The basic methodology of genealogical research, which most genealogists and amateur researchers will use, involves switching between baptism and marriage records to proceed further and further back on a single line, however this approach does not always yield correct results, and in many cases, it will prevent the researcher from going further back from a certain point.
This article and reference work shows a complex way of approaching genealogy by not restricting our research to single individuals, but instead looking at the extended social networks of families, enabling us to continue our research where the contemporary documentation would otherwise appear to dry up, and where most genealogists would consider the limit of the research to have been reached.
Introduction
We are taking a look at the early origins of the Herkules family of Jászberény here. The name is one of a kind in the country, as it did not develop naturally, and so all Hungarian people with this surname should be traceable back to this same family. Due to its uniqueness, and as I myself also descend from this family through my 4th-great grandmother, Katalin Herkules (1812-1887), I have developed a certain fascination with the topic of their early origins, as their name only starts to appear around the 1740s, with a couple of rare exceptions prior to this. This brings us to our problem statement:
Problem statement: While the local parish records begin in 1672, and there are rare instances of the surname appearing during the early 1700s, the name can only be traced confidently since the 1740s. The appearance of the name prior to this suggests that the family has been living in the city already under a different name, while the uniqueness of the Herkules name suggests that it is what we call a "ragadványnév" which was unofficially adopted by the family after others called them by this name in the city. Such names mostly developed to differentiate between multiple families of the same, common surname in a town, although there have been many exceptions to this, of course. The following research will prove that the family indeed resided in the city prior to the traceability of their unique name, thereby also presenting a complex approach to researching such families.
Sources for our research
To demonstrate that this method should be applicable for all genealogical research in general, we will only use three sources that are available for territories across the old Kingdom of Hungary:
Local parish records (Roman Catholic baptisms starting from 1675, marriages starting from 1672, and deaths starting from 1672)
Gathering the initial data
Starting with the earliest record, we see no trace of the surname in the 1715 national conscription, however we do see one head of a household in 1720 - Joannes Hercules (János Herkules). Even though that apart from the size of the land he owned around the city, the record gives no further information on him or his family, we now know that the Herkules family lived under one household around this time, and we could thus suspect that later members of the family descended from this individual. Moving onto the local Roman Catholic parish records, we see the following entries in chronological order up until the late 1760s:
Marriage (Nov 22, 1733): Benedictus Molnár cum Catharina filia Joannis Hercules, praesentibus Josepho Juhász et Andrea Kocsis
Death (Apr 6, 1740): Joannes Hercules, Annor. 72
Death (Jul 6, 1744): Benedictus Hercules obÿt, Annor. circiter 70. M. OO. SS.
Baptism (Nov 3, 1749): Emericus ex P.P. Michaele Herkules & Catharina Túrj, matrina Elizabetha Kocsis
Baptism (Aug 17, 1752): Elisabhet ex P.P. Michaele Herkules & Catharina Turi, L. Elizabetha Nyirő
Baptism (Dec 21, 1752): Helena pater: Paulus Szabó, mater: Rosa Herkules, Levantes: Elis. Virágh
Baptism (Apr 26, 1754): Clara pater: Math. Hegedűs, mater: Cath. Herkules, Levantes: Barb. Bartók
Baptism (Oct 24, 1756): Emer., pater: Michael Herkules, mater: Cath. Turi, Levantes: Elis. Mártonÿ
Baptism (May 19, 1757): Rosalia, pater: Joannes Herkules, mater: Elisab. Bakki, Levantes: Piroska Egresi
Baptism (Sep 27, 1758): Josephus, pater: Joannes Hercules, mater: Elisab. Baki, Levantes: Prios- Egresi
Baptism (Oct 22, 1758): Helena, pater: Mathias Hegedűs, mater: Cathar. Hercules, Levantes: Barbara Kovács
Baptism (Jun 20, 1760): Anna, pater: Michael Hercules, mater: Catharina Túri, Levantes: Elisabetha Szabó
Baptism (Mar 10, 1761): Rosa, pater: Joannes Herkules, mater: Elisab. Bakki, Levantes: Prisca Egresi
Baptism (Sep 11, 1761): Michael, pater: Mathias Hegedűs, mater: Cathar. Herkules, Levantes: Helena Ötvös
Baptism (Jun 19, 1762): Rosa, pater: Paulus Szabó, mater: Rosa Hercules, Levantes: Elisab. Virágh
Baptism (Aug 29, 1765): Cathar., pater: Joannes Hercules, mater: Elisab. Balla, Levantes: Cathar. Bartha
Baptism (Aug 4, 1766): Barbara, pater: Paulus Szabó, mater: Rosalia Herkules, Levantes: Elisabeth Virágh
Baptism (Feb 28, 1768): Joannes, pater: Joannes Hercules, mater: Elis. Bakj, Levantes: Prisca Egresy
Based on these entries (translating the names to Hungarian in the meantime), we can establish the following generations and family members within them:
Generation I.
