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Documenting my ancestors and helping others with their research.
The TÓTH Family
Tóth Family from Tiszadob:
Eszter Tóth’s parents, Károly Tóth and Mária Tóth, were distant cousins and both descend from the same paternal Tóth lineage. The Reformed parish registers for Tiszadob only date back to 1786, which unfortunately doesn’t allow us to fill that gap of lost knowledge of their exact connection. However, the direct paternal line through Károly Tóth seems the most complete and with their information I was able to locate the Tóth family’s nobility information.
Paternal Line:
Generation 1: Mihály Tóth & NN
Generation 2: István Tóth & Erzsébet Csetneki
Generation 3: Mihály Tóth Boros & Erzsébet Handa
Generation 4: Mihály Tóth Boros & Mária Tóth [unrelated-NOT noble]
Generation 5: László Tóth & Zsuzsánna Bódogh de Bodogfalva (noblewoman)
Generation 6: Károly Tóth Á. & Mária Tóth (noblewoman)
Maternal Line:
Generation 1: Mihály Tóth & Zsuzsánna Szabó
Generation 2: József Tóth & Juliánna Szük (noblewoman)
Generation 3: Mária Tóth & Károly Tóth Á. (nobleman)
Tóth Family Noble Origins
Tót is the Hungarian word for a Slovak person, or a person of such origins, and also happens to be one of the most common surnames in Hungary. Researching our Tóth ancestors was fairly straight-forward, as they had been living in Tiszadob, where Eszter Tóth was born, for at least 150 years prior. There are many Tóth families from Tiszadob within the Reformed Church parish registers and we’re quite honestly related to most of them - our Tóth ancestors had very large families and would continue to do so well into the 1900’s. There are dead-ends with certain lines, which I’m unable to accurately connect into the larger family tree, solely due to Tiszadob’s Reformed church parish registers only beginning in 1786. However, because they’re noted as “Ns.” or “Nemes”, the Hungarian word for ‘noble’, we know they are ultimately of the same family - there was only one noble Tóth family documented in Tiszadob.
Károly Tóth’s grandfather, Mihály Tóth (1781-1846), was known as “Boros Tóth Mihály” within the village to help differentiate himself from others with the same name. Boros is a Hungarian adjective related to ‘wine’, indicating the family was involved with growing grapevines and producing wine. The “Boros Tóth” name began with Mihály’s father, Mihály Tóth (1752-1818), and continued through his descendants up until about 1900.
The 1755 nobility census for Szabolcs County, Hungary shows three Tóth men: an elder Mihály, a younger Mihály and an István.
In 1750, Mihály and István Tóth, whom I can only presume to be brothers, along with Mihály’s son István and István’s son Mihály, donated the Tóth family armalis to the Lelesz convent for preservation. The armalis that was preserved was granted to brothers Imre, Benedek, Jakab and Ambrus Tóth on 26 Feb 1580 in Prague by King Rudolf II. It further states the armalias had been published in 1583 in Eger, Heves County, Hungary, indicating this is likely the region the family had been residing in at the time of ennoblement. I believe Mihály and István Tóth to be sons of the Mihály Tóth mentioned in the next paragraph. I also believe István Tóth passed away sometime between the 1750 preservation of the armalis and the previously mentioned 1755 nobility census.
In 1728, appearing within a feudal census in Tiszadob, nobleman “Michael Thott” is shown as being the largest landholder of all the nobles in the village. He had a total of 48 “sessiones rusticontas,” which were essentially plots of land for agriculture. The other nobles mentioned were Stephanus Aranyász (14), Stephanus Porkoláb (39) and Martinus Porkoláb (16). The Porkoláb’s were one of the largest noble families within Tiszadob and many of our distant aunts, uncles and cousins married into our family throughout the centuries - we are heavily connected to them.
On 5 Jul 1725, Mihály Tóth, a resident of Tiszadob, Hungary, had produced the armalis granted by King Rudolf II as part of the nobility investigation. He further stated the armalis had been published in Külső-Szolnok County, Hungary. Historically, Külső-Szolnok County and the above-mentioned Heves County were one county from 1569-1876, so the documents from 1725 and 1750 are in actuality citing the exact same county the armalis was published within. Mihály Tóth supposedly provided a genealogy, which the court found insufficient. No record of this genealogy has been found, though I continue searching.
It’s unclear when the Tóth family migrated to Tiszadob, but they must have been residing in the Heves & Külső-Szolnok County area of Hungary around 1580-1583. That leaves us with almost 150 years of unaccounted history and an unclear image of how we descend from the four brothers Imre, Benedek, Jakab and Ambrus Tóth. As was mentioned in the paragraphs above, the four brothers were granted their armalis on 26 Feb 1580 in Prague by King Rudolf II. The armalis was preserved in the Lelesz convent in 1750 and it still exists. At that time, the Lelesz convent was a type of medieval notary and was a repository for endless documents.
I was able to obtain a digital reproduction of the armalis through the Slovakian National Archives in late 2010, immediately after it had been on tour as the centerpiece of a national exhibit. 99% of the writing on the document is in gold ink and gold also outlines and is included in the coat of arms that appears on the upper left-hand corner of the armalis. The coat of arms depicts a man’s left arm holding a sword with a severed Turk’s head. The crest on top of the coat of arms is an angel with her right hand over her left breast, resting on the king’s royal crown. The angel also has a religious cross on top of her head.
There is a lot of symbolism represented within this coat of arms that should be discussed, as it creates speculation on the Tóth family’s origins and how they may have obtained their noble status. The Turk’s head severed on a sword is clearly meant to represent the ongoing battles with the Ottoman Empire at that time. The four Tóth brothers, or even their father, may have assisted in military campaigns against the Ottomans. The angel signifies something to do with the church - they could be related to high-ranking church officials, much like the Bódogh family and their distant uncle Blasius Péterváradi, or could’ve helped save a church during one of their military campaigns. Much like the origins of the Gombás surname, we can only speculate, however there is no doubt that these images most definitely held meaning to the four Tóth brothers.
Finding the genealogy that Mihály Tóth provided the court in 1725 would help significantly, but that may be lost to history. I feel I also need to mention that I haven’t been able to locate any other noble Tóth family in Hungary claiming descent from the four brothers Imre, Benedek, Jakab and Ambrus Tóth. Only the noble Tóth family from Tiszadob had a right to use this coat of arms.
Because of fascination with heraldry, we can unfortunately find our specific Tóth family’s coat of arms across the internet on objects for sale. This is likely because they were one of the first Tóth families in Hungary to obtain noble status, thus being the first Tóth entry in many heraldry books and the go-to for these heraldry websites.
Tóth Family Brickwalls
Erzsébet Tóth m. Mihály Székely [landlord/property manager for Count Andrássy]
b. abt 1766, likely Tiszadob b. abt 1760, likely Tiszadob
m. bef. 1786, likely Tiszadob d. 25 Feb 1836
d. 3 Mar 1836, TiszadobMihály Tóth m. unknown
b. bef. 1689
d. aft. 11 Jul 1755, TiszadobMihály Tóth m. Zsuzsánna Szabó
b. abt 1777/1778, likely Tiszadob b. abt 1784/1785, likely Tiszadob
m. 3 Feb 1802, Tiszadob d. 24 Jan 1844, Tiszadob
d. 26 Jul 1831, TiszadobSára Tóth m. János Porkoláb [nobleman]
b. abt 1749, likely Tiszadob b. abt 1748, likely Tiszadob
m. bef. 1776/1778, likely Tiszadob d. 5 Mar 1820, Tiszadob
d. 18 Nov 1817, Tiszadob
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