THE ORIGIN OF THE BÖRÖCZKY FAMILIES

According to historical and etnographic  research  the family Böröczky was one of the twelve families which Prince Árpád settled north of the Bakony mountains, in the area  currently called County Veszprém (Veszprém megye) shortly after the conquest of Hungarians, in the first half of the X. century.  This settlement was later named Tevel, in honour of Prince Tevel, the grandson of Árpád. (The name Tevel  later became  Adásztevel in which there are various presumptions about the origin of the word Adász .

The book entitled Adásztevel  (issued by Pápa Town Library, 2010) mentions  referring to a source (A Summary of Tevel Village History by József Péter, 1954) that some of the familes settled there were Baditz, Bozzai, Börötszky, Gyimóti, Kapotsy, Kiss, Merétei, Péter, Somogyi.  According to that book they are all of nobel origin, and are to be found within the current population of the village. According to the encyclopaedia of local history, from the XIV. century  the part of village Tevel  where the nobels lived, was called Adásztevel.  Here we have to agreee with the author of the book mentioned in that „it is an exciting question whether we can find the source referred to by József Péter, or we are facing here only a presumption”.  We can certainly state however  that the Böröczky family or with today’s spelling Böröczky (Böröczki) is one the oldest families settled in the X. century.

The name Böröczky itself is, according to latest research results, a dialect version of the name Berecki, pronounced with 'ö'.  This can be (a) a derivative of the Hungarian Christian proper name Bereck, Böröck, or (b) a Hungarian name which refers to the city-names Bereck (Transylvania, County Kovászna) or Alsó-, Felső-Bereck (County Zemplén), from where a person or family called Berecki originates.  The Hungarian proper name Bereck comes from the latin Brictius Christian proper name , its meaning is: tall, high, elevated. Orginally it was probably the name of bishop Saint Bereck (Brictius), linguisticly arising from Gallic roots.

It is worthwhile to make further citations from the book Adásztevel, a writing by Gábor Balla dated in 1890: „ our village gained its name Adás-Tevel  from the estate donation by  emperor Károly VI. to the prosperous families Kaputsi, Bereczki, Péter, Gáncs, Tóth, Czere, Oroszi, Balassa, Gyimóthy, Bodzai, Merétei and Lőrincze –these are the 12 families!- as a prize for  loyally serving  the throne and the fatherland.  ... The letter of donation by emperor  Károly VI.  mentioned above is still existing and is guarded by the  Kaputsi family.”   Accordingly this document originates from the period 1711-1740, the years of reign of the Hungarian King  Károly III. (also named Károly VI. German-Roman emperor.)   (The genuine copy of this document is to be found in the appropriate volume of the Book of Kings.)  According to the letter of donation dated October 17, 1723 „ Hungarian King Károly III. donates the whole one-estate noble village Adás-Tevely as a new donation (curalis possesio), although it was their possesion also in the past, to families Péter Ferenc, Tóth or Cezere istván, Gancs Benedek, Kapucsi Mihály, Bőrőtzky Ferenc, Oroszy István, Balassa Mihály, Gyimóti Mihály, Josa István, Gancs János, Bozai Mihály, Merétei János and Lőrincze Gergely, all members of the lower nobility.  The donation takes place on the reason that County Veszprém provided creditable proof of their nobility, although  they lost their former certificates.”

From the XVI. century onwords we can find further written records about the life story of the Böröczkys.  One of the Böröczkys called Krisztina made it to quite high circles:  various documents found in the National Archive provide evidence  that the wife of voivod of Veszprém István Oroszy (Oroszy vajda) born around 1570, had the name Böröczky Krisztina.
An important paper from the old time came from the business life:  in 1729 Böröczky Ferenc is the buyer of a vinery estate in Léhért next to Adásztevel, from Miklósné Horvát of Tapolcafő (legal record of a purchase in 1729 in Adásztvevel).    (The varying usage of ’i’ or ’y’ at the end must not make any confusion, the reason for that was often a simple misspelling or absence of attention.)
Family relations  of the Böröczkys in the XIX. and XX. centuries are easier to follow, therefore in the following we provide details of them against family branches.

Böröczkys around Tevel and Pápa
Böröczky Márton born c. 1774, (m. with Gyimóti Erzsébet) raised ten children who also created  further big families.  His numerous descendants  live now mainly in the Tevel-Pápa area, they organised in Tevel a get-together of Böröczkys in May 2011, the first one of a major scale.  One months later this was followed by another large-scale Böröczky party in Tapolca comprising all Böröczkys in Hungary and beyond.

The great-great grandson of Böröczky Gábor (born 1810), Lengyel Jenő (1937-2003) undertook detailed archival research about the history of his branch.  According to this Gábor’s son,  Böröczky Antal (born 1844) married Baditz Apollónia who had remarcable ascendants.  Her great-great grandfather, Baditz Péter was the personal guard commander (testőrparancsnok) of Prince Rákóczi Ferenc, and his wife was the daughter of Sibrik Miklós, Rákóczi’s marshal (udvarmester).  (Sibrik Miklós died in Rodosto in 1735. His remains are burried in a sarcofagus in the Rákóczi crypt of the dom in Kassa.)

