THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 12
(issued as required by Gerald J. Berghold)
May 30, 1997
(all rights reserved)

This edition of the newsletter is the last in a series of three issues which
provide extensive data concerning the villages being researched by the bunch.
If any have been missed, let me know and I'll add them in future issues. Hap
Anderson is also adding village data to our Home Page.This issue also
includes the first part of a recent Burgenland trip report submitted by John
Lavendoski. You'll find it of great interest.


BURGENLAND, AUSTRIA- TOWNS & VILLAGES (continued from issues 10 & 11)
(with a few Hungarian border villages)

THE VILLAGES IN ALPHABETIC ORDER

PILGERSDORF; (Pörgölén); 0 26 16; 7441-District of Oberpullendorf. Middle
Burgenland, on route 55, 6 km NW of Lockenhaus. Combined with Kogl,
Bubendorf, Deutsch Gerisdorf, Lebenbrunn, Salmansdorf, Steinbach im B. Pop.
1749, houses 752. Municipal office, post office, school. Bürgermeister names
from 1911, Schlögl, Renner, Reinhofer, Fasching, Puhr, Reidinger, Schwarz.
LDS 0700715; 0700472-5.

PINKAMINDSZENT, Hungary (Allerheiligen), District of Kormend. S, in Vas Megye
(county), less than 1 km S of Moschendorf. Catholic church built 1790 on site
of much older church.Had population of 634, 111 houses. LDS 0601475.

PODERSDORF am See; (Pátfalu, Moson Megye); 0 21 77; 7141-District of
Neusiedl. N, in the See Winkel on the eastern shore of the Neusiedler See. N
of Illmitz. Market community. Pop. 2116, houses 795. Municipal office, post
office, school. Bürgermeister names from 1919, Weiss, Steiner, Haider,
Zeiss, Eger, Ettl, Lang, Lentsch, Gisch. First emigrant 1897. LDS 0700895-6;
0700445-6.

POPPENDORF im Burgenland; (Patafalva) 0 33 25; 7561-Combined with
Heiligenkreuz, District of Jennersdorf. Aristocratic family, Batthyány. Have
list of family names resident here 1850-1890 period. Pop. under 500, but
percentage wise, beginning 1890, sent more immigrants to the US than any
other Burgenland place. Lutherans, see Eltendorf. Catholics, see
Heiligenkreuz & Königsdorf. Civil, see Eltendorf. Monument to emigrants
erected by B. Gemeinschaft reads "Only a Burgenlander can be as constant as
this hard stone. He is driven into the wide world and there earns his money
the hard way. Thanks to all our loved ones, we have remained faithful to our
homeland." Early emigrant, Andreas Mirth, to PA 1893. Many went to Canada and
NY.

RABAFÜZES, Hungary (Raabfidisch)-S, in Vas Megye (county), District of Szt.
Gotthard; on the E66 (Hung. Rt 8), 1 km E of the Heiligenkreuz border
crossing. Aristocratic family, Batthyány. Much land owned by the Abbey of
Szt. Gotthard. RC went to church in Heiligenkreuz and Felso-Ronok, AG in
Eltendorf. First Hungarian village from the border crossing.

REHGRABEN; (Prástya)-District of Güssing; NW of Güssing, halfway between
Kukmirn and Gerersdorf; combined with Gerersdorf-Sulz. N are the hamlets of
Hackenberg, Tanzoschberg and Tudersdorf. RC went to church in Gerersdorf, few
Lutherans to Kukmirn. Early emigrant, Johann Bodisch, 1895, to Coplay, PA.
See Gerersdorf.

ROSENBERG; (Rosahegy); use Güssing-Part of outer Güssing (suburb). Located
on hill 1 km W (translates "Rose hill"). Family names Pöltl, Sorger, Weber,
Gerger. Attended church in Güssing and Szt. Miklos. See Güssing for civil.
Early emigrant name, Pöltl to Allentown,1890's.

RUDERSDORF; (Radafalva); 0 33 82; 7571-District of Jennersdorf. S, on the E66
at the border with Fürstenfeld, Styria. Includes Dobersdorf. Pop. 2002,
houses 631. Municipal office, police, post office, high school, special
school. Bürgermeister names from 1921, Karner, Braun, Weiland, König,
Winter, Schabhüttl, Brunner, Hirmann, Fröhlich, Katzbeck. Mentioned in
records as early as AD1336. Aristocratic family, Batthyány. Shelled and
evacuated in 1945 (WWII). RC went to church in Kaltenbrunn, AG to Eltendorf.
Early emigrant, Josef Braun, 1892. Civil, LDS 0700489-498.