János Herkules (c.1668-1740)
Benedek Herkules (c.1674-1744)
Generation II.
Mihály Herkules, the husband of Katalin Túri
János Herkules, the husband of Erzsébet Bakki or Balla
Róza Herkules, the wife of Pál Szabó
Katalin Herkules, the daughter of János Herkules and wife of Benedek Molnár, then of Mátyás Hegedűs
Although we now have six different individuals spread out across what we could reasonably assume to be two generations, we still don’t know their exact connections apart from Katalin and the elder János. Furthermore, the baptisms seem too spread out and sporadic with no distinct pattern to them. Nevertheless, seeing that the family must
have been living in the city since at least 1720, we now have a reasonable assumption that they were known under another surname before the 1730s.
Beginning the complex research
The next step is to extend our research within the same records using the names of the newly found relatives while dismissing the names where we would expect Herkules to appear. We will also pay close attention to the names of godparents, as they predominantly tend to be consistent with children born to the same parents.
Searching for children born to a father named Mihály and a mother named Katalin Túri brings up no additional records. Children born to a father named János and a mother named Erzsébet Bakki (and its variations) or Balla included:
Baptism (Nov 29, 1751): Anna ex P.P. Joanne Varga & Elis Bakki, L. Prisca Egressi
Baptism (Apr 23, 1762): Rosalia, pater: Joannes Varga, mater: Elisab. Bakki, Levantes: Priscilla Egresi
Only one child was found born to a father named Benedek Molnár and a mother named Katalin:
Baptism (Feb 24, 1738): Catharina ex parentibus Benedicto Molnár & Catharina Varga, Levantes: Joannes Ötvös & Barbara Bartok
Similarly, one other child was found born to a father named Mátyás Hegedűs and a mother named Katalin:
Baptism (Oct 2, 1746): Helena ex P.P. Mathia Hegedűs & Catharina Varga, matrina Barbara Bartok
Finally, searching for children born to a father named Pál Szabó and a mother named Róza or Rozália brings up various records, among them:
Baptism (Nov 10, 1750): Elizabetha ex P.P. Paulo Szabo, Rosa Varga, L. Eliz Virág
Baptism (Nov 9, 1754): Cath., pater: Paul. Szabó, mater: Rosa Varga, Levantes: Elisab. Sánta
Baptism (Mar 2, 1757): Anna. Rosa, gemelli, pater: Paulus Szabó, mater: Rosa Varga, Levantes: Elisab. Varga, Helena Kiss
Baptism (Mar 22, 1759): Josephus, pater: Paulus Szabo, mater: Rosa Varga, Levantes: Elisab. Virágh
Baptism (Mar 10, 1760): Josephus, pater: Paulus Szabo, mater: Rosa Szabó, Levantes: Elisab. Virágh
Baptism (Jun 25, 1764): Clara, pater: Paulus Szabó, mater: Rosa Szabó, Levantes: Elisab. Virágh
By this time, we should have noticed that all surnames where we should have had Herkules in these records, we consistently see Varga with two exceptions in records 27 and 28.
We now turn our attention to the godparents and the dates. While we have found no possible additional children for Mátyás Herkules (and Katalin Túri), we have two additional possibilities with János Herkules (and Erzsébet Bakki). Note that the godmother of János’s children (under records 9, 10, 13, 16, 18) had always been Piroska Egresi except for one instance (when the godmother was Katalin Barta) – the godmother of János Varga and Erzsébet Bakki’s two children (under records 19 and 20) was also Piroska Egresi which is consistent with János Herkules’s entries. Furthermore, the years of these births put together are observed as follows: 1751, 1757, 1758, 1761, 1762, 1765, 1768 – the shortest period between two baptisms having been 13 months which shows no overlap and confirms that János Herkules and János Varga should have been the same person.
Applying the same methodology to the Szabó-Herkules couple, we see the same godmother (under records 6, 15, 17) – Erzsébet Virág.
Our additional records for the Szabó-Varga and Szabó-Szabó couples (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28) similarly all show the same godmother expect for record 24 where the godmother is Erzsébet Sánta (nevertheless, since the parents’ names are consistent, we now that we are looking at the same couple). Adding the years all up as we did with János’s example, we get the following pattern: 1750, 1752, 1754, 1757, 1759, 1760, 1762, 1766 – with the shortest period between two births having been 12 months between 1759 and 1760 – again, showing no overlap between them, and subsequently indicating that Róza Varga, Szabó, and Herkules were the same person.
