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Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: MissyJ137 on Friday 21 June 13 14:24 BST (UK)
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Hi All,
I'm looking for information about Albert Vincent BALZARY's parents. We know very little about his life before he came to Australia in 1852.
Born: 1814 in Kamenicaz (Kamenica), Slovakia/Hungary
Immigration: to Australia via Bombay on ship RUNNYMEDE arriving on 3rd June 1852.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Mel
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Hiya Missy ...I have found a tree that states
ARTHUR Vincent Balzary married Annie Margaret Smith (b 1871 )....Australia
is this the same family ?...does the name Colin Nicker mean anything to you ?
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Yes it's the correct family. Arthur Vincent BALZARY is Albert eldest son.
Albert Vincent BALZARY married his wife Honoria BENTLEY in 1853 and had 5 children:
Lylle (1853-died as infant?)
Emily Louisa Henrietta (1855-1938)
Arthur Vincent (1856-1944)
Eleanor Albertha (1857-1938)
Edwin Albert (1860-1945)
No-one knows any details about his parents in Hungary or why he came to Australia at age 38 years. He may have had a previous marraige in Hungary? The only clue we have his is place of birth.
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So do you know Colin Nicker ??....if not - I can get you his e mail address ..maybe he knows a bit more info ??
allan
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No I don't know Colin. I'm happy to get in contact if he knows a little more.
Cheers
Mel
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There are entries for Albert from Debbie W on The Geni website and from Tiggy J on the My Heritage website. Both are a little more precise about his birth date (12 June 1814), attach a photo, but state that he was born in Budapest.
I've looked for the surname Balz(s)ary(i) in albeit later Budapest Records, but there do not seem to be any examples of anything like it in the post 1895 BMDs, earlier State Archives, Street Directories 1875-1928 or Death Notices. Experience has shown that Hungarian names do get changed when Westernised, so it may have originally been something like Bóldizár. Perhaps you should initially try to contact Debbie W on Geni, or Tiggy J on My Heritage and start by comparing notes. Should anyone have access to Slovakian records there are two places called Kamenice, one in the East of Slovakia, the other in the South.
You also question why he would leave Hungary to go to Australia in 1852. I suppose there could be two speculative answers, both inter-related.
In March 1848, many Hungarians in the former Hapsburg Empire, rose up against their predominantly Austrian overseers. This early revolution was unsuccessful and was followed by Austrian reprisals. Some of those involved may have found it convenient to relocate, initially to other parts of Europe. If you then couple this with gold being found in Oz in 1851, there may be a connection. Have you checked The Runnymede's passenger list to see if there were other former Hungarians with him and what was Albert's profession?
Roy G
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I've found some Slovakian registers on the Internet which are for browsing, so may not have been transcribed. I have looked through one, but failed to find anything. Perhaps a second pair of eyes might help.
If Albert was a Roman Catholic, 1814 starts on page 53 of this one for baptisms in Kamenica in the Sabinov county of Slovakia,
Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1910, Roman Catholic (Rímsko-katolícká cirkev), Sabinov, Kamenica
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11682-40797-95?cc=1554443&wc=M99C-FYZ:n1735756037
Roy G
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Thanks Roy. I thought that Tiggy and I had the same info on him so will check and see where she got Budapest as his birth place. I haven't been able to get to the shipping records to view as they are in Portland and not available online but will focus on the baptism records and see if I can get a clue.
Mel
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Good Hunting.
The link I sent is for Kamenica in the Sabinov county, but I have been unable to find a link to registers from Kamenica nad Cirochou, a village in the Humenné district of Slovakia. I can only presume copies of the records from there are not as yet on the Internet.
I see from other records that The Runnymede that arrived in 1852 was a 40 ton barque with just over 200 passengers. It must have been rather crowded on such a small ship. Another ship of the same name was built soon after, but this was far larger and primarily used for relocating England's miscreants.
I am going to throw an enormous cat in amongst the pigeons now, for have you ever thought that the surname could have been BALIZARY (with a middle"I") and therefore have an Italian resonance?
Although it sounds improbable, before a treaty of 1920, Greater Hungary extended to the northern corner of Adriatic, via a corridor between Croatia and Slovenia. This could bring into play any of the following Croatian villages.
