Maria Duvak emigrated from Darócz, Ung megye (county), Hungary, to America via the seaport of Fiume, now known as Rijeka, Croatia. The village of Darócz is now within the northwest border of Ukraine and is known as Dravtsi, Uzhgorod, Zakarpats'ka, Ukraine.

Mary sailed aboard the SS Carmania which departed on 19 February 1910 and arrived in New York City on 3 March 1910. She was 17 years old and appears to have traveled alone. Other passengers were Magyar Hungarians. The manifest says she was Ruthenian and worked as a domestic servant. Her next of kin in Hungary was her father, Janos Duvak. Her destination after NYC was to her brother Gyorgy Duvak's home in St. Clair, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.

Both Maria and Gyorgy Anglicized their given names. Maria became Mary. Gyorgy became George Duvak. Neither are found in the 1910 US Federal Census, which was taken in St. Clair in April. George is found living after 1920 with his family in Philadelphia and Delaware counties, Pennsylvania; however, before leaving Schuylkill County, he did file an intent to become a US Citizen in 1912 and took the oath of allegiance in May 1920 at the courthouse in Pottsville.

Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Maria Duvak married Andrew Basarab (later modified to Boras), a coal miner of Magyar Hungarian ethnicity who had emigrated from Bereg megye, Hungary, a few years earlier. He was a mean and abusive individual who beat Mary and was cruel to animals. One child was stillborn, the result of a kick to Mary's belly after she disobeyed him by going to the aid of a cow giving birth.

Mary was the beloved mother of six daughters (Bertha, Mary, Elizabeth, Helen, Margaret and Patricia) and four sons (Steve, Andrew, Joseph and John). Bertha, Steve, Joseph and John died as children. The family's home was in the coal mining town of Tower City, Porter Township, Schuylkill County. Mary and Andrew separated about 1945. He remained in Tower City, while Mary moved to Philadelphia with daughters Betty, Helen and Patricia. Mary and Betty share a grave near Philadelphia.

Surname "Boras" in this family is not the original spelling. It was "Basarab", as is seen in an early family tombstone in Lykens, Pennsylvania. Andrew Basarab simplified it soon after he emigrated from Hungary in the early 20th century.

Bio by: JTerry ღ,