Census Records
In this part of our research, we looked at Census records that listed the Balarzs family. These provide us with important information regarding where they were living, the names and birthdates of their children, and a list of those living with the family at the time of the Census.
On this Census record, Sigmond Balarzs is listed with his wife and several of his children. One point of interest is that an "E. Balarzs" is listed as a fourteen-year old female. As of now, we have yet to determine who that could refer to as the only daughter with a name starting with an "E" is Edith, who is already listed.
This Census is from 1940 and lists the oldest sister, Alice, as living with her husband and children in addition to her brother, Ernest Balarzs. Ernest was 17 at the time and this Census record is unique because he is not listed with his parents.
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In the above 1940 Census, Sigmond is shown with his wife, several of their children, and several other people listed as "Lodger." These people mostly seem to be immigrants from places such as Ugoslavia, Italy, and Russia. Later research revealed that these were mostly fellow coal miners that lived with the Balarzs family as boarders. Barbara Balarzs ran the boarding house even after her husband, Sigmond died in 1956 of black lung (a result of working in the mines for many years).
When family members gave their accounts of what they remember about the boarding house, the boarders typically kept to themselves, inside their cultural or language groups. This was a result of the discrimination that immigrants faced, even among other immigrants, about how they talked and what customs they practiced. Barbara herself remained self-conscious about her accent and broken English for the rest of her life as the family sought to "Americanize."