|
János Hegedüs (around 1725–after 1782) Felsőőr (today: Oberwart, Austria) – Hidashollós (today:
Egyházashollós, Hungary) |
→ János
Hegedüs (1725?-1790?) János Hegedüs (1763–1803) Mihály Hegedüs
(1797–1827) János Hegedüs
(1819–1870) Béla Hegedüs
(1858–1945) Dr Ödön Hegedüs (1905–1997) |
There are lots of questions about the first
identifiable person in our family tree. It is perhaps him who is mentioned in
the list of the nobles of Vas county of 1781/1782:
“In Hidas-Hollós. Joannis olim
Hegedüs filius pariter Joannes ex Possessione Felseő-Eör oriundus, at Annis abhinc circiter 30 inde abscedens habet filios Joannem et
Franciscum.” (Source: Miklós
Schneider: Vas vármegye
nemesi összeírásai,
Kőszeg, 1941-1942.)
It suggests that he moved from Felsőőr
to Hidashollós around 1750 (“approx. 30
years ago”). Therefore, he was probably born between 1720 and 1730. His
father’s name was János too. We do not
know his mother’s and his wife’s name.
He had two sons, János and Ferenc, who
are mentioned in the Latin text. They both lived in Hidashollós
and established their families there. According to the marriage and death
records in the church books of the Calvinist (Reformed Church) community of the
neighboring village Magyarszecsőd, János was born in 1763, and Ferenc
in 1764.
It is highly probable that this János
Hegedüs is mentioned in the Urbarium of Hidashollós
as “Hegedős János
Nemes / Pußtája”
– “János Hegedős
Nobleman / His Uncultivated Plot”:
source: Maria Theresa Charts on
Serfs’ Duties, http://archivportal.arcanum.hu/urberi/opt/a130904.htm?v=pdf&a=start
VAS county
– Hidashollós – Körmend photo 0000083.ewc
The Urbarium was compiled in 1767 with the purpose of setting
the taxes, corvée and other obligations of
serfs (peasants personally dependant from their
landlords). According to the Urbarium, in Hidashollós there were 5.875 plots on a territory of
228 Hungarian hold (approx. 243 acres) with 29 serfs, 12 landless serfs and 2
serfs who did not even possess a house. (The figures refer to heads of
families.)
János Hegedüs was a
nobleman, but he lived on a “serf plot”, and therefore he was
obliged to pay certain taxes to the landlord of Hidashollós,
count Adam Batthyány-Strattmann. According to
the document above the size of the plot was only 3/8 of a standard serf-plot,
albeit it was still larger than the quarter-plots owned by the other serfs. The
size of the cultivated plot was 5.5 hold, and he had half a hold of
uncultivated land (“puszta”). Altogether
he possessed over 2.5 hectares of land, which is approx. 6.2 acres. Based on
the size of his land he was obliged to do labor service – either 18 days
with a cart and two horses/bulls or 36 days of manual labor. Moreover, he had
to pay annually 1 golden forint to the landlord, 3/8 cord of fuel, 2 pounds of
hemp, ¼ “icce” (approx 0.05 gallons) of butter and a capon. The tax called
“ninth” was to be paid to the landlord “in natura”, i.e. 10% of the produce instead of cash.
That is all the information we have about János Hegedüs. We
could not find his death record in the church books of Magyarszecsőd.
Perhaps he was still so closely linked to his native Felsőőr
that he was buried there, or his death record was written in the church book of
the Calvinist community in Felsőőr.