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János Hegedüs (1819–1870) lawyer Egyházasrádóc – Pápa – Körmend
– Szentgotthárd |
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) |
He was born in Egyházasrádóc on
February 12, 1819. He lost his father (Mihály Hegedüs,
1797–1827) when he was 8, and was brought up by his mother Katalin Magyar (1797–1841). His brother Mihály (1820–1821) died in infancy, and we do
not have any information about his sister Terézia
(*1825) apart from the birth record in the Calvinist church books of Egyházasrádóc.
After her
first husband’s death Katalin Magyar married Mihály Fábián,
a baker in Egyházasrádóc. They
had two children, Mihály (*1828) and Mária (*1830).
After leaving the elementary school
in Egyházasrádóc, János Hegedüs began
his studies in the Reformed Church College in Pápa.
After paying the tuition fee of 30 krajcár, he began the “Grammar” class on
November 9, 1833. [Köblös, József ed.: A pápai református kollégium diákjai
1585-1861. Pápa, 2006. 566.] According to
the documents of the institution, he attended the fifth form of the secondary
school in the 1837/1838 academic year (her mother was still alive), and the
sixth form in 1839/40, but there are no data from 1840/1841. In 1841/1842 he
began the third year of the law school (his guardian was Zsuzsa
Zábrák, which means that his mother had
died by 1841). In 1842/1843 he attended the fourth year, and he was living in Körmend. The renowned Hungarian writer Mór
Jókai 
and the most famous poet of the century, Sándor Petőfi
studied in the same college: according to the documents published by the
college, János Hegedüs
(3rd year), Móricz Jókai (2nd year) and Sándor
Petrovics (Petőfi, 1st
year) were studying in the college in the 1842/1843 academic year. [Köblös ed. 273-275.] They probably knew each
other as only 202 students attended the college.
After graduation János Hegedüs began his career as a lawyer in Körmend, a small town in Western Hungary. He married
Carolina Margaretha Schricker
on February 9, 1851 in Sopron. Carolina Margaretha’s
(1831–1861) grandfather moved from Weissenstadt, Bavaria to Sopron in
the first decade of the 19th century; her mother Susanna
Josepha Krug (or Krueg, 1803-1875) was related to
many famous Sopron families (Thirring, Trogmayer, etc.) A chart of Carolina’s ancestors
can be seen here.
The portraits of her great-grandparents (Ferdinand Krug, 1716-1787 and Eva
Maria Trogmayer, 1720-1790) are exhibited in the
museum in Sopron.
The Hegedüs-Schricker couple had six
children, but only three of them reached adulthood. The parents perhaps
followed the tradition of the Germans of Sopron when they chose two given names
to all of their children. It must have been unusual to the pastor too, because
he always noted in the church book: “double name”. Their first son Gyula Károly was baptized
on October 20, 1851 in Körmend. Some weeks
later, the proud father wrote the following sentence in a letter sent to the
relatives in Sopron:
“my
son Gyula can already whistle; the girls
in Sopron will suffer a lot from now on”
Tragically, the first-born son died at the age of seven weeks. The next Hegedüs-boy, Gusztáv János died in infancy too (1853). Their third son, Géza was born in 1854. Among the family documents
there is a hand-written “Verses-könyv”,
or “Poetry-Book” with Géza Hegedüs’s name and the date May 31, 1860 on its
cover. Perhaps the parents made it for their son when he started school. (Click
on the image to see photos of the pages of the booklet.)
Géza, however, died on November 2,
the same year. The two youngest boys reached adulthood. Elek
Konrád (1855-1944) moved to Vienna in the
1880s and died there in 1944. (The family does not know too much about Elek. All that has been discovered about his life and the
process of the online investigation can be read here: In search of Elek.) János and
Carolina’s only daughter, Carolina Anna was born in 1857. Later she
married a German schoolteacher Johann Weiss and had two children, Paula and Richárd). The youngest boy, Ödön Béla
Hegedüs was born in 1858.
The family lived in Keputi
Street (today: Mátyás király utca) in Körmend. The map of Vas County (1857) shows
their house with János Hegedüs’s
name. He also had some land around the town:
The house is still there at 12 Mátyás
király utca (King
Matthias Street). Later (in 1897) opera singer Mária
Németh was born in the same house:
When the revolution and war of independence of 1848/49 broke out, János Hegedüs stayed
in his home town. On October 5, 1848, the newspaper Kossuth Hírlapja published the following news:
Körmend. Sept. 30.
Today our town could be the
witness of the Hungarian soldiers’ love of our country. 102 soldiers of
the Sándor Hussar regiment from Graz, led
by a Polish-born corporal who supports the Hungarian case, came to defend our
country in danger. We welcomed the enthusiastic patriots with enthusiasm, and
provided them with everything we could. – They said that many of their
comrades would follow them, and, unless the intrigues of the camarilla in Vienna thwart
them, we can soon welcome them here too. May God give us so many enthusiastic patriots. The armies of 6000 national guards
of Sopron County and 3000 national guards
of Vas County are marching through our land nows.
– János Hegedűs.
János Hegedüs
was active in the life of the local Calvinist community. He was elected to be
the notary of the Reformed Church of the Őrség
region. The September 15, 1861 issue of the journal Protestáns Egyházi és Iskolai Lapok (Protestant Ecclesiestical
and Educational Journal) reported as follows: “In the handsome church of
the Reformed Church in Körmend, the general
assembly was held on August 6 this year co-chaired by the rev. Sámuel Mozgay and Gusztáv Chernel. (…)
First the newly elected notaries of the district, i.e. Pastor of Felsőőr Sándor Gueth from the part of the church and lawyer János Hegedüs from
the part of the laymen took their oaths and were installed.” [c. 1084]
(source:
arcanum.hu )
János Hegedüs’s
wife Carolina died in the same year. She was only 30. During their marriage of
10 years she gave birth to six children, but only three of them were alive when
she died.
(source:
www.oskereso.hu)
After her wife’s death we do not have much information about János Hegedüs. His
name appears in the directories of the Reformed Church: in 1868 he is still
referred to as a lawyer in Körmend. His death record,
however, mentions him as a resident of the town of Szentgotthárd.
It is not known when and why he moved there. He died on January 23, 1870 in Szentgotthárd. He was buried in the cemetery of Szentgotthárd by the Calvinist Pastor of Körmend.
Interestingly, the family tradition held that the Hegedüs
couple was killed in an accident while traveling on a horse-drawn carriage.
However, the church books prove that their deaths had natural causes, Karolina
died of the inflammation of the bowels at the age of 30 and János
died of pneumonia at the age of 50. Their three children were brought up by the
Schricker family in Sopron.
Pictures:
Carolina Margaretha
Hegedüs née
Schricker
János Hegedüs’s vest from the mid-19th
century
Covers of János
Hegedüs’s notebook. The original leather
cover was replaced by beadwork – perhaps made by his wife?
Some pages of the notebook.
The date [1]851 is clearly visible on one of the pages:
