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The Jozef Lisoň Family |
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Some records regarding this family are quite clear and straight-forward. Others are baffling from this vantage point in time. We know definitively that Jozef was the final son born to Peter Lisoň and Mária Antašová. He was born on February 25, 1861 and baptized three days later. No other information is available about him until his marriage in the parish church in Levoča on November 19, 1883, the record of which is pictured below, entry number 40 in the parish register. |
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Jozef Lisoň, room painter from Levoča, Roman Catholic and Katarína Dzedzinová from Bajerovce, Greek Catholic. The same entry gives her date of death as May 2, 1884. The next baptismal record which names Jozef Lisoň, room painter, as father is for a child named Jozef born May 15, 1885 and baptized on May 19th. His parents’ names are listed as follows: |
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Entry #29 for the year 1859. Born December 20th and baptized December 26th, Katarína, legitimate daughter of Juraj Dzedzina, Greek Catholic, a farmer from Bajerovce and Mária Ľašová, Greek Catholic. Residence: Bajerovce #9. Godparents: Andrej Hardoň, Greek Catholic, a farmer from Bajerovce and Mária Džuganová, wife of Ján the farmer. Officiant: Michal Molčan. The first two words under Observationes are unclear but the entry continues with the word baptizmal and gives the date August 18, 1881.
A record of burial was discovered for Juraj who died on January 16, 1862 of frostbite at age 35. It is not know if his widow, Mária, moved to Levoča with her daughter, Katarína, or whether Katarína moved there alone at age 20.
In any case, the Levoča baptismal register contain additional entries for the children of Katarína and Jozef Lisoň. After the short-lived Mária and firstborn son Jozef, came the first of two sons named Vojtech. The elder lived from August 14 to August 28 in 1887. Next came another daughter, Julianna, on February 24, 1889. She was followed by son, František on March 9, 1891 and the younger Vojtech who lived from February 17 to August 31, 1894. The last child, Katarína, was born November 27, 1895. She was not quite five years old when her father, Jozef, died of pulmonary tuberculosis on July 28, 1900. After his death, his widow decided that it would be in the best interests of the children to send them to the United States where they would have an opportunity for a better life. Family oral history says that both Jozef and František were certified machinists having studied at some type of boarding school. An inquiry to the Regional State Archives in Levoča which keeps matriculation records of the local schools failed to uncover documentation of this training. Julianna was the first to arrive in New York on November 10, 1903. She came into the employ of a well-to-do family who utilized her as a nanny. Family stories report that they took her with them on vacations to Europe to mind the children. Next, Jozef, the eldest son, arrived in Baltimore on May 25, 1905. He made his way to Pittsburgh where he settled permanently. At this point, mother Katarína was left with František and daughter Katarína at home. A photograph provided by Robert Paulik that was taken in a studio in Levoča shows what we believe to be the two Katarína’s and František. |
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For those who are not familiar with the format of Latin sacramental records, the entry gives the following information: Entry # 40 for the year 1883. Date of marriage: November 19th. Groom: Jozef Lisoň, room painter, son of Peter, a miller, and Mária Antašová. Birthplace: Levoča suburbs, house #113. Roman Catholic, 22 years old, never married. Bride: Katarína Dzedzinová, daughter of Juraj, a farmer, and Mária Ľašová. Birthplace: Bajerovce, residence: Levoča since 1880. Greek Catholic, 24 years old, never married. Witnesses: Karol Lisoň, mason, Roman Catholic, and Vojtech Kovač, servant, Roman Catholic. Officiant: Rudolf Gresčik. Banns of marriage announced.
Any assistance in translating the Latin phrase in the Observationes column would be greatly appreciated.
The maiden name given for Jozef’s bride given in the marriage record is in conflict with the name by which she was subsequently known to her family, i.e. Sekeráková. A baptismal record for a child, Mária, born January 20, 1884 gives the following information about her parents: |
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In this case, his mother’s maiden name is given as Szekerák (the Hungarian form of the family name Sekeráková) but names the same village, Bajerovce in Šariš, as her place of birth and names her as a Greek Catholic just as in the entry for Mária.
F. William Lucak, a fellow genealogy researcher provided us with information that explains the Sekerák-Dzedzina connundrum. Mr. Lucak has done extensive research on the Greek Catholic parish records for Bajerovce. He explained that the Sekerak family name was the most common one in the village. In order to keep many branches of the family straight, some of them acquired aliases. One of these aliases, Dzedzina, evolved into a family name in its own right. Confusion develops when a member of this branch switches back and forth between the original Sekerák surname and the Dzedzina alias.
Equipped with this information a search of the baptismal register for the Greek Catholic church in Bajerovce revealed the following entry: |
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On June 5, 1907, František arrived in New York. According to entries in his journal, he first went to Pittsburgh to meet with Jozef but stayed there only until the end of November. He heard of employment opportunities in Johnstown and set up residence there until a return trip to his birthplace in April of 1910. He visited Levoča through July 26th and departed the German port of Bremen on August 2nd to return to the United States. His second arrival in New York was on August 10th.
During his first residency in Johnstown, he met an American whose parents had both immigrated from Slovakia. She was Mary Gmuca, firstborn child of Martin Gmuca from Kluknava in Spiš and Mária Tokárová from Kanaš in Šariš. Their family’s history can be read here. They were married in St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Cambria City, a Slovak parish that Martin Gmuca helped establish, on November 14, 1911. On September 23, 1912, František completed paperwork to send to the Austro-Hungarian embassy in Pittsburgh to sponsor the immigration of his mother and his youngest sister to the United States. The Katarínas, mother and daughter, arrived in New York on June 10, 1913, one year to the month before Europe was plunged into World War I with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. |
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At this point in our story, you may investigate the lives in America of each of the Lisoň siblings and their mother by following the links to their own page: |