Coming to the Molnár-Herkules couple, and more specifically to the Molnár-Varga baptism under record 21 (with the godparents Borbála Bartók and János Ötvös) – while we unfortunately have no other baptisms to cross-check the godparents with, we see that the mother’s surname (Varga) matches the suspected former surnames of the aforementioned János and Róza. Furthermore, we had suspected (purely based on the shared given name) that Katalin Herkules later became the wife of Mátyás Hegedűs. The godparents of their children (as seen under records 7, 11, 14) were Borbála Bartók (matching the Molnár-Varga child’s godmother under record 21), Borbála Kovács, and Ilona Ötvös (whose surname matches the Molnár-Varga child’s godfather’s surname). Record 22 shows a child born to Mátyás Hegedűs and Katalin Varga in 1746 where the godmother was the aforementioned Borbála Bartók yet again, all seemingly corroborating our aforementioned theory, especially when looking at the events we have so far uncovered, i.e.: marriage to Benedek Molnár in 1733; a Molnár child in 1738; then Hegedűs children in 1746, 1754, 1758, 1761 – again, with no overlap between the dates.
At this point, we have a reasonably established suspicion that the Herkules family had previously been known under the (quite common) surname of Varga. By extending our research into death records until the end of the century, we come across the following additional entries:
Death (Aug 24, 1768): Mathias Hegedűs, maritus Catharinae Herkules, Annor. 70
Death (Dec 13, 1776): Georgi. Hercules, viduus, 70
Death (Apr 18, 1788): Nn. defuncti: Jan. Herkules, pater/conjux: Elis Bagi, aetas: 65, scta: est
Death (Apr 2, 1792): Nomen Defuncti: Mich. Herkules, & uxoris: Elis. Túri, aetas: 76, S.S: est
Record 29 states that Mátyás Hegedűs, the husband of Katalin Herkules died at the age of 70 in 1768. Record 30 brings in a new member of the family – György Herkules, who died as a widow at the age of 70 in 1776. Record 31 shows the death of our aforementioned János (husband of Erzsébet Bakki, written as Bagi here) at the age of 65 in 1788. Lastly, record 32 shows the death of Mihály (the husband of Erzsébet Túri – likely a misspelling of Katalin Túri, similarly to the misspelling of Erzsébet Bakki as Balla in record 16) at the age of 76 in 1792. It is important to mention here that ages recorded during death were mostly estimations around this time and should not be relied on too much when we being searching for their births later on. Based on the 32 records we have found so far, we can establish the following tree:
Before we move on to the next phase of our research, it is also important to observe the prominence of the name Róza (a nickname of Rozália). Not only did the daughter of János the elder (c.1668-1740) have this name and pass it down, János the younger (c.1723-1788) also had three daughters who were baptized under this name (under records 9, 13, 20 – the middle one specifically mentioning the name as Rosa – Latin for Róza). This might indicate that János and Róza had a close relationship (likely siblings) who could’ve been passing down their mother’s given name, although at this point, this remains a theory. The next step in our research is to find the missing marriage records for Mihály (before 1749), János (before 1751), Róza (before 1750), and Katalin (to Mátyás Hegedűs before 1746). Looking for entries in the aforementioned period (specifically under the surname Varga) yields the following results:
Marriage (Feb 28, 1742): Michael Varga cum Catharina Turi
Marriage (Sep 5, 1745): Mathias Hegedűs cum Catharina, vidua, cond. Testibus Franciscus Horvath et Josepho Kocza
Marriage (Jan 18, 1750): Paulus Szabó cum Rosa Varga, Test.: Stephanus Bartha & Georgius Sós
Marriage (Jan 18, 1750): Joannes Varga cum Elisabetha Bakti, Test.: Paulus Koncsik & Josephus Kocza
All entries correctly state the surnames as Varga instead of Herkules. Record 34 correctly states that Mátyás Hegedűs married a widow, as it was expected after Katalin’s previous marriage. Records 35 and 36 indicate weddings on the same day – a common Hungarian tradition during those times, which reaffirms our theorized sibling connection between János Varga and Róza Varga. Furthermore, one of the witnesses (Josephus Kocza – Latin for József Kocza) appears to have been the same person on records 34 and 36, drawing another close connection between Katalin Varga and János Varga– and through the latter, subsequently to Róza Varga. Unfortunately, no witnesses were mentioned on record 33. At this point, we now have enough reasons to believe that János, Katalin, Róza, and Mihály were all siblings, while György’s connection is not yet established. Based on this, we can amend our tree as follows:
Our next step is to look for a couple who had children baptized under these names around dates that would roughly line up with the ages uncovered in the death records, as well as the ages deducted from their wedding dates (supposing that none of them married before the age of 15). Proceeding as such, we find the following possible baptisms for János and Róza:
