Monday, June 20, 2011

Slovinky, Spisska, Slovakia: Village of Katherine Bakos Gervenak

Slovinky is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia.

According to the 2001 census, the town had 39,193 inhabitants. 94.21% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 1.93% Roma and 0.51% Czechs.[1] The religious makeup was 69.81% Roman Catholics, 16.95% people with no religious affiliation, 3.17% Lutherans and 3.05% Greek Catholics

Slovinky was a Carpatho-Rusyn village just over the mountain from Porac.


The town of Slovinky goes by that single name only in recent times. From the 1750's to at least 1930 Slovinky consisted to two locations about a mile apart. Upper Slovinky lay at the head of the valley extending up to the SW from Krompachy. The Slovinky River flows to the NE in that valley and gives it its name, Dolina Slovinka. The copper mines that were worked by the inhabitants of Upper Slovinky were on both sides of the river at the SW end of town.

Lower Slovinky lay about a mile downstream of Upper Slovinky. The inhabitants of Lower Slovinky mainly were farmers, but a few were miners too. More miners lived in Upper Slovinky.

The two towns were named Felso (Upper) Slovinky and Also ( Lower) Slovinky during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (ca 1620 to CA 1920) when the Hungarian language was used.

The name of Upper and Lower Slovinky became Felso Szalank and Also Szalank in 1907. They are shown that way on the Austro-Hungarian Military Map of the region that was used to the end of WW I. The Hungarian names for the Slovinkys appear in the death records in the Slovinky Greek Catholic Church Matriky from 1907 to 1918 (the end of the death records on microfilm). It seems to have been the doing of Hungarian officials.

After World War I the Slovak spellings were adopted: Visne Slovinky and Nisne Slovinky (there are hacheks over the s in each) for Upper and Lower Slovinky. These names are found in the records of the Slovinky Greek Catholic Church (on LDS microfilms 1791524, 25, 26 &27).

The first names of persons listed in the Church records are given in a latinized form at first. Later when priests were required to keep their records in Hungarian the names appear in Hungarian. After liberation from the Hungarians, Slovak forms of the names appear. These were name found in the register of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovinky.

In the list of surnames in Slovak, I found the name ‘Bakos’ which is the maiden name of my grandmother and your great-grandmother Katherine Bakos Gervenak from Slovinky, Spisska, Slovakia. She was born in August 20, 1872.  It is possible that Katherine spoke Hungarian and Slovak in that period of time.

Joseph Supina from Slovinky married Mary Gervenak,  Agnes Gervenak Durosko’s sister.

It would be curious to know what is the connection between the Bakos family and the Supina family whose names both came from Slovinky, a small village in Spisska, Slovakia.

I found some information below about the Bakos family from this area of Slovakia.

Matej (Mathias) BAKOS II was born in Slovinky. Currently, the town of Slovinky is where our Bakos grandmother's family originated.


The above map represents the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia.
Slovinky is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District
in the Košice Region.

Slovinky was first mentioned in 1368 A.D. The town sits beside the Slovinky River and southwest of the city of Krompachy. Slovinky was once Vyzne-Slovinky and Nyzne-Slovinky. The people of Vyzne were mainly farmers while the Nyzne residents were mostly miners. These two towns more or less grew together to form what is now called Slovinky


Please note the proximity of larger cities such as Presov and Kosice.
This will help to locate Slovinky on other maps.

The town lies at an altitude of 442 meters (1450 ft) and covers an area of 46.44km.

Below, please review selected data extracted from 1991 and 2001 Slovinky census.
 

Indicator
Census 1991
Census 2001
Population in total
1800
1867
Population - males
874
898
Population - females
926
969
Population by nationality:
Slovak %
96.72
94.38
Hungary. %
0.06
0.05
Gypsy %
1.06
1.77
Ruthen. %
1.83
2.68
Ukraine. %
0.17
0.21
Czech %
0.06
0.37


Slovak Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is part of the Images of America Series.
No other city in the United States is home to more Slovaks than Pittsburgh. It is estimated that close to 100,000 Slovak immigrants came to the area in the 1890s looking for work and the chance for a better life. The hills and valleys of this new land reminded newcomers of the farms, forests, and mountains they left behind. They lived in neighborhoods close to their work, forming numerous cluster communities in such places as Braddock, Duquesne, Homestead, Munhall, the North Side, Rankin, McKeesport and Swissvale.


Source: Internet, Albert Hudak genealogy records and Mathias Bakos II found on the Internet.

Love, Aunt Joyce

1 comment:

  1. +Glory to Jesus Christ !
    +His Glory be Forever

    Five years ago I went to Slovinky because it is the village of my grandmothers birth, baptism and chrismation.

    Hope all of you can also make a visit to this village and experience these lovely people.

    I want to update your site on the churches in Slovinky. Since the down fall of Communism in Slovakia, besides the St. George byzantine church there is a newly constructed Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church in Slovinky.

    According to the Slovinky mayor most of the village went back to their Orthodox Christian roots post Communist era.

    ZBOHOM !

    ReplyDelete