(These are excerpts from “Heimatbuch Závod in der Tolnau” by Anton Mayer, translated by Henry A. Fischer.)
The period of time allotted to the settlers, in which they were free from paying taxes to the County was extended and a new agreement was negotiated and new settlers were included in the terms. The following is a list of their names:
Thomas Jordan (the Richter) Thomas Miller (Müller)
Nicolaus Schneyder Nicolaus Merck (?)
Adam Minker Nicolaus Till
Johann Firster (Fürster, Förster) Henricus Fink
Paulus Jäger Johann Huck
Perigius (?) Krep, Greep, Kres (?) Valentius Ress (Resch)
Johann Kresmit (Kresschmitt) (?) Johann Seybert (Seifert)
Sebastian Papert (Pappert) Conradus Ser (Sehr)
Antonius (Angel(i)) Stephan Miller (Müller)
Johann Maul Johann Rajt (Reith)
Johann Kornel(i) Thomas Papert (Pappert)
Johann Maul Henricus Simon
Conradus Staab
If we can assume an average of five persons per family household, we are dealing with almost 110 persons who were involved in the beginning of the settlement of Závod, who had set out together from Germany in the first phase of the Schwabenzug (The Great Swabian Migration). Prior to 1722, an additional 25 families arrived, some of who had journeyed with the 60 families who settled in Mucsi, while a few others stayed behind in Högyész. We know with a great degree of certainty that the priest, Peter Willerscheid came with them. He had originated in Fulda and had studied in Cologne. The similarities among the family names of the settlers in Závod and Mucsi indicate a common place of origin in the Bishopric of Fulda and its environs. (When I visited 27 of these communities in Fulda several years ago, I found a record of most of the family names on gravestones and the war memorials of the First World War.) Other settlers who arrived from time to time originated from Grabfeld (Bad Kissingen), Bad Brückenau, Schönau and der Brend, Neustadt and der Saal, the Würzburg area, the Tauber region and the Main and Hanau districts. These settlers came by way of Regensburg on board the so-called Ulmer Schachten and some of them married along the way. Some typical places where such marriages took place include Ulm, Söflingen, Günzburg, Regensburg and Vienna. They would be recorded in the church records there along with others who came later from Alsace, Lorraine, the Saar and the Black Forest regions.
In 1722, the son of Count Prosper Anton Josef Guido Sinzendorf, the hereditary owner of the Apar Domains (later to be known as the Högyész Domain) sold the estate to Count Claudius Florimundus von Mercy for 15,000 Gulden. Count von Mercy also purchased Varsád at that time for 4,500 Gulden and added it to the Domain and negotiated the first settlement contract with the people. According to information I have, the settlers were granted three years of freedom from paying taxes, had to pay a settlement fee of 15 Gulden for the land they worked, and provided 1 Pressburg Measure of wheat (62.5 liters) and delivered three loads of hay annually to the Domain. Mucsi and Závod were the only settlements in Tolna Copunty whose inhabitants came from the Bishopric of Fulda. Other emigrants from the Bishopric of Fulda travelled further down the Danube to Mohács in the Baranya where they were divided up and settled on the various estates of the Bishop of Pécs, Franz Nesselrod, primarily in Himsesháza, Szür, Feked and Bozsok. A few of them went on as far as the Banat, through the efforts of Count von Mercy the well known commander of Temesvár and chief colonizer of the region. We are grateful to the priest who served in Himesháza, Father Gabrieli from the Steiermark in Austria who conscientiously noted the places of origin of his parishioners in the Parish Records beginning in 1732 so that that their descendants would know where their ancestors came from. In the Závod Tax Conscription List (apparently from 1724) the following names appear:
Johann Reith (the Richter) Martinus Weigand
Nikolaus Schneider Johann Firster (Fürster)
Bernhardus Kornel(i) Conradus Staab
Georg(i) Kress (Greeb?) Mattheus (?) Perg(er)
Paulus Jäger Stephan Miller (Müller)
Johann Georg Titzl Adamus Weber
Conradus Schön Baltasar Titz (Dietz?)
Andreas Klih (Klüh) Thomas Papert (Pappert)
Conradus Kremer Johann Ponner (Bohnert)
Andreas Hahner (Hahnert) Stephan (?) Staab
Antonius Ponert (Bohnert) Paulus Pitner (Bittner)
Henricus Fink (Perk?) Nikolaus Meierhof
Nikolaus Reder (Röder) Johann Georg Reith
Johann Michael Kress Leopold Till
Johann Georg Kremer Sebastian Klüber
Johann Miller (Müller) Gasparus Michel
Johann Altmüller R. Martini Cornell(i)
Johann Georg Kornfect Thomas Sipl (Szippl)
Valentius Resch Johann Georg Faust
Sebastanius Paperth Sebastianus Merz (?)
Adamus Minker Valentius Enk
Nikolaus Merz Johann Adam Lochaus (Lochas(l))
Henricus Hartung Johann Orff (?)
Johann Breitenbach Gasparus Vingefeld (Wigenfeld)
Franciscus Papert (Pappert) Johann Georg (?) Reith
Nikolaus Schrimpf Johann Rieger
In Summary: 50 free peasant immigrants
Where did the first settlers in Závod come from? Brüsztles in his “Recensio” from the Závod Parish Chronicle, indicates that they came from Fulda and Franconia; the notary Joseph Molnár serving in Závod later (1829) suggests that they numbered 13 families. On the basis of “Statistics II Fulda 254” from the central office of Fulda, in which more than 100 emigrants from Fulda are registered between 1711 and 1730, I have been able to identify the places of origin of the identified families in ten communities. (They are also mentioned in the Tax Conscription Lists of 1720 and 1724.)
