(Note: Emericus Zahurnyecz and his siblings were 1/2 siblings to Joseph Hurray by virtue of his mother Anna Klapacs. This section is being separated out only to help with clarification, and also to add other interesting information about the life of Emericus and family).
1865-(14Sept1865) Maria Catharina Zahuranyecz was born to Anna Klapacs and Michael Zahuranyecz in Spisske Podhradie, Levoca, Slovakia.
1867-Emericus Zahuranyecz was born to Anna Klapac and Michael Zahuranyecz om Spisske Podhradie Slovakia.
1867-1879 It is assumed that Emericus (later known as Emil) spent the first 12 years of his life in Spisske Podhradie Slovakia.
1874-Seven years after Emil's birth his parents, Anna Klapac and Michael Zahuranyecz had another daughter named Susan Zahuranyecz, who was baptized in Spisske Podhradie, Slovakia.
[1874-1876 It is unclear what happened in this 2 years, between 1874 and 1876, to Michael Zahuranyecz, because in 1876 his wife, Anna (Klapacs) began having children with Joseph Hurray, the first child being Anna Dorothea in 1876.
1876-Anna Klapac had a daughter with Joszef Huraj named Anna Dorothea Huraj (Huray) Hurray.
1879 (approx.) At the age of 12 (according to George Hurray), Emil went to Italy, to work in wine country.1
As George put it, "He was ordered to leave home and learn a trade. He went to the vineyards of Italy and was taught the Coopers trade." When Emil left to work in Italy his sister Maria Zahuranyecz was 14 yo, and his other full sister, "Anna" (b. 1872), would be 7 years old. His full sister Susan Zahuranyecz was 5 y.o. His 1/2 sister Anna Dorothea Hurray was 3 y.o. [That would mean, If Emil left Spisske Podhradie fully in 1879, then he wouldn't have interacted with any of his brothers in person, until he returned from his military service in his early 20's (unless he returned intermittently). George Hurray added, "At the age of 17 or 18 all males were drafted into the service. He was in the Prussian Navy."
2
(If that was so, the year Emil was drafted would have been around 1884-1885) Emil served in the Royal German/Prussian Navy near the port of Trieste, Italy]. According to his descendent, Don Hurray, when he returned from the service, he saw that the "Hurray's" were coming to America, so he decided to do the same.
1879-1892 (While Emil was away working in the wine fields and serving in the Navy, his mother had 5 additional children ("Paulus Josephus", Michael, "Katie", Stephanus, Andreas) in that order.
1888-Jozsef Huraj [Anna's husband] and possibly his (brother? cousin?) named Stefan Huraj traveled to the U.S. and arrived in New York City.
1890-1892 Emil moved to the U.S. around this time.
1892 Anna Klapac and 6 of her 9 children (Jozef, Stefan, Andrej, Michael, (Katie?), and Susanna) traveled together on a boat and arrived in New York City. [Anna D. Gonda/Hurray was not listed on the manifest with the others].
[Emil was quite a remarkable fellow. He was employed at h.J. Heinz Co. for 47 years. He was a master Cooper. He spoke 7 different languages. The people in the italian markets of Pittsburgh would remark at how he spoke the "high class" Italian, or the "High Italian". Possibly referring to the Italian spoken near Trieste, near Naples, and the high wine country, which had a distinct dialect. He accomplished a lot for only having acquired up to a 6th grade education]
