July 24, 2006.  After much planning and a few delays our long awaited trip to Slovakia is only 4 weeks away.  Really looking forward to the trip and will be taking lots of pictures.  I will be meeting with Vlady Vrabel from Slatvina and have tentative plans to meet up with Lubomir Cmorej and his family in Kosice.  We'll be staying for a week at the ancient walled city of Levoca.  There are regional archives in Levoca so I might be able to do some more in depth research. I will chronicle as much as I can and provide a full report after we get back.

     July 28, 2004:  Finally! After two years of searching, I finally located my grandmothers place of birth and the names and birth dates of some of her brothers and sisters.  I have added the information to the Data Base and Marriage pages of the web.  It began with the valuable information given to me by my Aunt Martha (see below).  I saw Pasztircsak names associated with a town called Szent Mihaly (or Saint Michael) and sometimes called "Sarisske Michalany".  I ordered the microfilm for the Catholic church records of this town from the Latter Day Saints Family History Center and had a chance to view it last night.  Within a few minutes I located some Pasztirscak names and hoped I was on the right track. Finally I located grandmother Anna (Pastircak) Smorey's birth record and with a sigh of relief!  It was only 6th from the end of the birth record section of the film!  She was born on June 13, 1896 and her parents were George (Gyorgy) Pasztircsak and Maria Hurdich, which are the same as listed on the death certificate of Anna's sister, Mary (Pastircak) Szekely.  Though I am not yet finished viewing this microfilm I also found the marriage record for Gyorgy and Maria and birth records for 8 children.  See the Data Base for details.  Also see the Photo Gallery for digital images of birth and marriage records for Anna, Gyorgy and Maria Pasztircsak.

 July 23, 2004:  Ancestors of Steven J. (Joseph) Smorey  from Pittsburgh, Pa. traced to Krompachy, Slovakia.  A recent  review of LDS Family History Center Film Nr 1739348 shows that Steven Smorey (Stephanus Josephus Czmorej) was born in Krompachy, Slovakia on 6 Aug 1877.  His parents were Stephanus Czmorej (b. 1853) and Johanna Bersilla.  Stephanus (b. 1853) was the son of Josephus Czmorej and Anna Chropko.  Steven J. emigrated to the U.S. around 1901 and died in 1960.  His wife was Mary Turek.  Steven J. had a brother, John C. Smorey (b.26 June 1882) in Krompachy.  John arrived in the U.S. around 1900.  He married Theresa Linkes, a native Pennsylvanian.  John died 3 March 1963.  I have not finished reviewing this film yet so more information may be found in the church records for Krompachy.  So, if you are related to Steven J. and Mary (Turek) Smorey - you can now trace your relatives back to approximately circa 1830's which is the presumed birth date of Josephus Czmorej.

    June 21, 2004.  Recently I had a chance to talk with my Aunt Martha (Smorey) Clark, who is 83 years old.  She is doing great for her age - still goes bowling!  She told me that the wife of Julius Szekely (my GM's guardian when she got married) was my grandmother's sister!  I sent for her death certificate and confirmed that Mary (Pastircak) Szekely was the daughter of George Pastircak and Maria Hurdich.  Also, by pure luck, I stumbled on 1910 US. Census Data for the Julius Szekely family in Braddock, Pa. and lo and behold there was an Andrew Bastircak, aged 23, listed as a brother and Anna Bastircak, age 14, listed as a sister.  Success at last!  The census says my GM and her brother entered the U.S. in 1909.  This "connects" with what my GM told me when I was very young - that she came here when she was 14.  Andrew Bastircak (a misspelling in the census) disappears after the 1910 census.  Since I don't know the actual date of arrival in 1909, I am slowly going through ship transcripts to find their arrival and the town or village the came from.  I'm also looking at Slovak Church Records to see if I can find Pastircak's.  The search goes on!

Apr 3, 2004.  New additions to the Data Base Table and to the Marriage Data Base after reviewing LDS Film Nr 1791929.   On the Data Base lines 18-23 are new additions for Georgius Czmorej and Anna (last name unknown). Line 33 is a new entry under  Andreas Czmorej and Anna Spivak.  Some records show Anna and others list her as Maria. Puzzling!   On the Marriage Data Base a new entry was added for 1730, Eva Czmorej.

Apr 3, 2004 - Received Naturalization papers for Felix Czmorey. Born 15 May 1890 in Vesprem, Hungary. Entered U.S. on 27 January 1906 aboard the SS Maine. He lived at Bethlehem, Pa. Witnesses on his Naturalization were John Norko and John Zabresky. Felix became a citizen 4 May 1924.

-  Just received the reply to my Social Security Death Index Request on Michael Martin Smorey.  It confirms that he was a brother to my grandfather.  I will post an image of the reply to the website in the near future.  It shows his address as 1113 1/2 Cherry Street, Braddock, Pa. when he applied for Social Security and it lists his parents as Andrew Smorey and Mary "Jurnak".  "Jurnak" is close enough for me to Dzurnyak to confirm his relationship.  Strange.  Never heard of this guy when I was growing up. 

- Feb 27. The Data Base of Birth Records has been updated.  Instead of a spreadsheet I have used a table to display the information.  Hopefully it looks a lot better than the old data base.   Also, I have added a data base of marriage records that can be accessed from the main data base page.

    - Thanks to Greg Smorey for allowing me to add a link to his web site.  Go to the "Links" page and check it out.

    - On Feb 10th, 2004 I reviewed LDS Film Nr 1794082 containing Catholic Church Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths for the town of Siroka, Slovakia 1873 - 1896.  Several new "Cmorej" family groups were found and I have added that information to the Data Base.  I believe this group of "Cmorej's" is related to the Smorey families living in Reading, Pennsylvania.  One death record was very interesting.  It documented the death of Janos Czmorej, son of Andras Czmorej and Maria Palcsak on 15 Sept 1889 but it was annotated "Reading, Amerika, Siroka".  That tells me Janos was born in Siroka but died in Reading.