THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 8
ISSUED AS REQUIRED BY Gerald J. Berghold
Mar. 15, 1997
(all rights reserved)
This edition of the newsletter concerns some thoughts concerning
migration to the Burgenland.
MIGRATION - GERMANY TO THE BURGENLAND - PROBABILITY
While some of the Burgenland Bunch are still engaged in that
blissful task of finding ancestors by researching LDS church and
civil record microfilm, some are at a dead end around the late
1600's. This is when the easily found written records usually run
out. One common element among those of us with Germanic names
is the certainty that it was slightly before this time (more on that
later) that our ancestors migrated from somewhere in the Germanic
states that comprised the Holy Roman Empire. Our thoughts now
turn to records that might lead us to a clue as to just where that
might be. The Holy Roman Empire was a big place with over 400
Bishoprics, Duchies, Principalities, Kingdoms, etc. How do we go
about finding the place? Are there any records?
One approach to genealogical research that I have used with some
success is what I call "the theory of genealogical probability" (I make
no claim to originality). Given dozens of unlinked family names and
dates from family localities, I assemble a logical "probability chart"
and set out to prove family links by finding appropriate records. All
family names are grist for my mill. An individual does not enter my
family files; however, until I've found a birth (baptism) & marriage
or other record to support that link.
Because I have assembled many clues and facts concerning
Germanic Burgenland migration, I have likewise made a "probability
migration scenario". It looks like this:
Basic Assumptions & Their "Proof"
1. About the time of the first Turkish incursions in the Burgenland
(ca 1528), most family names appearing in extant records are
Hungarian, Latinized, Slavic or early Germanic (including Saxon and
Gothic from 12th to 16th Centuries) with or without given names.
Later they're almost all German or Croatian names (implying
colonists replacing displaced villagers).
Some 1589 Apetlon Names - Zuger, Baba, Gänngl, Villiph, Blasy,
Khreusz, Rudusch, Dohel, Dennkh, Parfuesz, Gämusz, Gaischl,
Lendisch
Some 1675 Apetlon Names - Milner, Trinckl, Juch, Gängl, Techel,
Lanng, Winkler, Stubenvol, Mordinger, Redl, Milner, Wagner-note
the Germanization
Some 1635 Güssing Names -(from 26 Hungarian, 7 German & 6
Croatian) - Sanko, Horvath, Farkas, Vincze, Berendi, Boros,
Voinovics, Lusaikovics, Varadi, Szarka, Deak, Kisfaludy, Kastner,
Winkler, Bader, Lang, Purgolt
Some 1750 Güssing Names - Schweitzer, Mayer, Wechsler,
Pelzmann, Kupits, Sorger, Fürst, Kricker, Uraj, Plessel, Hödel,
Graf, Billovics, Vellivics, Hoffer, Pfeiffer, Weinhoffer, Nikischer,
Jandrisevics, Waldhofer. Mostly German & Croatian names.
2. The population of urban Burgenland decreased astronomically
from 1525-1685. In 1529, as an example, Martenhof was
destroyed, not rebuilt; 1563, Apetlon was destroyed, later rebuilt.
3. Many noble family lines died out and estates in north and south
Burgenland reverted to the crown, who gave the fief to new noble
families (Nadasdy to Esterhazy in 1674 and Ujlaky to Batthyány in
1524). This led to the need for new workers. Colonists were one
answer.
4. Hungarian uprisings, initiated by the unsettled conditions caused
further devastations. During the Bocsky Rebellion in 1605, the
entire Güssing district was put to the torch, although the Castle
was not taken. Eltendorf and Königsdorf were completely burned
in 1608, but rebuilt.
5. With the conclusion of the Turkish Wars in the Burgenland (at
the turn of the 16th & 17th Centuries; fighting continued for some
time in the Raab Valley and further east and south), the crown
issued proclamations offering land, tax and military service
incentives to German speaking settlers in order to repopulate the
border.
6. These proclamations found a receptive audience among the
German population of the Germanic states suffering from the
aftermath of the "30 Years War" and religious unrest.
7. Colonization was heavy, starting soon after the first siege of
Vienna (1529 and ending about 1825 (the end of the so-called
Danube Schwabian Migration to the Batchka and Banat-former
Yugoslavia). The Napoleonic (French) Wars gave added impetus to
the need to repopulate. The first settlers would logically take up the
nearest land (the border regions) before moving further east and
south to the limits of the Empire, i.e. Eastern Hungary, Northern
Yugoslovia(Serbia).
