Dr. Ágoston Trefort (pronunciation: a:gɔʃtɔn 'trɛfɔrt 7 February 1817 – 22 August 1888) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education from 1872 until his death. He was the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1885.

Family

He was born into a Hungarian Catholic family of Walloon origin in Homonna,

Zemplén County Zemplén ( hu, Zemplén, sk, Zemplín, german: Semplin, Semmlin, la, Zemplinum) was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. The northern part of its territory is now situated in eastern Sl ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

(today

Humenné Humenné (; hu, Homonna; ukr, Гуменне) is a town in the Prešov Region ("kraj") in eastern Slovakia and the second largest town of the historic Zemplín region. It lies at the volcanic Vihorlat mountains and at the confluence of the La ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). His great-grandfather worked as a lawyer in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, his

medical officer A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

grandfather came to Hungary in the 1770s. Ágoston's father was Ignác Trefort (1770–1831), a famous surgeon, and his mother was Tekla Beldovics (died 1829). They married in 1816, when Ignác's first wife died. They had three children: Ágoston, Antal (died in his

infancy An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

) and István (born 1825, year of death unknown). On 14 March 1847 he married the

Hungarian noble The Hungarian nobility consisted of a privileged group of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, in the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the late 12th century only high- ...

lady Ilona Rosty de Barkócz (1826–1870), who was the daughter of Albert Rosty de Barkócz (1779–1847), jurist, landowner, vice-ispán of the county of Békés (''alispán of Békés''), and Anna Eckstein de Ehrenbergh (1801–1843), member of the illustrious Hungarian noble family Rosty de Barkócz. His wife was also descendant of the ancient and prestigious medieval Hungarian noble

Perneszy family The Perneszy de Osztopán family was an important and prestigious Hungarian noble family which gave many relevant personalities. Its members were high members of the nobility of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 13th century. History History of ...

, which died out in the 18th century. They had together three children – two daughter, Edit and Mária and a son, Ervin. Through his marriage he was the

brother in law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...

Pál Rosty de Barkócz Pál Rosty de Barkócz (pronunciation: pa:l 'rɔʃti 'bɒrkɔ:ʦ 29 November 1830 – 7 December 1874) was a Hungarian nobleman, photographer, and explorer. Life Born in Pest in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Pál István Ferenc, was a mem ...

(1830–1874), a photographer,

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

, who visited

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, Mexico,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

between 1857 and 1859. He was also brother in law of the

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

József Eötvös József baron Eötvös de Vásárosnamény (pronunciation: jɔ:ʒef 'øtvøʃ dɛ 'va:ʃa:rɔʃnɒme:ɲ 3 September 1813 – 2 February 1871) was a Hungarian writer and statesman, the son of Ignác baron Eötvös de Vásárosnamény and A ...

de Vásárosnamény (1813–1871), a poet, writer, and liberal politician, a cabinet minister, who married Agnes Rosty de Barkócz (1825–1913), his wife's sister.

Studies

He already spoke on the time of his grammar school studies in German, in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and in Slovak. Trefort lost his parents during the

cholera epidemic of 1831 Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

. He found his way under

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...

Petronella Csáky's guardianship. He studied on the Lyceum of Eger, then he started his higher studies on the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

of the

University of Pest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. He learnt in English, in French and in Italian, thanking for his excellent gift for languages duly. Then he made his

juridical {{Short pages monitor