The source for this article comes from Johann Weidlein’s monograph entitled: A Tolnamegyei Német Telepitésék.
On the basis of the tax conscription lists of the County in 1715 it can be determined that there were Magyars, Germans and Slovaks living in the area at that time. Of the 561 known settlements in the County in the 15th century only 45 were still in existence and most of them had only been resettled after 1690. Original inhabitants were few and far between and were survivors of the brutal Turkish occupation.
The new settlement followed the expulsion of the Turks and also included Magyars. These Magyars came from northern
At the beginning of the 18th century the County was only sparsely populated and there were entire Domains such as Gyönk and Tevel that were uninhabited and devastated. The nobles and gentry who owned the land were hard pressed to bring in workers on their estates to make them productive. At an early date they thought of the possibility of securing German settlers and the estate owner of Tevel, Ladislaus von Jobaháza Dory sent his agent, Franz Felbinger to Bieberach who recruited 127 Swabian families to come as colonists. But it appears that the settlers were not satisfied with the terms he offered so that in 1718 Count Dory distributed promotional handbills in Württemberg in which he advertised better settlement terms. The landlord, however, was unable to meet all of the terms of his advertisement and for that reason the colonists left Tevel and settled on the estates of other nobles and country gentry.
Included in the landholdings of the Dory family were Zomba, Kisdorog, Ladomány, Kovacsi and Szárazd. These locales were settled by Germans much later. Zomba’s first German settlers were Lutherans who arrived in 1734-1735 coming from Gyönk and later leaving for Mekenyes. They were followed by Magyar Roman Catholics who were later joined by Germans from Tevel and Kisdorog. Later, between 1729-1733, Swabians arrived here and also in Ladomány. Kovacsi was established as a new colony in 1755. Its inhabitants came from Kéty and belonged to the landholdings of the former military commander Monasterly.
Included in the landholdings of Count Wallis were the villages of Tolna, Kakasd, Belac and Harcz. The last named was a Magyar settlement that was established in 1734 with new settlers from outside the County. Tolna became a market town and was settled with mostly Bavarian and Austrian colonists. Kakasd was established in 1718; Belac was settled two years later by German colonists who had settled earlier in Tevel and Högyész.
In the northern portion of the County lay the holdings of Count Styrum-Lymburg. In 1720 he invited German Reformed settlers from Hessen/Kassel and
Gyönk belonged to the Magyari-Kossa family and was first settled by Magyars in 1713 that came from the
Count Claudius Florimundus von Mercy was the key factor in the colonization of
The Roman Catholics at Závod (1718); Apar (1742); Hant (1742); Diósbereny (1703 with Maygars and 1728 with Germans); Mucsi (1722); Högyész (1722); Szakadát (1723); Varasd (before 1733); Nagyvejke (1747); Duzs (1741-1742) and Lengyel (before 1729).
The Lutherans at Kismányok (1719); Varsád (before 1722); Felsönana (before 1722); Keszöhidekgut (1722); Kalaznó (1722); Mucsfa (1720-1722); Izmeny (1720-1722); Kistormás (1724) and Bataapati(1730).
He managed to increase the population rapidly using the auspices of the government and his personal connections and most importantly by living up to his generous terms of settlement, especially in two respects: the free exercise of his settler’s religion and the promise of his protection and support of them as far as possible in that endeavour and he required no Robot (free labour) of his peasant subjects.
The Domain of Bonyhad was newly settled by Lord von Schilson. German colonists came to Majos as early as 1715 and to Bonyhad as early as 1723, to Cikó in 1726 and to Kéty in 1732. We have no information on the time of the arrival of the German settlers in Möcsény.
Zsibrik and Murga’s German settlers were recruited by the Jeszensky family in the years 1723-1745. Franz Kun brought German settlers from the Pfalz to Morágy in 1724. The villages around Nagymányok owe their new settlers to the Bishop of Pécs. Nagymányok was newly settled in 1722; Györe, Varalja and Máza received German settlers in small groups in the beginning of the 19th century.
On both sides of the
Szálka belonged to the landholdings of the Batthyányi family. It was originally settled by Magyars but Serbs came in 1720 and the Magyars left while the Serbs in turn were swamped by the arrival of German families in 1776. The Serbs in Grábic and Alsonana were also eventually vastly outnumbered by Germans.
Germans from the Schwarzwald came to Bátaszék after 1718. Värdomb was resettled by Germans in 1750.
There are also isolated German villages in the eastern part of the County. Mözs was first settled in 1732. Györköny was settled by two waves of German settlers: first in 1717 or 1718 by Germans from
In 1785 some 157 families mostly from the
The villages of Belecska, Tabód, and Dorypattan were settled in the 1850s by Germans from the middle Tolna villages.
The German population of the Tolna since the original colonization has been the source of German expansion into other areas. The Protestant villages around Gyönk played an important role in that. That is why Tolna Germans are found in Soltvadkert in Pest County, Balmazújvaros in the Debrécen area and in Polány, Hács, Ecsény and Gadács in Somogy County and in Baranya at Illocska, Magyarbóly, Kaposszeckcsö, etc.
The major German settlement of
From the nature of the dialects spoken in the various villages in Swabian Turkey the area of the origins of the original settlers can be determined but not always to the specific villages themselves.
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