In 1919, my great-grandmother, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bednar Soltis, made a harrowing choice. To escape an abusive marriage to my great-grandfather, Charles, she left Ronald, Washington, and headed east toward Brooklyn.
She wasn't alone. She managed to save enough money to transport herself and seven children across the entire United States. According to one of her sons and several cousins, that long journey included a crucial stop: they stayed with Elizabeth’s sister in Ohio for a few weeks before finally reaching New York.
Despite this specific family memory, this sister remains a shadow in our family tree.
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No Name: We don't know her first name or her married surname.
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No Location: "Ohio" is the only clue we have for where Elizabeth and seven children found refuge in late 1919.
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Missing Records: My mother searched for years but found no documents for Elizabeth beyond her marriage and census records—no mention of siblings or other family members in the U.S.
We know Elizabeth was born in Budapest, Hungary, to Peter Bonar (Bednar) and a woman named Mary. Logic suggests her sister would have shared these parents and likely also immigrated from Hungary around the turn of the century.
Finding this sister would be more than just adding a name to a chart. It would provide the "missing link" to Elizabeth’s support system. Who was the woman who opened her doors to a sister fleeing a difficult life with seven hungry children in tow?
The Breakthrough I want to have involves finding a "Bednar" or "Bodnar" (or a Hungarian-born woman with those maiden names) living in Ohio in the 1920 Census who might have been the reason Elizabeth chose that route. Solving this mystery would finally "flesh out" the story of Elizabeth’s brave journey and perhaps lead us back to more information about our family's roots in Budapest.
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