SALMANSDORF; (Szalsmansdorf) (Solmersdorf);(see PILGERSDORF; 0 26 16;
7441-District of Oberpullendorf. Went to church in Pilgersdorf (RC).

ST. KATHREIN im Burgenland; (Szentkatalin); 0 33 65; 7474-District of
Oberwart. S, near route 56, just N of Eberau, 3km from the Hungarian border.
Part of Deutsch Schützen-Eisenberg which also includes Höll, Edlitz. 18
emigrants in 1901. LDS Catholic, 0700714.

ST. NIKOLAUS im Burgenland; (Szt. Miklos); see Güssing. S, combined with and
just E of Güssing. Had their own RC church for some time. Founded by
Croatian settlers in 1530's. Aristocratic family, Batthyány. Early emigrant
name, Gabriel Baranay, 1888; many to the Lehigh Valley of PA where they
worked in the cement mills. LDS 0700734-5. Civil Records, see Güssing.

STREM; (Strém); 0 33 24; 7522-District of Güssing. S, on route 56, 8 km
west of Güssing, 4 km sw of Moschendorf. Combined with Moschendorf, Deutsch
Ehrensdorf, Steinfurt, Sumetendorf. Pop. 1424, houses 488. Municipal office,
police, post office, school. Bürgermeister names from 1921, Garger, Klepeis,
Hollendonner, Marth, Gregorisch, Monschein, Unger, Schatz, Behm. Mentioned in
records in AD1457. Highest number of emigrants in the District of Güssing.
Many to NY, PA and Passaic, NJ. Early family name, Lorenz Garger, 1893. LDS
0700729; 0700570-3.

SZT. PETERFA, (Prostrum) Hungary, District of Vasvar-S, in Vas Megye
(county), 1 km S of Eberau, there is a local border crossing at Eberau.
Catholic church from 17th Century. Pop. in 1873, 1276. Church records from
1793. Aristocratic family were the Erdody's. LDS 0602026-7. Location of
civil records not known.

WALLERN im Burgenland; (Valla, Moson Megye); 0 21 74; 7151-District of
Neusiedl. In the See Winkel 8 km W of Apetlon. Pop. 2012, houses 624.
Municipal office, post office, school. Bürgermeister names from 1918,
Michlits, Halbauer, Leirer, Gerstl, Fink, Kaintz, Vagdalt, Michalits, Babos,
Müllner. LDS 0700901-2; 0700607-8.

WOLFAU (FARKSFALVA); 0 33 56; 7412-District of Oberwart. 1 km E of the
Styrian border, SW of Mkt. Allhau, W of Kemeten. Shares services with
Grafenschachen. Pop. 1361, houses 445. School. Bürgermeister names from
1919, Kinelly, Mühl, Hahold, Karner, Parth, Grossl, Stelzer, Unger,
Hagenauer, Pung, Lehner. First US emigrant, Martin Igler in 1907. Not as many
emigrants as elsewhere. Some to NY (Buffalo) and Chicago. In the 1850's there
was some emigration to Slovenia (Sava and Drau river regions). History of
seasonal emigration (with return) as harvest workers. LDS0700748.


VILLAGE SOURCE BIBLIOGRAPHY

(A or H = Austrian or Hungarian publication with title translated)

Amtliches Telephone Book Burgenland-1993/94 (A)

Burgenländische Gemeinschaft Newsletter Column "Emigrant Villages",
Dujmovits (A)

Burgenland, History in Biography, Otto Maier, Edition Roetzer Vol. II, 1993
(A)

District of Güssing Through the Ages, Kirsner & Peternell, 1995 (A)

District of Jennersdorf Through the Ages, Kirsner & Peternell, 1995 (A)

History of Vas County, 1898; LDS microfilm 1045430 (H)

Hungarian Gazetter-1873, LDS microfiche 6000840 (H)

LDS Austria-Burgenland-Locality Index

LDS Hungary-Vas Megye-Locality Index

The American Migration of Burgenlanders, Dujmovits, Desch.Drexler, 1992 (A)

Topographical Lexicon of the Communities of Hungary in 1773, LDS microfiche
6001476 (H)


