And So Forth and So On

Over a thousand years ago, nomads moved back and forth over the Ural Mountains, which separate Europe from Asia. The nomads were believed to have come from western China, and were part of the great migration of people from Mongolia into Europe during the first millenium. Several tribes of them became to be known as Magyars, and eventually they crossed the Carpathian Mountains. Accomplished horsemen as well as ferocious fighters, many of them became marauders who attacked neighboring countries mercilessly. After being repelled, they retreated to the Danube valley, and formed the nation of Hungary.

At the millenium, their first king, Steven turned to Christianity, which brought literacy and new methods of farming. Those settling in the gently rolling hills in the northeastern part of the country were farmers. My father was born in the village of Abod (UH-bowed), which is located in Borsod (BORE-should) County, about 20 miles north of the city of Miskolc (MISH-colts). The “s” in Hungarian is sounded like “sh,” and the pure “s” sound is written “sz.” In the Hungarian language, the accent is always on the first syllable of every word. 

In another town, Kerta (CARE-tah), in Vesprem (VESH-prehm) County, about 85 miles southwest of Budapest, there were still other farmers. It was near Kerta that my mother’s parents were born and raised before moving to Budapest, the capital. My father, Michael Klimko-Kondas (CONE-dahsh), was born in 1884, leaving Abod for America when he was 16 years old. His journey to the New World must have been strange, often exciting, and sometimes intimidating.  It is likely that he left Abod on foot, perhaps hitching a ride on a horse-drawn farm wagon to Miskolc, where he boarded a train. 

Different sights and sounds greeted him during his trip. He may have traveled through Budapest and westward through Vienna, or north, through Prague and Berlin, enduring pangs of homesickness while moving further from the place of his birth. At the port of Bremen, Germany, he boarded the S. S. Kaiser Wilhelm De Grosse. His papers probably listed his two surnames. It is not known when, or why the Kondas name was dropped. Perhaps officials made him choose one, or the two names may not have fit on immigration forms. After arriving in America on November 23, 1900, Klimko is the name he used during the rest of his life. At the time my parents were born, the country was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and large portions of territory were taken from it the end of the First World War in 1918.

 My father was a quiet man and spoke little of the Old Country, and regretfully, I did not inquire about his childhood while he was still living. It is known, however, that from Ellis Island he went to Buffalo, New York. Late he moved on to Cleveland, Ohio, and when the foundry where he worked moved to Medina in 1906, he followed. He labored at the Henry Furnace Company for 45 years as a molder of cast-iron parts for coal-fired furnaces. When he retired, he was a specialty molder, executing jobs requiring a high degree of skill.

My mother was born in Kispest (KISH-peszt), a suburb of Budapest. Her passport was issued February 3, 1921. She left Hungary in March of that year, travelling through Austria and Germany to Rotterdam in Holland, coming to the United States on the S. S. Rotterdam, arriving on April 2, 1921. She also went to Buffalo because her sponsor, a man named Elec Takacs lived there. He was either her cousin or uncle. Immigrants were required to have a sponsor to support them until they could find work. At Buffalo she became a housekeeper for a wealthy Jewish family who operated a retail fur business. The patriarch and his family were very kind and good to her. When he died, his son took over the business, and the house. Things changed. Unlike his father, he proved to be unpleasant to work for. It was then that my mother moved to Cleveland, having learned that work was available there.

In Cleveland, friends introduced her to a nice Hungarian man, who was working and living in Medina not far away. During this time an interurban rail line connected many towns in northeastern Ohio, making travel to and from Cleveland easy and convenient. When I was a young boy, my mother often related some of her experiences.

“It was the evening before our wedding,” she said, “We were visiting your father’s Aunt Barbara in Cleveland. I was chatting with some ladies upstairs when I looked out the window and saw men gathering in the yard below. Your father was in the middle of them!”

“What were they doing?” I asked, surprised by the tone of her voice. She told me that some of the men had knives, they were going to fight each other, and I wanted to know why.

“It’s the drinking that makes them act that way,” Mother said, making me promise never to drink like that when I grew up.