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The Pekar surname is rooted in the occupation of our ancestors: bakers. The name is found in Slovakia, across eastern Europe, and has its highest concentration in Belarus (https://forebears.io/surnames/pekar).
Our Maria "Erma" Pekar was the daughter (perhaps the only child) of Janos Pekar and Catharina Jabroczky. She was baptized in Markusovce, Slovakia shortly after her birth - which may have been a location chosen by her godparents, as it often was in Slovakia.
However, by and large, the Pekar family is most represented in Slovakia in the areas of Plavec and Plavnica - southeast of (and downriver from) Stara Lubovna.
Our Maria "Erma" Pekar married Franciscus Kolodzey in 1893 in New Jersey. She died 14 years later on 15 August 1907 at the age of 35 from Typhoid fever. Her 4 boys were still very young, and did not know very much of her family's story. One of the very few documents that we have is her marriage record that listed her parents - were it not for this document, we would likely not even know the tiny amount we do know. On the document, she listed her parents, which led us to find her baptism record. Unfortunately, there is not much more that we know about her family's story. Perhaps one day we will stumble upon her parents' marriage record or make a connection to family member through DNA.
▪ John Jacob Kolodzey (b: 1896) named his mother as "Maria Piccar [or Pekar]" on his marriage record to Alice Brecht in 1919.
▪ Maria 'Irma' Pekar named her father as "Johann Becker" and her mother as "Kath. Jabrocki" on her marriage record.
▪ A baptism record was found for Maria with parents listed as Joannes Pekar and Catharina Jabroczky dated 13 Oct 1872. This is likely her baptism record - as it matches the correct time frame and correct parents. No other records that match both parent names and year of birth have been found.
▪ The baptism occurred in Markusovce, but the family was listed as living in Babina 66 (not Markusfalu, or Markusovce). There is a far away town of Babina, but since this address shows up in multiple baptism and marriage records in Markusovce, it is unlikely that multiple families with the same address would travel 80 miles across two mountain ranges just to baptize their child in Markusovce.
▪ Given the above argument, "Babina" is likely the name of a road or a nearby village that has since changed its name. The changing of town names happened several times in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries as different factions ruled over the Slovaks, so this is not uncommon.
UPDATE - an old Hungarian map shows the village of Felso Babina southwest of Markusovce.... see the picture in the gallery below.
▪ A search of records for either "Pekar" or "Jabroczky" in the Markusovce records reveals there are no other instances of either family there. Add to that the fact that the godparents often chose the location for the baptism, and not the parents, and determining their origin becomes even harder.
▪ There are, however, a large number of Pekar families in the village of Plavec nad Popradom, and a sizeable number of Jabroczky families in Havka - both are a short distance from Stara Lubovna.
▪ Maria married Franciscus Kolodzey in New Jersey, so they may not have known each other in Slovakia.
Satellite photo showing the same locations as the Old Hungarian map.
As the picture depicts, this site is dedicated to the Kolodzeys that left behind the mountains of Slovakia, Galicia, Deutchia, and Prussia to live in the United States of America. This is our story.