Baptism (May 20, 1728): (…) baptizavi infantem nne. Joann. ex Parentibus Joanne Varga, Rosa Halász, P. Gregorius Koncsik, Anna Csire
Baptism (Sep 9, 1732): Rosa / Joan. Varga & Rosa / Anna Csire
Both children were baptized to a father named János Varga and a mother named Róza (Halász). Remember that we had previously theorized that both János and Róza might have passed down the Róza name after their mother which would also be corroborated by these records. This János’s birthdate differs from our expected birthdate by 5 years (1728 instead of 1723) which is well within the threshold for ages given in death records. This would also mean that János was 22 years old at the time of his wedding which seems reasonable as well. Róza would’ve been 18 years old at the time of her own wedding (on the same day) which also seems reasonable. While there was no other Róza Halász in the city around this time, we have reasonable grounds to suspect that the following baptism record for Mihály, the son of János Tóth and Róza Halász is the baptism record of Mihály Herkules, despite the Tóth surname, similarly only mismatching his calculated birthdate by 4 years (note the identical godparents between records 37, 38 and 39, which corroborate that the children were baptized to the same parents):
Baptism (Sep 1, 1720): bap. infant. nne. Michaelem ex Parentibus Joanne Thót et Rosa Halász, Patr. Gregorius Koncsik, Anna Csire
This would put Mihály’s age as 22 years old around the time of his wedding in 1742. Similarly considering that there was no other couple in the city where the groom was named János Varga and the bride Róza (regardless of her surname), the following 1711 baptism record for György, the son of János Varga and Róza Asztalos is likely the correct baptism record for the later György Herkules, who died in 1776 around the age of 70 – his birth also only differing by 5 years which is within the reasonable threshold:
Baptism (Apr 23, 1711): Joannis Varga, Rosae Asztalos, Patr. Paulus Rédej, Cath. Fejtő, nne. bap. Georgius
Working our way back from this date, we find János Varga’s and Róza Halász’ marriage record in 1705 which indicates that the family has been living in the city since at least this date:
Marriage (Feb 15, 1705): Joannem Varga, Rosalia Halász, p.sentibus Gregorio Ambrus
The last baptism record we are missing is that of Katalin's, however we already know due to her 1733 marriage record that she was the daughter of János the elder. We are still unable to connect Benedek to any of the other family members, however considering the sudden emergence of the surname, he must have been a very close relative – likely the brother of János the elder due to his similar age. It’s important to note here that János the elder was likely the only Herkules family member in the 1720 national conscription as he was the head of the household. This aligns with the fact that we see no children for Benedek. In such cases, siblings often lived under the same roof which would support our hypothesis that Benedek was the brother of János. Consequently, we come to the following tree:
Complementing our research with additional records
Although it is not common for most towns in Hungary, in Jászberény we luckily have a plethora of additional sources to complement our research with, while going beyond our original period of research, it is also quite easy to establish later members of the family through the local parish records after 1750. According to record 8 mentioned in the beginning, Mihály Herkules and Katalin Túri had a son named Imre in 1756. This Imre married Borbála Molnár in 1777. A local property lawsuit document dated 1825 (found in the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Archives, and unfortunately not available online) includes a family tree which reveals that this Borbála was the daughter of the noble András Molnár (husband of Klára Garami). The same lawsuit includes another family tree that lists Róza Herkules, and reveals that her husband’s (Pál Szabó's) brother, István Szabó was an elected councilman and had the title of hadnagy in the city – essentially the predecessor of the chief of police who was tasked with handling duties related to the accommodation of military units travelling through the city, as well as “looking out” for illegal alcohol sellers, thieves, adulterers, arsonists, etc.
János the younger’s (1728-1788) and Erzsébet Bakki’s son, János (1768-1842) was himself an elected tizedes (or utcabíró) later on during his lifetime – the administrative head of one of the city’s ten districts. Notably, his second wife, Erzsébet Szabó was initially the wife of Márton Szabó who was the grandson of the aforementioned noble András Molnár and Klára Garami through their other daughter, noble Erzsébet Molnár and her husband, Mátyás Szabó, all appearing on the same family tree drawn up in 1825 as mentioned above.
