Mihály Hegedüs

(1797–1827)

HidashollósEgyházasrádóc

 

Hegedüsök Vas vármegyében

Hegedüs János (1725?-1790?)

Hegedüs János (1763–1803)

→ Mihály Hegedüs (1797–1827)

Hegedüs János (1819–1870)

Hegedüs Béla (1858–1945)

Dr Ödön Hegedüs (1905–1997)

 

 

The exact date of birth is unknown; we only know that he was baptized on February 12, 1797 in Magyarszecsőd. Rev. Pál Ujjhelyi recorded the following details in the church book of the local Calvinist community: “1797. Die 12 Febr. H. Hollósi Hegedüs Jánosnak Csúti Katalintól született Mihály fia kereszteltetett. K.A. és A. [keresztapák és -anyák] Vég István F. Németh Judith, Tóth István F. Sós Erzsébeth, Gazdag István F. Német Éva, Kis György F. Kapás Erzsébeth.” “1797. Die 12 Febr. János Hegedüs of H. Hollós’s son, born from Katalin Csúti, was baptized as Mihály. Godfathers and godmothers:…

 

The family lived in Hidashollós (today: Egyházashollós), but as there was no Calvinist church there, the protestants had to go to the neighboring Magyarszecsőd for baptisms, weddings and funeral service. Mihály was János Hegedüs’s and Katalin Csuti’s second child. His elder sister Julianna (1795) lived only for a couple days, but his younger sister Zsuzsanna married Mihály Tzál and gave birth to many children. The youngest sister – also named Julianna – died at the age of three.

 

We do not know anything about Mihály Hegedüs’s childhood. He was 4 when his father died, and we do not have any further information about his mother. We do not know whether she got married again later or not, and her name does not appear in the church books later.

 

On May 12, 1818, Mihály married Katalin Magyar, daughter of János Magyar and Katalin Geszti. The church book of the Calvinist community of Egyházasrádóc contains the following about the wedding: “Bachelor Noble Mihály Hegedüs of Hidas Hollós married the late János Pápai of E.H.Rádócz’s widow Katalin Magyar. The husband’s dowry: 200, the wife’s: 120, to the church: 30 forints.” The bestmen were Ferenc Német and Mihály Szabó. Interestingly, the widow was exactly the same age as the “bachelor”.

 

The couple moved to the wife’s village of birth Egyházasrádóc (perhaps Katalin had inherited a house from her first husband), and their first child János Hegedüs was born there on February 12, 1819. He was followed by Mihály Jr. on December 28, 1820, but he died of smallpox a year later. Their daughter Theresia was born in February 1825, but we do not have any more information about her.

 

On June 15, 1827, an unexpected tragedy happened. Mihály Hegedüs (31) was working at Taródháza (today: part of Sorkifalud in Vas County) on a kind of a “service”, when the earth collapsed and killed him. The death records of Egyházasrádóc give the cause of death as “accidental lethal illness because of collapsing earth”. We do not know what kind of “service” he was doing when he died. Church books always mentioned that he was of noble origin, though the dowry of 200 forints shows that the family was not wealthy at all. (24 years later his son János told the priest at the wedding that his father had been a “Kaufmann”, but it is unlikely that he had really worked as a trader.)

 

Photos:

 

Birth certificate

 

Marriage certificate