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Lots of boring wasps. 
I'm pure Hungarian. 3/4ths of my family came over around 100 years ago (Ellis Island, etc). My grandfather came over after WW2 (he was forced into the Nazi army but escaped to Canada).
His side of the family, the Koroknay side, have royal lineage. In Hungarian names a -y ending is a designation of nobility. When the communists took over they forced people to change their y ending names to end in i. Some family who are still in Hungary still have the i ending.
There is a river in Hungary, south of Lake Balaton, named after us, and we have/had a castle there, the Koroknavar (Koroknay Castle). My mom has done a lot of research on our history. Apparently we were a royal chef or something for the king and he was so pleased he granted us rank and land. We had the castle until the Turks took over. Our coat of arms depicts us fighting the Turks and saving a princess.
Back in 2000 my parents and I visited Hungary and I got to see the ruins of the castle. It was pretty amazing. Tucked back in the woods, we had to track it down. We knew the general area it was in from research, but it wasn't on any maps nor was it marked. We drove through this sleepy little villiage out in the middle of nowhere, and basically had to ask random "town elders" if they had heard of this castle and knew where it was. My mom speaks great Hungarian so that made it easier. We got vague directions "go down that road, and turn right by the red barn, go over the river and down through the forest" or something. We had to investigate several dirt roads before we found the right one.
Finally we did (we thought) but we weren't sure, and didn't really know where to go after we found the right dirt road. We walked back there and miraculously happened upon an old man who was a local historian. He didn't like it that the schools taught Hungarian history in the broad sense, but never made use of the real local history that was all around, so he was taking a couple kids by to see our castle. What are the chances, eh? He showed us right to it and told us a bunch more about it.
It was out in a forest, and if you didn't know what you were looking for it would have been easy to miss. Everything was grown over, but there was still a very clear, and large moat that encircled a raised central castle site. The castle site had lots of bricks from the old structure, and after some poking around I even found some pottery shards! What a find. It is so amazing to think my ancestors may have used this pottery. I took some small pieces of brick and pottery with me to the US, and still have them. The castle was close to the river, and the old man showed us where they would let in the water to fill in the moat, and where there used to be an old bridge across the river.
The moat (looked deeper/bigger in person):
Pottery (and a brick):
I'm pure Hungarian. 3/4ths of my family came over around 100 years ago (Ellis Island, etc). My grandfather came over after WW2 (he was forced into the Nazi army but escaped to Canada).
His side of the family, the Koroknay side, have royal lineage. In Hungarian names a -y ending is a designation of nobility. When the communists took over they forced people to change their y ending names to end in i. Some family who are still in Hungary still have the i ending.
There is a river in Hungary, south of Lake Balaton, named after us, and we have/had a castle there, the Koroknavar (Koroknay Castle). My mom has done a lot of research on our history. Apparently we were a royal chef or something for the king and he was so pleased he granted us rank and land. We had the castle until the Turks took over. Our coat of arms depicts us fighting the Turks and saving a princess.
Back in 2000 my parents and I visited Hungary and I got to see the ruins of the castle. It was pretty amazing. Tucked back in the woods, we had to track it down. We knew the general area it was in from research, but it wasn't on any maps nor was it marked. We drove through this sleepy little villiage out in the middle of nowhere, and basically had to ask random "town elders" if they had heard of this castle and knew where it was. My mom speaks great Hungarian so that made it easier. We got vague directions "go down that road, and turn right by the red barn, go over the river and down through the forest" or something. We had to investigate several dirt roads before we found the right one.
Finally we did (we thought) but we weren't sure, and didn't really know where to go after we found the right dirt road. We walked back there and miraculously happened upon an old man who was a local historian. He didn't like it that the schools taught Hungarian history in the broad sense, but never made use of the real local history that was all around, so he was taking a couple kids by to see our castle. What are the chances, eh? He showed us right to it and told us a bunch more about it.
It was out in a forest, and if you didn't know what you were looking for it would have been easy to miss. Everything was grown over, but there was still a very clear, and large moat that encircled a raised central castle site. The castle site had lots of bricks from the old structure, and after some poking around I even found some pottery shards! What a find. It is so amazing to think my ancestors may have used this pottery. I took some small pieces of brick and pottery with me to the US, and still have them. The castle was close to the river, and the old man showed us where they would let in the water to fill in the moat, and where there used to be an old bridge across the river.
The moat (looked deeper/bigger in person):
Pottery (and a brick):
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