The places of origin are as follows: Johann Reith came from Horau (Horas, but now Fulda), Paul Jäger was from Welkers, Conrad Kremer came from Kammerzell, Hans-Georg Kremer and Thomas Pappert apparently were also from Kammerzell, Johann Förster from Kerzell, Adam Weber came from Rothemann, Johann Georg Faust from Lüdermund, Johann Adam Minker, who will be mentioned again later, came from Weidenau, Johann Breitenbach came from Rhönhausen. Johann Georg Witzl who is mentioned in the Conscription List in Lengyel in 1723 apparently came from Pilgerzell, and Andreas Sturm who is mentioned in the marriage records in Závod also came from Pilgerzell (from my point of view). In the “Statistic II” there also people mentioned who settled in Nadasd and others in Lovászhetény. These records also indicate some settlers returned home to work out their family inheritances with their siblings in 1730 and then returned to Hungary, this included Hans Fink from Mutsching (Mucsi), Hans Hohmann from “thuruck” (a corruption of Kisdorog) and Adam Weber from Sabbath who lived in Závod. In his book, “Main-Franconian Emigration to Hungary” Dr. Pfrenzinger indicates that many familiar names in Závod had their origins in the Spessart in Franconia and as far as the Würzburg region. Among them was the Eibeck family from the area east of Kahl am Main and the Alzenhauer region. Father Kelemen notated the places of origin of some of the later arriving settlers at the time of their marriage in Závod from 1764 to 1776. They are the following:
1764: Michael Seiffert from Fulda married the widow Katharina Müller of Závod
1764: Leonhard Till from Fulda married the widow Dorothea Enders from Fulda
1764: Johann Rehm from Fulda married Anna Maria Wald of Závod
1764: Matthias Röder from Franconia married Anna Seibert of Závod
1767: Johann Dorn married the widow Katharina Wehner from Fulda
1770: Heinrich Baumgart of Fulda married Margaret Reitter of Závod
1776: Georg Tom (Dorn) of Jena married Margaretha Fleck of Závod.
One of the First Settlers: Johann Adam Minker came from Weidenau bei Hauswurz and his brother Johann from Höchst bei Geinhausen came to Závod in 1732. The male line of the latter brother died out while the line of the first mentioned continues to expand in the DDR (the former German Democratic Republic better known as East Germany). With the assistance of one of the remaining Minkers we were successful in tracing the origins of the family back to the 16th century. They were ancient German nobles who once played a role in the history of Hungary. The farther back one goes, it is interesting to note how much migration took place among relatives and friends in this area. It is also surprising that the Stiffoller dialect (from the term Stift Fulda) that was spoken in Závod, is the same idiom still spoken in the area around Fulda as far as Tan, and even more surprising that it had been preserved in Hungary, while the dialect spoken in Mucsi is too difficult to localize with any degree of certainty. But many of the Mucsi people stand fast in their conviction that they came from close to the vicinity of Fulda. Their dialect was probably highly influenced by the large numbers of later arriving settlers from the northern corner of the Bishopric with its many double “a” and double “o” sounds, which also has no relationship to the idiom and dialect spoken in the Stiffoller villages of the Baranya, such as Himesháza, Szür and Véménd.
Because the people of Mucsi and Závod shared many similar traditions and were closely related to one another I will also provide some information on their origins. Beginning in 1745, Father Bayermann, who originated in Würzburg, made notations in the church records about the places of origin for a whole series of names: Leonhard Baumann from Pilgerzell, Margaretha Bayer from Haimbach, Gertrud Büttner from Reinhards, Maria Buhl from Eichenwinden-Steinwand, Katharina Burghard from Pilgerzell, Andreas Harth from Mottoen married Margaretha Enders from Stellberg/Thalua, Georg Hartmann from Rothemann, Johann Georg Heyl from Herolz/Schlüchtern, Nikolaus Jehn married Anna Margaretha Günckel from Poppenhausen, Johann John came from Hettenhausen, Nikolaus Keidl from Rothemann married Maria Wald, Johann Leitsch from Flieden, Johann Müller from Rückers married Margaretha Erb also from Rückers, Johann Östringer married the above mentioned Maria Buhl from Eichenwinden. Sebastian Quell came from Rheinhards, Valentin Wehner from Niderkalbach married Anna Ursula Schmitt from Langenprozeiten am Main, Georg Schwab and Katharina Berninger came from Lütter. Kaspar Schwab married Eva Margaretha Trapp from Löschenrod. Konrad Schwab came from Löschenrod, Margaretha Schneider caem from Gaysching bei Hammelburg. Georg Seiferth came from Wüstensachsen married the widow Anna Rehm from Mucsi. Josef Spohn from Welkers married Anna Barbara of Mucsi. Daniel Streitenberger from Bronnzell, Johann Wehner came from Niderkalbach. Johann Wehner from Morles, Elisabeth Erb came from Albstatdt/Somborn by Geinhausen. Merck? came from Reinhards, Kaspar Müller came from Döllbach.
Because many of the people only knew the dialect form of the name of their home community it was very difficult for the record keepers of the church records in Hungary to be able to identify the correct localty. For example: Dellwich=Döllbach, Haamich=Haimbach, Moabich=Marbach, Thoole=Thalau, Welkersch=Welkers. Zirkemich=Zirkenbach, etc. In the same way, the family name Haimbach in Mucsi became Hambuch. There is one curious note about the dialect spoken in Závod that has existed for over two hundred years. While the vast majority of landowning families spoke the Stiffoller dialect, the poorer families spoke a Main-Franconian dialect that is still used in the area around Schlüchtern today. Whether this was by accident or done on purpose is hard to tell but it is amazing to experience hearing it in our older and first homeland.