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Sixth Generation


46. József PLANKENHORN/PALÁSTY101,102,103,104 was born in 1787 in Vienna, AUS. He died on 28 November 1851 at the age of 64 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.101,105

He claimed that he was born Josef Plankenhorn, the illegitimate son of an Austrian count. Documentation to this effect is yet to be found. He was born into the Evangelical (Lutheran) faith, and until his death was identified as an adherent of that confession. About 1807, he completed his education at the Theresian Academy. The "Empress Maria Theresa Military Academy" in Wiener Neustadt had been, since 1752, the principal training school for the Austrian officer corps. During his military training, he met and befriended Eduard Pallavicini, son of Leopoldina Zichy.

Following his marriage to Franciska Tümler, he relocated from Austria to Hungary, at first living in Pest. He magyarized his name to Palásty, but is no relation to the ancient, noble Hungarian family of that name. Over the years, the new family name was spelled Palásti, Palástÿ, and Palásthy -- the spelling changing with the custom of the time. About 1817, he was employed as an overseer on the Pallavicini/Zichy estate at Algyó in Csongrád county. On 16 Jul 1836, he contracted with Leopoldina Zichy to serve as general manager of all the Pallavicini family estates in southern Hungary. The family's cattle ranching operations in southern Hungary were very extensive. Taking on this position made József Palásty a very wealthy and powerful man. During the 1848-9 war period, the Palásty family lived in their Szeged townhouse and József went to visit General Alfonz Pallavicini (grandson of his benefactress) in Vienna on several occasions. On one of those trips, his name change to Palásty -- though in use for decades -- was made official with the help and influence of Pallavicini. He is believed to have been a member of the Knights of Malta.

The church's death register entry states that he was attacked and died of the wounds despite treatment by a doctor. In that death register he is listed as a Roman Catholic, something that he never would have permitted during his lifetime. At age 64, the still virile József Palásty who had fathered 21 children with his two wives, was shot by "robbers" ... thought to be disgruntled peasants on the Pallavicini estate ... while carrying out estate business. His murder was the subject of several authors and is remembered in their books as well as an opera.

A note on the Pallavicini and Zichy families. The Pallavicini's title was Marquis (in Hungarian "örgróf") and they were descended from an ancient noble Italian family which came to Austria in the 18th century. Eduard (1787-1839) was the son of the Marquis Karl Pallavicini (d 1789) and Leopoldina Zichy (1759-1846). She was the daughter of Count István Zichy (1715-1761) a scion of the second wealthiest family (after the Eszterhazy's) in Hungary. Following her husband's early death, she settled with her young son on an estate at Algyö in southern Hungary. Leopoldina Zichy, as matriarch of the Pallavicini family in the Szeged area, was a great benefactress of my ancestor József Palásty, and is the namesake for his daughter (and my great-great-grandmother) Leopoldina Palásty. The Zichy/Pallavicini manor house in Algyö was on the Tisza river and it was destroyed in the flood of 1879, but had been abandoned by the family a few years earlier.

Franciska TÜMLER and József PLANKENHORN/PALÁSTY were married about 1814.101

A note concerning mixed marriages: József Palásty was a Lutheran. Both his wives were Roman Catholic, and all the family's vital records were recorded in the Catholic churches in which the family worshiped. In virtually every baptism, the father was identified as Evangelical (ie. Lutheran).

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were three phases in the legal approach to the religion of children of a mixed marriage. [Note: during this period, changing ones religion was rare.] Until 1781, all children of a mixed marriage were by law Roman Catholic. Following Joseph II's "Patent of Toleration" a non-Catholic father had the right to bring his sons up in his religion. After 1868, the sons automatically followed their father's religion, the daughters followed their mother's. Note that all baptisms are considered valid in the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed faiths, irrespective of who performs them. Therefore, where the baptism was performed changed nothing with regard to the legal religion of the child.

