From left to right:
Elizabeth Capek (wife), Andrew John Namik (husband), Ann Namik (daughter)
Update I at the end
Update II near the end
In the previous post (see here) covering the Capek branch of my family, I ended the post with teaser regarding the “Namik” branch of the family. This post will answer that tease.
Note: all images can be clicked on to see the full size version
Update at end
This is an update to an original post from Feb 2015 (see here for original). In that prior post I had been able, for the first time ever, to bridge the Atlantic and discover where my grandmother’s mother was from in Europe (she is pictured on the far left above). She was from a very small village in Slovakia now called Nový Ruskov, which in 2005 still only had under 700 inhabitants (reference this translated Slovakian website for the various names of this village throughout history). This post expands on the prior post with the discovery of more generations and more family. For reference, this was the depth of my knowledge for this branch of the tree two years ago:
This is a very long post, so please bear with me!
Our “Fleger” family line emanates from modern day Rescita, Romania (see red flag in the map above – click map to enlarge). That is the location from where this line left Europe to come to Cleveland, OH and begin a new life here in America. In a prior post (see here) I explored the history of this region of Europe at the time the family emigrated, which was in 1903-1904. At that point in time the region was under the Austria-Hungary Empire:
… the Austro-Hungarian Empire in English-language sources, was a constitutional union of the Austrian Empire (the kingdoms and lands represented in the Imperial Council, or Cisleithania) and the Kingdom of Hungary (Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen or Transleithania) that existed for 51 years from 1867 to 1918, when it collapsed as a result of defeat in World War I.
Emphasis mine. I found it very intriguing in the prior post that the region of Romania where the “Fleger” line is from was at one point part of the Princedom of Transylvania. As was outlined in other prior posts (see here and see here) the “Fleger” line is actually comprised of at least three biological surnames, none of which is “Fleger” (Joseph Fleger was my great grandmother’s second husband, who adopted her children from her first marriage).
The Corvin Castle (also known as Hunyad Castle) in Transylvania
Updates At The End
This is a follow-up to a previous post extending our family lineage deep into Romania. This post explores more about our ancestral homeland and what events drew our family to America early in the 20th century, specifically to Cleveland, Ohio. So let’s begin with where the last post left off – the locations in Romania our family lines come from.
There are three family names which we traced through Romanian marriage records to specific cities or towns in modern Romania:
Lugoj Tirol is located in the Romanian County of Timis, while the others are located in the Romanian County of Caras-Severin. All three lines converge in Rescita, Romania where all the marriages took place from which we traced back the family “origins”.
The following map lays out these four locations in modern day Romania (click to enlarge):
Major Update:
As I continued to investigate the new Romanian records on Ancestry.com, a fact that I should have known by now jumped out at me when I read the Birth Certificate for my great grandmother:
What we have is a set of twins – Hermine and Felix Naszt – born January 2nd, 1880. As everyone in our family knows my wife and I are proud parents of a set of identical twins. So having this fact elude me for years is actually quite funny (yes, I have had the correct birth dates for Hermine and Felix, just never noticed they were identical).
End Update
As I noted in a previous post about my grandfather – Anthony Alfred Fleger – my mother’s maiden name (Fleger) is not her biological grandfather’s surname. Her biological grandfather was Antonin Herzcog. We know this from my grandfather’s birth certificate my mother still has in her possession.
The birth certificate, issued in 1936, clearly lists my grandfather’s birth name as “Antonin Herczog”, his father as “Antonin Herzcog” and his mother as “Hermine Naszt”. The birth location is Rescita, Caras-Severin, Romania:
While a prior post focused on my mother’s father and his roots in Romania, this post focuses on my mother’s mother and her family’s roots in Czechoslovakia.
It has been surprisingly difficult to trace my mother’s family back to the old country in Europe, even though most immigrated between 1895 and 1905 so one would think there would be better records.
Pictured above our my grandmother’s parents with her youngest sister. Left to Right: Elizabeth Cipek/Capek, Andrew (Antro) Nemmec/Namik and Anna (Namik) Penn.
This post is about my grandfather on my mother’s side. 2014 was a tough year for my mother, first losing my father on May 24, 2014 and then losing her brother on December 14th. So I decided to do a tribute to her father. The above picture hangs in the Parma, OH City Hall. My grandfather was Mayor of Parma from 1934-1935 [click all images to enlarge]. At the time of this phase of his life Anthony was ~34 years old. His life story is a very interesting one, embodying the American Dream of immigrants to this country. I will begin with his early life growing up.