Lajos Ványi

The native form of this personal name is Ványi Lajos. This article uses the Western name order.

Lajos Ványi
Born	1875.11.06 Cegléd
Died	1944 Portland, OR
Other names	Louis Vanyi
Occupation	miller
Spouse	Mária Reggel
Children	Ilona Louis Emil Ladislaus

Lajos Ványi (pronunciation:[’lɒjoʃ ’vaːɲi]) (6 November 1875 - 1944) was a member of the cegléd Ványi family and the founder of the oregon Ványi family.

Early life

Lajos was born was born on 6 November, 1875 in Cegléd as son of Károly (Charly) Ványi and Mária Klement. We don't know much about his childhood and early life. He got married in 1901 to Mária (Mary) Reggel who was born in 1882. Their daughter and first child Ilona (later known as Helen) was born on 11 April, 1902.

Lajos Ványi's birth record

First time in the US (1902-1913)

The family left Hungary in November, 1902. They traveled from Hamburg to New York on the board of Pretoria, and they arrived on 15 November, 1902. They settled in Portland, Oregon, where their first sons were born: Louis on 14 March, 1905 and Emil on 19 January, 1907. The family resided in 752 East 13 St. Portland, Oregon, and Lajos worked as miller. He was naturalized on 18 November, 1911 at the Multinomah County Court.

In Hungary (1913-1915)

The family returned to Hungary in September 1913. Back in Hungary the third son, Ladislaus was born on 20 April, 1914. We don't know why they returned to Hungary, but Lajos applied for an US Passport in May 1914 with the intent of returning to the United States within 2 years. He indeed return, arriving on 30 September, 1915, nevertheless his family stayed in Hungary.

Back in the US

Louis was drafted, his drafting card was issued on 18 February, 1918. In 1919 he applied for a passport, with the intent of going to Hungary and bringing his family back to the United States. In his application he states the following:

I now have a family who are at present in the city of Czegled, Hungary

I have neither seen nor had any correspondence from them since September 1915, though I have received word through the Red Cross that they are in a destitute condition and without food and clothing and in great need of my presence.

these messages through the Red Cross have repeatedly begged for my presence

I also received word that certain members of the family have died since my leaving there

He also states that he already had a previous application which has not been granted.

We don't know the details yet, but at the end the family reunited. They arrived in November 1930 to New York, Louis and his wife Mary, and with them their children Helen (28), Emil (23), Louis (16). From this record, it looks like that their oldest son, Louis died in Hungary. Furthermore, Ladislaus is not in the list, but there is Louis, who was also born around 1914. In fact, from later records we know that Louis was born on 28 April 1914, thus, if the records are complete and correct, he is identical to Ladislaus.

Lajos died in 1944 in Portland, 6 years after Mária.

Ancestry

We have the following information from the vital records in Cegléd:

• Lajos was born on 6 November, 1875, his father was Károly Ványi, his mother was Mária Klement (in the record it can also be read as Klemens).
• Mária was born in 1883
• Lajos and Mária married on 11 May, 1901. Lajos was miller, his parents are Károly Ványi and Klément Mária. Mária's parents are the late Sámuel Reggel farmer and Lídia Bátori. The witnesses are János Egri taylor and János Andrási mason.
• Lajos' father, Károly was born in 1844, his parents were János Ványi and Judit Tar. His godparents were Pál Dömsödi and Susánna Kovács.

Károly Ványi's birth record

• Károly Ványi (22, single, parents János Ványi and the late Judit Tar) married Mária Klement (18, single, parents Sámuel Klement and Erzsébet Deső) on 28 January, 1866. Witnesses are András Rab and István Szűcs.
• János Ványi and Judit Tar married on 10 December, 1833. János' father was the late István Ványi, Judit's father was János Tar.

At the moment we have not much information on István, father of János Ványi, because there were several people in Cegléd called István Ványi, and at least two of them had a son, called János. One of them was the husband of Judit Dér, the other was the husband of Erzsébet Pákozdi. Judit's son was born in 1811, Erzsébet's son was born in 1815. The former was 22, the latter was 18 in 1833. Thus Judit's son seems to be more probable, but we need further research. As we only processed the data after the year 1800, it is possible, that János was born earlier.

8. István Ványi

4. János Ványi

2. Károly Ványi (*1844)

10. János Tar

5. Judit Tar

1. Lajos Ványi (1875-1944)

6. Sámuel Klement

3. Mária Klement (*1848)

7. Erzsébet Deső

				2. Sámuel Reggel
	1. Mária Reggel (1883-1938)
				3. Lídia Bátori

Family

Marriage record of Lajos Ványi and Mária Reggel

Lajos Ványi

Mária Reggel

Helen Vanyi

Emil Vanyi

Louis Vanyi

oregon Vanyi family

california Vanyi family

Memory

The 3rd son of Lajos Vanyi was Lajos Vanyi, my father, born April 28, 1914 in Cegled. My Grandfather and Grandmother came to the U.S. through Ellis Island the first time in 1902 with their first born Helen.They lost a daughter Margaret and twin girls during their pursuit to homestead land in Oklahoma. They moved West to Portland, Oregon and a son, Louis II was born. Soon after, Emil was born. After an accident at the Mill, Grandfather lost his job with a meager financial settlement and locked up their home in Portland and returned to Hungary. Louis II got sick and died soon after their arrival in Hungary and is buried there. My father Louis was born on April 28, 1914 and named after his deceased brother. Being an American citizen, Grandfather returned to U.S. being advised by the American Consulate to leave Hungary due to war, but couldn't take the family back. This left the family in despair. Several years passed (5) and after severe hardship, he was notified by Red Cross to return to Hungary where he found them destitute and starving. After the war ended, Grandfather was found by the Red Cross and returned for his family. About 1925, he bought a farm and raised wheat, corn and grapes. He set up a barley and grain grinding business on the farm and moved the business to a junction connecting Cegled with Budapest. Emil was working as an apprentice painter in Budapest and returned home to help with the Mill business. He was inspirational in persuading the family to return to America and sent letters to Henry Ford for work. My Father was 16 Years years old when they all returned to the U.S. In 1930. They established a home in Portland, Oregon the remaining years of their lives. Emil and Dorothy had two sons, Ruben and Lawrence. Lajos (Louis) went to Hawaii after being denied traveling to China to do missionary work. He married my Mother, Mildred, and they had two children, Sylvia and Harvey. The family moved to California in 1949 and established residency in Ventura County. Louis retired with the U.S. Navy Missile Range Pt. Mugu 1967. He was the recipient of several gov't patents related to the first space program. In his retirement, he became a potter and designed hundreds of beautiful pottery which we are now the recipients of. He raised many species of orchids until his death in May 1990. Mildred also retired from owning her own business and was active with her Hawaiian music until her death in 2012. This info was taken from a book my Dad had started writing and I only added highlights of his notes. There was more detail to their life in Hungary and Portland too long to share.

—granddaughter Sylvia Vanyi-Johnson in the Vanyi family Facebook group around 2018