyhád, Hungary Birth Record

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

My husband's mother, known as Bubbie Lena, was born in Bonyhád, Tolna District, Hungary. Bonyhád is 87 miles SSW of Budapest, Hungary. Lena married Josef Händler in Hungary and followed him to America with her first-born son, Arpad in 1911. Those passenger lists were very helpful in providing me with her birthplace and her father's name, Samuel Holländer.

As well as obtaining the book written about Bonyhád, (Bonyhád: a destroyed community: the Jews of Bonyhád, Hungary, by Leslie Blau (1994)), I also found that the Family History Library has a microfilm of Jewish records covering the period from 1851 to 1895, which I borrowed and examined last month.  (Hungarian Civil registration began in October 1895.)

Registers of Jewish births, marriages and deaths for Bonyhád, Tolna, Hungary.
Text in Hungarian and German.
FHL microfilm no. 642923, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is the page from the FHL microfilm that shows Lina Hollander's birth record. The headings are in Hungarian and German.

Tuesday's Tip: Passenger Lists...

... and following up on family stories.

In my husband's family there is a story about his paternal grandmother, known to her grandchildren as Bubbie Lena, feeling homesick and wanting to return home after immigrating to America. After having followed her husband Joseph Handler to America, she returned home to Hungary with her two oldest children for a visit with her family. They ultimately returned to America with her daughter contracting polio on the return trip. She survived the bout with polio, but had a limp for the rest of her life.

To verify the story, I looked for the passenger lists.

The Oceanic from Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line].

First, I found the passenger list for Josef Händler. Josef arrived in New York City on the ship Oceanic on April 14, 1910. It had sailed from Southampton, England on April 6, 1910.

The image of the passenger list is below. For any of these images, you should be able to view a larger image by clicking on them.

Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Year: 1910, Microfilm: T715_1453, Page: 82, Line: 14, record for Josef Handler

Josef Händler was 26 years old (born about 1884) with an occupation of baker. My father-in-law remembers hearing that his father was not a baker, but a delivery man for a bakery. The next marks indicate that, yes, he could read and write and that his nationality is Hungary. The next column is headed "Race or People" and he is listed as "Hebrew." The following columns are "Last Permanent Residence" in which he is listed with a country of Hungary and a town that I originally thought was Jeok. (Jeok is also how it is transcribed by ancestry.com.) The following column is how I know this is "my" Josef Handler: the name and address of nearest relative in country whence alien came is wife Lina Handler, in "Jeok."  The last column indicates that his final destination is New York.

Another thing to know about passenger lists, at least at this time (1910's) is that there is a second page. The information on the second page of Josef's passenger list record shows that he arrived with $15 in his pocket and that he had not been in the U.S. before. The next column notes that he is going to join a cousin, Morris Levin (?) in New York. Another task will be to try to find this cousin!

Page 2 of Josef Handler's passenger list record

This also indicates that he was 5'9" tall, white (complexion), with brown hair and brown eyes.

All the way to the right notes that his birthplace is Ilok, Hungary, reproduced at the right. You can see why I thought for years that it read Jeok!