BB News No. 27 dtd 15 Jan 1998

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 27 DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND GENEALOGY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) January 15, 1998 (all rights reserved) This edition of the newsletter contains articles on: - The "Umlaut" - The Village of Hagensdorf (the Father Leser Series) - Descendant of Poppendorf School Teacher & Journalist - One-Hundred-Year-Old Mystery Solved - New Members' Comments from Austria - New Members' Comments from Australia - Burgenland & Pennsylvania-German Schatz Family Research (includes data on feudal tenancy). THE "UMLAUT'! I've been asked by some members if we can sometimes use the umlaut in place of the "vowel with e" or "vowel with quotes". It is difficult for our Austrian members and those of us with previously umlauted files not to use the umlaut. Those using Windows easily find the umlauted vowels in the character sets and of course German keyboards are automatic. I don't know about Mac users. If this causes a real problem for anyone, let me know, otherwise some of us we'll begin using the umlaut again. You'll thus find the umlaut designated three ways! The only cardinal sin will be not to use it at all. BURGENLAND VILLAGE DATA FROM THE PATER GRATIAN ANTON LESER, O. F. M. (1873-1949) EXCERPTS (continued from newsletters nos. 21-26; by Albert Schuch) 13) Hagensdorf: In 1640 Johann RECZER was "Richter". Old surnames of H. according to the Heiligenbrunn baptism records (mid of 18th century): CSADL (CHANDL), MITTL (MIDL), LIEDL (LIENDL), CITTERMANN, SAJHER (SAYR), OEL (OELL), BABOS, SOMOGY (SOMODI), GRÖGER, MILNER, SCHUKECZ, LOBETH, PALL, ASTL, ZAK, KOMLOSI, MATHAS, VINDIS, WOLFF, KLEPAIS, PARTL, FINK, GRAFF, WENY, SCHUSTER. A fire on 21 Apr 1843 burned 70 houses. Only the church, the vicarage, and a few houses were spared. The church (St. Kosmas and Damian) already existed in 1482. H. was a part of Heiligenbrunn parish 1656-1788, became an independent parish in 1788, including villages Luising and Ungarisch Bieling. Baptism records in Heiligenbrunn started 1746, so for 1746-88 this is the source for the villages mentioned above. Priests: Bonaventura VALENTIS OFM (1788-89), Prokopius MÜLLER OFM (1789-90), Martin SZÖGHI (1790-95), Marcarius LIPOVICH OFM (1795-1803), Hyazinthus GASSNER OFM (1803-07), Anton MARTINKOVITS (1807-11), Franz RUESZ (1811-55), Franz ILLES (1856-57), Franz HÖSZLER (1857-65), Robert SCHLAMADINGER (1865- 96), Josef SCHMIDT (1866-80), Nikolaus HERCZEGH (1880-87), Josef EBERHARD (1887-1917), Josef MISCHINGER (1917-??). Known teachers: Emmerich SAYER (died 1821 aged 31), Matthias DÖKKER (1822-32), Franz VERZELY (1834-48), Stefan REITER (1853-72), Franz KETTNER (1875, said to have been here for 30 years); but baptism records say: Franz KEESZ (1876-80); Anton LOIDL (1907-12), his successors: SCHLAMADINGER, PEIDL, Karl GLANACKY, 1914 Julius GALOS. DESCENDANT OF POPPENDORF SCHOOL TEACHER & JOURNALIST (from Fritz Königshofer) Having tried Altavista for some Burgenland village name (I think "Minihof"), I found the Burgenland Bunch web site and all the wonderful material on it. Meanwhile, I read through all your newsletters including the one dated November 30. First of all, please add me to the Bunch. I'll be honored by the company of you all. My data and search areas follows: (see New Member listenings in previous issues) My great-grandfather, Adolf Königshofer, was the schoolmaster of Poppendorf from 1898 to about 1921 (when he died there). Before that, he had taught in Olbendorf and Gamischdorf. He had come to Hungary from nearby Neudau, and needed not only a teacher education that was valid in Hungary (which he received in Oberschtzen), but also had to apply for Hungarian citizenship. His wife became Bry Francziska, a native of South-Zala county who had been appointed postmaster in Olbendorf. She died in Poppendorf in May 1900. Adolf Königshofer was a correspondent for the Volksfreund, a weekly which was published (in German) in Szombathely. One of the main subjects of his reports was about emigrants to the US (from the Lafnitz valley, especially Poppendorf) and his concerns that the region was losing most of the productive population this way. As a bit of an irony, of his five children two emigrated to the US themselves, namely Adelheid (to Milwaukee, WI, married Schmitz), and Emery to Allentown, PA. My own grandfather, Koloman Königshofer, was the only child that remained in Austria after the partitioning of the new Burgenland. He was a teacher in Rauchwart, Neumarkt an der Raab, and (after WW II) in Styria. His wife (my grandmother), Anna Koller, descended from families that had all their roots, at least over the 19th century, in what is now Burgenland. With regard to some of the previous material in your newsletter, if the articles