Fourth Generation

10. Gyula HESZLER/HESZLÉNYI was born on 13 April 1843 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.^5,6 He was christened as Julius Heszler at the Roman Catholic church of St. Demeter in downtown Szeged (Szegedi Belváros) on April 13. The godparents were Lenart Waldmüller and Anna Pintér. The family's 1863 name change was noted in his baptism record at a later date. The 1871 certified copy of his baptismal record shows only the name Gyula Heszlényi -- not Julius Heszler, as originally recorded.

From 1869 he was an a railway construction engineer for the MAV in Aszód, PPSK m, HUN. [Note that his wife's cousin, Gyula Bereczky (Faragó), was chief engineer of the Magyar Állami Vasút -- the Hungarian National Railways.] He died on 18 January 1877 at the age of 33 in Aszód, PPSK m, HUN.^7,8 He died in a railway accident that was described to his grandchildren this way: he and coworkers were operating a hand-car on a railroad track; to avoid a collision with a train, they rolled themselves and the hand-car off the track; he was killed by the impact of the pump-handle on his chest. According to the death record, he died at age 34 of an infection, perhaps resulting from the injury described above. He was buried in Aszód on January 20.

The death notice published by his father says he was 33 years old, two years into his widowhood, and died with brief suffering after the occurrence. He attended the Szeged Piarist Academy. In 1861, he was an amateur actor in the productions of the Szeged Women's Association of Rókus. He was a founder of the Youth Equality Association at the Belváros Casino.

He attended the Technical University in Buda, where (according to an 1865 Budapest newspaper) he was an officer of the Student Aide Society. He was also a member of the university's fencing team. In 1869, Gyula qualified for a diploma from the university's Institute for Engineering.

Following his marriage in September 1869, he took a position with the Hungarian National Railroads (MAV) as a construction engineer, and was assigned to Aszód east of Budapest. Mária Fáni OSZTRÓVSZKY and Gyula HESZLER/HESZLÉNYI were married on 20 September 1869 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.^9,10,11 Both Gyula and Mária were considered to be "golden children" -- the term coined by István Széchenyi for the elite young people of the Liberal Party, who would become the next generation of Hungary's leaders. Neither lived long enough to fulfill that potential.

In their marriage record, her father József Osztróvszky was identified as a distinguished member of the "Hétszemelyes Tabla" -- Hungary's highest court.

11. Mária Fáni OSZTRÓVSZKY was born on 9 August 1849 in Hódmezövásárhely, Csongrád m, HUN.¹² She was baptized at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Hódmezövásárhely on the day of her birth. Godparents were her mother's sister and brother-in-law, Ferdinánd Schmidt and Rozália Palásti.

She died on 11 November 1874 at the age of 25 in Aszód, PPSK m, HUN.¹³ In the death record she is identified as a noblewoman, and her husband as "the distinguished Hungarian Royal Railway engineer." They lived in the "Nagy Kasztély" -- the large fortress -- in Aszód. It is also noted that she did not receive the last rites of the Church, and that she had been married six years and had three minor children -- giving their birth dates (in the case of Maria, incorrectly). She died a few months after the birth of her son József apparently of some illness causing nausea (csömörkór). She was buried at Aszód on November 13.

As a teenager, she was well known for her musical ability -- both voice and piano -- and often performed on the stage of the Szeged Casino.

Children were:

Mária Anna Jusztina HESZLÉNYI.

ii.

Gyula Gábor József HESZLÉNYI^{14,15,16,17,18} was born on 9 August 1872 in Budapest, PPSK m, HUN.¹⁹ He was baptized on 19 Sep 1872 at the Roman Catholic church of Ferenczváros (a section of Pest). The godparents were his aunts Vilma Osztróvszky and Emma Heszlényi and the latter's husband Ferenc Wachsmann. He died on 20 September 1934 at the age of 62 in New York, NY. Cause of death was heart failure, after a long bout with rheumatoid arthritis. He was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens.

