The Inhabitants of Gyönk Settle in Mekenyes 1735

By Henry Fischer
Published at DVHH.org, Nov 11, 2006 by Jody McKim Pharr

Mekenyes was an uninhabited wasteland after the explusion of the Turks and was designated as such in the conscription lists in the 1730s as part of the Eszterhazy Ozora Domains. But there is evidence that it was inhabited by a population of wandering Serbs and Croats. Among the many Serbian names in the County, one of the most common was Mekenysi, which was the name of the place from which they had originally come from.

It was in 1692 when the wastes of Mekenyes became part of the Ozora Domains of the Paladin of Hungary, Paul Eszterhazy. Even though there were no inhabitants, the land was cultivated. This was also true in Kozar and Tofu. These undeveloped lands were often used by the neighbouring villages for grazing, acorn gathering, firewood and hunting. Sometimes the peasants worked the land secretly and did not give the landlord his share of the crop. The protocols of the County note such infringements and the fines levied against the villages of Apar, Vejke and Bereny in 1717, and in 1719 those in Musci, 1728 Lengyel was charged for unlawful use of the Mekenyes lands.

It was on February 23, 1735 that an agreement was signed by the Eszterhazy agents with Johann Schneider, Peter Christ and Magnus Wissner who had come from Gyönk, but who had arrived there from Germany in 1728, who along with others sought to develop a new village settlement. All of them had their origins in Hesse.

In 1725, fifteen German families settled among the Hungarian population of Gyönk. With the exception of one family, they all came from Ciko. They were later joined by others from Germany, but many became dissatisfied due to the harsh servitude demanded of them by Peter Magyari-Kossa, after he moved there in 1734.

When he learned of his subjects’ plan to leave, he expropriated their 26 oxen to cover their debts to him as he saw it. He had them driven 200 hundred kilometers to his estates in Komarom. This led to a battle in the County Courts and would be an uneven struggle, and the would-be settlers for Mekenyes were forced to pay a fine. The final agreement with Magyari-Kossa was signed by the richter: Peter Christ and the two council representations: Johann Georg Lotz and Johann Schneider. The agreement was witnessed by the German Lutheran pastor, Johann Rudolph Walther and the Hungarian Reformed preacher, Istvan Milnai. The names of the 29 families who left to resettle in Mekenyes are to be found with the agreement along with the miller and brewer who are not named personally.

The following is the list of the first of these settlers who resettled from Gyönk. Following their name is the number of years they had lived in Gyönk before leaving:

Jakob Stirner (8)

Johann Berg (3)

Kaspar Trapp’s widow (9 ½)

Johann Philipp Trapp (2)

Konrad Scheidemann (8)

Balthazar Köhler (4)

Werner Theiss (7)

Georg Adolph Steitz (8)

Konrad Krähling (9 ½)

Andreas Wiesner (5)

Adam Hansmann (6)

Konrad Theiss (8)

Georg Karl (7)

Konrad Hollenbach (4)

Georg Christ (4)

Konrad März (8)

Christoph Kolb (9 ½)

Jakob Opfer (9)

Nikolaus Schäfer (4)

Johann Georg Lotz (7)

Johann Schneider (7)

The Brewer (8)

Bernhard Geiss (2)

Johann Heinrich Riel (8)

Johann Heinrich Neller (9 ½)

Peter Christ (7)

Dietrich Helfenbein (7)

The Miller (1)

Konrad Krähling, Christoph Kolb, the widow of Kaspar Trapp and Johann Heinrich Neller had been in Gyönk for 9 ½ years. They came to Gyönk in 1725 among the first German settlers from Ciko. Mekenyes was their “third home” in Hungary.

On the basis of the tax lists in the following years, we note that other newcomers arrived from Gyönk and other villages in Tolna County as well as from Germany itself.