Forever Faithful

Henry A. Fischer

Description

This is the third in a series of genealogical studies of German families that emigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary in the early 18th century and settled in Somogy County. Kötcse is the oldest of the three major German Lutheran parishes that evolved and numerous families from Kötcse were instrumental in the establishment of the other two. The family histories of those who settled in the parish of Somogydöröcske are included in the volume: Dörnberg: In the Shadow of the Josefsberg; and those from the parish of Ecsény in From Toleration to Expulsion that both preceded this publication.
In addition to the genealogical information the author provides the historical context and other information vital to an understanding of the lifestyle, traditions and ultimate destiny of their sojourn in Hungary and beyond.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 04 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665577793
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

FOREVER FAITHFUL
 
THE FAMILIES OF KÖTCSE SOMOGY COUNTY, HUNGARY (1745 – 1965)
 
 
 
 
 
HENRY A. FISCHER
 
 
 
 

 
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© 2023 Henry A. Fischer. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse  01/03/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7778-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7777-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7779-3 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022922973
 
 
 
 
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Dedicated to the Memory of
Konrad Tefner
The Beginning and the End
Of my search
For my identity
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Kötcse and its History
Codes, Symbols and Sources
Some Research Guidelines
Variations in Names
Directory of Locales
Places of Origin
The Weichersbach Connection
Migration and Emigration
Kötcse Family Directory
FOREWORD
At the beginning of my research, that resulted in a series of publications to preserve the culture, history and traditions and what in the end would be the ill fated destiny of the Children of the Danube in Hungary, I had no knowledge or even an awareness of the existence or significance of the village of Kötcse and its inhabitants and the role they would play in what I would discover.
The defining moment came when I stumbled upon an article published by Johann Müller, formerly of Bonnyapuszta, in which he brought to light the research of Pastor János Laky. Pastor Laky was one of the early Lutheran pastors to serve the congregation in Kötcse. Unlike his predecessors, who like him were Hungarians, he took a keen interest in discovering what he could about the early history of the congregation, the village as well as the German families who had founded both. On the occasion of a visit by the Dean of the Lutheran Seniorat (the District that included the congregations in Baranya, Somogy and Tolna Counties) Pastor Laky made a presentation on the early settlement of the village. His dissertation included a listing of the names of the heads of households of the founders of the village based on the recollections of the older generation of the villagers and various written sources he had consulted.
In scanning the list, I ran across numerous all too familiar family names associated with my family research in other villages in the County. Near the end of the list of founders I came upon the name of Konrad Tefner the forebear of my grandmother Elisabeth Tefner. This was my connecting link to my past that opened up new avenues of research that continue to this day.
But Pastor Laky shared more than that. He included a description of the event that occurred on the night of December 15, 1745 when a mob from Karád, led by their parish priest, along with troops from the County arrived there on the orders of the Bishop of Veszpém and raided the village, ransacked the homes of the German families and set the wooden Lutheran church ablaze while also tossing confiscated bibles and hymnbooks into the flames. They apprehended the pastor, beat him and then dragged him off in chains and tossed him into the dungeons of the bishop, where under interrogation and torture he renounced his faith and converted to Roman Catholicism. His capitulation would remain the only such case, on the part of the pastors and lay leaders of the Children of the Danube during this last phase of the Counter Reformation carried out in the German Lutheran villages in Hungary. The congregation was outlawed but continued to exist as an underground movement in the village until the Edict of Toleration in 1784 when it emerged once more. They remained faithful despite the efforts to suppress what was most dear to them. This would be their legacy for the future generations who would follow.
Like numerous other villages in Hungary the village of Kötcse adopted a heraldic shield, at the centre of which is the Luther rose as seen on the cover~~and led to the title: Forever Faithful .
INTRODUCTION
