Joseph Amon: My Father's family stumbling block

Question

I know that my second great grandfather Gustav Charles Amon (Amon-124) came to the US from Hungary in the late 1800's. Depending on what census year you go by he came over between 1883 and 1893.  His death certificate states that his father was Joseph but I am stump at finding information about a Joseph Amon (Amon-125) that may be correct.  If Gustav was born in Austria-Hungary like his death certificate says then there should be info in Hungarian for him.  I just can't read Hungarian.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

Where in USA did he live,Census records he is in,Who did he Marry

and give me dates.

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I see in some records born Austria Hungary,in others ,Germany

Same with wife Elizabeth.

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There is a lot of information on Gustav Amon at Family Search.

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LK7W-KZZ

I have a record of Gustav Amon immigrating to the US from Germany in 1891 on the ship City of Paris

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QVS2-RSMV : 12 March 2018), Gustav Amon, 1891; citing NARA microfilm publication M237 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm .

I also have a record from were he and his wife, Elizabeth Paesjs (sic), had a child in New York, NY. Her name is Lillian Amon.

"New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WSV-7S6 : 11 February 2018), Gustave Amon in entry for Lillian Amon, 15 Feb 1896; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 8555 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,330.

Then I have a record of one of his son's deaths in Columbus, Ohio dated 01 May 1908

"Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F6V1-576 : 10 March 2018), Gustav Amon in entry for Cornelius Francis Amon, 01 May 1908; citing Death, Columbus, Franklin, Ohio, United States, source ID 1908 v 3 fn 963, County courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 2,032,522.

I know that the family settled in Ohio after that.

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some of his children listed as half brothers and William and Joseph born

in New York??"?

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At least the first three children were born in New York.  The immigration record for Gustav has him bound for New Jersey on arrival.

Answer 1

Have you seen this New York marriage reference?  There's some VERY similar details to your family, spouse's name is Pisaji.... might bear further investigation.

"New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24CQ-LXW : 10 February 2018), Gustav Amon and Erassi Pisaji, 09 Sep 1893; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,452,484.

Comments

It has all the right dates and places but not the right parents.  I am just trepidatious about adding information that I can't lay eyes on the real documents.

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You said in you initial question that your info for Gustav's Father came from his death certificate.  As Gustav obviously wasn't the one filling that information in, and at least two of his sons didn't even know their own Mother's maiden name (born out by their marriage records), I would say that the name of Joseph is sketchy at best right now.  But as it sounds like you're set on Joseph being the correct name, is there anything other than that death certificate to substantiate this?  Is Joseph mentioned anywhere else?

Going back to the wedding record I found, yes, some of the names are not as expected.  But Erssi should most likely be Erzsi which is the diminutive of Erzsebet, which is Hungarian for Elizabeth.  I think it's worth checking this out, are there for example, census records in New York, or birth records of other children, for this couple that would definitely put them out of the running?  At the end of the day you have two very distinctive names to search for, which I know can also be a hindrance, but as we're not looking for John Smith and Elizabeth Brown, we should really be looking at everything we can find and try to build the bigger picture.

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You make some very valid statements and I have to agree with you.  I do not have anything else other than the one death certificate.

The information on the name Elizabeth is very enlighting.  Thank you for that bit of information.

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With this information, I found a site called Behind the Name and it says that Charles is Carolus in ancient Germanic.

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I use Behind The Name quite a lot, it's very useful for finding possible Anglicized versions of first names from other countries or cultures.

Answer 2

Lillian Amon married Joe C. Hay in Ohio in 1919, she lists her Mother as Elizabeth Peahiji (or at least the Family Search transcription lists her as that!).  Two of Lillian's brothers marriage licenses are also on FS but the don't list their Mothers maiden name.

"Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X86M-J29 : 10 December 2017), Gustav Amon in entry for Joe C. Hay and Lillian M. Amon, 30 Dec 1919; citing Franklin, Ohio, United States, reference CN 54614; county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 1,854,973.

Elizabeth Amon died on 16 April 1916 and was buried on 19 April 1916.  Her death certificate lists her Father as Emil Pacsay (sic) and states she was born in Hungary on 29 September 1876.

"Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X8N7-XM6 : 9 March 2018), Elizabeth Amon, 16 Apr 1916; citing Columbus, Franklin, Ohio, reference fn 24725; FHL microfilm 1,983,648.

Comments

All of that information is correct but I still can't find information on Gustav's parents. 

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Correct, but trolling around all the other little pieces of information that can be found might lead to a bigger discovery in the long term.  Or it might spark another researcher on here to look down an alley that might lead to success.  This info might not be immediately useful to you, but in the long run it might be pivotal.

I researched a family from this period for a friend a couple of years ago and traced them back to modern day Croatia.  It wasn't a sudden massive discovery, but a long trail of little breadcrumbs in the end that won the day.

Answer 3

After Elizabeth dies, there is a niece with the family on the 1920 census, Anna Goeb.  I thought this might be an avenue of exploration but... I'm not getting anywhere:

1920 census - "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDT3-4X2 : accessed 7 August 2018), Elizabeth Amon in household of Gustav Amon, Perry, Franklin, Ohio, United States; citing ED 294, sheet 14A, line 39, family 176, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1380; FHL microfilm 1,821,380.

1910 census, her parents are listed as being born in Germany, but the Amons were also listed as being born in Germany at this time too (the Austian Hungarian Empire was very large and complicated and was only dissolved in 1918, which is why the 1920 census typically shows true countries of birth, instead of Austria, Hungary or Germany).

"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDT3-4X2 : accessed 7 August 2018), Elizabeth Amon in household of Gustav Amon, Perry, Franklin, Ohio, United States; citing ED 294, sheet 14A, line 39, family 176, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1380; FHL microfilm 1,821,380.

Anna's possible birth reference, although how helpful it is at this point is yet to be known.  If she is a niece of Gustav Amon but had a different name to him I had hoped that her mother was his sister, but the name is different again!

"Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRM2-9BW : 13 March 2018), Anna Elizabeth Gabe, 20 Aug 1902; citing Birth, Newark, Licking, Ohio, United States, county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 384,321.

Comments

Anna's parents are possibly Sixtus Goeb and Mary Pacsaje.  Mary may be the sister of Elizabeth.

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I looked up the wedding record of this couple in the hope that Mary had listed the same parents as Erssi in the New York record, but despite finding the record in Ohio, Mary (or Maria in this case) had not listed them at all.  All I could discover was that she was 20 and born in Hungary.

I found Sextus alone, but married, in the 1910 census, and he died in 1919.  The death certificate said he was divorced.

I can't find anything on Anna, but I did find a Rose/Rosa Goeb born to this couple around 1903, who sadly was in an orphanage in Franklin in the 1910 census..... and Mary/Maria seems to disappear.

Answer 4

Daniel - Glad to see you've made some headway with your family.  Interesting turn of events that they're actually Slovakian and not Hungarian, that pesky Austro-Hungarian Empire causes us a lot of headaches!

There's a nice Wiki article here on Banská Bystrica:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bansk%C3%A1_Bystrica

And I found two more sons, brothers for Gustavus here:

Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935, database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZYR-JSD : 19 July 2017), Carolus Amon, 31 Oct 1875; citing p. , 170, Baptism, Banská Bystrica, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia; FHL microfilm 1,982,772.

and here (and this one is called Joseph):

Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935, database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDFY-L9H : 19 July 2017), Gustavus Amon in entry for Josephus Amon, 07 Feb 1858; citing p. , 17, Baptism, Banská Bystrica, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, Odbor Archivnictva (The Archives of the Republic), Slovakia; FHL microfilm 1,982,771.