History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Francis Varga
FRANCIS VARGA, a Hungarian noble and patriot of the Revolution of 1849, was for more than fifty years a resident and citizen of Iowa. When the Hungarian provisional government under Louis Kossuth was established Mr. Varga was Judge Advocate-General, serving until that government was overthrown by the combined armies of Austria and Russia. Then he with other patriots came to America and forty of them under the lead of Louis Ujhazy, a distinguished officer under Kossuth, came to Iowa and founded a colony in Decatur County which was named New Buda. Other Hungarian patriots who were compelled to leave their own country joined the colony and became citizens of Iowa. Here Mr. Varga and his companions made their permanent home and took a deep interest in the freedom of a republican government which welcomed them as citizens. When the Civil War came they were a unit in support of the Government which wiped out the blot of slavery. Mr. Varga and many of the Hungarian patriots joined the Union army and again fought for freedom. He held many official positions in his new home and was a great admirer of the American Government. He had been admitted to the bar in Hungary in 1840 and practiced his profession for sixty-one years. He died at Leon on the 5th of April, 1902.