from Father Leser contain data about Pilgersdorf, I would be very keen to know how long my ancestor Josef Fürsatz was teacher there (he must have started around 1832), and what his next station(s) might have been. Another one of my ancestors, Mihály Szák, was notary in Pinkafeld in the 1830's, but we do not know where he might have gone from there, and from where he and his wife (nee Rathner) had originated. I have seen the family name Szaak mentioned in the records of Tadten, and Rathner in the area around Lockenhaus, but that is all I have been able to find out so far. The name of Burgenland was indeed a construction from the four Hungarian counties from which the area was to be partitioned. As an earlier BB newsletter wrote, the German names for these counties were Eisenburg, Oedenburg, Wieselsburg and Pressburg. The idea for the name Burgenland thus is linked to the county names, i.e., the fact that these county names happened to also be names of cities was of no relevance! The name originally proposed for the new Austrian province was Vierburgenland ("vier" means "four"), because of the four prospective source counties. The expectation had been that at least the city of Sopron (Ödenburg) would be part of the new entity and serve as its capital. In the end, Sopron voted to stay with Hungary, no piece of Pressburg county (Pozsony) ended up in the new province, and Vierburgenland became simplified to Burgenland. The same earlier article in the BB newsletter reviewed the wonderful heritage of real castles, some of them still magnificent to this day, in Burgenland. It might be interesting for the Bunch to know that the castle of Bernstein was the birthplace of Läszl Almassy (on 22nd August 1895) whose remarkable life has been the subject of the film The English Patient. I also noticed in one of the past newsletters the review of existing Batthyány family archives. In my searches at the Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv (Styrian Country Archives) in Graz, I noted that there is a holding there of Batthyány archives. However, I have not yet inspected the contents of these holdings. If anybody in the Bunch needs some specific translation from German or related language advice, I'd be happy to assist. By the way, everything on your web-site works fine, but the M to Z index bombs my browser. Unfortunately, when I work from home, I still have to use an old (alphanumeric only) Lynx browser, which might find something unpalatable at this particular web page. Best regards, and thanks for creating the BB! Fritz ONE HUNDRED YEAR OLD MYSTERY SOLVED (from Fritz Königshofer) Ed. note - For years there has been a persistent story in the Berghold clan about great-grandfather Emil Langasch, retired Poppendorf school teacher circa 1850-97, who died under mysterious circumstances while returning from a journey. While the story was corroborated by present day Poppendorf residents, I was still unable to verify the story. Adolf Königshofer, great-grandfather of member Fritz Königsdorfer, was a journalist for a Szombathely weekly newspaper. Recently Fritz visited Budapest and copied some of his ancestor's articles from the archives of the National Library. Among them was this story of my ancestor's demise. From: Fritz Königshofer, Here is the translation of the full article. The story appeared in the issue of Der Volksfreund of January 17, 1903, page 3. This weekly was published between 1883 and 1916 in Szombathely in the German language. Tragic Death of a Retired Teacher 'Sir,' a worldly-wise physician some years ago told me, 'nothing is more terrible than to die abandoned, alone, without another human's presence and help. I have experienced it on the battlefields of Italy and Kniggrtz, where many a dying, brave soldier begged me with raised hands and tears to stay with him until death would relieve him from the suffering; I made the same experience with other human beings; indeed, I cannot think of greater evil than to let a human die in loneliness; that's the most bitter fate that could befall one!' However, just this kind of death is what the retired teacher of Patafalva (Poppendorf), Emil Langasch, had to suffer. On the third of this month, he walked, as was his custom, to Szent Gotthard to withdraw his pension of 50 crowns. At these occasions, he always returned home in best spirits. This time, however, his routine was to bring him death. He did not return home on this day. He was found dead on Friday, eight days later, up to the belly stuck in mud and water in the Lafnitz (river), his head bent forward. He was first slowly paralyzed by the [cold] water, then fell over due to exhaustion and drowned. The fact that he tried to help himself is shown by the steep river banks which were found completely scratched, and by the willows which overhang the river