After being orphaned in 1877, he was brought up by his Osztróvszky grandparents and his maiden aunt Vilma in Budapest. From 1880, they lived at 44 Damjanich Street in wealth and comfort -- his grandfather being presiding judge of the Kuria, a Hungarian high court.

He was educated as an architect at the Joseph Technical University of Budapest. He apparently became estranged from his Osztróvszky family about this time. In 1891, he enlisted as a cavalryman in the KuK 1st Huszár Regiment where he served 10 years, 1 month, and 10 days. He then served two-years with the 4th Huszár Militia receiving his discharge from the 14th Military District headquarters in Szeged on 31 Dec 1904. Following his discharge, he was subject to recall and had to report his whereabouts through 1908, and would then be on inactive (2nd tier) status through 1913. The last notation in his Militia Identification Book ("Népfölkelési igazolványi könyv" ) was when he presented himself to the militia commander in Técsö, in Maramaros megye, in 1908.

On 06 May 1912, he obtained a passport, for purposes of emigration to North America, in Budapest. In the passport he is listed as a "building designer" and described as being "tall, long visage, blue eyes, brown hair and moustache." On 13 May the passport was stamped at Gyékénes, where the railway crosses from Hungary-proper into Croatia, and on 17 May it was stamped in the port of Fiume. On the 18th he set sail aboard the Cunard line's "Saxonia" -- one of 1600 third-class passengers aboard for the Trieste-Fiume-Naples-New York sailing. In the ship's manifest, he gave his home address as Hernád utca 11 in Budapest, and was identified as a married man, age 39, whose occupation was a "drawer" -- draftsman; he was described as being 5 feet 9 inches tall, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. His destination was given as the home of a friend in Trenton, NJ. He arrived aboard the Saxonia at Ellis Island on 04 Jun 1912 with $25 to his name.

Some facts concerning his life in Hungary remain in doubt. He told his children here that he never contacted relatives in Hungary because he had a falling-out with his sister. The lack of contact was, in truth, probably because he left a wife (and family?) in Hungary. He told his children in NY that he came to America as a result of winning a design competition for a Roman Catholic church in Los Angeles. The archives of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles show no record of any such contest. The only evidence of his first marriage in Hungary (other that his immigration manifest) is an entry on the 1930 census stating that he was first married at the age of 18. It appears that -- like so many others -- he simply walked away from his old life in Europe with the desire to start a new life in America. This may be evidenced by his meeting a Catholic priest in New York who he had known in Hungary ... he carefully avoided further contact with him.

In New York, he was employed as a machinist and toolmaker. During the 1st World War, he worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. According to the 1920 census, he was a machinist in a straw-hat factory and his wife was a cigar-maker. Later he worked at a Queens factory which manufactured oxygen valves and other medical equipment. While there, he invented a metal-framed ladies pocketbook (prior to this, women carried simple pouches).

After their 1913 marriage, the Heszlenyi's lived on Avenue A until the birth of there oldest child, my mother Helen. Then the family lived on 77th Street for a long time. The family moved to Tinton Ave in the Bronx when Helen was in HS, then to 95th St, and finally to 113th St. After Helen's father died in 1934, they leased a house on 106th St and Broadway where her mother took in boarders.

In 1927, he and his family were among the founders of the Hungarian Evangelical Lutheran Church of New York, though he nominally remained a (non-practicing) Roman Catholic until his death. His progressive rheumatoid arthritis no longer permitted him to work from about 1931. During his illness, the family received disability support from the Verhováy Sick Benefit Society. In New York's Hungarian-American community, he was considered the epitome of the old-country gentleman.

iii.

József Ferencz HESZLÉNYI was born on 22 July 1874 in Aszód, PPSK m, HUN.^20,21 He was baptized on 16 Aug 1874 in the Roman Catholic Church of Bág, PPSK megye. The godparents his aunt Emma Heszlényi and her husband Ferenc Wachsmann. He died on 21 February 1875 at the age of 0 in Budapest, PPSK m, HUN. According to the note on his baptismal register, he died in Budapest, Józsefváros.

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