In a real sense, this publication is a companion volume to two preceding studies I undertook in providing genealogical and historical information for English speaking descendents of German Lutheran and Reformed families living in Somogy County, Hungary. From Toleration to Expulsion dealt with the German Lutheran families in Ecsény and its associated congregations in Hács, Polány, Ráksi, Somodor, Vámos and the Hungarian Lutheran families in Toponár.
Dörnberg: In the Shadow of the Josefsberg provided information on the German Lutheran families in Somogydöröcske and the villages of Bonnya, Gadács and Somogyszil as well as the German Reformed families in Bonnya.
Kötcse never developed any filial congregations and unlike the other German Lutheran villages it lost its German identity through assimilation and intermarriage. For that reason this study remains a work in progress because of the numerous religiously mixed marriages that require ongoing research in both Roman Catholic and Reformed church records both in Somogy County and beyond that goes far beyond my ability or intentions as well as their availability.
As will be noted elsewhere, I have used the original German family name throughout the study although many of the families changed the spelling to make them appear Hungarian. Others actually Hungarianized them or assumed a Hungarian name. Hopefully I have not added to the confusion.
For the benefit of English speaking readers it should be noted that from the founding of the village there had been a Reformed presence but a clear distinction should be made between the German Reformed and their Hungarian Reformed counterparts. The German Reformed were not Calvinists but a hybrid of Lutheran and Swiss Reformed teachings propagated by Martin Bucer of Strassbourg as a kind of mediating theology in an attempt to overcome their differences. The Hungarian Reformed Church identifies itself as the Evangelical Church of the Helvetic (Swiss) Confession in Hungary. The designation implies they are Calvinist in doctrine and should not be confused with Presbyterianism and are more akin to the Christian Reformed Church that has its antecedents in the Netherlands. For those reasons it became almost natural for the German Reformed families in Kötcse to eventually identify themselves with the Lutheran congregation in the future although there were a few notable holdouts, some of the Felders and Killian Tefner in particular as we discover in the entry at the time of his death.
The author wishes to acknowledge his appreciation to Dorina Pentaller of Kőröshegy and Budapest for her invaluable assistance and support in making this final publication possible.
KÖTCSE AND ITS HISTORY
In all probability an ancient Celtic settlement existed on the present day site of Kötcse and its immediate environs. It was later occupied by the Romans beginning in the 2 nd century CE when the region west of the Danube River was part of the Roman province of Pannonia. They were instrumental in introducing vineyard cultivation in the region south of Lake Balaton, spurs of which exist to this day. In the centuries that followed there were invasions by the Avars, then the Huns arrived and eventually the Magyar tribes made their appearance from the Steppes of the Far East in the closing decades of the 10 th century that led to the eventual establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. The entire region was later to suffer the fate of all that lay before the onrushing mounted Mongol Golden Horde in the 13 th century that caused the almost total destruction of Hungary. Following their retreat back to their homeland in Asia, reconstruction began once more under King Béla IV at the dawn of the Middle Ages.
The first recorded reference to the existence of a new community on the site of Kötcse is from the 14 th century when an Upper and Lower village were listed as belonging to the Royal Domain of Stuhlweissenburg , the future Szekésfehérvár. Later in 1332 and 1337 the Papal Registration for the collection of annual tithes, reports that there was a recognized parish with a resident priest there that now included a Middle village in this series of interconnected sprawling homesteads strung along together in a disorderly manner. This is reflective of the local topography nestled in the rolling hills of Somogy County and its deep valleys and ravines with a series of plentiful water courses running through them.
During the 15 th century, we learn that these three loosely connected sections of cultivated land and homesteads belonged to various noble families and were jointly referred to as Kekche . In the 16 th century the written form of its name became Kékcse which eventually led to Kötcse sometime in the future. Then disaster struck once more!
The defeat of the Hungarians by the Turks at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 and the death of young King Louis opened the way for the conquest and subsequent 150 year occupation of most of Hungary. Their route to victory followed the course of the Danube River heading up towards Buda