Sixth Generation

40. Ferencz HESZLER⁶⁴ was born on 4 October 1777 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁶⁵ He died on 13 October 1839 at the age of 62 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁶⁶ He died suddenly at age 64, indicating birth in 1775. In his death record, he is identified as the husband of Ersebet Poltzner.

He was well-known as "the builder" -- épitész. Reizner states that, "In 1829, Ferenc Heszler and Jakab Gebhard finally took responsibility for completing the construction of the hospital."

Were there one, two, or three Ferenc Heszler's born about 1777? That is the key unanswered question in this family database. The database is presently set up on the assumption that there was only one, the son of Jakab Heszler. This implies that the family had lived in Szeged since at least the 1770s, contradicting Habermann. There are a couple of other "age at death" issues which are minor, and some missing records without rationale (eg. birth of Jakab in 1803).

The biggest problem is the issue of his wife: Ersebet Friss and/or Ersebet Poltzner. Were they the same woman? The successive wives of the same man, who were confused in some records? Or, the wives of two men with the same name? If there were more than one Ferenc Heszler, how were they related? At present we can't answer these questions and have little prospect of finding a resolution ... we can only document the information we found to date, identify the possibilities they present, and propose a logical (though conjectural) scenario. Erzsébet FRISZ and Ferencz HESZLER were married about 1802. The godparents of all six children of this marriage, for whom we have records, were Jakab Gebhard and Éva Gruber. Gebhard was the construction business partner of Heszler.

41. Erzsébet FRISZ was born in 1782 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN. She died on 15 December 1855 at the age of 73 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁶⁷ She was identified as the widow of Ferenc Heszler, and was buried on December 17. Her surname was spelled differently in virtually every record, though they all sound consistent. The spellings were: Friss, Frics, Frietz, Friesz, Friz and Fritz.

But, a major problem with the assumptions of this database is the name Ersebet Poltzner (or Poltzer) which occurs in at least four records (c1795 birth of Jozsef Heszler in Habermann, 1837 death of Ersebet Heszler born in 1811, 1817 birth of Eva Heszler, and 1839 death of her husband Ferenc Heszler). Was Poltzner an alias for Ersebet Friss? That is an "easy answer" that resolves most of the issues. Or were they two separate women -- implying there were two Ferenc Heszler's? We don't know for certain. But, since only one death was found for a Ferenc Heszler, and only one death for a wife of Ferenc Heszler, for purposes of this database we are assuming they were the same woman -- ie. for some reason the family names Friss and Poltzner were used interchangeably ... perhaps Magyarization.

Children were:

	i.	Jakab HESZLER/HESZLÉNYI²² was born in 1803. He died on 15 November 1887 at the age of 84 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁶⁸ In his death record, his name was given as Jakab Heszlényi. He died at age 84 and was identified as the widower of Teréz Szalai. His address at the time of his death was Boldogasszony Sgt. 34 -- the home of József Heszlényi, who we believe to be his brother.. He was a carpenter who appears in the records only in his later years. He apparently lived in Budapest most of his life. But, returned to Uj Szeged living with his son, and finally lived with József prior to his death. He is the member of the Heszler family who changed his family name to Heszlényi in 1880 as mentioned by Habermann. He is identified as changing his name from Heszler to Heszlenyi in 1880 in a compilation of name changes by the Ministry of the Interior. The permit number is identified as #49009-80. It is purely conjecture that he is the oldest child in this family, but certainly he was a close relative.
	ii.	András HESZLER was born on 27 November 1808 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁶⁹ He died on 31 December 1845 at the age of 37 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷⁰ He died at age 37. He was a shoemaker. His male line died out in 1879, without changing their name.
	iii.	Erzsébet HESZLER was born on 7 November 1811 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷¹ She died on 7 January 1837 at the age of 25 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷² Her death record says she was born and lived in Szeged Belváros. She died at age 23, indicating birth in 1813. It gives her parents as Ferenc Heszler and Ersebet Poltzer. She never married.
20	iv.	József HESZLER/HESZLÉNYI.
	v.	Éva HESZLER was born on 24 October 1817 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷³ In her birth record, her parents are given as Ferenc Heszler and Ersebet Poltzner. Her godparents were Gebhardt and Gruber -- the same as the five recorded children attributed to Ferenc Heszler and Ersebet Frisz.
	vi.	Anna HESZLER was born on 19 July 1820 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷⁴ She died on 19 May 1822 at the age of 1 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷⁵ She died at one year and nine months.
	vii.	Anna HESZLER was born on 22 February 1823 in Szeged, Csongrád m, HUN.⁷⁶

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