Hello,

My Hungarian mother's mother was an ordinary Baroness whose exact maiden name I don't have but think it was Mrey and so have not been able to trace her down. Not sure, but her first name may have been Georgette.

She married and then took the last name of her husband (my grandfather), Huszr, who I know from photos was some relatively high ranking officer in the Austro-Hungarian military. His first name I don't recall.

There is some mystery as to who he was and where he came from, one theory that will never be proven is that he was possibly a reject/out-of-wedlock son from the Romanov Tsar family for he showed up in Roumania with property out of nowhere.

He looked like the twin brother of Tsar Alexander II and people kept thinking he was the Tsar (no joke :).

Point: I don't know his "aristocratic" rank though I doubt that his wife the Baroness lost hers by marrying him.

I know they attended at least one Austro-Hungarian "Royal picnic" -- I used to have the engraved gift cigarette case given to guests of such functions which either my grandmother or grandfather received. I also know the this Huszr family had a coat of arms since I've seen in on some of the remaining family silverware my mother had.

The Huszr estate was in Nograd, Hungary, but the property was confiscated by the Russians when they took over in '56, and both my grandmother and grandfather dies not too long after that.

My question is more or less just curiosity and in a sense a general one about "diluted" aristocracy.

My mother re-married "outside" of the usual arranged marriage to like-aristos, specifically to the man who would become my father, an American journalist. Therefore, I'm not a "pure blue blood" and my question is:

----- What does that make me -- a 1/4 Baron or 1/2 a Knight or Page (since those are the two last levels below Baron/Baroness as far as I know)? :)

Any help on how/where I could find out for sure and on any of the above, and/or any informed reply here to this would be appreciated.

Thank You.

Philip Knight ***
Los Angeles, CA USA
.................................

*** PS: This is my legal last name which I created in part as at tribute to my mother since I never liked my father's last name -- and while I used Husaar for 15 years, nobody could pronounce it correctly (and even the IRS got it wrong :)

So in the end, I chose the simple name "Knight" which is a sort of way of saying 'Huszar" (cavalry/horseman division(s) that in a way kind of replaced the Knights of the middle Ages).

Mrey Huszr Kroly Huszr

Addendum to Previous post:

I used the correct Hungarian names with accents, but this board did not recongnize them and therefore posted them incorrectly by deleting the accented vowels. Below is the post again, without accents.

I also added some more information near the end that is not present in the first posting.

Thank You.

--------------------------------------------------

Hello,

My Hungarian mother's mother was an ordinary Baroness whose exact maiden name I don't have but think it was Merey and so have not been able to trace her down. Not sure, but her first name may have been Georgette.

She married and then took the last name of her husband (my grandfather), Huszar, who I know from photos was some relatively high ranking officer in the Austro-Hungarian military. His first name I don't recall.

There is some mystery as to who he was and where he came from, one theory that will never be proven is that he was possibly a reject/out-of-wedlock son from the Romanov Tsar family for he showed up in Roumania with property out of nowhere.

He looked like the twin brother of Tsar Alexander II and people kept thinking he was the Tsar (no joke :)

Point: I don't know his "aristocratic rank" though I doubt that his wife the Baroness lost hers by marrying him.

I know they attended at least one Austro-Hungarian "Royal picnic" -- I used to have the engraved gift cigarette case given to guests of such functions which either my grandmother or grandfather received. I also know the this Huszar family had a coat of arms since I've seen in on some of the remaining family silverware my mother had.

The Huszr estate was in Nograd, Hungary, but the property was confiscated by the Russians when they took over in '56, and both my grandmother and grandfather dies not too long after that.

My question is more or less just curiosity and in a sense a general one about "diluted" aristocracy.

My mother re-married "outside" of the usual arranged marriage to like-aristos, specifically to the man who would become my father, an American journalist. Therefore, I'm not a "pure blue blood" and my question is:

----- What does that make me -- a 1/4 Baron or 1/2 a Knight or Page (since those are the two last levels below Baron/Baroness as far as I know)? :)

---------------- Additional Information ---------------

All my online searches to find out about these two maternal grandparents have so far failed. Also please note:

--- None of this family came to the U.S. or Canada or elsewhere. I was born in Switerland and only moved to the U.S. at age 19, and my mother stayed in Switzerland til her death in 1981.

--- My grandparents died in Hungary as far as I know, so I am not related to any Huszars in the U.S. or elsewhere as far as I know. My mother had only one sister who never married, and I was an only son.

Meaning, I'm the last of that Huszar/Merey lineage.

---------------------------------------------------

Any help on how/where I could find out about them as well as this post's basic question of "what does that make me..." would be appreciated.

Thank You.

Philip Knight ***
Los Angeles, CA USA

*** PS: This is my legal last name which I created in part as at tribute to my mother since I never liked my father's last name -- and while I used Huszar for 15 years, nobody could pronounce it correctly (and even the IRS got it wrong :)

So in the end, I chose the simple name "Knight" which is a sort of way of saying 'Huszar" (cavalry/horseman division(s) that in a way kind of replaced the Knights of the middle Ages).

Philip

Do not have an answer to your question. I know that there are books on Hungarian royalty where you can find information.
Come post on a Hungary's General board this question. There are two or three very knowledgable gentlemen who can most likely answer your question.

The town of Nograd is in Nograd megye.
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/maps/1910
www.nograd.hu
There were 23 MEREYs and 573 HUSZARs that came thru Ellis Island to America. I know what you said.
You might want to take a look in Nograd's church records which LDS-Mormons have filmed.
Hungary's phone site www.matav.hu/english/index.html is listing MEREY and MEREI.
Surname HUSZAR and MEREY can also be found in Slovak Republic's phone book. www.zoznamst.sk
In the old Hont megye there was a town named Mere.
This town now called Merovce, Slovak Republic.
http://mapy.atlas.sk for locating this town.
Do post and check out www.radixforum.com
A first name translation website .
www.fam.aust.com/topolcsany/names

Dear Zlatica Beca,

Thank you for an informative reply -- and the very nice map :) I have other priorities right now, but I will save the information you gave and when the time comes, I'll follow your suggestions.

No reply necessary.
Sincerely,

~ P. Knight

Here is a famous Mérey:
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/biog/merey.htm
The Mérey family (the Barons) are from county Somogy.
There were a member of the Hungarian parliament before the first WW and later like candidate like primeminister Károly Huszár. He was the member of the Social-democratic Party. (remember, in that age the Socialism meant much other like now)
The "Knight" means not Huszár. The knight in Hungarian means: lovag (sire)