John, Németh's Youtube set me on quite a little hunt this morning: Here is an e-mail I sent to my brothers, daughter, nieces and nephews a few minutes ago. One never knows where a thread in the pre-flintlock forum will lead!
Our great grandfather (Ellie, Nick, Lixbeth, Evan and Matthew, your great-great), Judge Louis Kossuth Powell, is buried in Rivercliff Cemetery, Mt. Gilead, Ohio. He was born Feb. 6, 1852, in Mt. Gilead to Evan and Elizabeth Powell.
His parents very likely gave him the middle name of Kossuth in the heady atmosphere surrounding a wildly successful tour of the United States by the Hungarian statesman Lajos Kossuth. Note that the English cognate for Lajos is Louis.
Kossuth had arrived in Cleveland on Jan. 31 and stayed through Feb. 2. Our great grandfather was born four days later.
Why did this come up this morning? Because of the weird and byzantine way my mind works!
Here is the trail: I was checking my muzzleloader forum's sub-forum on pre-flintlock weapons. The topic of matchlocks came up, and one of the gang there posted a link to this Youtube, which was posted by a Hungarian enthusiast named Németh Balázs. (I am very fond of his excellent videos.)
In this episode, Németh focuses on the Landknechts arquebus, which saw use in the battle of Mohács in 1526, in which an Ottoman army led by Suleiman the Magnificent destroyed the Hungarian army led by King Louis II and broke up the kingdom of Hungary, altering the history of central Europe for many centuries -- and whose effects are felt to this day in the geopolitics of Europe.
First question: Bill, why had you never heard of this important battle?
Second question: Bill, why do you know NOTHING of the history of Hungary except from WWII through the Cold War?
Third question: Bill, should you not know more about the Hungary that produced the Lajos Kossuth that your own great grandfather is named for?
Fourth question: Bill, didn't Kossuth lead a sensational speaking tour of the United States about the time your great grandfather was born?
So that's the byzantine path my mind took this morning, and which I am now boring you all to tears with!
Love you all so much!
Louis K Powell (1852-1929) - Find a Grave...
KOSSUTH MONUMENT | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University.