Posted on Leave a comment

Re: You Are a Writer

Sun 2/7/2021 9:24 PM
John,

I love the Ben Franklin Quote.  I’ve never heard it before, and that’s exactly how I learn by being involved.  That’s probably no surprise to you.  Our many, many conversations the past several months are proof of that.  I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve had to explain things to me, and you DO know what I’m talking about!!
I think it’s wonderful that you’re corresponding with Zlatica, your newfound Slovak cousin.  She definitely has been very helpful.  
 
Beth
Posted on Leave a comment

Final Answer?

Tue 2/9/2021 8:41 PM
Beth,
A response on the Ancestry Messenger Boards.
I feel better already…  
John

In Hungarian orthography, ‘ly’ is a digraph (two letters treated as one) denoting a sound that has been lost from the standard dialect but still existed in some dialects up to the early 20th century — i.e., just long enough to screw up modern spelling rules. The sound is basically a palatalized L; people who don’t have this sound in their “arsenal” generally hear it as a consonantal /y/ as in “yellow,” but in some contexts, it can sound like a plain /L/ as in “long.” The č/cs (/ch/ like in “church”) sound in Ilčik/Ilycsik would naturally have caused palatalization of the preceding /L/; the Slovak spelling doesn’t mark this, but the Hungarian one does. ~~~~~ The other thing to consider or keep in mind is that surname spelling was variable right up into the twentieth century. In a society where illiteracy was normal, it was only the sound that mattered. There are countless examples of families who didn’t agree on a single spelling, with brothers or cousins using and passing down different versions. This is true even for people who stayed where they were born; for immigrants dropped into yet another language/spelling context, relatives spelling their names the same is the exception.

Posted on Leave a comment

Re: Slovak “Lullaby”

Sat 2/13/2021 9:57 PM
John,

You mentioned that the songs are not at all what you expected and I couldn’t agree more.  It seems both songs are about cooking/food.  The one we call the Nursery Rhyme doesn’t seem to be a Nursery Rhyme at all.  I also think the gestures they make are the grandmother throwing the food in the oven.  I know at the end of the song, they mention Zeda, which is grandfather in Slovak.  I’m guessing you know that.
I haven’t heard back from my friend I gave the flash drive to with the songs on it.  I hope I do soon to compare what he thinks.  
 
This may be another piece to the Slovak songs puzzle being solved.
 
Beth
Posted on Leave a comment

Re: Grandparents

Sun 2/14/2021 10:55 PM
John,

My sister-in-law called her grandfather Dzedo and my brother, her husband, goes by Dzedo to his grandchildren.  She goes by Bubba.
I don’t think it’s any different for other nationalities.  My best friend’s grandchildren call her Mammy and her husband, Papa.  We don’t know the Slovak language, and that’s why we’re having problems with grandmother and grandfather’s words and spellings.  
It’s very interesting to learn about the different spellings, etc., of the Slovak language.  Zlatica, aka Goldie, has been a wonderful source of information about that.  She’s a gem for sure, and you’re lucky to be in touch with her.
 
Beth
Posted on Leave a comment

Slovak Lokše Recipe

All Elcik’s wish they were raised on Slovak Lokše. Instead, it was a special treat.  Auntie Gertrude (Elcik/Gamache) would make this whenever we visited.  And mom learned from her.  We still make it occasionally, whenever Pam is willing to let us mess up her kitchen. This is the best recipe ever. We eat ours with lots of butter. – John, IV

Ingredients

  • 10 pounds potatoes, peeled
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

  1. Cover potatoes with water and cook until tender. Run hot potatoes through a potato ricer. Place into a large bowl.
    Beat butter, cream, salt, and sugar into the hot riced potatoes. Let cool to room temperature.
  2. Stir flour into the potato mixture. Pull off pieces of the dough and form into balls. Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out lefse balls to 1/8 inch thickness. Each piece is the full width of the 8-10″ griddle, and no two are exactly alike.
  3. Cook on a hot (400 degrees F/200 C) griddle until bubbles form and each side has browned.
  4. As you stack each, slather butter on each side. The person buttering gets an early taste by trimming an edge, or two, or three. When the last piece is buttered, we all eat.

In a pinch, we have been known to order Norwegian lefse (a Slovak knockoff) online. Mrs. Olson’s Lefse is pretty good. And other options are available at Amazon.com. – John P. Elcik, IV – Editor

Posted on Leave a comment

Brick Wall Breakthrough

Sun 3/14/2021 12:53 PM
Fantastic Four,
I want to celebrate!
One of the larger goals of my ancestry research has been to see if we could establish a relationship between the two Elcik families, which I have been referring to as the “Elsik” and the “Ilcik” families.
Specifically, I have been attempting to link my great grandfather with the great-grandfather of a different John Elcik. I live in Florida, and the other John lives in Rocky Point, New York.
  • John Elsik (1866-1941) married Mary Pelcarsky (1875-1936), through whom I (IV), Dad (III), and John (Jr.) descended. In the 1910 Census, John Elsik identified his surname as Elsik. Elcik is the spelling used for the rest of the family.  John immigrated in 1891 and Mary in 1896. Ancestry and I agree that John Elsik is my great-grandfather.
  • John Elcik (1886-1982) married Mary Jeho Zena Jonek (1887-1951). John immigrated in 1905, and Mary immigrated a year later in 1906. He came to America through Ellis Island, and the name was changed to Elcik from Ilcik, as told to his grandson. His son, Andrew J. Elcik (1911-1995), married Jeannie Pascarella through whom many of the “New York” Elcik’s descended. This family includes my “New York” contact: John Elcik.
We know for sure that there is a connection between the New York Elcik’s and us. [Thank you, Beth.] Their George Elcik (in the 1920 Census) married Jack’s father’s sister Anna Gamache. This would not be a blood relative, but it has been the best Beth (and I) could come up with.
Today, I decided to do some research on the DNA finds in my Ancestry.com account. I search for the Elcik surname, and I get a hit for 1_jelcik.  The Family Tree associated with the hit has only two names, and one is private. The father of the DNA match is shown to be Andrew Elcik (1911).  On my family tree, this would make the DNA be that of John J. Elcik (1943-2018), who is the father of John Elcik in Rocky Point, New York.
May we all celebrate?  I think we have done it. The closeness of the relationship interests me, but the relationship alone is a win.  The attached document is Ancestry’s take of the probability of different relationships.
Bottom line, the Ancestry relationship calculator is now telling me that I am related to John in Rocky Point. He is my “great-grandnephew of husband of grandaunt.” I can almost understand this description.
This also lends credence to the Slovakian language experts that say the difference between Ilycsik and Ilcsik is probably a spelling difference.
Would everyone agree that I should encourage John Elcik to fill out his family tree if he has access to his father’s Ancestry account?  
Again, can we all agree to celebrate?  
John, IV
P.S. I have no idea why I couldn’t find this earlier.  Perhaps., John took my advice, and the Ancestry account is him and not his father. Lol.