We're a clan; that's for sure. The first baptism records show up for us in the late 1600s (1688, 1691, and 1698 per FamilySearch). Our surname is, according to Ancestry, "Czech or Slovak (Krempaský): descriptive nickname from krepy ‘squat’, ‘square-built’." We're not nobility or anything, though; and records are fairly scant for us (for the four main surname variants, 7,498 on Ancestry and 7,189; so, the surname in this case has to be simply lingual and not connected to ethnicity, etc..
I grant that, e.g., the Roman Catholic Church stopped releasing records to the LDS in 2009 or thereabouts over attempts to baptize decedents; what's online is updated over time, etc.. Still, "Krempasky" and variants are not connected to nobility, Czech or Slovakian ethnicity, etc.. The big clues are these:
There are other factors, though look at these:
My own branch of the Krempaszkys—through Rosalia Czarnogurskÿová Krempaszkÿová—became Czarnogurskÿs, with one variant of their surname being Czarnogorsky. Doing the research, etc., you find quite quickly that they were originally Schwarzbergs, Schwartzenbergs, etc. whom became Anusim (Crypto Jews) and Slavicized their name at some point (See FamilySearch for quite a few of the variants, etc. ). Perhaps they even carried it over as a Sephardic surname which later became an Ashkenazi surname—I have read about this, and this happened on my Andrulewicz side unless we dropped our original name and eventually took up a new one when we came to Poland and Lithuania (The Andrulevič[i]uses are kohanim, by the way.).
Mária Krempaszkÿová married a Jákob Trudnyakov (Trudnyak when we inherited it. Sadly, an Odesa, Ukraine branch of the Trudnyakovs was affected directly by the Holocaust.); Mihály Trudnyak married Mária Nagyová (a granddaughter of Rosalia Dudayová Nagyová , whose father's family used "Duday" as a kinnui for "Kohen" and mother's family were of the Sephardi Légrádis. Mária's maternal grandmother was Elizabetha Levaiová Nagyová.).
Mária Krempaszkÿová Trudnyaková's grandson through Mihály was also Mihály. In Sephardic custom, this naming custom is used; and Mária, by the way, as a variant of "Miryam" is fine among Ashkenazim, as a late cousin's grandnephew told me. The younger Mihály Trudnyak, meanwhile, did not name his first daughter Mary (Neither was his first sister named "Mária": she was named "Aurelia Zsuzsana".).
The younger Mihály Trudnyak also married a child of Anusim, a daughter of Sámuel and Rosalia Korschová Munka. Her name was Anna Amalia Munková, and she—unlike her sister Anna Amalia, for whom she either was named or took her own name—was left unbaptized (Samuel and Rosalia baptized no girls after their daughters Paulina, whom died in 1887, and the first Anna Amalia, whom died just shy of her first birthday, died. The final child whom was baptized, Augustinius Samuel Munka, was baptized in September 1887, months after Paulina died.).
Mihály and Anna became Michael and Anna Monka Trudniak (also "Trudnak"). Mary Trudnak married the oldest child of Alexandria Andrulewicz Czerniecki, Anthony John Czarnecki (Czerniecki by birth). Needless to say, as I found out, Alexandria (from a Litvish family), was unamused: as I figured out from what I heard, etc., she deplored that her son would marry for love (Granduncle Tony said that, that was the reason.) and not through shidduch (Granduncle Tony talked about how parents chose in the old country. I figured out that, that meant going through shidduch [matchmaking].).
Alexandria also deplored that Mary Trudnak was a Believing Jew, and a Believing Jew whom was a daughter of Anusim! Great-Grandma really was a Believing Jew, by the way: while I didn't know that we're Jews until much later (and that's a long story!), I do remember that she was a believer, and the example of her being a believer that sticks out to me is from when my dad's family was up in Luzerne County for his mother's annual family reunions and would go visit Great-Grandma each year.
Every time that we visited, she treated me (one of her son Jack's granddaughters) and Jamie (her son Jim's son) as equally as the other grandkids and great-grandkids there; and since Jamie and I each have Cerebral Palsy (and Jamie's is much more severe and was not present from birth), that really sticks out to me. She was also a quiet and frail elderly woman (Much of the frailty had to do with years of abuse that worn her down later, as I figured out.).
I hope that this helps, even if it just gives you a lens on it from my side of the family/clan/mishpacha [family]/beit-mishpacha m'Yisra'el [house of a family among Israel].
PS Great-Granddad's families were also Anusim (on our branches, anyway), as our Grandma's families (again, on our branches, anyway). I forgot to mention, and I should mention, that "Krempasky" could have even been borrowed from neighbors or other people—Grandma's Rusnak family, for example, somehow borrowed "Kvetkovits" when Gyorgy Rusznak became an Anusi.
