Hungarian research and passports

                                         Sometimes the key to researching your immigrant ancestor from Hungary is right in your own home -  the passport. Many immigrants never throw out their passports because it was their only form of identification in the new country. The passport was usually kept in a special purse or drawer. Sometimes it was brought out because it was a reminder of home. Oftentimes, it may have been retrieved from it's hiding spot when experiencing tough times in the new country. There is no doubt that a passport sticks around, possibly throughout the immgrant's lifetime. 

                                         Ancestry's website has many passport databases. Some are indexed; some can be browsed online. Some examples in the card catalog range from the Emergency Passport Applications to the standard U.S Passport Applications, 1795-1920 which is frequently updated. All are catalogued under the Immigration & Travel section. There is a database you do not want to miss for Hungarian research called the "Emergency Passport Applications, 1915-1916: US Consulate in Budapest". Not only are the applications chockful of vital information about the applicants but the photographs tells a story. They may be the only photographs you can find for an ancestor. As you will notice in these particular examples, there are very few families together. Usually it's the man alone, some women alone or the mother with children. Anyone that researches Hungarian immigrants realizes that it was the pattern of the man going first to the United States, boarding in a rooming house while working at the mills or mines that hired them. When they collected enough funds, they sent for their wives and children. 

                                      These passport photographs from the passport applications were assembled carefully into albums by Louis Takács. Louis is a researcher who studied anthropology and continues his interests in working with records. He did an amazing job of sorting, arranging and collating the passport photographs together. There is a poignant story in each one of them. So much wariness in their faces about their upcoming journey, yet some of them looked to hardly contain their excitement. It was a time when they wore their Sunday best for a studio photograph. Some of the photographs appear to be family portraits that were already snapped outside and brought into the passport office. Some could sign their names; some signed with their mark. Many were unsigned. 

                                      The  "Passport from Hungary, 1916-1925" pictures albums aptly called "mákvirág" are remarkable here at Flicker at : https://www.flickr.com/photos/64267112@N03/sets/

                                             For separate collections :

                                     https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYPiwBE

                                     https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYHPv3z

                                     https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYBRgzL

            The link to the index for the database is at Ancestry if you want to search through the actual passports yourself  at : http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1174

On the right side panel, under "Browse this Collection", is a dropdown menu with many options to explore for your immigrant's passport.

You can also search for them at FamilySearch too at : https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/500311?availability=Family%20History%20Library

Tools that solve Brick Walls in genealogy: Pasport Applications

APPLICATIONS

Applications are the meat-and-potatoes of immigration research. There are many kinds of applications where one can gather such facts as places and dates of birth and marriage for the applicant as well as for their family network .

In my One Name Study, I have been working on connecting my One Name Study constituents in the United States to their places of origin in Eastern Europe. One type is the passport application that are in databases on Ancestry and Family Search. For the United States alone, FamilySearch has amassed, at least, 6 collections ( U.S. Passport Collection at Family Search ). At Ancestry, there are numerous sub-sections but the main one is the U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925.

Here is one crown jewel of a find for my One Name Study(2) interest :

This is Joseph Stermensky’s Passport picture with his signature and a seal that was affixed to his Emergency Passport Applications to “Czechoslovakia”(1).  Not all passport applications bear photographs but a remarkable amount of them started to show up around 1915. Many examples can be seen at this collection mentioned in my other blog.

Here is one page of Joseph Stermensky’s actual passport application which, among other details such as a physical description, states where he lived and where he was headed:

 

(1) - U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925, for Joseph Stermensky.28 June 1920. Emergency Passport Applications, Argentina thru Venezuela, 1906-1925.1919-1920.Volume 001: Czechoslovakia. Ancestry. 
(2) -  http://stermenszky.one-name.net/