Ján Káš and Katarína Blanár

1818 – Ján Káš

Ján Káš was born about 1818 in Moravské Lieskové in the province of Slovakia, a part of the Kingdom of Hungary. We have no record of his parents or his siblings.

1822 – Katarína Blanár

Katarína Blanár was also born about 1822 in Moravské Lieskové. Again, we have no record of her parents or his siblings.

Moravské Lieskové

Today Moravské Lieskové is a village and municipality in Nové Mesto nad Váhom District in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia. In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1398. In Hungarian, the town was called Morva-Ljeszkó.

Slovakia

Ancient tools found have been found in Slovakia that date to 270,000 BCE, in the Early Paleolithic era. A Neanderthal skull from about 200,000 BCE was found by archeologists.

The region of Slovakia had first been settled by Celtic tribes around 400 BCE, then by Germanic tribes, and finally by Slavic tribes around the sixth century CE.

Slavic peoples are traditionally divided along linguistic lines into West Slavic (including Czechs, Poles and Slovaks), East Slavic (including Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians), and South Slavic (including Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosniaks and Slovenians).

The early Slavs worshipped a single god, called Perun, who created lightning and thunder and was lord of all.

The major political regions that emerged consisted of three historic lands: Bohemia and Moravia in the west (often called the Czech Lands) and Slovakia in the east.

In 1818, Slovakia had been ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary for almost 1,000 years and was known in Slovak as Horné Uhorsko (Upper Hungary). The Hungarian kingom comprised what we know today as Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia along with a variety of smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary’s borders. In the ninth and tenth centuries, it was known by its Latin name Regnum Hungariae. By the 1840s, it was called Magyar Királyság in the Hungarian language or Königreich Ungarn in German. From 1526 to 1918, the Kingdom of Hungary came under the control of the Germanic Habsburg monarchy, which had ruled areas around Austria since 1276. They took their dynastic name from a Swiss fortress—the Habsburg—which may have derives its name from the Germanic word “hab” which meant a “ford.” The castle was located on a ford of the river Aar, which flows into the upper Rhine.

In the sixteenth century, Hungary served as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire of the Turks and the Holy Roman Empire to the west and the Kingdom of Poland to the north. As the Turks encroached on Hungarian soil, they captured the area that is today the modern nation of Hungary, while another Hungarian region, Transylvania, became a Turkish protectorate. Only Slovakia was left as the remaining independent piece of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1536 it became known as “Royal Hungary” with Bratislava as the capital. From 1526 to 1830, nineteen Habsburg sovereigns were crowned “Kings and Queens of Hungary” in the St. Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava. At the time, Bratislava was known as Prešporok (in Slovak), Pressburg (in German), and Pozsony (in Hungarian). Bratislava remained the capital of Hungary until the Turks were finally ousted from Central Europe in 1786 and Buda became the capital city.

The territory of present-day Slovakia was the largest producer of silver and the second-largest producer of gold in Europe.

Hungary

The first king of Hungary was crowned by Pope Silvester II on Christmas day of 1000 CE. Named Vajk at birth, he was baptized at age ten as Štefan. As the first king of Hungary, he was known as Stephan I or Štefan I. Later, he was made a saint, Saint Stephen I or in Slovak, Svätý Štefan I.

From 1526 to 1918, the Kingdom of Hungary came under the control of the Habsburg monarchy, which had ruled areas around Austria since 1276.

In the sixteenth century, Hungary served as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire of the Turks and the Holy Roman Empire to the west and the Kingdom of Poland to the north. As the Turks encroached on Hungarian soil, they captured the area that is today the modern nation of Hungary, while another Hungarian region, Transylvania, became a Turkish protectorate. Only Slovakia was left as the remaining independent piece of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1536 it became known as “Royal Hungary” with Bratislava, as the capital.

From 1526 to 1830, nineteen Habsburg sovereigns were crowned “Kings and Queens of Hungary” in the St. Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava. At the time, Bratislava was known as Prešporok (in Slovak), Pressburg (in German), and Pozsony (in Hungarian). Bratislava remained the capital of Hungary until the Turks were finally ousted from Central Europe in 1786 and Buda became the capital city.

marriage and children

Ján Káš married Katarína Blanár in Moravské Lieskové, but the date is unknown.

We only have a record of one child born to Ján and Katarína. Alžbeta Káš was born August 7, 1844 in House #379 in Moravské Lieskové.

Alžbeta most likely married her first husband, Martin Drietomský, some time around 1864 or 1865. By 1873, Alžbeta was a 27-year-old widow.

Alžbeta Drietomský (nee Káš) married Andrej Ochodnický on November 4, 1873 in Bošáca. After marriage, they lived in her home town of Moravské Lieskové. (See Andrej Ochodnický and Alžbeta Káš)

deaths

Ján and Katarína Káš died in Moravské Lieskové. We have no record of their death dates.