Böröczky István (born c. 1780. Tevel, m. with Kapotsi Éva) would have a big smile on his face  if he saw his descendant’s success.  We know from family records and registers of births and marriages that his great-grandson was Böröczky Géza  (1889- 1972) restauranteur and enterpreneur, of  whom a Place in Pápa, the Böröczky domb got its name.
Two of our ancestors, Börötzky Gábor (1780-1842) and Börötzky Dániel (1782-1820), whose tombstones are still standing in good condition in the protestant cemetary in Adásztevel.  The great-grandson of  Dániel was Böröczky Ede (1892-1968, m. with Györffy Ilona) landowner and enterpreneur, former owner of the castle and estate in Kisdém-puszta.  (The story that  makes the castle and the chapel in Kisdém-puszta especially famous is that it was the venue for the marriage of Kossuth Lajos and Meszlényi Terézia.   The owner of the castle and estate in that time was Meszlényi Ferenc squire, father of Terézia.)

Another great-great grandson of Dániel was Böröczky Zoltán (1922-1995) restauranteur, who managed with great expertise the Hódoska inn in Pápa, in the 1960’s. (The original Hódoska inn had also the famous poet Petőfi Sándor among its guests, he even wrote there a poem recognising the pleasant atmosphere in the Hódoska.)  Another well-known descendant of this branch in the XIX c. was Böröczky Dezső (1902-1970) who was the town-clerk of Tevel in the 1930’s and 40’s.
The descendants  from the marriage of Böröczky Pál (born in 1790) and his wife Szász Zsuzsanna live now in Tevel, Pápa, Budapest, Kecskemét and Szeged, in close family relations, and some of the relatives got even as far as Brasil.

Böröczky Károly (born c. 1880) also has a wide circle of descendants, more than 50 of them live now in Pápa, Budapest, Tapolca and away in Belgium.  An offspring of that branch is professor Dr Böröczky Károly, an internationally recongnised scientist of geometry, author or co-author of a number of books, scientific papers, articles.
A well-known figure of the period betwen the two world wars in Pápa was Böröczky József (1897-1944) warrant police officer.  His grandson was the recently deceased Böröczky József (Pepi) (1948-2011), reputed actor, comedian and motorsport commentator.
Győr-Sopron-Moson County Branch

Another archival record from the XVIII. century :  Böröczky Péter and István justified their title of nobility in County Sopron at the national census of nobles in 1754-55.  This leads us to the conclusion  that to the XVIII. c.  a branch in County  Győr-Sopron-Moson of the Böröczkys has already existed. It is likely that Péter’s or István’s great-grandson was Böröczky Péter (sz.1811, Pottyond, Csorna mellett, m. with Nagy Erzsébet). The descendants of these two live there even at present,  they are aware of their roots of Adásztevel and maintain old relations.  Böröczky Imre (1911-2003) moved to Budapest,  he was entitled citizen of honour of Nagytétény (part of Budapest) in 1999, in recognition of the reputable results he had reached in horticultural research.  A sub-branch of this branch is the Somogy megye branch.   The founder of this branch was Böröczky Ferenc  (1911-2003) a famous painter who was born in Öttevény at Győr, but spent most of his life in Balatonszemes.  His paintings are exhibited in the Kékfrankos Pince-galéria in Szemes.

Fejér County Branch
Böröczky József (born c. 1890) was related to the branch in County Fejér of the Böröczkys.  He was the chief hunting master of Count Zichy’s estate in the XIX. century.  His son Böröczky Kornél  (1929-1995) became also an expert of game management  and hunting with international reputation.  He was appointed director of the game reserve of Gemenc and published several professional books on this topic.  His relatives live now in Counties Veszprém and Tolna.

Carpathian Highlands in Slovakia (Felvidék)
The roots of the Slovakian branch of the Böröczkys also go back to County Győr-Moson-Sopron.  Lajos Böröczky, the geat-grandson of János Böröczky born in cca 1790, was born in Potyond next to Csorna in 1889.   Coming to adult age he settled in Pozsony and married with Terez Bartel.  They brought up ten children, six boys and four girls.  These children, some of them still alive, and their descendants live now in Győr, Pozsony, Révkomárom and Érsekújvár, as well as Ostrava in the Chech Republic and Köln in Germany. Ilonka and Sándor met in 2013 the first time in their lives, thanks to the investigative assistance of their relatives and the slovak television. The moving and joyous moments of their unxpected face-to-face meeting were reflected in a TV program in Slovakia. (We can read the story of their adventurous life and unsuspected get-together in a section of the Böröczky Homapage called "Kapcsolódó szemelvények" - Related clippings).

Burgenland Branch
A member of the Böröczky’s Burgenland branch was Franz Böröczky (Böröczky Ferenc, 1922-2002) who made a brilliant political career in Austria.  He was born in town Kittsee in Burgenland, he was member of the Burgenland Landtag (1964-1969) and the Österreichischer Bundesrat (1969-1974). At the same time in the 1960-s and 70-s he was the mayor of town Kittsee.  Most of his descendants live in Kittsee even these days.

Epilog
Even at the present time still quite a few Böröczky families live in the old nest in Tevel and Pápa, and in other cities of the Carpathian Basin,  or even further away in Western Europe, and overseas in America and Australia.  Most of them consciously maintain their roots of origin, their cultural heritage.
The aim of the Böröczky’s internet homepage is to saveguard memories of our honourable ancestors and create connections betwen the Böröczky descendants of present time.