Koss – Page 2 – GenealogyAtHeart.com

A Title Conferred – The Legend of the PL

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 8 Jul 2015.

Every little girl wants to be a princess and I was no different. My grandmother, Mary Violet Koss, loved to tell the story of how the family was awarded a title of PL by royalty back in the day. The details were sketchy of when the event occurred but the story and the privileges that were a result were a well remembered family legend.

Marauding bands of Turks had been seen throughout the land for some time. As peasant farmers, my family and others like them, were often the first to warn the community of the approaching men on horseback. With a shout in the fields, tools were flung aside and a fast run to the castle for safety ensued. One day, however, not just a few men on horseback appeared but an entire army. Fighting from the castle became intense and many men had perished on both sides. It appeared that the castle would soon be overtaken and in despair, the women, among them my many times great grandmother, decided to take action. Using the communal cooking pots, when a rolling boil was reached the vats’ contents of oil or water was poured down upon the enemy. The fight was soon over as the invaders fled in retreat.

For valor, my grandmother’s husband was awarded the title of PL, an abbreviation of the word plemeniti which is Croatian for “noble.” This permitted the family to have special privileges, such as hunting in the king’s forest, a lessening of the annual taxed amount and a voice in community affairs.

When did this occur? Who was the King that granted the title? Where was the castle located? How can I verify that my family really was awarded this honor? Non did not know but she knew that her father, Joseph Kos, was the last of the line to be able to reap the benefits of the title. Joseph had been a leader in the Austria-Hungary Calvary when Non was a child and his position afforded the family a comfortable life. Unfortunately, while holding his horse that was being re-shoed, the horse kicked Joseph in the chest which caused him to become an asthmatic. He was released from his duties and with no prospects for another career, emigrated in 1910 to America.

As an adult, I wanted to dig further into the family lore and discover what event led to the title. The only additional information I could recall was that as a practicing Roman Catholic, Non had said the Turks not only wanted more land but wanted to put an end to Catholicism. Using religion as my first clue I began to investigate when the region became Catholic.

Although there is not agreement on when Croatia became Christianized, it most likely was over several centuries beginning in the 7th with the faith becoming firmly established by 925 when the ruler Tomislav aligned himself with Pope John X.¹ Most of the titles Tomislav extended were to noncitizens so it is not probable that the PL title was conferred to my relatives by Tomislav.

Next I decided to research when the Ottoman invasion occurred. After Coloman united Austria and Croatia in 1102 ², the Ottoman’s began to invade the area. History records that the Great Turkish War occurred between 1667-1698. I suspect, if the PL designation occurred, it would have been between 1102 and 1698.

My family resided close to the present city of Zagreb; both of my grandparents being born in the tiny village of Dubranec. In 1900, they were 2 of the 454 residents.³ Today, Dubranec is part of the city of Velika Gorica so I investigated battles that occurred nearby. “In 1278 noblemen from Turopolje joined into a union called Plemenita opčina turopoljska (“Noble municipality of Turopolje”). Plemenita opčina turopoljska was granted a rule over Turopolje by Croatian monarchs and exists still today with mainly (a) ceremonial and not political role. Regarding the Turopolje name, among the most common opinions is that the name, meaning “Tur field”, comes from an old Slavic word “tur” which means Aurochs, an ancient type of cattle with long horns, which was a symbol of fertility and the sun god. These cattle died out in the 16th century. The cattle were closely related to agriculture. Plowing had a symbolic meaning, the fertilization of Mother Earth, so these cattle were often assumed to have “sacred” characteristics. Because of its importance in the life of the plowmen, “tur” became the basis for numerous toponyms. However, as recently as the 16th century, Turopolje was called Campus Zagrebiensis, i.e. “Zagreb field”, or just Campus (field). At that time the name was replaced by “Tur field”, i.e. Turopolje”.⁴ Knowing my family were farmers this most likely was the event my Non described.

Investigating further, I found it was King Ladislas IV of Hungary and Croatia who confirmed “the ‘nobles of Turopolje’. (They) originally were (but with no doubt at the time when their charter was issued in 1278, castle-warriors of Zagreb (iobagiones castri Zagra-biensis), i.e. they occupied – because of their military duties – the most honourable rank within the population of the castle, but they were definitely subjugated to the jurisdiction held by the comes of Zagreb.”5 I cannot find reference to an Ottoman invasion of Zagreb during this time, however, Osman I, who was the individual the Ottoman/Turkish empire was named for, did begin to expand settlements into the eastern Mediterranean and Balkans during this time.6

Interestingly, King Ladislas IV was more of a Pagan than a Roman Catholic so he may have more in common with the tur plowmen’s sun god and Mother Earth worship than just military exploits.