8. Starting in the late 1600's, Germanic names not seen before
begin to appear in village Urbarium, Canonical Visitation and church
records and continue to present times. In the church and civil
records we find, under the heading of status, the Latin word
"colonus" used well into the 1800's. A literal translation of this
word is "farmer' or "agriculturist". A second meaning is "colonist".
Hungarian Latin differs from that used elsewhere and I question if
"farmer" (although many were certainly tillers of the soil) is a good
translation, particularly when many are defined as "inquilini" or
"tenant-not born here" or the Hungarian "polgar" for citizen. It is
much later when we see this term first used for German names. In
other words, were German emigrants and their descendants labeled
settlers by Hungarian officials well into the 19th Century? With all
this in mind, I can fantasize the following (substitute your own
family religion or possible place of origin where appropriate). I have
documents (RECORDS) which support the contentions thus labeled
(but not necessarily for the names mentioned):
Scenario One - A group of suffering Catholics from the Protestant
area around Lake Constance (Bodensee), maybe from Radolfzell or
Friedrichshafen, receive information from their local priest that the
Austrian Crown is offering free land in Royal Hungary (that part
belonging to Austria-the border-Burgenland); he reads parts of the
proclamation. There is much interest and some decide to migrate.
Travel is dangerous and a group is formed for mutual aid and
protection (RECORDS). Some of the members marry since families
are desired for colonization (RECORDS). Since time is of the
essence, the normal 3 week posting of bans is suspended
(RECORDS). Local governmental permission is obtained
(RECORDS) and the priest holds a farewell mass (RECORDS). He
annotates parish records with the note "zu Ungarn gehen" (gone to
Hungary)(RECORDS) and lists the names of those leaving the
parish (RECORDS). They travel by wagon, carrying their worldly
goods, to Ulm and the banks of the Danube. They travel by
riverboat to Regensburg, Passau, Linz and Vienna RECORDS).They
are met by agents of Prince Esterhazy, assigned land near the
village of Apetlon (RECORDS) and Robotage Contracts are drawn
up (RECORDS).
Scenario Two - A group of Lutherans in Catholic Styria and another
in Catholic Bavaria are being pressured to switch faiths or leave
home. They hear the same proclamations and migrate to St
Margarethe (Lutheran community) (RECORDS) and later to
Eltendorf, Zahling, Heiligenkreuz and Müehlgraben (Lutheran
Communities) in southern Burgenland.(RECORDS)
Other German colonists (Lutheran and Catholic) leave other areas
and some continue East and South to other depopulated regions.
The stage is set for another migration some 200 years later; this
one to America. Fantasy or probability? You decide. I have seen
records that coincide with the above. What I must do now is find
those (if they still exist) that pertain to my families.
Major sources: STADTERHEBUNG Güssing 1973, Festschrift,
Leykam AG, Graz (Güssing City Surveyed); AUFZEICHNUNGEN
über die GEMEINDE APETLON, P. Pinder (A Record of the District
of Apetlon); THE DANUBE SWABIANS, Paikert, The Hague, 1967;
GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN IN DEN KARPATHEN LANDERN,
Kaindl, Czernowitz 1911 (History of the Germans in the
Carpathians); PEASANTS & CITIZENS OF UNTERFRANKEN, LDS
1181647; GERMAN EMIGRATION FRANCONIA-HUNGARY, LDS
1183520; ANSIEDLERKARTEI (1686-1830), (Colonist Index
Cards), LDS 1326419-502; SURNAMES-GERMAN EMIGRANTS
TO HUNGARY, LDS 1552795; GERMAN SETTLEMENT IN
TRANSDANUBIA, LDS 6001514. (LDS nos. are the microfilm
library call numbers from the Family History Center of the Church
of the Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake City)
BURGENLAND ZIP CODES (POSTLEITZAHL)
If you wish to write to someone in the Burgenland and don't know
the locality's ZIP code, check our homepage. Hap Anderson has
added them to our archives. If you also need an address, you can
email me and I can look it up in the 1993/94 Amtliches
Telefonbuch Burgenland. When using the ZIP, letters should be
addressed as follows: name of individual or firm; A-ZIP & village
name (although it is not required, I add a comma and the word
>Burgenland<); street address; Austria
ARCHIVES IN THE DOMAINS OF THE FORMER AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY
Part V, the last in this series by Felix Gundacker appeared in the
Jan./Feb. 1997 issue of "Heritage Quest" magazine. The articles
cover all of the former Empire including today's Burgenland. Mr.
Gundacker is a professional genealogist operating IHFF Genealogie
Gesellschaft mbH, 1190 WIEN, Pantzergasse 30/8, Austria. Email;
http://www.netway.at/ihff/index.htm/
END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD