The Settlement and Colonization of

Kalaznó

In the 1720s

From the Book:  Franken und Schwaben in Ungarn

By:  Heinrich Kéri

Translated by:

Odis A. Schlösser

In the County Archives of Tolna, included with the tax collector’s documents, there are two pages with the names of the first settlers in Kalaznó.  A villager who knew the people involved because his handwriting is rather rudimentary probably wrote them.  The first page contains the names of the arrivals in the year 1722; amongst them even the names of the deceased are included (Nikolaus Rausch is dead, Johannes Schirmer has died, Johannes Lang also died later in the year 1722.)  The second page names the settlers of the year 1723; the Latin text written in a different hand (June, in the year 1723) attempts to determine the time of their arrival more closely.  But, according to the Conscription Lists of 1724, they are said to have arrived in July/August.

The County tax conscriptions begin with the year 1696 and extend up to 1752.  Beginning with the 1720s, they were carried out almost annually until 1739, then only occasionally.  With regard to the State and the County, the new arrivals were initially tax-free for three years, later six, but without any robot service due to the estate owners; nevertheless they were included in the register in order to be able to classify them among the tax payers in accordance with the expiry of the specified period allotted to them.  Since tax collectors and tax evaders often go hand in hand, people repeatedly attempted to shroud the year of their arrival.  There are therefore details in the tax registers that contradict one another.  At the same time the estate owners and their stewards knew that they could hope for more for themselves if their subjects carried a lesser tax burden.

It appears, however, that the tax registration was undertaken with appropriate care.  During the development of the yearly tax people would have consulted the registers of the previous year and with those from other villages.  Drawing up an error free tax register is nevertheless impossible for us.  Importance was not always attached to the accuracy of listing the settlers who were still not paying taxes.  Various spellings of family names, confusion over proper names or their names in ordinary use as well as double forms of their names make it difficult to identify some of them with accuracy.

The Conscriptions for a certain year were, for the most part, were already being carried out towards the end of the previous year.  It is obvious from the Kalaznó tax register that the current year was already being taken into account for the new arrivals in April; while with a later arrival the count only began in the following year.  The regulations were often associated with the festival of Pentecost and those who arrived afterwards in a sense gained another tax-free year.  Occasionally, only the arrival year is cited in the Kalaznó tax register, while in terms of the last arriving settlers it is calculated from the cited free years. 

It is the register written by the hand of a settler in Kalaznó that is of particular and primary importance to us.  The names that are not found in the preceding registers can be found in the other one.  The names that occur in the conscription register of the relevant year are indicated with an asterisk (*) in the columns.

In the first year the settlers (31, 32, 33) continued to move on elsewhere or returned to their home, two further individuals only had their homes in Kalaznó for two or three years.  In terms of another individual (30) he appears to have repeatedly moved from village to village (there are breaks and gaps in 1728 and can be assumed to be just approximate).  The registers show a startling high death rate in the first years; in most cases they were predominantly young people.  Among the first twenty-nine settlers in the Kalaznó register, three of them died in the first year; further new deaths are recorded until 1727.  Probably during the conscription in the following year the facts were often entered into the register or only the name of the widow appears.

The register of 1724 does not reveal any new names.  The register for 1725 lists an additional sixteen names.  In the following year, “from Germany” is recorded next to their names.  Two of them (41, 47) died, four of them (34, 36, 37, 49) perhaps moved on, while the rest settled permanently in the village.

The conscription register for 1726 reports thirty-five new names.  Four of them (67 through to 70) arrived in the previous year but move on fairly soon afterwards.  With regard to seventeen others (51, 52, 71 through to 85) the year of their arrival can be calculated from the tax-free years; this group accordingly moved into another village just outside of Kalaznó.  Kalaznó was possibly also the second domicile in Hungary for another group (53 through to 66) and for many of them, not their final place of residence.  There is one new name in the register of 1727.  It probably is a mistake (either 53 or 52).

Five new names show up again in the register of 1728 whose bearers had arrived in that year but they do not appear again in the register of 1729.  In the year 1728 the community of Kalaznó had stabilized with approximately forty resident families.  Most of them had their own homes, but some were renters.  In the next five years only a few changes can be   noted.  In 1733 three families moved away, well known family names appear in the register with new first names!  In two or three cases it could be the adult son that appears in the place of the deceased father.  The tax conscriptions of those years already show more secure economic conditions.  They have draught cattle, other farm animals as well and they were able to live off of the yield of their cultivated fields.  The rather difficult early years were now a thing of the past.

	Consctription for June 1723
	Settlers Name	Year	Month	1723	1724	1725	1726	1727	1728	1729	Died
1	Bauermeister, Joh. Just	1722	4	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
2	Bäcker, Lorenz Seniour	1722	7	*	*	*	*	*			+
3	Aul, Michael	1722	7	*	*	*	*	*		*
4	Deckert, Johann Konrad	1722	4	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
5	Becht, Johuyann Konrad	1722	4	*	*	*	*				1724
6	Merkel, Johann	1722	7	*	*
7	Siebel/Sippl, Barthold	1722	4	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
8	Muk/Moks, Johann	1722	4	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
9	Narkang, Nikolaus	1722	7	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
10	Schäfer, Friedrich	1722	7	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
11	Ruppert, Konrad	1722	7	*	*		*	*		*
12	Ernst, Heinrich	1722	7	*	*
13	Rausch, Nikolaus	1722	7								1722
14	Schirmer, Johann	1722	7								1722
15	Lang, Johann	1722	7								1722
16	Bäcker, Lorenz Junior	1723	7		*	*	*
17	Usiger, Johann	1723	7	*							1723
18	Friedmüller, Andreas	1723	7		*	*	*	*		*
19	Diesberger, Johann	1723	7			*	*	*	*	*
20	Herzog, Adam/Adolf	1723	7		*	*	*	*	*	*
21	Daum/Tamm, Georg	1723	7		*	*	*				1727
22	Müller, Christoph	1723	7		*	*	*				1727
23	Kraus/Gross, Johann	1723	7		*	*	*				1727
24	Habicht, Jakob	1723	7		*	*	*	*	*	*
25	Fink, Konrad/Joh.Heinr.	1723	7		*						1724
26	Schauring, Johann	1723	7		*	*	*	*	*	*
27	Rausch, Johann George	1723	7		*	*	*
28	Seiber, Johann Heinrich	1723	7		*	*	*				1727
29	Weiger, Konrad	1723	7		*	*	*				1725
	Conscription 1723
30	Ochs, Johann Heinrich	1722	4	*			*	*			+
31	Knetteler, Johann	1722	7	*
32	Ochs, Sebastian	1722	7	*
33	Ochs, Michael	1722	7	*
	Conscription 1725
34	Lukas, Johann Heinrich	1724	7			*	*	*
35	Stolzenbach, Johann	1724	7				*	*		*
36	Wolf, Johann	1724	7			*	*
37	Lotz/Lutz, Konrad	1724				*	*
38	Decker, Johann	1724	7			*	*	*	*	*
39	Pfeil, Heinrich	1724	7			*	*	*	*	*
40	Stark, Ciriak	1724	7			*	*	*	*	*
41	Mark, Johann Georg	1724	7			*	*				1727
42	Müller/Mülbert, Joh. Chr.	1724	7			*	*	*	*	*
43	Schlitt, Johann	1724	7			*	*	*		*
44	Ferbach, Veit	1724	7			*	*	*		*
45	Jobs/Jost, Konrad	1724	7			*	*	*		*
46	Martin, Heinrich	1724	7			*	*	*		*
47	Rill, Laurenz	1724	7			*	*				1726
48	Werber/Färber, Benedikt	1724	7			*	*	*		*
49	Birger, Johann	1724	7			*	*	*
	Conscription 1726
50	Hann, Johann Adam	1723					*	*
51	Reifenstein, Joh. Georg	1722?					*
52	Lukas, Georg Heinrich	1722?					*		*
53	Lotz/Lutz, Joh. Georg	1723	7				*
54	Stock, Johann Heinrich	1724	7				*	*	*	*
55	Daum/Tamm, Martin	1724	7				*	*		*
56	Widow of Jakob Ross	1724	7				*	*	*	*
57	Riess, Nikolaus	1724	7				*
58	Heppenheimer, Leonhard	1724	7				*	*	*	*
59	Tilger, Hermann	1724	7				*	*	*
60	Mülbert, Christian	1724	7				*
61	Müller, Jakob	1724	7				*
62	Frei, Johann Heinrich	1724	7				*
63	Bläser, Johann Georg	1724	7				*
64	Müüller, Johann Georg	1724	7				*
65	Kissler/Kessler, Johann	1724	7				*
66	Roth, Nikolaus	1724	7				*	*	*	*
67	Sebesten, Andreas	1725					*
68	Thomas, Johann	1725					*
69	Stahl, Valentin	1725					*
70	Seifert, Johann	1725					*
71	Strieder, Johann	1723?					*	*
72	Widos Simon, Johann	1723?					*
73	König, Konrad Walrot	1723?					*				1727
74	Schlitt, Johann Heinrich	1723?					*
75	Kaufmann, Baltasar	1723?					*			*
76	Lotz/Lutz, Joh. Peter	1723?					*	*		*
77	Kerman, Wilhelm	1723?					*
78	Kraus, Peter	1723?					*		*		+
79	Kraus, Johann Jakob	1723?					*	*	*	*
80	Mülbert, Martin	1723?					*	*	*	*
81	Petz/Beck, Peter	1723?					*	*		*
82	Wickert, Dietrich	1723?					*				1726
83	Walter, Batholomeus	1723?					*	*	*	*
84	Hofmann, Ewald	1723?					*	*	*	*
85	Jakobi, Philipp	1723?					*	*	*
	Conscription 1727
86	Lukas/Luchs, Joh. Hein.	1723?						*	*	*
	Conscription 1728
87	Müller, Johann Heinrich	1727?							*
88	Silberstamm, Andreas	1727?							*
89	Mülbert, Christoph	1727?							*
90	Hackmaier, Michael	1727?							*
91	Linthamb, Johann	1727?							*
	Conscription 1729
92	Decker, Bartholomeus	1724?								*

 

Kalazno Conscription List 1723-1729

1739 Conscription List