I grant that, e.g., the Roman Catholic Church stopped releasing records to the LDS in 2009 or thereabouts over attempts to baptize decedents; what's online is updated over time, etc.. Still, "Krempasky" and variants are not connected to nobility, Czech or Slovakian ethnicity, etc.. The big clues are these:
- Again, scant records despite updates, etc.. How long has Ancestry/FamilySearch/the LDS been doing what they do, by the way?
- You state, "Nothing was really handed down to us ". That's going to be a really-big clue.
- Somehow, the Krempaskys et. al. all ended up in pretty much the same areas, whether or not the stick-together schtick was intentional.
There are other factors, though look at these:
- https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/10/12/ten-years-later-revelation-john-kerry-ancestry-has-new-chapter/89pyoQEfOJs8PqvazCYqHO/story.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/us/kerry-s-grandfather-left-judaism-behind-in-europe.html?_r=0
- http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-desperate-plight-of-the-bnei-anusim/?fb_comment_id=10151241725430620_33775847
- https://www.geni.com/projects/Sephardic-and-Crypto-Jews-of-New-Mexico/18121
My own branch of the Krempaszkys—through Rosalia Czarnogurskÿová Krempaszkÿová—became Czarnogurskÿs, with one variant of their surname being Czarnogorsky. Doing the research, etc., you find quite quickly that they were originally Schwarzbergs, Schwartzenbergs, etc. whom became Anusim (Crypto Jews) and Slavicized their name at some point (See FamilySearch for quite a few of the variants, etc. ). Perhaps they even carried it over as a Sephardic surname which later became an Ashkenazi surname—I have read about this, and this happened on my Andrulewicz side unless we dropped our original name and eventually took up a new one when we came to Poland and Lithuania (The Andrulevič[i]uses are kohanim, by the way.).
Mária Krempaszkÿová married a Jákob Trudnyakov (Trudnyak when we inherited it. Sadly, an Odesa, Ukraine branch of the Trudnyakovs was affected directly by the Holocaust.); Mihály Trudnyak married Mária Nagyová (a granddaughter of Rosalia Dudayová Nagyová , whose father's family used "Duday" as a kinnui for "Kohen" and mother's family were of the Sephardi Légrádis. Mária's maternal grandmother was Elizabetha Levaiová Nagyová.).
Mária Krempaszkÿová Trudnyaková's grandson through Mihály was also Mihály. In Sephardic custom, this naming custom is used; and Mária, by the way, as a variant of "Miryam" is fine among Ashkenazim, as a late cousin's grandnephew told me. The younger Mihály Trudnyak, meanwhile, did not name his first daughter Mary (Neither was his first sister named "Mária": she was named "Aurelia Zsuzsana".).
The younger Mihály Trudnyak also married a child of Anusim, a daughter of Sámuel and Rosalia Korschová Munka. Her name was Anna Amalia Munková, and she—unlike her sister Anna Amalia, for whom she either was named or took her own name—was left unbaptized (Samuel and Rosalia baptized no girls after their daughters Paulina, whom died in 1887, and the first Anna Amalia, whom died just shy of her first birthday, died. The final child whom was baptized, Augustinius Samuel Munka, was baptized in September 1887, months after Paulina died.).
Mihály and Anna became Michael and Anna Monka Trudniak (also "Trudnak"). Mary Trudnak married the oldest child of Alexandria Andrulewicz Czerniecki, Anthony John Czarnecki (Czerniecki by birth). Needless to say, as I found out, Alexandria (from a Litvish family), was unamused: as I figured out from what I heard, etc., she deplored that her son would marry for love (Granduncle Tony said that, that was the reason.) and not through shidduch (Granduncle Tony talked about how parents chose in the old country. I figured out that, that meant going through shidduch [matchmaking].).
Alexandria also deplored that Mary Trudnak was a Believing Jew, and a Believing Jew whom was a daughter of Anusim! Great-Grandma really was a Believing Jew, by the way: while I didn't know that we're Jews until much later (and that's a long story!), I do remember that she was a believer, and the example of her being a believer that sticks out to me is from when my dad's family was up in Luzerne County for his mother's annual family reunions and would go visit Great-Grandma each year.
Every time that we visited, she treated me (one of her son Jack's granddaughters) and Jamie (her son Jim's son) as equally as the other grandkids and great-grandkids there; and since Jamie and I each have Cerebral Palsy (and Jamie's is much more severe and was not present from birth), that really sticks out to me. She was also a quiet and frail elderly woman (Much of the frailty had to do with years of abuse that worn her down later, as I figured out.).
I hope that this helps, even if it just gives you a lens on it from my side of the family/clan/mishpacha [family]/beit-mishpacha m'Yisra'el [house of a family among Israel].
PS Great-Granddad's families were also Anusim (on our branches, anyway), as our Grandma's families (again, on our branches, anyway). I forgot to mention, and I should mention, that "Krempasky" could have even been borrowed from neighbors or other people—Grandma's Rusnak family, for example, somehow borrowed "Kvetkovits" when Gyorgy Rusznak became an Anusi.
