1844 - Alžbeta Káš

Alžbeta Káš was born August 7, 1844 to Ján Káš and Katarína Blanár in House #379 in the town of Moravské Lieskové, in Slovakia, Hungary.

1849 - Andrej Ochodnický

Andrej Ochodnický was born on April 22, 1849 to Ján Ochodnický and Alžbeta Beňovič in House #232 in the small town of Bošáca in Slovakia, Hungary.

Moravské Lieskové

Today, Moravské Lieskové is a village and municipality in Nové Mesto nad Váhom District in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia. The name roughly translates as "Moravia Hazelnuts".

Archaeologists have found evidence of people living in the area as early as 3000 BCE. In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1398.
It is likely that the first village school was established around 1580. In 1756,  records show that 2,909 people lived in the village. In 1807, a fire fanned by strong winds destroyed more than 300 houses and barns.

Bošáca

Today, Bošáca (pronounced Bo-shat-sa) is a village and municipality in Nové Mesto nad Váhom District in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia.

Slovakia

Ancient tools found have been found in Slovakia that date to 270,000 BCE, in the Early Paleolithic era. A Neanderthal skull from about 200,000 BCE was found by archeologists.

The region of Slovakia had first been settled by Celtic tribes around 400 BCE, then by Germanic tribes, and finally by Slavic tribes around the sixth century CE.

Slavic peoples are traditionally divided along linguistic lines into West Slavic (including Czechs, Poles and Slovaks), East Slavic (including Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians), and South Slavic (including Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosniaks and Slovenians).

The early Slavs worshipped a single god, called Perun, who created lightning and thunder and was lord of all.

The major political regions that emerged consisted of three historic lands: Bohemia and Moravia in the west (often called the Czech Lands) and Slovakia in the east.

Beginning in 1000 CE and well into the twentieth century, Slovakia was ruled by Hungary. It was commonly called "Upper Hungary” or Horné Uhorsko in Slovak.

The territory of present-day Slovakia was the largest producer of silver and the second-largest producer of gold in Europe.

Hungary

The first king of Hungary was crowned by Pope Silvester II on Christmas day of 1000 CE. Named Vajk at birth, he was baptized at age ten as Štefan. As the first king of Hungary, he was known as Stephan I or Štefan I. Later, he was made a saint, Saint Stephen I or in Slovak, Svätý Štefan I.

From 1526 to 1918, the Kingdom of Hungary came under the control of the Habsburg monarchy, which had ruled areas around Austria since 1276.

In the sixteenth century, Hungary served as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire of the Turks and the Holy Roman Empire to the west and the Kingdom of Poland to the north. As the Turks encroached on Hungarian soil, they captured the area that is today the modern nation of Hungary, while another Hungarian region, Transylvania, became a Turkish protectorate. Only Slovakia was left as the remaining independent piece of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1536 it became known as "Royal Hungary" with Bratislava, as the capital.

From 1526 to 1830, nineteen Habsburg sovereigns were crowned "Kings and Queens of Hungary" in the St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava. At the time, Bratislava was known as Prešporok (in Slovak), Pressburg (in German), and Pozsony (in Hungarian). Bratislava remained the capital of Hungary until the Turks were finally ousted from Central Europe in 1786 and Buda became the capital city.

1860 - 1869 - marriage and oppression

Alžbeta most likely married her first husband, Martin Drietomský, some time around 1864 or 1865. By 1873, Alžbeta was a 27-year-old widow.

In 1867, the nation of Austria-Hungary was formed. For forty years, from 1867 to 1918, the Slovaks experienced one of the worst oppressions in their history. In a nationalist fervor, Hungary began to pass new laws to wipe out non-Magyar cultures. As the biggest non-Magyar culture in Hungary, the Slovaks suffered the most. Hungarian was the only language taught in schools. Only those Slovaks who adopted Hungarian culture and language could hope to get a decent job. At its worst, Slovak children were taken from their families to be brought up as Hungarians.

So blatant were Hungary's efforts to ethnically cleanse Hungary of the Slovak culture and language that a word was given to their actions—Magyarization. During the dark days of the second half of the nineteenth century, many thousands of Slovaks left their homeland to try and build a new life in America.

1870 - 1879 - remarriage and children

Andrej Ochodnický married the widowed Alžbeta Drietomský (nee Káš) on November 4, 1873 in Bošáca. After marriage, they lived in her home town of Moravské Lieskové.

Andrej and Alžbeta had four children, all born in Moravské Lieskové. The first three, all boys were born during this decade.

• Ján Ochodnický was born on September 16, 1875
• Štefan Ochodnický, a twin, was also born on September 16, 1875, but died the same day
• Štefan Ochodnický was born on March 3, 1878

1880 - 1889

Their fourth child, a daughter, was born during the 1880s.

• Eva Ochodnický was born on October 14, 1881

1890 - 1899

1900 - 1909

Štefan Ochodnický married Eva Klč on February 16, 1904 at the Evangelical Church in the town of Lubina, Slovakia. Štefan Ochodnický and Eva Klč emigrated to the United States in February 1906.

We have no record about the lives, marriages or deaths of Andrej and Alžbeta's other two surviving children, Ján and Eva.

deaths

Andrej and Alžbeta Ochodnický died in Slovakia, Hungary. We have no record of their deaths, although it appears that Alžbeta died in the town of Bošáca.