GENEALOGY SOFTWARE

Just received a letter and order form from The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints (LDS), Family History Dept. Their genealogy software
package update of "PAF" or Personal Ancestral File 3.0 is now available. Cost
to both New & Registered Users is $15.00. Order from Salt Lake Distribution
Center, 1999 West 1700 South, Salt Lake Ciy, UT 84104-4233. Phone
1-800-453-3860, extension 2031. I feel this is the best maintenance and data
entry genealogy software available bar none and the price is unbelievable for
the quality of the product. Requires IBM compatible 286 or higher, DOS 3.3 or
higher, 640KB of RAM, hard drive with 2.5 MB available, disk drive. Tested
for Windows 3.1 and 95 but not designed as a Windows Product. Gedcom
receptive. LDS service and support is superb and I have NEVER had a problem
using PAF. I have 2600 records in my data base and all have voluminous
notes. I also use Brothers Keeper, Parsons Family Origins and Family Tree
Maker. They can't compare to PAF for ease of use. PAF accepts up to one
million records. The package contains the software on both 3.5 & 5.25 HD
disks, User's Guide and Getting Started manual. Lots of PAF shareware
available. Order the package, load it using Gedcom from your existing system,
play with it and it will become your file system. You can still use your
existing system for reports or whatever. If it sounds like I'm coming on
strong with hard sell, I really am! Invest $15 and take a chance. If you
really don't like it, you can always give it to your kids. This is a world
class product which will always be supported. The LDS "KNOW" Genealogy.
(appologies for the hard sell, I won't do it often)


BURGENLAND BOOKS

Rainer Maria Rilke, the Austrian poet (born Prague 1875) found an old
document which mentioned the death of an ancestor at the Battle of Mogersdorf
(Szt. Gotthard). It prompted him to write an epic poem, "The Lay of the Love
and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke" which is very popular in German
literature (over a million copies printed). It's mentioned in a few books on
Burgenland. My grandaughter recently found me a 1963 copy which is still
available ($5.95 from W. W. Norton & Co.). It's in German with English
translations and says nothing about the Burgenland, but does give the flavor
of the "time of the Turk".


FINDING SIBLINGS (a reply to a recent question)

You mention you have trouble finding siblings. I'm probably stating the
obvious, but if you've found one or more ancestors in a particular Burgenland
church record, you can use it as a springboard to pick up siblings. For
instance, let's say you found an 1858 marriage. You now know village(s),
wife's maiden name, birth dates (year at least from age) and maybe parents'
names, villages and even house numbers. Go to those villages' church records
(being aware that the churchs attended may have been in other villages, see
our village lists or ask) and scan baptism and marriage records for similar
names. If the parents, village names and house numbers are given and match,
you've got a sibling. A real problem is finding siblings born before 1828
(the start of most LDS microfilm). Scan the DEATH registers, particularly the
1897-1921 Civil death records, which provide parents' names and villages. You
should find some more siblings which you can then use to trace family on the
previous baptism, marriage records and so forth. Using this scheme, I've been
able to find all of my post 1828 Burgenland family siblings and descendants
and some pre 1828. If the name is common (Mirth, Gibiser, Horvath, etc.) and
there are a lot of them, copy all data and build a simple computer data base.
Sort the base in different ways and most sibling families will group under
parents names. Most Burgenland village family names which are the same are
related in some fashion. If you plan a trip to the Burgenland or plan to
start a correspondence marathon with the local Burgenland priest or pastor or
Gemeinde Amt, build an end of line list and look or ask for records of those
end of line individuals. You should be able to get back before 1780. I make
it sound easy; it isn't, but it will work.


MORE ON EMIGRANT ITINERARY

Covered Wagon
A previous article (issue no. 7) outlined some definite and possible
Burgenland immigrant itineraries. Two more interesting pieces to the puzzle
have surfaced. One John Opitz was born in Tadten, Austria (in the Seewinkel)
in 1843. In 1875, he and his bride Theresia Tachinger emigrated to the US and
settled on a farm at St. Martin, MN. In 1889, they sold that farm and packed
their possessions and family in two covered wagons and journeyed to the
Dakota Territory where they purchased a quarter section in Nutley Township.
Two Burgenland immigrants who did use the covered wagon! (from "Eden (SD)-The
First 75 Years"; courtesy D. Knebel).

