Sam Vass recently sent me the following excerpt >from Encyclopedia Judaica
vol 15, page 1373:

"TRENCIN (Slovak Trencin; Hung. Trencsen; Ger. Trentschin) town in West
Slovakia, Czechoslovakia (Slovakia). Despite the lack of written
evidence, it seems probable that Jews -- protected by royal privileges --
already played an important part in commerce there in the Middle Ages.
After the battle of Mohacs (1526), Jews were prohibited >from settling in
the town, but were living in neighboring villages. In the 17th and 18th
centuries, the restrictions imposed on the Jews in *Moravia, such as the
prohibition on marriage (see *Familiants Laws), led many to move to
northern Hungary, some of whom settled
in Trencin, in particular >from *Uhersky Brod. These settlers remained
affiliated to Uhersky Brod for about a century. An organized community
[at Trencin] was established about 1760; its first rabbi, David Kohn
Hassid (d. 1783), was buried in the already existing Jewish cemetery. The
tax roster of 1787 contains the names of 82 heads of families in the city
of Trencin and 660 more in the county. The first synagogue was replaced
by an imposing new edifice in 1913. A German-language Jewish school was
founded in 1857. The community grew rapidly, and after World War I
continued to gain importance in
Czechoslovakia. It maintained a number of institutions, and Zionist
groups were active, mainly among the youth.

"Noted personalities originating >from Trencin were Ignaz Szego, justice
of the supreme court of Hungary; Markus Koranyi, director of the
Rothschild Hospital in Vienna; Ignaz *Ziegler, rabbi of *Karlsbad, and
Benjamin Fischer, Orthodox rabbi in Budapest.
Holocaust and Contemporary Periods. There were about 2500 Jews living in
Trencin in 1940. Most of them were deported to concentration camps. After
the war, some 300 to 400 returned >from the camps or >from forests where
they had been in hiding. The majority subsequently emigrated to Israel or
other countries or moved to larger cities. After the Soviet invasion in
1968, most of the few who had remained left for the West. In 1971 there
were a few Jewish families in Trencin who observed the main Jewish
festivals and buried their dead according to Jewish ritual."

My great-grandfather, Simon TAUBER, was b. in Trencin in 1844 and his
earliest known ancestor there -- his great-grandfather, Samuel [Simon]
KOHN-ZERKOWITZ -- was residing in Trencin city as early as the 1770s. I
stayed in Trencin for nearly a week in March 2000, spent an extensive
amount of time in the Trencin Jewish cemetery, and visited both the
Trencin District Archives and the archives at Bratislava.

I would like to pose two questions: first, does anyone know anything
more about the 1787 tax roster for Trencin (referenced above)? I suspect
that my research would be greatly aided by a review of the list of 82
people identified as "heads of families", but have no idea where this
roster is and how it can be accessed. Second, are there others who are
actively researching Trencin families? If so, I would like to link up
with them and compare some notes.

Best regards,

Robert Hanscom
Andover, Massachusetts

Researching in Slovakia:

* Trencin -- TAUBER, KOHN-ZERKOWITZ, KNOPFELMACHER
* Povazska Bystrica [formerly Vag Besztercze] -- TESCHNER, WILHELM, KOHN,
WALDAPFEL, and many others
* Ilava -- KOHN