TURUL

THE

The Newsletter of the Hungarian Genealogical Society of Michigan

Issue 1, Volume 1

WELCOME MESSAGE

Featured Article: What is a Turul?

April-May 2016

dvzlet (welcome) to the first

issue of the Turul, the official
newsletter of the Hungarian
Genealogical Society of Michigan!
It sure is exciting getting a new
genealogical society started. This
newsletter along with our
webpage and Facebook page are
the front of our organization,
but we need people willing to
help behind the scenes. So if you
are willing to contribute, please
contact me and I can let you know
what areas we need help in.
We are trying something new for
our state, we are creating a
society that meets virtually four
times a year, and meets in person
twice per year. We are hoping
that by keeping our meetings
virtual, we can draw more people
from across Michigan and not just
rely on the talents of people in a
small area.

We hope to see you at our first

webinar in May 17th at 8pm EST. I
will be teaching on the basics of
Hungarian Research. Look for
more information on our societys
Facebook page:
facebook.com/MichiganMagyars
Egszsgetekre!

Daniel Earl, President

A turul is a bird from pre-Christian Magyar mythology. It was

considered a divine messenger and was thought to be perched at
the top of the tree of life. In its role as a divine messenger it was
thought to have twice delivered a message that shaped the future
of the Hungarian people. It stood between the heavens and tree of
life.

Although the Magyar people accepted Christianity under the reign

of King Saint Stephen about 1000 AD. Since then it has come to be
a symbol of strength, power, and royalty. There is a turul statue at
the top of the Buda castle in Budapest. Today it is used as a symbol
of the Hungarian Army and other government institutions. It was
even on a postage stamp around 1900.

We have adopted The Turul as the name of our newsletter because

of its role as a messenger and its symbolic role in representing the
Hungarian people.

Meet the President

Dan is a Michigan native who
grew up in the Grand Rapids
area. His maternal grandmother
was born in Kbekhza in 1912.
Her family moved to Gyr in
1916. The family moved to the
United States in 1922, the
exception being her older sister
Magdalena who stayed in

Hungary with her husband and son. Dan has been

interested in genealogy for 25 years (he started at
age 10) and is a professional researcher and lecturer.
He and his wife live in the Lansing area with their six
children. In addition to being our society president,
he is currently serving as the continuing education
chair for the Michigan Genealogical Council.

Classified UN Documents May Be

Released Soon
On March 2nd, 2016 the Hungarian news agency
Hungary Today announced that Katalin Bogyay,
Hungarys representative to the United Nations
has been working to declassify documents relating
to the 1956 Revolution. Many of these documents
have been unavailable to historians and other
researchers. For those whose parents or other
relatives were involved in the Revolution, this
maybe prove to be a valuable genealogical
resource. You can read the full article here:
http://hungarytoday.hu/news/history-classifiedun-documents-hungarys-1956-revolution-gopublic-35670

Hungarian Digital Maps Collection

For those who may be searching for the home town or village of their ancestor, there is a great resource
available online. The maps that are contained in the collection range from about 1904 to about 1926. It is
organized by the county from the Kingdom of Hungary which was part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire which
lasted until the end of the First World War. After this the borders were drastically reduced and some of the
county boundaries were moved. Also some cities that were in Hungary and had many ethnic Hungarians were
now in Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. There is a larger map at the bottom of the
page that shows you where the counties were in the pre-World War I period, so you can look up the current
location of the city and estimate where it would be on that map and look at the county map. It is an excellent
collection to help understand where ancestors lived and the borders at the time they lived there instead of
looking at modern boundariesYou can find the link to the map collection here:
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/maps/1910/vmlista.htm

Call for Articles

Have you been doing any Hungarian research? Are you willing to write about it? Please
contact us if you are interested in writing an article for the Turul. It could be about a
specific record collection, anything of general interest to our membership, the history
of a city or county, a specific ethnic group in Hungary, or even a recipe for your favorite
Hungarian dish!

The Turul

The Newsletter of the Hungarian Genealogical Society of Michigan

2
Issue 1, Volume 1 (April-May 2016)