On November 19th, 1902 Father Achille Delaere blessed the new bell in Huns Valley. “The nineteenth of November 1902 we the undersigned priest duly authorized, blessed a bell of the weight of about 390 lbs. The name of the bell is Hedwigis. Some of the sponsors were John Wasyl, Kazimerz Kasprszak, Jan Kwiatkowski, Jan Powel and others. Achille Delaire”
Does anyone know if John Wasyl listed in this article is same John Waszil Sr. (my great granfather and original settler August 1885) and / or John F. Wassill Jr., born in 1888 (my grandfather) and both departed after this date to Otthon, SK? I seek information (i.e. birthplace, residence and travel paths from Hungary) of John Waszil and spouse Annie (nee Hardy) who arrived in Huns Valley from Hazelton, PA USA. Thank you.
Hi Dennis,
I see you are really working on your family history. I have just created this website and I am still in the infancy stages – hopefully it will be more helpful in the near future.
I have sent you some information and I have more as I went to the archives on Monday. I will send you a link to the files when I get home tonight.
Regards,
Denise Kolesar
Hello Dennis,
I believe that my great grandfather was John Wassill with a spouse named Annie Hardy. I would like to learn more.
Thank you so much Denise…I am near my target objective: personal information for John Waszil and spouse Anne (nee Hardy) from Hazelton, PA USA back to ???
Dennis do you know exactly where in PA your family was from – which mine? I have been looking for my family as well without success. I know they came from near Hazelton, but exactly where I do not know.
FYI…my reply email below to Jason Kovacs. I open same to you.
WOW! We should arrange a telephone conversation in near future if possible. You can text availability to my direct number: 403 978 6479
On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 10:47 AM, Jason Kovacs wrote:
Hi Dennis,
I am not familiar with the American documentation of immigrants during that period of time but I would assume fairly detailed records would have been made of the people entering and exiting the country. However, I do not know where you might find these records. I did have great luck finding information on where my grandparents originated from using ancestry.com. Information on their place of birth in Austro-Hungary was recorded by American border guards during one of their trips across the border.. Church records in Hazleton might be useful, as would passenger ship lists. The main entry point for immigrants before 1890 was Castle Garden, Manhattan. A search engine exists: http://www.castlegarden.org/searcher.php
I had a look through the copies of letters I had photocopied at the archives and there was a list of the names of the 65 Hungarians (names of wives and children were not recorded) who Count Esterhazy brought to the Prairies by the fall of 1885. Interestingly, while most of the settlers of Hun’s Valley are listed and with Hungarian spelling no matter their likely ethnic origin (e.g. Koleyszar, Dalejcsik), John Waszil/Wassil is not listed but there is a settler by the name of Gyorgy Vaszily on it. Although the first name Gyorgy or ‘George’ does not match, perhaps there was simply an error when this settler’s name was written down by Esterhazy. Vaszily seems like the original Hungarian or perhaps Hungarianized spelling of Wassill.
I did check the Castle Garden search engine (for both Vaszil and Vaszily) and there was a Janos (‘John’) Vaszil who arrived to the US in 1882 (destination Pennsylvania). The only problem is that his age/birthdate (~1837/8) does not match the Waszil recorded in the Canadian 1891 census (born 1857) – perhaps this was John’s father of the same name?). I think this Vaszil or Vaszily name would be well worth looking into. It would certainly fit in with the gradual Anglicization of the family name: Vaszily, Waszil, Wassill.
Jason