The Kollarik (or Kollarick, Kolarik) surname comes into my family through Veronica Kollarik, born May 5 1843, the mother of my maternal great-grandfather Frantisek or Francisco Galvanek. Veronica married his father Stephanus Galvanek on May 17 1864 and they had 5 children, of whom my great grandfather Frantisek was the first and eldest. On their marriage record, it states that at the time of the marriage, Stephanus was 36 years old and Veronica was 20 years old, which implies Stephanus was born within a year of May 1828 and Veronica within a year of May 1844.
It appears that there are 3 possibilities for Stephanus Galvanek’s birth date (and thus 3 possible sets of parents) and 2 possibilities For Veronica Kollarik’s birth date.
Was Veronica Kollarik born in May 5 1843 or on Jan 22 1845? These dates both match a Veronica being about 20 years old when she married Stephanus in May 1864. However, there are further clues in the birth/baptism records of Veronica’s children, which point to my Veronica being the one born in 1843. The parents of this 1843 Veronica, Ferencz or Franciscus Kollarik and Maria Hrankay or Hrjankay, gave birth to 8 children, and the names of these siblings as well as the name of Veronica’s mother are found on the birth/baptism records of her children, listed as godparents. The details are:
Thus it seems that my Veronica is the 1843 Veronica.
Birth record of the 1845 Veronica showing parents Josephus Kollarik and Veron Matiszek:
This is the record of the birth of Veronica Kollarik. born 1843 This is taken from page 436 of the book of Baptisms and Confirmations from 1788 to 1897 for Kysuce Nove Mesto. Shows parents Ferencz Kollarik and Maria Hrjankay:
Veronica’s parents were Ferencz Kollarik and Maria Hrjankay (aka Hryankay). Ferencz was the Hungarian version of the Slovak name Frantisek and the Latin name Franciscus.
Ferencz and Maria had a total of 8 children: (1) Maria born Feb 17 1839, (2) Josephus born Jan 27 1841, (3) Veronica born May 5 1843, (4) Janos born Dec 6 1844, (5) Ignacs born March 19 1849, (6) Apollonia born March 20 1851, (7) Maria born Aug 28 1853, and (8) Ignatius born May 31 1857.
On December 16, 1844, Veronica’s brother Istvan Kollarik was born — this is from page 452 of the record of Baptisms and Confirmations from 1788 to 1897 in Kysuce Nove Mesto:
This record shows the birth of Veronica’s brother Ignacz or Ignacs Kollarik on March 19 1849:
Here is Janos Kollarik born on Dec 6 1844:
Josephus Kollarik born Jan 27 1841:
Ignatius Kollarick born May 31 1857
This record shows the birth of Veronica’s sister Apollonia in March 20 1851:
This record shows the birth of Veronica’s sister Maria on Aug 29 1853
As well, there was a Maria Kollarick born to Franciscus (the latin version of the name Ferencz) Kollarik and Maria Hrjankay on Feb 17 1839
My great-great-great grandparents were Ferencz (aka Franciscus) Kollarik and Maria Hrjankay.
Their first child Janos was born in December 1844, so each of them is likely to have been born before 1828. I found a birth record for a Franciscus Kollarik on March 12 1825 — if this was my great great great grandfather, he would have been 19 when fathering Janos.
Looking for the birth of Maria Hrjankay…
Her first child born with Franciscus/Ferencz was born in 1839. Thus Maria is likely to have been born in 1821 or earlier.
I find a Maria Hrjankay born July 13 1817, to Joannes Hrjankay and Anna Imrich. 
And there is another Maria Hrjankay, born March 10 1812, to the same parents!
There is also a Maria Hrianka born April 1813, to different parents. However this name Hrianka is different…slightly different, and it remains different in the several records that exist for this set of parents (their births to several children). It’s never listed as Hrankay or Hrjankay but only Hrianka or Hrjanka. Hence I think this isn’t the set of parents for my Maria Hr(j)ankay.
A marriage record which showed her age would help determine which year she was born. Those marriage records aren’t available now in my area for that time period,however.
But death records can also help. Actually it’s my guess that the only reason a couple would name two daughters with the same name, was if the first one died. So this leads me to believe the Maria wife of Ferencz Kollarik was born in 1817.
Going over the death records, I found the death of Franciscus or Ferencz Kollarik listed on May 8 1865, at age 56:
This would mean he was born around 1809, and would have made him about 30 years old at the time of the birth of his first child, Maria.
So then going backwards from his death record I try to find his birth record. Looking over the records for the town where he lived, Kysucke Nove Mesto, I find no Franciscus Kollarik born in 1809, or even 1808 or 1810. So there is nothing that matches exactly, but I find about 4 different possibilities.
(1) There is an Andreas Kollarik born April 24 1809 in Kysucke Nove Mesto. Could this be Franciscus, maybe with a name change after his birth? I think it’s unlikely so I will exclude this possibility.
(2) There is an Andreas Franciscus Kollarik born Oct 29 1803 in Kysucke Nove Mesto. Could this be my great great great grandfather? The name is closer, but the birth year is pretty far off. Here is where it might be helpful to understand more about the culture in this place and time. In some parts of the world, people don’t place that much significance on one’s age as to keep careful track of birthdates and exactly how old one is. So, in such a culture, the recorded age at death might not be accurate. But this date would be 6 years off from my 3x great grandfather,which I think is too much, so I will exclude this as a possibility.
