Background

If your surname is: YALCH (was previously JALCS or JALC^)

If your ancestor emigrated from: AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, HUNGARY, - ZEMPLEN, UZ^HOROD, SPIŠ, ABOV, OR TRENC^IN Counties (Megye) the following should be of interest to you.

If your ancestor lived in a village formerly called: CSABALOCZ or CSABAHAZA,
then your ancestral village today is known as C^ABALOVCE located in the district of Medzilaborce in northeastern Slovakia. The YALCH surname Project is planned to help you identify family connections, verify and enhance your genealogy charts and provide insight on previous migration into this area. If your YALCH ancestor emigrated from a different village and county (Megye) read the section below on Other Villages.

Cabalovce
The biggest hurdle in constructing a Yalch family tree is the lack of records from the Saint Michael Archange Greek Catholic in C^abalovce. The records were not filmed by the Mormon Family Library filming crews because they were not found in the State archives of Slovakia. The original church records were destroyed or lost during W.W.II when the village was occupied in turn by German and Russian Army units. Fortunately a copy of these records (referred to as the Bishop's copy) which was sent to the Eparchy survived and is held today at the Hungarian archives in the town of Satoraljaujhely, Hungary. These records were originally advertised as covering the years 1821-1894. Today the coverage is more like 1821-1880 because the pages that included the last 15 years have literally crumbled away. In addition there are numerous gaps in the records.

Using U.S. Records, the 1869 Hungarian census of Csabalocz and information extracted from the church records in the Satoraljaujhely archives I have initially identifed 6 Yalch family lines with male ancestor born in the period 1810-1835 and having a direct line Y DNA descendant living today. There are other Yalch family lines which can be identified going back for shorter periods but the paper trail is insufficient to make connections. Some of these are probably related to the
initial 6.

Known destinations of the Csabalocz Jalcs emigrants:

State/Territory// County// Place// Add. Place
OK Indian Terr.// Coal// Coalgate// Murray Twp.
Western PA.//Allegh// Pittsburgh// Adj.Counties
Northeast PA.// Carbon// Lansford
Northeast PA.// Columbia// Berwick
Northeast PA.// Schuylkill// Coaldale// McAdoo

Other Villages

Analysis of information from the Ellis Island Emigrant data base and the U.S. Censuses provide some insight relative to the destinations of Jalcs (incl. Jales) who came from villages other than those in the Csabalocz area.

Area/County/ Village Names Hung//Slov/Emigrated "to"

East/Zemp/Laborczfalva//Vol'a/Freeland, Luzerne, PA
East/Zemp/Laborczfalva//Vol'a/Jeddo, Luzerne, PA
East/Zemp/Leszna//Lesne/Hazleton, Luzerne, PA.
East/Zemp/Natafalva//Nacina Ves/Jeddo, Luzerne, PA.
East/Zemp/Velejte//Vel'aty/Phoenixville, Chester, PA.

East/Uzh./ Zahor//Zahor/Layton, Fayette, PA.

Cent./Spiš/Golnicbanya//Gelnica/Sprawn, Palo Pinto, TX
Cent./Spiš/Nagykunczfalva // Helcmanovce/Allegheny, Allegheny, PA
Cent./Spiš/Nagykunczfalva // Helcmanovce/ Meadow lands, Washington, PA
Cent./Spiš/Jekelfalu//Jaklovce/Greensburg, Westmoreland, PA.

Cent./Abov/ F. Meczuref// Medzev/Star Junction, Fayette, PA.
Cent./Abov/Mecenzef//Medzev/Perryopolis, Fayette, PA.

West/Trencin/Markofalva//Svedernik/Connellsville, Fayette, PA.
West/Trencin/Markofalva//Svedernik/Trotter, Fayette, PA.
West/Trencin/Poroszka//Pruske/Uniontown, Fayette, PA.

Collectively the above information provides some qualitative perspective on the distribution of Jalcs families in Hungary around the beginning of the 20th century. It raises the question if any of these are related. Since there is no evidence that the Jalcs name is native to the land now known as Slovakia there is also the question is where it originated. Folklore in Csabalocz held that the earliest settlers were shepherds from Poland. The oldest surviving Jalc^ in C^abalovce today recalls hearing that Jalcs came from "Nitra way". The villages Gelnica/Helcmanovce are close to a line drawn from C^abalovce to Nitra on a map of Slovakia. The earliest written record of the village of Csabalocz was in 1494. The earliest written record of the Jalcs name in the village is from the 1773 Urbar (Tax roll) which identifies Alex Jalcs as Judex (arbitrator). The Jalcs surname does not appear in the 1715 Urbar for Csabalocz. From the church records there was a significant presence of the Jalcs surname in the Gelnica/Helcmanovce area around the end of the 17th century. Hopefully YDNA testing can help sort this out.