FIRST NAME

LAST NAME

Porac, Slovakia

A History by Stephen Hanuscin

The mining village of Porac has the altitude of 700 meters and is located in the eastern part of the Slovenske rudohorie - Slovak ore mountain range. The territory is bounded on the north by the Hornad River valley and on the south by the Hnilec River valley. Spis Castle, which is the largest castle in middle Europe, is visible to the north and the High Tatras, the highest mountains in Slovakia, are visible to the northwest.

The Porac people are Greek Catholics. They have attended the church of St. Demetrius.

The first written record about the village was in 1382 when the name of the village was Red Hill. In some parish records written in Hungarian the name of the village was written as Vereshegy which is the translation of Red Hill. The name of Porac was first mentioned at the end of the 15th century. The village has developed since the 15th century by people who worked as peasants and miners.

According to census on Dec.31. 1869 most of inhabitants were peasants, some miners. There were 134 houses in Porac at that period. Below is a link to an actual copy of census sheet of house No.18, its owner was Georgius Hanuscin, born in 1823. There were 4 generations and 11 individuals who lived in house. The youngest was Stefan born in 1869 and the oldest was his great grandmother Maria born in 1790. Demetri Polkabla was working for annual pay. Stefan born 1846 and his wife Maria Vojtila born in 1850 both knew read and write. Hanuscins were peasants, they were breeding 2 horses, 2 oxes, 2 cows , 10 sheeps and pig.

Front side of census sheet - printed bilingually in Hungarian and Slovak.

List of inhabitants of house No.18 - 1869 Hungarian Census - Record written by Porac teacher, Andreas Danko.

The descendants of Georgius Hanuscin of house No. 18, Porac

The following passage illustrates the Porac dialect and was written in 1834:

Ja nizej podpisani uznavam timto pisanim ze sem z kassi cirkvi Svatej dvihnul na Capital 50 to jest pedesat zlati na legalni 6 procento interes od ktereho Capitalu obligujem se kazdorocni 6 od interes platit pre veksu pevnost pri pritomnosti richtarovej toto so sebe pismo davam a na assekuraciu Capitalu moju vlasnost zakladam v Poracu dna 22-ho novembra 1834.

x Macej Klucsarik Richtar x Joseph Fiffik Burgar x Dzura Schirilla Burgar x Dzura Midlik Burgar

x Macso Czapak Gazda Poracki x Janko Czebulya Porukomnik

Translation:

I below signed ( Mathias Czapak ) recognize with this signature that I have borrowed the value of 50 zlati ( currency ), fifty zlati at legal 6 percent interest from the church money-chest. I oblige annually to pay 6 percent interest from this value in the presence of the mayor for a bigger guarantee of this letter. I give my possessions for securement, in Porac on the 22nd of November 1834.

x Mathias Klucsarik mayor x Joseph Fiffik deputy x George Schirilla deputy x George Midlik deputy

x Mathias Czapak Porac peasant x John Czebulya guarantee

Pictured above is the School in use in 1929. Below is a picture, of the students (born in 1920-1922) at the Porac Grade School with headmaster Kanuscak. The photo was taken in Porac circa 1929. This school had two classrooms. The first classroom held 1-3 classes and the second classroom held 4-8 classes.

The text on the sheet in front of the students reads:

Boys 1. Demeter Dursa 2. Mikulas Kolesar 3. Jozef Gulin 4. Jozef Durica 5. Barbus 6. Jan Hanuscin 7. Zekan 8. Michal Liska 9. Jozef Mydlik 10. Demeter Barbus 11. Stefan Kaffan 12. Vrabel 13. Stefan Kolesar 14. Stefan Volcko 15. Mikulas Dursa 16. Jan Kanuscak - headmaster 17. Jan Korchnak 18. Jan Vrabel 19. Jan Volcko 20. Michal Liska 21. Jan Bacinsky

Girls 22. Krajnakova 23. Maria Zulkovska 24. Anna Dubosova 25. Barbusova 26. Maria Hanuscinova 27. Helena Zulkovska 28. Maria Hanuscinova 29. Helena Bakosova 30. Vrablova 31. Bissova 32. Maria Duricova 33. Bacinska 34. Bakosova 35. Pocatkova 36. Sirillova 37. Polkablova 38. Bakosova 39. Vansacova 40. Julia Vrablova 41. Sirillova 42. Volckova 43. Helena Macalova 44. Maria Volckova 45. Maria Hardonova 46. Anna Duricova 47. Maria Volckova *. Katarina Volckova (dark blouse)

Translation of the letter:

This letter is addressed to Spis County in Levoca. It is in reference to Joannes Nyemerowski, the priest of the Greek Eastern Liturgy (Ritus Greci) in the Porac parish (Parochia Porachiensi Pastoris). Zigismund P., Zigismund Kira and Andreas Kira had executed an injustice against him and caused damage in 1682. The writer respectfully has again asked to save this event and undo the injury.

Kezmarok Castle 27 February 1683 (signed) Imrich Thokoly

Porac, after the neighboring settlements of Bela, Slop, and Lendava ceased to exist, extended its territory including the territory of Koterbachy (Copper Creek). Then Koterbachy, now called Rudnany, has existed on Porac territory for the three centuries. A Census of Koterbach was taken in 1831 giving surnames and house numbers for all the inhabitants.

Mining has been developed in the area of Porac for many centuries. At first copper ore , then iron ore and mercury ore were exploited. There were eight mine plants on the territory of Porac and Rudnany, two mine plants in Zavadka and one mine plant in Slovinky in 1890. There was large production of iron ore during World War II and the following 40 years. At present, only baryt ore (barium) is being exploited in Porac.

Industrial depressions and hard conditions for living caused emigration of many people to America at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. For example, Porac had 1462 inhabitants in 1864 and only 889 inhabitants in 1928. Thus, many people in the USA and Canada had and have family roots in Porac.

Now their descendants are searching these roots in the "Old country".

Stefan Hanuscin, 1999
email: shanuscin@hotmail.com