The only part of the story left to verify is whether my Kos line was one of the Turopoljes. I was able to find that in the Armorial Book, Duis Dragon Hung, Kos was a name that was granted nobility status.⁷ That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was my line, however. Alas, even if I can confirm

¹ Vladimir Posavec (March 1998).”Historical Maps and Borders in the Age of Tomislav. Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest (in Croatian) 30 (1): 281–290. ISSN 0353-295X. Retrieved 28 Jun 2015.

² Ladislav Heka (October 2008). Croatian-Hungarian relations from the Middle Ages to the Compromise of 1868, with a special survey of the Slavonian issue. Scrinia Slavonica (in Croatian) (Hrvatski institut za povijest – Podružnica za povijest Slavonije, Srijema i Baranje) 8 (1): 152–173.ISSN 1332-4853 Retrieved 28 Jun 2015.

³“Google Translate.” Google Translate. N.p.,Web. 29 June 2015.

⁴“Velika Gorica.” Velika Gorica. N.p., Web. 29 June 2015.

⁵“Noble Communities in Spiš and Turopolje in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.” Noble Communities in Spiš and Turopolje in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. p.224., n.d. Web. 29 June 2015

⁶ The Sultans: Osman Gazi. The Ottomans.org. Retrieved 13 December 2010.

⁷“Google Translate.” Google Translate. N.p., Web. 29 June 2015.

Curse of the Dance

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 5 Jul 2015.

This month I’m fact checking my family legends in honor of my maternal grandmother, Mary Kos Koss’ 115th birthday on July 18th. Non loved to tell stories but since she was somewhat dramatic, I wanted to discover the truths behind the legends. Today’s family tale is rather ominous and as children, my cousins and I repeatedly were warned by older family members to guard against the curse that was placed on our family by a scorned woman.

Long ago, one of our several times great grandmothers was young and beautiful. Being fair of face, with sparkling blue eyes and blonde hair, she was nicknamed Blondie. Her best feature, however, was her shapely legs that could dance the night away. It was then the custom to wear long dresses but that didn’t stop Blondie from hiking up her dress as she danced the intricate steps of the kolo, a type of circle dance A young man who was promised to another woman became smitten by Blondie’s dancing and soon broke off the relationship with his then girlfriend. The relationship with Blondie intensified and the couple was married. The entire village was invited to the wedding feast. At the feast, the ex-girlfriend announced to the villagers that Blondie had stolen her man and because of it, the exgirlfriend was cursing Blondie and all of her descendants to unbearable suffering of their legs. Blondie did not believe in curses so she laughed at the woman and continued to celebrate her wedding. Not long after, however, Blondie did experience pain in her legs and eventually became crippled. The ex-girlfriend never married and lived to a ripe old age alone on the outskirts of the town.

As a child, I assumed that this story was just used to keep us in line when all 11 of us cousins got together and went running at breakneck speed through grandma’s house. I figured it was a version of don’t run with a stick in your hand that most parents tell their children. But as one family member after another sustained leg injuries over the years, myself included, I decided to delve a little deeper.

This is not a story that can be verified as certainly no records would exist that recorded these events. I can confirm that my family loves dancing and are quite musically inclined. The kolo is a Croatian folk dance. “Many young men and women used this as an excuse for courting and teasing one another”1 so there most likely is some basis to the tale of a long ago grandma hiking up her dress at a gathering and gaining the eye of a suitor.

Here’s some pics of my own children – I just assumed it was normal to be this agile and flexible.

I can also give a long list of family members – actually everyone from my great grandparents on down to the present generation, that have been affected with serious issues with their legs and feet – including amputations, freak accidents while white water rafting, motorcycling, snowboarding, bicycling and horseback riding, lots of broken ankles, legs and hips from falling down stairs, bunions, arthritis and ingrown toe nails. I suspect Blondie became crippled from arthritis as that seems to effect most of the female family members.

I shared this story with my doctor daughter who laughed and said we should all just get tested for Ehlers-Dandlos Syndrome. I had never heard of it but after looking up the symptoms, I’d say we all have a genetic predisposition to one of the many types of the syndrome – symptoms include overly flexible joints which do allow us to be good dancers and nimble athletes. Our skin is rather stretchy and fragile, too. Although we don’t have all of the symptoms I suspect this is the basis for our leg mishaps, coupled with some recklessness because when we’re young we think we’re invincible and when we’re older we forget our age.

