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Genealogy of
Documenting my ancestors and
helping others with their research.
The Gombás-Gombash Family
Gombás Family from Szentmihály:
Our Gombás ancestors, as far back as can be traced on paper, were from Szentmihály in Szabolcs County, Hungary. Szentmihály later merged with the neighboring village of Tiszabüd in 1941, forming Büdszentmihály. They briefly separated in 1946 but merged again in 1950. The name was changed a final time to Tiszavasvári in 1952. Szentmihály is Saint Michael in Hungarian.
-Early Gombás in Szentmihály
-Gombás death records; Szentmihály Reformed church, 1739-1895
Generation 1: Péter Gombás & Erzsébet Balogh Geszti
Generation 2: György Gombás & Sára Fodor hajdúnánási (noblewoman)
Generation 3: József Gombás & Katalin Mezei
Generation 4: Sándor Gombás & Erzsébet Sajti
Generation 5: József Gombás & Zsuzsánna Gulyás
Gombash Family from America:
Generation 6: Sándor Gombás & Eszter Tóth (immigrant ancestors)
Generation 7a: Alex Gombash & Emma Hido (1st wife)
Generation 7b: Alex Gombash & Catherine Grządziel (2nd wife)
Gombás Family History:
From the 1850s to the 1880s, and possibly into the 1890s, our Gombás family was living in household #1041 in Szentmihály, Szabolcs County, Hungary.
An 1870 plan for the village of Szentmihály in Szabolcs County show farmland property #1041 in possession of "Pete József." József Pethe was the second husband of Erzsébet Sajti, widow of Sándor Gombás (generation 4, above).
This tract of farmland is presently located slightly southwest of a company called Tiszamag Kft, along Route 36. This is very near the Tiszavasvári Fehérszik Nature Reserve [Tiszavasvári Fehérszik Természetvédelmi Terület], which is slightly further towards the east.
In the publication Büdszentmihály Története (The History of Büdszentmihály), written by our distant cousin and historian András Gombás (1901-1970), it’s mentioned that the Gombás family were part of the hajdú (mercenary soldiers) that were granted privileges to settle in Szentmihály.
Zsigmond Lónyay inherited Szentmihály sometime after his mother passed away and began residing there in 1623. His late mother, Katalin Báthory, was a close relative to the Princes of Transylvania. Tiszavasvári was then technically part of the principality of Transylvania and because of this it was never fully under Ottoman rule. The residents fled many times to hide in the marshes of the Tisza river for decades, later in the 1600's, but they were never subjugated to the Ottomans like other parts of Hungary.
After settling in Szentmihály, Zsigmond Lónyay petitioned Gábor Bethlen, the advisor to the Prince of Transylvania, requesting to settle hajdú families in his village. Two years later, on 23 Jun 1625, Zsigmond was allowed to settle 77 hajdú families in Szentmihály, with the Gombás family being one of them.
However, I have located a taxation record dated 1611 that clearly shows a man named "Joannes Gombos" in Szentmihály having deserted his farmland. This immediately makes me second-guess András Gombás presumption that the Gombás line were part of the settled hajdúk, which is documented occuring in 1625.
András Gombás also explained how at the beginning of the 1600s, Szentmihály and the surrounding villages found themselves constantly raided and opressed by not only the Turks [Ottoman Empire], but Imperial armies as well. It's documented that Imperial commander Giovan Giacomo Barbiano di Belgioioso could not provide his army with food, so he released them upon the villages allowing them to harass and rob the population. These conditions may reflect why this specific "Joannes Gombos" from 1611 had deserted his farmland.
Either way, it's clear our Gombás line was already residing in Szentmihály prior to 1611.
Gombás Surname:
The combination of my Y-DNA test and my father’s autosomal DNA (both explained further below) test helps paint a better picture of the movement of our paternal line Gombás ancestors. Prior to being settled in Szentmihály as hajdú in 1625, they had been living in Transylvania. It is in Transylvania where we presume our male ancestor began using the Gombás surname, as surnames became more commonplace around the 15th century in this region. The Gombás surname is derived from the Hungarian word ‘gomba,’ meaning mushroom, or fungi. The -ás suffix added onto gomba, resulting in gomba+ás, would create an occupational or physically descriptive term regarding mushrooms = gombás. An example would be someone known to forage and sell mushrooms. Another example could be someone who had a resemblance to a mushroom, such as their haircut. We can truly only speculate how or why our ancestors chose this surname, but I personally run with the mushroom forager one would've found in the town markets.
Gombás Autosomal DNA:
My father’s autosomal DNA matches from Hungary can easily be placed into three specific groups:
The Great Plains and Tisza River regions of northeastern Hungary, involving ethnic Hungarians and Slovaks. This corresponds with our Gombás line from Tiszavasvári, in Northeastern Hungary, as well as our Tóth line from neighboring Tiszadob.
The Banat, most of which is in present-day western Romania, was formerly a region in Transylvania. The Banat was known for being a melting pot of many Germans, Hungarians, Romanians, Croatians, Serbians and also Greeks — all of whom we match with from this region.
The region around Croatia and Serbia, further to the west of the Banat. These were mostly Croatians and Serbians mixed with the spreading Hungarian population.
Gombás Y-DNA:
In August 2011, I had yDNA testing done through FamilyTreeDNA, a company known for specializing in the study of autosomal DNA, yDNA and mtDNA. The test most beneficial to understanding more about our Gombás ancestors would be the yDNA test. The Y-chromosome is inherited from father to son, and so on, and can remain unchanged without mutations for generations. It is only inherited by men and all of us male Gombash cousins should have the same yDNA profile. Read more about these details on the page for Gombás Y-DNA.
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