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HOW WE FOUND THE ELUSIVE KARDOS ANCESTORS. . .
CLUES BEGIN TO APPEAR AT LAST...
Some photo albums once owned by George and Bertha Belensky Kardos, her grandparents, albums which Fran had never known existed, turned up in the spring of 1997. They were passed along by Fran's aunt (her father's sister Mary, now Sister Mary Barbara of the Franciscan Sisters) to Fran's parents. Knowing of her enthusiasm for family tree research, they gave the albums to Fran. A number of people in the album were familiar to her father Joseph and to Sister, some even to Fran and her mother; others were unknown to any of them. Some photos were stuck in loose among the ones organized in the albums; most were not identified by those who took the photos. Many snapshots had been secured into "corners" glued to the black construction paper pages. . . and many were glued right onto the black paper. Despite these disconcerting conditions, Fran found the collection fascinating, and treasured the find, searching for clues, and working through the summer to organize and better preserve the photos.
She decided to place the photos in acid-free vinyl pages in new binders. She carefully peeled each photo from the pages, preparing to carefully remove the remnants of the black paper from the photos. The collection included two small identical portraits, one of which Fran's mother had labeled, at Fran's aunt's direction, "John Kardos". He was believed to have been a kinsman of George Kardos, Fran's paternal grandfather. Imagine Fran's amazement and hope when she discovered lettering on the back of the prints -- lettering in pen-and-ink, in an unfamiliar European language! She examined both shots; look, now, for yourself, at what appeared before her:
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The wording appears to read:
Kardos Jan Rodreni 1873 Janu 25 z Dimani 1910 maja 10 ho (in, perhaps, different handwriting:) 37 yr old ________________________________ Jan Kardos 1873 - 1910 v. Mingo-Junctio Ohio (above and right: front of one photo, backs of both) |
So, this was indeed John Kardos, according to the words of an apparent contemporary, though the handwriting didn't resemble that of George or Bertha. While Fran was unfamiliar with these words, it seemed reasonable to deduce something like "John Kardos, born Jan. 25, 1873, died May 10, 1910", and "Mingo Junction, Ohio" -- a town of residence and/or of his death? Fran had to consult an atlas; she had never heard of this Jefferson County town, located on Ohio's eastern border.
But who was this man? Someone close, to have been included in the album, and for Fran's aunt, born 11 years after his death, to have been told his name. A man about seventeen years George's senior. . .a cousin? Could he possibly have been George's brother?
The latter was unlikely. No family stories told of George's having a much older brother: his only known older sibling was Paul Kardos "Jr.", only a couple of years older; and in fact these boys' younger brother was born in 1900 and he was named John. But, if their father Paul "Sr." 's gravestone was correct -- in Slovak, it states, "died at age 37", in 1900 -- John in the photo was essentially his contemporary. Could he be Paul's cousin . . . or even his brother, his existence previously unknown to surviving Kardoses? Could he be the person who became a U.S. citizen in Pennsylvania in 1886, as the document found by the researcher had stated?
Where next? A letter to Ohio's vital records offices to try to locate a death certificate for the man, hoping to learn his parents' or spouse's name, or his birthplace, met with no success. A librarian working in that part of Ohio, whom Fran met on the Internet, was unable to find an obituary for John, and a census entry for a Mr. Kardos in another town not far away left Fran uncertain as to whether it was he; the reported birth years didn't seem to match. Fran carefully preserved the photos, made note of the information on the back, and simply kept them among her genealogical collection. Maybe some day the mystery would be solved.
NEXT: COULD A NEW ACQUAINTANCE, A THOUSAND MILES AWAY AND TWENTY YEARS YOUR SENIOR, POSSIBLY BE THE DISTANT COUSIN WHO HOLDS THE "COMPASS" TO BLAZE THE TRAIL PAST YOUR FAMILY TREE "DEAD END"? WHAT''S THE CONNECTION BETWEEN A FAMILY DECADES AGO IN RURAL AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, AND THE INTERNET IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY?. . .