Another Port-Another Route
(My father) has an Austrian "Reispass - #437" as opposed to a Hungarian
passport. It was issued in Güssing (1923), and lists his birthplace as
Prostrum, rather than the Hungarian name of Szentpeterfa (right across the
border from Moschendorf in southern Burgenland). From that point on, I note
only 3 stamped entries; Feldchirch, Osterreich, another virtually unreadable,
although I'm barely able to make out somethingthat looks like ROCHE, but no
date, nor country. The 3rd is the key entry, including a stamp for the city
of Havre, in France. I know he left from France, traveling on the liner Ill
De France, arriving in NY 1 March 1923. (courtesy Frank Teklits)
Editor's reply: Great. You've got it all. He took a southern route;
Probably-Kormend (but why no Hungarian stamp-maybe wagon to Vienna or a local
train or bus connection?) to Vienna to Innsbruck to Feldkirch (last Austrian
RR stop on the Swiss -Voralberg border, then the French border (Roche?), then
the port of Le Havre. Means the later immigrants didn't have to go as far
north as Germany. Of course in 1922, German and Hungarian transportation were
both in a mess.
This type of information is pure gold! Does anyone else have any Passport
Data they can share? Please respond if you do!


A RECENT TRIP TO SOUTHERN BURGENLAND (by John Lavendoski)

During the week of April 23-26 of this year, I had the opportunity to visit
Burgenland for a brief vacation with my wife and a little family genealogy
research on the side. During this trip, I had several adventures and
experiences which I thought might prove interesting to other Burgenland
aficionados. Here is Day #1 with Day #2 and #3 to follow.
My primary destination/area of interest for this trip was the extreme
southern end of Burgenland near Gussing. Specifically, I was interested in
the towns of St. Kathrein, Harmisch, Edlitz, Kroatisch Ehrensdorf, and
Szentpeterfa (or Prostrum in German) in Hungary. However, I traveled
extensively by car throughout the area and visited just about every single
village and cow-town on the map.

To get to Burgenland, I traveled South from Vienna on the new main highway
and arrived in the Oberwart area within about 1 1/2 hours. My journey then
shifted to a secondary road which passed through Stegersbach. I took the
opportunity and sought out Dr. Dujmovits, the well known author on the
"Auswanderung". With my broken German, I soon found his surprisingly modern
house, but was informed that he was "at school". (It turns out that
Dujmovits is the local high school principal in Gussing.) (ED. NOTE-Director
of the Güssing School System which makes him a senior official) I journeyed
to the school and had a pleasant conversation with Dr. Dujmovits, gleaning
from him some tips on sightseeing in the area and some advice on "what not to
miss". Dr.Dujmovits seemed to be a friendly, but incredibly busy man and I
got the distinct sense that I was lucky to have him spare a few minutes to
have an impromptu talk with an unannounced traveler. Following his advice,
while in Gussing later that day, I was able to pick up a copy of his book as
well as a history of Gussing and a "coffee table" book (ED. Note-lots of
pictures but plenty of prose "meat") on the local towns in the "Bezirk
(district of) Gussing". Similar books are available for the Bezirk
Jennersdorf and possibly the Bezirk Oberwart.(publisher plans to cover all of
Burgenland) Keep your eyes open as they are quite worthwhile in terms of
pictures and a sense of "lifestyle" although they are all written in German.

My wife and I made base camp in the town of Heiligenkreuz about 5-6 miles
southwest of Gussing and right on the Hungarian border. We stayed at a
delightful Gasthof known as "Gibiser". It is run by a Frau Edith Gibiser and
is somewhat famous throughout the area. The Gasthof is actually a gated
complex of several buildings including a beautiful country-inn style bar &
restaurant, a main guest house containing rooms and a large "penthouse
apartment", and a series of very interesting thatched roof cottages which
are furnished and decorated more like little Viennese apartments within!!
For the ridiculously low price of $45/night per person (including breakfast)
we lived in luxury. The showers even had decent water pressure which is a
bonus in any European vacation! We had two very fine dinners at Frau
Gibiser's including such fare as roast wild boar and venison. I recommend it
highly. (ED. Note-having also eaten there, I agree 100%).

Spring had come early, and my wife and I spent the rest of the day touring
around the back roads, taking in the flowering trees and the sunshine. In
the town of Moschendorf were lucky enough to find an open wine seller and
were thus able to enjoy a good bottle of wine in the open countryside along
with a few sandwiches which we had purchased in town. Moschendorf has an
excellent "Vinotek"/wine museum which demonstrates typical wine making
techniques and sells local wines from all over Burgenland including rare old
vintages. I definitely recommend a stop.

After a filling meal back at Frau Gibiser's we turned in early for the night
at around 9:00 PM (Burgenland style) and prepared for further adventures.
Stay tuned for part #2 where I have some unplanned adventures with the local
constabulary...(to be continued)


END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD