Magyar nyelven ez az oldal itt olvasható

Magyarországi Magyarpolonyt

John Joseph Agoston was born some place in Austria/Hungary. One family legend says he is Austrian.

He froze to death while driving his horse and wagon to his home from town. His oldest son, Fabian, who lived in town, asked him to spend the night because it was snowing so hard, but John wanted to get home to his family. When the horse pulled up to the house, Catherine, his wife, saw that he was frozen. They got him into the house, and put him next to the fire. As he began to thaw, he lost his fingers and toes and died shortly after that. His son, George, was a little boy of 6 years old. (This would make his death date 1888 instead of 1891.)

There are several versions of this story. The one above is from George's descendants more or less.

In the story told by Theresa Myrle Augustine Carden he was returning from delivering food to a convent as tuition payment for his daughters attending school. He fell and broke his leg and died on the side of the mountain.

Marie Augustine Haskin's version of the story is more like the first one but with a sled accident or he was "set upon." An old man, (servant?) brought him home. He died after asking his oldest son, Fabian, to take care of the family. (Marie is descended from Fabian Adam as am I.)

Michael Augustine (one of John Joseph's son's) was heard to tell the story that he was hauling fire wood in a horse and wagon and that it turned over and he froze to death immediatly.

According to Francis Marie Augustine Haskin, Fabian Adam was 17 at the time of his father's death. If true that means John Joseph died in 1888 instead of 1891 or that Fabian Adam was born in 1874 instead of 1870. The 1888 date agrees with the account of George's descendants.

There was also a story that the family went into hiding after his death and went to America for a short time by way of Greece. The whole family went back and Fabian went to American because there was not a job to be had in all of Hungary.

Note from Theresa Myrle Augustine, Dec 3, 1985: "People who have lived many generations in this country do not remember a time when their surname was any different than it is now. But people who came to this country, after there was an immigration service with bureaucrats checking them into the country, sometimes suffered a name change because the bureaucrats could not spell their names or understand them when they tried to speak English. Also many immigrants wanted to leave the 'old country' behind them and be Americans and took names that were more Anglicized. I don't really know what the case was with my ancestors, but both sides suffered name changes. "In the case of 'Augustine' there is a difference of opinion. At least one of my uncles said it was 'Augustefer,' but my father said it was 'Agosta.' I have accepted the 'Agosta,' and use it for John Joseph Agosta, the father of Fabian Adam Augustine.

According to Francis Marie Augustine Haskin the "Magyarized" version of Augustine is L'agrostan.

In talking with Lousia Lynch and Mary Ellen Augustine, descendants of George Augustine, I have become convinced that the name in the old country was Agoston. I also think, albeit with less conviction, that Agoston is nothing but Augustine in Hungarian form. I believe that in the generation preceding John Joseph Agoston that the family immigrated from Germany or Austria and that they suffered a name change then similar to the one described above by my mother above. -Thor Carden 9-27-1997

Kevin Paulitz, visited Magyarpolony, Hungary in 1982. According to his research Terezia Paulitz was John Joseph Agoston's wife. Her parents were Stephanus Paulics and his second wife, Catherine Bugardart. Stephanus' parents were Georgius Paulics and Eva Majer. One of Stephanus' other children was the grandfather of Leonard and Catherine Paulitz.

From some notes written by John William Augustine some time before July, 1979, I know that the Agoston's spoke German. They may have also spoken Magyar (Hungarian) but that is not mentioned. I also know that Fabian Adam took a trip to Nebraska when John William was a boy. He went with the intent of determining whether it would be suitable to move his family there and decided not to.

Many of the Paulitz consider themselves of German decent rather than Hungarian. The Augustine and Paulitz surnames are fairly common in Germany. George and Fabian certainly spoke German.

There are a lot of Augustines of German decent in Nebraska. They came to this country from Schacten, Bavaria during John Joseph Agoston's parent's generation and made their way to Wisconsin and Nebraska in the second generation. Polony, Hungary is about 200 miles east of Schachten, Bavaria. Among these Peter Augustin came to the US and eventually to Wisconsin. Peter's son migrated to Nebraska. I have not been able to establish any relationship to us.

Another apparently unrelated Augustine correspondent says his family is from the Alsausse-Loraine region between France and Germany. This is next to Bavaria.

During the last several centuries German people have migrated throughout Central Europe. Indeed the language of commerce in Central Europe is German. From Kevin's notes on his trip to Polony I know that it is a town that used to be as much German as Hungarian but has become mostly Hungarian.

Some two million people immigrated from the old Austro-Hungarian empire to the USA between 1890 and 1910. Among them were many of our relatives.

The following paragraph was taken from a geography book that was written in 1918. It might help put things in perspective:
     "No other large European nation has such a mixture of races as Austria-Hungary. The Germans are the largest element; many languages are spoken, the predominant tongues being German in Austria, and Magyar in Hungary. Political antagonism, growing out of racial differences, sometimes disturbs business. Strife, in recent years, between the Czech and German nationalities in Bohemia, the most industrial province, has resulted, for example, in the refusal of many Czechs to trade with German merchants or buy German goods."

Contributed by Thor Carden - 1997

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Disclaimer:  The purpose of this Web Page is to share information for the purpose of research.  I have not proved documentation of all genealogy material, nor have I kept source notes as I should.  But I had lots of fun and met some great people along the way..

If you find any mistakes please contact the Web Page creator, Trisha Carden  , and I shall try to correct them.