So, during the 1781-1868 period, when -- for instance -- a Roman Catholic priest baptized a boy into the Evangelical faith, in accordance with the father's religion, the priest was expected to report that baptism to a Lutheran pastor so the child could be properly enrolled into "his" church. In the early 1830s, the Roman Catholic church made strong efforts to rescind this right of fathers - - by a process called "reversal." Many priests refused to report the baptisms of Protestant boys, hoping that their immersion in the Catholic community would result in a reversal to the Roman Catholic faith -- with no one being the wiser. Sometimes later, only if the child died, was a proper report made. This controversy was apparently in play in the case of the Palasty sons. János (born 1830; died 1831) and his brother József (born 1832; died 1833) were identified in their Roman Catholic death records as being of the Evangelical faith -- though not in their baptismal records..

This played out many years later when this couple's grandson, János Mihály (b 1877) -- the son of János Adolf (b 1837) -- was identified as a Lutheran at the time he was baptized in a Szeged Roman Catholic church.

47. Franciska TÜMLER was born in 1798. She died on 19 November 1846 at the age of 48 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.101,106 She died suddenly at age 48.

Children were:

i.

Rozália PALÁSTY was born in 1815 in Pest, PPSK m, HUN. She died on 6 November 1872 at the age of 57 in Pest, PPSK m, HUN.107 She died of cholera while visiting her ill daughter in Pest.

ii.

Mária Teréz PALÁSTY was born about 1816. She died before 1822 at the age of 6. The existence of this child is based solely on a comment in Dr. Ruszoly's writings.

iii.

Sándor PALÁSTY was born in 1817. He died on 9 March 1827 at the age of 10 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.108 He died at age 10.

iv.

József János PALÁSTY was born on 14 November 1818 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.109 He died on 5 January 1831 at the age of 12 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.110

v.

Katalin Teréz PALÁSTY111 was born on 8 October 1820 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.112 She died after 1880 at the age of 60. According to Habermann, she was called Juztina -- but none of her records use this name.

vi.

Mária Teréz PALÁSTY was born on 21 September 1822 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.113 She died on 12 September 1829 at the age of 6 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.114

vii.

Erzsébet Constanzia Franciska Izabela PALÁSTY115 was born on 30 June 1824 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.116 She died after 1882 at the age of 58.

23

viii.

Leopoldina Lujza "Poldi" PALÁSTY.

ix.

Klementina Antonia PALÁSTY was born on 16 January 1827 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.117 She died before 1880 at the age of 53.

x.

Gyula Ádolf János PALÁSTY was born on 18 June 1828 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.118 He died on 10 September 1829 at the age of 1 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.114

xi.

János Matyás Rajmond PALÁSTY was born on 23 February 1830 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.119 He died on 7 October 1831 at the age of 1 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.120,121

xii.

Lajos László Antal PALÁSTY was born on 1 June 1831 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.122 In his birth record his name was given (in Latin) as Ludovicus Ladislaus Antonius. He died after 1880 at the age of 49.

xiii.

József PALÁSTY was born on 24 September 1832 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.123 He died on 2 March 1833 at the age of 0 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.124

xiv.

Jozefa Julianna Franciska PALÁSTY was born on 22 June 1834 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.125 She died on 3 August 1834 at the age of 0 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.126

xv.

Irén Julianna Franciska PALÁSTY was born on 13 November 1835 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.127 She died after 1880 at the age of 45.

xvi.

János Ádolf PALÁSTY128 was born on 17 April 1837 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.129 He died on 25 January 1914 at the age of 76 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.128 At the time of his death, he was described as a retired process server. He attended the Piarist Academy in Szeged from 1846-1854. He was described as "the son of a rich man who lived in Szeged as a man of independent means."

xvii.

Julianna Franciska PALÁSTY was born on 17 February 1839 in Algyö, Csongrád m, HUN.130 She died before 1880 at the age of 41.

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