Robert,
I don't think that gave much news to her brick wall. Or maybe it did. We don't even know if it's him. I'm speculating which you have to do when researching or you will never find your links, ever. The Hungarian (János)= from the personal name János, vernacular form of Latin Johannes (John). Czech (Jánoš), Slovak (Jánoš), and Polish (Janosz) = from a derivative of the personal name Jan. I know from experience that NO names or ALMOST no names were listed/spelled right in any of the census or ship manifests, ever, and believe me I have experience from the Scandinavian emigrants. Not once (or 98% of all) have I seen a name spelled right. So it does not really say where you're from, your country of origin. Not even the country of origin may be right. If a Swede left from Copenhagen he could be listed as a Swede or as Scandinavian, which is quite not the same and I think you can agree on that. We're not talking race here at all, just origin, place of birth, country of birth, not even citizenship. I'm only trying to help out.

I've seen the name Jan/Janos/John Ovat/Ovatt/Ovath as a Czech origin and Hungarian and Austrian. It could indeed be all of it. It's got nothing to do with the name or the spelling of it. And don't forget the history and changes of boarders and rulers in that region. Whatever they said in the ship manifest might be wrong, you just have to move on and find more documents that can certify the origin. It's just a piece of evidence that might lead to something real. But like you said he could be a Czech or Hungarian, and that is what I believe too, regardless of where he may have been born and left from. And he could have born in Russia and thus a Russian citizen? I just wonder as I have done research for many regarding Swedes in former Russia? As you may know there were lots of them there.

Susanna :-)