In 1888, alzbeta behun, 13 years old, and her younger sister, anna, emmigrated to the United States from Slovakia (at the time, it was part of Austria-Hungary).  alzabeta was promised for marriage to a man who had paid her way to the United States.  When she arrived in Pennsylvania, she thought she had arrived in Hades (hell) because she saw fire coming out of the earth.  It was explained to her that the fire was from the beehive coke ovens which were common in southwestern pennsylvania.  When her husband-to-be saw her, he  immediately became upset because he saw that she was only a child.  He did not want to marry her.   It was then that my great grandfather, janos hartos, stepped up and said that he would marry her.  He paid the man the money he was out. 

Coke is produced by baking coal in a heated oven.  When burned, coke generated an intense amount of heat but produced very little smoke, qualities that made it an ideal fuel for use in producing iron and steal. During the 1880's, coke began to replace charcoal in the making of steel at foundries in the United States.  As the coke burned, it would remove the oxygen from the iron ore, converting it to metal.