Saturday, September 19, 2020

Alex Bodo and Julia Horvath of Hungary and Rankin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania


     I have gone down a rabbit hole working on a genealogy project as a baby present for a friend.  There is information on Ancestry; however, not too many folks are collecting it and posting family charts on this branch.  Perhaps one reason is that the offspring of Alex and his wife, Theresa, did not have many offspring.  Another problem with the research is the surname.  Bodo and Bedo are commonly interchanged and then one son used Bado.  


     Sandor (Alexander) Bodo emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium on the Kensington.  He arrived at the Port of New York on, May 19, 1896.  A thirty-seven-year old laborer from Hungary, he was heading to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Where he went and how long he stayed is unknown.  I could not find him on a 1900 Pennsylvania census.  He must have stayed for a time in Pennsylvania and returned home to Hungary.


     Sandor Bedo emigrated from Bremen, Germany in May 1903 on the SS Cassel.  He arrived at the Port of Baltimore on May 30, 1903.  He was accompanied by fourteen-year-old, Josef Bedo.  Both were traveling from Felpéc, Hungary with a destination of Rankin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  Sandor lists that he immigrated before in 1896 to (a town I cannot read), Pennsylvania.  Pal (Paul) Bodo is living in Rankin.  I believe that Pal is Sandor's brother and Josef's father.

     Again, Sandor is MIA from records until May 22, 1908 when he signed a Declaration of Intent to become a citizen of the United States.  On the document he is listed and signed his name as Alex Bodo.  A laborer, with white complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and five feet tall.  He was born in Felpéc, Hungary on June 26, 1861.  He emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium and arrived in the United States on the ship Kensington on or about May 21, 1869.  He currently lives at 252 3rd Street, Rankin, Pennsylvania.  

1910 Pennsylvania Federal Census, taken on April 16, 1910
     
     Alex Bodo, age 49, listed as single and immigrating in 1908.  He and his parents were all born in Hungary.  He is working on his own account at a mill.  He is a boarder in the house of John Sinalt, 8 Orchard Avenue, Rankin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  The Braddock/Rankin area outside Pittsburgh was heavily populated at the turn of the 20th century with immigrants working the mills.
     
   
     On October 10, 1911 Alex Bodo signed his Petition for Naturalization. This documents reveals why Alex was absent from Pennsylvania here and there. He returned to Felpéc, Hungary where he had a family, a wife, Julia Bodo, born in Felpéc, Hungary and four children.

Sandor (Alexander) Bodo, born on December 14, 1896 in Felpéc, Hungary.
Lajos (Louis) Bodo, born on September 25, 1899 in Felpéc, Hungary. 
Kalman (Coleman) Bodo, born on May 16, 1902 in Felpéc, Hungary.
Lizzie (Elizabeth) Bodo, born on May 26, 1908 in Felpéc, Hungary.

     Alex did receive his naturalization status on July 3, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  This information was listed on a derivative for, his daughter, Elizabeth Bodo Feigi regarding her naturalization through her father dated 1951.   


          Alex traveled across the pond in 1896 after the birth of his first child.  He returned to Felpéc, Hungary between 1898-1903 when he returned with his nephew.  He came back after the birth of his daughter in 1908 and probably stayed as his family followed him to Rankin, Pennsylvania.
   

      Sandor Bodo, age 16, from Hungary, emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium on the ship Finland and arrived at the Port of New York on December 1, 1911.  His destination was his father, Sandor Bodo, Rankin, Pennsylvania.

     The remainder of Alex's Hungarian family immigrated in the next year, although I have not found their documents.  Louis Bodo and Alex Bodo, Jr. both had World War I draft registrations signed in 1918 with their father's address in Rankin.  

Note location of Monongahela Cemetery where both Alex and Julia Bodo are buried.


230 Fleet Street, Rankin, Pennsylvania in 2020

          Once his family arrived, Alex Bodo purchased a house at 230 Fleet Street in Rankin.  Believe it or not, the Bodo's are not enumerated on the 1920 Pennsylvania Federal census.  Several houses were left off and the house at 230 Fleet Street was one of them.

     
Julianna Horvath married to Bedo, Sandorne
From Felpéc.  Lived in Rankin

     Julia Horvath Bodo, wife of Alex and mother of seven, died on December 20, 1917 in St. Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  Information was given by her son, Alex Bodo, Jr. and he was unaware of her actual birthdate.  He listed her age as forty three and ball parked the year as 1874.  Her father was Steve Horvat, born in Hungary.  She was buried on December 22, 1917 in Monongahela Cemetery.  She is listed on Find A Grave and the Hungarian church record above was found on her site.  

     I have not been able to find an immigration document for her for three of her children, Louis, Coleman and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth lists 1912 on a 1930 Ohio census report.  From the 1930 Pennsylvania census, Julia had three children while living in Rankin.  Her last child, a daughter, was born four months before before she died.  

1930 Pennsylvania Federal Census, taken on April 11, 1930

      The Alex Bodo family was not skipped by the enumerator in 1930.  Alex, age 69, has remarried and three daughters are listed.  The family continued to live at 230 Fleet Street and the value of the house was $7,000.  Alex is a naturalized citizen and lists 1900 as his immigration date.   Alex is employed as a packer at a local brass foundry.     His wife Barbara, age 53, immigrated from Hungary.  He lists that she was first married at age 26.  Three daughters are listed; 

Edith Bodo, age 16 (circa 1913-14), born in Pennsylvania and working as an assistant in a doctors office.  

Rose Bodo, age 15 (February 17, 1915), born in Pennsylvania.  

Julia Bodo, age 12 (August 11, 1917), born in Pennsylvania. 

     Both Rose and Julia are listed as siblings, as well as her three brothers, in Elizabeth Bedo Feigi's obituary.  No mention of Edith.  I have not been able to trace her.  She may have been the youngest daughter of Barbara's from a previous marriage.


     Alexander Bodo died at his home, 230 Fleet Street, Rankin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on May 15, 1939 at 3:00 a.m.  He was being treated for heart disease.  This document gives Alex's father as Paul Bodo.  He is buried in Monongahela Cemetery probably next to his first wife, Julia Bodo.  The information for the death certificate was supplied by his son in law, James Marchese (married to Julia Bodo).

      

     
 
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© 2020, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser


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