Kamenica, Koprivnica-Križevci County, a village near Sokolovac
Kamenica, Varaždin County, a village near Lepoglava
Kamenica, Zagreb County, a village near Preseka
Kamenica Skradnička, a village near Tounj
Perhaps you can now begin to see the emerging enormity of your problem?
'Kamen' by the way means 'Stone' in all Slavic languages, so predominantly occurs where quarrying was an industry.
Working with stone ties in in another respect for although Albert emerged as a civil servant, in looking for his marriage (hoping he declared his parents on that) I found the following letter from Jean Nixon to Graeme Mills (ADHS 1998) which stated he worked as a miner and moved around the goldfields.
Jean Nixon wrote. ......
The BALZARY family apparently wandered from goldrush to goldrush. Emily was born at Daisy Hill, Eleanor (my grandmother) was born at Goldsborough, Arthur was born at Pleasant Creek (Stawell) 1858, and Edwin Albert was born at Lamplough 1860. ....... father- Albert Vincent BALZARY miner born Hungary mother- Honoretta BENTLEY born Dublin
As initially presumed, it seems his prime motivation for relocating to Australia was the possibility of striking it rich.
Keep me informed, and if the trail does return to Budapest where I now live, I will see if I can augment any further findings you may have.
Roy G
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Hi Missy! did you end up finding his parents? I am also on the hunt! my grandmother is a Balzary :)
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https://gw.geneanet.org/abraxsus?n=balzary&oc=&p=albert+vinzent
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No I never found his parents. Still a frustrating mystery.
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what a disappointment :( have you found anything on his wife's parents?
they are my grandmothers great grandparents from Edwin Albert Balzary (her grandfather)
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Hi there,
Can somebody list on this thread all the information from the 1853 marriage certificate - e.g. was it in a Catholic church, was anything about his parents listed, was anything about his birth listed, was he listed as a bachelor or widower, who were the witnesses, etc.
This is the one document that he would have given information about himself, so it's important that we mine it for all the little bits of information that might be present!
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The marriage certificate doesn't list many details as very early in the colony. Albert is listed a bachelor and Honoria a spinster. They were married by banns by the Chaplain at St Stephens church in Portland (Australia). Witness John Wright and Henry ?. No parents names, occupation or residential information is included.
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I live in Hungary and where the surname Balzary fails to exist in any form. The only mention of it is of a Michael Balzary born Australia 1962 who performs with "The Red Hot Chilli Peppers." Michael probably does not even know that he is descended from the very line you are investigating. His brief is that he comes from an Irish Mother and Hungarian father who arrived in Australia prior to WW1. It seems that he is totally unaware that his ancestor's move to Oz was much earlier than WW1 and in the days of the 1850 gold rush.
The Geni website also has a number of related entries, but they also stop abruptly at 1814. I have offered to update the tree on that site with info from here, but no one has responded to affirm that it would be in order.
Rootschat do not like links to other websites in their messages so you would need to Google
Albert Vincent Balzary (1814 - 1865) - Genealogy - Geni
to find their related entry.
Regards Roy G
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In 2010 a Debbie Weigard on that website, wrote that her ancestor was Edwin Albert Balzary
Birth: 27 July 1860, Lamplough, VIC, Australia
Death: 13 December 1945 (85) Malvern, VIC, Australia
Edwin (known as Ted) was the son of Albert Vincent Balzary of Hungary
and twice married Honoria Lovett Bently / Bartley of Dublin
Ted was the husband of Emma Jane Balzary nee Osborne
And father of Leonard Albert Balzary; Clifford Vincent Balzary; Raymond Robert Cecil Balzary; Edwin George Balzary and William Osborne Balzary
Regards Roy G
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Yes its definitely the same family line as we've been researching.
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The only thing I can add, I have stated earlier in this string.
In 1848 - 1849, the Austrians had a purge against any Hungarians who were thought to have participated in a recent revolution which sought to separate the Austro-Hungarian Empire into two separate countries. Quite a number of citizens found it a wise move to leave the country and settle elsewhere.
That may have been your ancestor's motivation to move, and as someone with connections to the mining industry, the recent finds of gold in Australia may have appeared to have been a very tempting opportunity.
Behind the Irish wife may be another fascinating story. A female member of my ancestry was a convict in Parrametta Jail. According to stories, the incarcerated ladies were often lined up and their sentences would be terminated if any male visitor selected one of them to be his future spouse.
Food for thought and further investigation?
Regards Roy