Project Janciga

Background

Povina is a small village in the north of Slovakia. Due to poverty and unemployment many inhabitants left for USA at the threshold of 19/20th century. Between the Povina emigrants there were also some Jancigas. One of them, Stephen was the ancestor of Brian Janshego's family living now in USA, which initialized the research. The family has already done research in the Kysucke Nove Mesto parish records microfilms available through the LDS church.

Objective

The main objective was to acquire more information on Stephen Jancsiga from Povina and about the origin of the Janciga surname in general. In addition to getting information on Stephen, Brian Janshego would also like to make some kind of contact with a descendent of his Janciga line in the Povina area.

Research methods and results

Research in State Regional Archive Bytca

As the project was in advanced stage, Centroconsult continued the research in the State Regional Archive Bytca for records which are not available by the LDS church. First, the surrounding parishes and their areas were identified. Unfortunately in Zilina records there was no name relevant to Janciga surname. Thus the puzzle of the surname origin was not solved.

Interesting data were found in the Povina files stored in the state archive. In the first land register from 1770 there were surnames Jancso, Jancskova which may have relevance to the Janciga surname. In land records dated 1879 the Janc(s)iga surname was present.

The most interesting thing is the file containing the court trial , where the farmers Schafer Andras, Schafer Adam and Jancsiga Janos were accused by the landlord of Budatin (now part of Zilina) that they utilize the land named Ocsko Hill without their authorization.

Site visit

The mayor of Povina Ms. Splhakova was very helpful. Due her assistance the origin of Janciga family- farmstead Tatarovce was identified.

There are still Janciga descendants and even a monument - crucifix erected in Tatarovce in 1902 by Janciga brothers, who worked in USA. The text is in Slovak is:

TENTO SV. KRIZ POSTAVIT DALI KU CTI A CHVALE BOZEJ ADAM, ONDREJ A JOZEF JANCIGA ROKU 1902,

what means: this saint cross was set up on behalf of Adam, Ondrej and Jozef Janciga in order to bestow praise upon God.

The results of the research project were parish record data, photocopies of the documents, identification of the distant cousins all supported by digital photographs.

Follow up of the project

As follow-up Centroconsult arranged for visit of Mr. Janshego in Kysucke Nove Mesto and Povina. In advance there were agreed the appointments with the distant cousins living in Povina area and with the municipal office in Povina (See the photo, Brian Janshego in the middle, the Mayor, Ms. Splhakova sitting). There was a warm welcome in the Povina Municipal Office, where by chance also one Janciga descendant works. Mayor, Ms. Splhakova personally guided the American guests through the village and participated by visits of the Jancigas in Tatarovce and surroundings.

Visiting one of the Janciga families a strong resemblance between Bozena from Kysucke Nove Mesto and Brian from USA was apparent. CentroConsult is facilitating the contacts, overriding the language and communication barriers between the Jancigas in USA and in Povina.

Due kind hospitality of the rector in Kysucke Nove Mesto church, even the parish records after 1895 were reviewed in order to fix the kinships. The hypothetical family relations were proved.

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