Erzsébet Bakki’s baptism record from 1728 reveals that she was the daughter of Ferenc (1698-1732) – their surname previously being Bakti or Bakty. This family has also produced multiple councilman in the city, including Ádám who was the head councilman of Jászberény in 1661, and said to be a nobleman, as well as Erzsébet's father, Ferenc himself, who was a hadnagy during the last years of his lifetime. Another member of the family, Gergely was a district head (tizedes) in 1705 and consistently a councilman starting from 1732. While the Pesti family’s origins are still uncovered, Mihály Pesti (Pesthy) – a councilman (senator) and the curator of the local Roman Catholic church – was said to be a nobleman around the time of Erzsébet Bakki’s life based on local protocol records (not available online sadly).
On records 36, 37, and 39, we see that the Herkules family was also affiliated with the noble Koncsek de Dvorecz family (written as Koncsik) who were among the most influential families in the city around this time with multiple members holding various council positions, including Pál Koncsek (the witness of János Herkules in 1750), who appears as a polgár (the head of two of the nine districts of the city) in 1734, and as a council member starting from 1743. József Kocza (the witness during Katalin Herkules’s 1745 and János Herkules’s 1750 wedding) was similarly a polgár in 1733. Pál Rédey - the godfather of György Herkules (1711-1776) was a nobleman himself, having come from a family originally known under the surname Tóásó which lived in the nearby Nagyréde and took the geographic surname Rédey later on as a reference to their origin. Through these pieces of information, it is evident that the Herkules family had prominent connections in the city.
The earliest conscriptions of heads of households in the city are dated 1699, 1706, and 1707, while there is also a military conscription from 1705. We see multiple Varga households in 1699 due to the commonness of the name – five of them being locals and the remaining three recently settled residents – with one János among them (and no Benedek), this János already having one son and two daughters which disqualifies him from the possibility of being the same as János Herkules the elder (c.1668-1740). Only one Varga had two sons around this time – the local Márton Varga, although this piece of information is far from enough to connect the pieces.
The first Benedek Varga appears in the 1707 conscription as the resident of the 2nd district. Notably, a János Varga also appears in this district around this time. In Jászberény specifically, it was common for people to marry others from the same (or neighboring) district, which suggests that we should see familiar names while going through the list of residents here. First, we see Pál Túri – the father of Katalin Túri (born 1723) who later was the wife of Mihály Herkules (1720-1792). We see two Bakti family members – András and György; there’s Pál Rédei who became the godfather of György Herkules in 1711, and Pál Kocza who shared the same rare surname as József Kocza – the witness at the weddings of Katalin Herkules in 1745 and János Herkules in 1750.
In the neighboring (1st) district, we see “Virág veje” – the son-in-law of a person by the surname of Virág (matching the surname of Erzsébet Virág, the godmother of Róza Herkules’s children) and Gergely Ambrus, the witness during János and Róza Halász’ 1705 wedding. In the neighboring 3rd tized, we come across János Fejtő – the only Fejtő head of household in the city at the time whose surname matches that of Katalin Fejtő's – György Herkules’s (1711-1776) godmother.
Looking for our other familiar names, we also find connections concentrated in the 7th and 8th districts, namely those of Gergely Koncsek (the godfather of János the elder and Róza Halász’ children) and of the wife of Ádám Asztalos (matching the locally rare, at the time single instance of the alias surname of Róza Halász) in the 7th, and those of István Egresi (a relative of the later Piroska Egresi, godmother of János the younger’s children), and Gergely Csirke (a relative of Anna Csire, the wife of the aforementioned Gergely Koncsek, whose surname is revealed through other records to originally have been Csirke).
Based on the aforementioned connections in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd districts, we have a well-established suspicion that János Varga and Benedek Varga of the 2nd district were the same as János Herkules (c.1668-1740) and Benedek Herkules (c.1674-1744). Building our further research upon this, we find out with the help of the 1705 military conscription that both János and Benedek took up arms and joined Prince Francis Rákóczi’s War of Independence against the Habsburgs (1703-1711) – János taking part as a hussar and Benedek as a footman, similarly to the footman Gergely Koncsek, and the hussars Pál Rédey and Pál Kocza from the same district.
Conclusion
Through a holistic approach to our research - i.e. not only researching individuals, but their extended social network - we have successfully established that the Herkules family of Jászberény had been living in the city prior to the 1730s under their original surname, Varga.
While such approach to research requires a lot of effort, persistence and experience, and may not be needed in most cases where we have unique surnames and/or sufficient documentation, utilizing this approach may open up possibilities not usually considered during genealogical research.