Yes, my daughter’s feet are backwards – when she was young she could turn them around and stand and it freaked teacher’s out. In the pic she’s pliaing with her feet backwards because she was into ballet at this time. Daughter thought it was comfortable.

So now I know we aren’t a family of klutzes! Next time I trip I’ll blame

““Croatian Dances” Wikipedia.Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 July 2015.
“Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.” Symptoms. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 July 2015.

Familysearch.org Needed Changes

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on

In previous blogs I’ve mentioned my concerns about data loss and record inaccessibility (see Ancestry Site Changes – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly 6 Jun 2015 & Poof Be Gone-How Quickly Records Can Disappear 3 Jun 2015). A wonderful option to preserve your research would be to include it at Familysearch.org’s Wiki Tree. Unfortunately the site is not user friendly if you are not an LDS members. Let me demonstrate-

To access the Wiki, first sign into the site. If you don’t have a sign-on, you may create one even if you aren’t an LDS member, however, you won’t be able to link between Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org to sink data.

I have an extremely large well sourced tree that I would love to have on the Familysearch site. I’m going to outline the steps below of what I would have to do to build my husband’s paternal line on the Wiki. Below, on the right hand side, you can see that there are no parents identified on my Wiki Tree for William Lewis Samuelson.

There may be other Wiki Tree users who do have William’s parents. To discover if there is, one must click on the +Add Husband (or + Add Wife). Then, type in what you know. I typed in Gustaf Theodore Samuelson 29 Apr 1870 Baileytown, Portage, Indiana as the birth info and 9 Oct 1947 San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California as the death info. After clicking “Add,” 25 parent choices are presented. You may select 1 provided or by scrolling to the bottom, include a new couple.

In this case, I would “Add Couple” 1 – Gustav and Lulu Mae Cook. Once added, the Wiki Tree changes to the following:

That wasn’t very time consuming but here’s where my problems begin. I have 19 facts for Gustav Samuelson on my Ancestry tree:

Familysearch has 4 citations:

Really, Familysearch only has 1 source – the Legacy user that imported the information cited for 4 events but did the user did not include where he/she found the evidence. Truly, I’m not impressed with Familysearch’s sources for Gustaf. This is no improvement over the earlier trees that the site displayed. I equate this practice with only citing an Ancestry Family Tree that was unsourced to begin with. The citation is meaningless.

I could add the sources I found plus the 18 photos and the several additional records that I’ve scanned and uploaded to my Ancestry tree to the Familysearch Wiki but that takes quite a bit of time. I feel like I’m duplicating what I’ve already accomplished by re-entering the citations from Ancestry to Familysearch. Instead, I would prefer to spend my time further building my tree.

Perhaps, if down Gustaf’s line, Familysearch’s sources improved AND the tree was filled in I would enter my citations for Gustaf but let’s compare Gustaf’s parents in the Wiki to what I have in Ancestry:

Way too much to have to add! Way too time consuming!

So I thought maybe I would just add 1 photo to Wiki and keep the lines simple by just adding my direct line (no collaterals – no sibs!). Last evening I added my maternal grandparents, Ivan “John” and Mary Violet Kos Koss. I compared sources from ancestry to familysearch and added the difference. Then, I selected ONE photo for my mother, grandmother and grandfather and uploaded to Familysearch. This is what the photos looked like:

There’s nothing wrong with these 3 photos and I did agree that the site would first approve them before posting but its been a day and they’re still not displayed. At this rate, it would take me YEARS before I had my tree on Familysearch and it wouldn’t even be my complete tree.

I understand that the LDS Church has an agreement with Ancestry.com and to quote an old commercial, membership has its privileges, but there needs to be an expedient alternative for genealogists, such as uploading an existing tree to the Familysearch site.

I vocalized this to a church Elder when I visited the Family History Library in March. He mentioned why uploading a gedcom wouldn’t be conducive and why PAF was discontinued. I understand the evolution of technology and don’t long for the Windows 3.1 days or dial up internet.

I am also extremely thankful and do appreciate the dedication of thousands of LDS members who have preserved and published records over the years. To make all that work free to the general public is commendable and more than generous. The LDS members, however, are not the only compilers of trees. If non LDS members have a sourced tree I don’t understand why LDS wouldn’t want it. I strongly believe that it would be in EVERYONE’S best interest if nonmembers could easily synch their records onto the WIKI. I would even pay to do this and I bet other genealogists would, too.