(3) there is a Joseph Franciscus Kollarik born Dec 4 1815 in Kysucke Nove Mesto. Again this is 6 years off from the birth date of 1809 as indicated by a death age of 56 in 1865. However, a recorded “6” in 56 can look like a “0”..is it possible that this age number was actually 50 and not 56, which would put him at year 1815 for his birth? Looking closely at the document with a magnifying glass, I have to conclude that the “6” looks definitely different from the figure “0” as written elsewhere in this record. Also — and again here is where knowing about the culture of the time and place could help — how likely was it that someone named “Joseph Franciscus” at his birth (eg Jozef Frantisek) would all his life afterward be known as Franciscus or Frantisek? Instead of Jozef? I am thinking it’s not too likely. On the other hand, the first male child of Frantisek and Maria was named Joseph. So that may be a clue….but I don’t think it outweighs that it’s unlikely that someone born “Jozef” would be known as Franciscus, as well as the birth date being off by 6 years.
(4) there is a 4th possibility (without the existence of which, I might have selected the above choice) and this is that there was a Franciscus Kollarik born right around the right year, in 1810. But…he was born in a different town. He was born in Dovalovo, in Liptovsky Mikulas, which is about 41 miles distant from Kysucke Nove Mesto. See here for information. Here again is where knowing more about the culture of the time and place might help. Is it likely a young man traveled 41 miles from his home town to another town, and married and raised a family there? I dont’ think this is impossible though it’s less common. It certainly seems more plausible than for a young woman to be the one doing that type of traveling. So I am going to tentatively, without any evidence pointing to the contrary, say that this Franciscus Kollark from Dovalovo was possibly my 3x great grandfather.
One of the things helping me in this search, is that Franciscus was a relatively less common name than the other male names being used at this time, so there are fewer options to pursue. In fact, when searching records for a birth of a Franciscus Kollarik through all of Slovakia, there is no other one shown born in the whole nation, during 1808-1810, than this one from Dovalovo. 
this record indicates his parents were Joan or Joannes Kollarik and Anna Hrenko. These parents had other children, as indicated in the records, so Franciscus’ siblings would have been Ignatius, born 1802, Anontius, born 1805, and Anna, born 1807.
Trying to go back still further and find the birth date of Franciscus’ father Joan or Joannes, that doesn’t seem possible as Joannes was a quite common name at the time, and there were other Kollariks in the town, so there are at least 4 Joannes Kollariks in that area born in the right time frame. One born 1764 one in 1769, one in 1773 and one in 1777. Without a marriage record that showed the age of Joannes at the time of his marriage to Anna Hrenko or Chrenko, it’s hard to know which one is Franciscus’ father.
I find no records for a birth of an Anna Hrenko or Chrenko in that town for the correct time period, but there are many Anna Chrenkos born elsewhere in Slovakia during that time period, so without knowing her age at marriage it would be hard to find out which one she was.
What of the siblings of my great great grandmother Veronica Kollarik? What of their marriages and families? I find a record for sister Apollonia’s marriage to Andreas Kubicska on Nov 9 1869, which indicates she was 18 years old at the time (matches her 1851 birth year) and he was 23. This would mean he was born in 1846. There is an Andras Kubicska born on Sept 8 1847 in Kysucke Nove Mesto, so I believe this would have been her husband: 
Apollonia and Andras had several children: (1) Josephus born 1871, (2) Andreas born 1874 (3) Maria born 1876, (4)Joannes born 1877 (5)Anna born 1879 (6)Paulus born 1881 (7)Josephus born 1883 (8) Maria born 1885.
Andras Kubicska’s parents were Jozsef Kubicska and Anna Sztarinszky. He had siblings, Stephanus born May 23 1852: 
Maria born Oct 13 1835:
Justina born Oct 24 1837: 
What about mother Anna Sztarinsky, of her parents? Records show two Anna Sztarinskys born in Kysucke Nove Mesto around the right time — in 1812 and 1813. looking into those 2 records, it seems that there was a mistake in indexing and the ANna born in 1813 was actually Anna Sznasniczan, not Anna Sztarinszky. So that leaves one Anna born Aug 29 1812 as the correct one here: 
This gives Anna’s parents as Joan or Joannes Sztarinszky and Anna Kollarik. She had siblings Antonius born Feb 16 1822: 
Ignatius born Feb 20 1819:
Josephus born March 10 1820
Joannes Born June 21 1810:
What about Anna Sztarinszky’s parents? Joannes Sztarinszky and ANna Kollarik?
There is a record for a birth of a Joannes Sztarinszky on Feb 8 1762
And one Joannes Sztarinszky is listed for a birth in July 29 1788 —
The 1762 Joannes seems too old — he’d have been 60 years old when his son Antonius was born in 1822. This is possible but seems unlikely, especially as most people didn’t even live until age 60 during that time. So I will go with the 1788 Joannes Sztarinszky as the right one here. This gives his parents as Andr Sztarinszky and Susa….but other records for births in the same town and same father and mother name help fill in the mother’s name. She was Susan Hlavacs. This record shows the birth of Joannes’ sister Maria on May 24 1794: 
Then Stephanus born Aug 12 1801:
Josephus born June 7 1804:
Maria born Dec 16 1795:
Another Maria born Nov 8 1797 (probably the first two Marias died young)
Can I go back further still and find records for births of the Andr Sztarniszky and Susan Hlovacs? There are several records that match the time range for Susan, though none in Kysucke Nove Mesto, but some nearby.
Mikuteit Family Tree 