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Clara Gräfin Zichy zu Zich und Vásonykeö

1883–1971

Born
13 Jun 1883, Voderady
Country of birth
Slovakia
Died
5 Feb 1971, Munich
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth13 Jun 1883, VoderadyProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • Death5 Feb 1971, MunichProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Voderady

    Birth, Voderady

  2. Child born: Countess Marie-Jenke Keglevich of Buzin

    Birth, Budapest

  3. Died · Munich

    Death, Munich

What was it like?

The world around Voderady, 1883: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Clara was born the same year as Grigory Zinoviev, Douglas Fairbanks, and Walter Huston.

Born the same year

  • Grigory Zinoviev

    Russian revolutionary (1883-1936)

  • Douglas Fairbanks

    American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer (1883–1939)

  • Walter Huston

    Canadian actor and singer (1883–1950)

  • João Evangelista Belfort Duarte

    Brazilian footballer and manager (1883-1918)

  • Franz Kafka

    Bohemian writer from Prague (1883–1924)

  • Benito Mussolini

    dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1945

Fashion

Everyday footwear and going barefoot

For everyday work, especially in summer, many women and men in rural areas frequently went barefoot or wore simple homemade slippers made of linen or cloth.

Expensive festive wardrobes for women

Wealthy women in the Zvolen region kept up to 50 caps in their wardrobe, each costing 4 koruna, while a Trnava woman's entire outfit for a holiday could cost over 500 koruna.

Music

Brass and string music in Slovak villages

In Western Slovakia, brass bands became popular alongside traditional string ensembles from the 1870s onwards. Musicians played at diverse occasions, including weddings, christenings, village fairs, and holiday celebrations like Christmas and Shrovetide.

Burial of the bass ritual

A unique tradition was the burial of the bass, where musicians played a sorrowful folk spiritual song accompanied by mourners to mark the end of the festive Shrovetide season before Lent. Village musical performances were generally subject to the approval of the local mayor and often the priest.

Getting around

Faster rail travel between major cities

By 1900, the rail journey between Vienna and Budapest had been reduced to four and a half hours, down from approximately six hours when the line first opened.

Around 1875–1876

Horse-drawn freight trains in the 1870s

Between 1875 and 1876, horse-drawn railway carriages were still in use for freight on the Trnava–Sereď line. These trains used 'heavy' horses, which were typically retired after six years of service.

Daily life

Lighting and water collection methods

Homes were lit by kerosene lamps, but because oil was expensive, people often relied on the bright flame of burning spruce wood in the open hearth for light. Water was fetched from wells in buckets called pitli, as villagers were unaccustomed to carrying loads on their heads.

School supplies and student rewards

Students wrote on stone tablets with slate pencils, and if they misbehaved, teachers would strike their palms with a cane. At the end of the school year, well-performing boys were awarded wooden-handled knives, while girls received rosaries.

Food

Chewing spruce resin was a common habit

Women and children often chewed spruce resin (smola), which had a dirty yellow color.

Children ate beer and bread for breakfast

It was common for children to have warm beer with bread for breakfast before going to school or work.

Prices and wages

Living and working conditions of industrial workers

In the late 19th century, factory workers often lived in dire conditions, sometimes sleeping in overcrowded, vermin-infested rooms where dozens of people shared a space. In brickyards, wages were sometimes paid in tokens (Blech) rather than money, forcing workers to buy overpriced goods in company-controlled canteens.

Around 1877–1877

Agricultural daily wages in 1877

By 1877, in the Trenčín region, the daily wage for agricultural work was 80 grajciars for men, 30 grajciars for women, and 24 grajciars for children.

Work

Common jobs in Slovak rural households

Most people in the Slovak region worked in agriculture, livestock breeding, forestry, cheese production, and cloth manufacturing. Households often operated as self-sufficient units where spinning flax, making shoes, and tailoring were done manually.

The grueling 12 to 18 hour workday

A working day for rural families or industrial laborers was grueling, often lasting 12 to 18 hours. Farm children and adults worked from sunrise until after dark, performing manual tasks like tending livestock or plowing fields with oxen.

News and letters

Austrian invention of the postcard

The postcard was invented in Austria in 1869, and in its first month alone, 1.4 million of these correspondence cards were sold.

Speed of mail and telegrams in Vienna

In Vienna, pneumatic tube mail for telegrams began in 1875, allowing capsules to travel much faster than traditional delivery; despite this, local mail in Vienna could still take one or two days to be delivered.

During their lifetime

  1. 1883

    First national health insurance introduced

    Germany became the first country to introduce a national social insurance system with the approval of a worker's health insurance plan.

  2. 1893

    Telephone Herald service begins in 1893

    Starting in 1893, the Telephone Herald service in Budapest allowed people to listen to daily news, music, and opera over their telephone lines.

  3. 1910

    Life expectancy rose to 47 years by 1910

    By 1910, advancements in medicine, hygiene, and infrastructure, such as improved water and sewage systems, increased the average life expectancy to 47 years, compared to 37 years in 1871.

  4. 1914

    Ten percent of households accessed electricity by 1914

    By 1914, approximately ten percent of German households had access to electricity, transforming daily life through new lighting and urban infrastructure.

  5. 1918

    Women gained suffrage in 1918 Weimar reforms

    Following the 1918 proclamation of the Weimar Republic, a new democratic system was established that enfranchised women and mandated an eight-hour workday for laborers.

  6. 1918

    Spanish flu epidemic reaches Hungary

    In 1918, a flu epidemic reached Hungary, with the first cases reported in Budapest in June and elsewhere in July.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.