How Many Siblings? Let Me Count the Ways….

By Kathleen MacLeod Hanzeli

On 23 April 1991, my father in law, Victor E. L. Hanzeli, died.  He was 65.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary on 21 October 1925, an only child.  He lived through the Nazi occupation and the siege of Budapest, which was the second longest of World War II (102 days.)  He had been a seminary student in Vienna, but due to the war he wasn’t able to complete his studies there.  Instead, he returned to Budapest, met my mother in law, escaped (with accompanying stories the likes of which movies are made!) with her and her parents and sister to the West in 1947, moved to New York City via Salzburg and Paris and eventually settled in Bloomington, Indiana, where my husband and his sister were born.  Later they came to Seattle, where they contributed three more children to the good of society.  Victor completed his studies, earning his Ph.D in Romance Languages and Linguistics at Indiana University in Bloomington and became a professor at the University of Washington.  He taught there until his retirement, shortly before his death.

He was a very smart man.  But he couldn’t count.

One day, after his cancer was diagnosed as terminal, he sat me down with the purpose of telling me all he knew of his father’s many siblings;  there were twelve - or so the story went.  He named many:  Gyula, Lájos, József (his father), Julia, Béla and others.  But try as he might, he couldn’t remember the last ones.  We knew of Ference, or Feri-bacsi, which means, “Uncle Feri” in Hungarian, because he was a member of the Nazi party.  And of course we knew of József, his father, nicknamed, “Dodi-bacsi” or “Uncle Dodi,” (no one knows why!)

Julia (#3) (Hanzeli) Steinert

Ever since, we have wondered about the rest.  It wasn’t a priority to find them in the years following, but find them we did, out of the blue, because of József’s sister, Julia (Julia #2).

Julia married Gyula (Julian in English) Steinert, MD.  They had two daughters, Ágota and yet another Julia (#3).  Julia (#3) married András (Andrew) Kis and they had two daughters, Nora and Andrea.  Nora never married, but she was the linchpin in this story.  Andrea married and had three delightful sons.

My husband, Gabe, is very good about staying in contact with people.  So he stayed in touch with the relatives still in Hungary.  After many emails and long years, on 4 October 2013, we visited the whole family at Julia’s (#3) house along with her sister, Ágota and daughters Andrea and the responsive Nora! We began to discuss my interest in family history and then it appeared.

in between, Nora finally decided to reply.

The Hanzeli Family Prayer Book.  I admired it in my limited Hungarian it as it is a beautiful little prayer book with covers made of ivory.  The decorations on the front include Mother of Pearl, and it has gilt edged pages, with a “gold” clasp and a leather spine.

When I opened it and looked inside, I nearly swooned.  The Book had belonged to Julianna (#1)   In it she had written the names, birth and death dates of each and every one of her children who had predeceased her - all ten of them.  Wait.  What?  What happened to the other three?!!

(Varga) Hanzeli, mother to all of those thirteen children.

It turns out there were only ten children.  The other family members confirmed this as their knowledge and the older ones, Julia (#3) and Ágota never knew of any other.  The paper trail will confirm their knowledge.  Now it begs the question:  How did my father in law come up with thirteen?  I have learned that the Hanzeli family is very skilled in the art of hyperbole, so I chalked it up to that, at least for the time being.

Ágota Steinert

In the meantime, I scanned, photographed, took copious notes, and tried not to let my tears of joy drop onto the precious little Book.  An hour later I was laughing and we continued to share family stories.

Since then, Julia (#3), Ágota, Nora and Andrea have been very generous with their time and information and have filled in many spots on the Hanzeli family tree.  According to the Prayer Book (and the stories!) the descendants of Julia (#2) Hanzeli and József Hanzeli are all that are left, being the only ones to have descendants.  Feri-bacsi, the Nazi, married a woman with a child.  They ended up in Chicago and I am in contact with the granddaughter.  But that’s it.

                Béla           1891 Julius 8                  Béla meghalt [died] 1911 August 12, age 20, No children.

                I. József      b. 1892 November 25    Józsika meghalt [died] 1901 Szept 18, age 9

                Ilonka         b. 1894 February 25       never married, no children

                I. Lájos       b. 1895 March 31           Lájos meghalt [died] 1895 August 3, age 4 1/2 months

                Ference       b. 1896 November 8      Chicago lady’s grandfather by marriage

                Margit         b. 1899 January 25        dau. is Ágnes, who m. Géza Diennes, no children.

                II. Lájos      b. 1900 August 19         Committed Suicide, age 20, no children

                II. József     b. 1901 October 24        Victor HANZELI’s father “Dodi”, d. 1971

                Julia (#2)     b. 1905 February 6        children:  Ágota &Julie (#3).  Julie’s children:  Nora, Andrea, Atilla (d. 2018)

                Gyula          1911 August 12             d. 1 day.  Béla also d. this day of pneumonia.

There were other notes in the book, including the date of Victor’s birth.

After we left, the book disappeared into some safe place and I have just photos to remember it.

We have visited Budapest several times since and have continued to glean more family information as relatives remember a story they wish to relate.  In 2015, all the photos came out and I spent hours scanning and taking notes.  This last trip, in June of 2019, I asked for and received four DNA tests.  They continue to be happy that I am doing this research and will have a record of the Hanzeli family, even if there aren’t many of them left.  But, the good news is that Gabe and I have nine grandchildren, six of them boys, so the family will definitely go on!

Lesson to be learned:  Family members have good stuff!  Ask them!

Kathleen MacLeod (Brown) Hanzeli

© 2019