bank, because their branches were all broken off, to the extent he had been able to reach them. When he was found, he still had twigs firmly clasped in his hands. It must have been a terrible death, knowing he could not help himself out of the situation, and knowing he was destined to miserably perish far away from any human help. As to how he got there, the only explanation is that he was led astray by the lights from the factories. All the money, except for 2 crowns, was on him. He was transported to the mortuary of Heiligenkreuz. After an autopsy, he was interred there last Sunday. Emil Langasch was born 1834 in Linz, where his father was a k.k. civil servant who later got posted to Hungary under the so-called "Bach-system." Emil obtained his teacher diploma in Graz, then came to Hungary, first as teacher in Német-Ujvár (Güssing), then Rába-Keresztur (Heiligenkreuz), Fidisch (Rabafüzes), Rohrbach, Inzenhof, and finally in Patafalva where he served for 24 years until retiring after 41 years of overall service. His pension was 600 crowns (per year) from the state, and 226 crowns from the school-till. He had been of an iron constitution, having been sick only twice in his life. Once he got hit by lightning while he rang the weather-bells, but escaped unscathed; otherwise he was a moderate eater. With his Viennese humor, his was a welcome guest in social gatherings. (end of translation). Adolph Königshofer, the journalist went on to become the Poppendorf school teacher from 1898 to 1921. NEW MEMBER COMMENTS FROM AUSTRIA (from Gerhard Lang) Dear Gerald, I found an e-mail from Norm Pihale, with whom I corresponded several times. It brought me one of the "Burgenland Bunch"-Newsletters and I found it nice to read how the Burgenland-Americans are trying to find their roots back to the "Old World". It seems to be an addiction on the other side of the "Big Pond" to locate the old home of the ancestors. And I must say that I (also) got addicted on starting my studies. I find it nice, that there is a group out in the U.S., which has members who tell of their successes and experiences from their travels to the others. It's interesting to see that there are many common names among the researched families. As you found from the subscription form, I'm doing studies on the below mentioned names, but I think you misread the e-mail signature. These related people emigrated from the Burgenland to the U.S. and the one man with the Beilschmidt-name changed it to Kruft, the other names may have been changed in the naturalization process. So my studies not only reach to Rust and the surrounding villages. I guess I'm one of the few, who does - until now - luckless studies the other way round and searching for related people in America. I'm hoping for a little (information) Xmas present and a little help from any like-minded people from the U.S. I guess my listing should read: Gerhard H. & Martina Lang; Eisenstadt, Austria; BEILSCHMIDT, GAAL, KRUFT, PELZ, migrated to the U.S. with family roots to the Burgenland free town of "Rust" and environs. If you or anyone else has some questions and I can help, let me know. Best regards. Reply: Grüss Gerhard, Yes Genealogy is now a most popular hobby, not only in the United States but in other places as well. There are many reasons for this, some philosophical, some historical and some undoubtedly due to the tremendous advances in data communication and storage. Certainly as personal computers, scanners, genealogical data bases and software proliferate and make research easier, more and more people join in. A good story is always of interest and what better story than the one about your own family and their origin. Burgenland genealogy is something special since Burgenländers, for the most part all came from somewhere else following the Magyar, Mongol and Turkish wars. Many then went elsewhere when times became bad in the 1800's and 1900's. These people first settled in various "village" enclaves overseas and now some of their descendants in turn are part of the present great urban movement. I read recently that most families today have on average four homes in a life time and workers today can expect to work on average at six different jobs. A lot of uprooting and movement. My own ancestors in Allentown, PA, were part of over 50 allied or related families who migrated there from southern Burgenland four generations ago; now there are only a few of their descendants left. They are scattered everywhere. Yet, I think they would all like to find their roots, renew old acquaintances and feel part of something larger than their immediate family. Unfortunately, Austria is one of the places where access to family records is difficult, for a lot of reasons like language, convention, political reorganization, etc., which I will not go into here. Fortunately, the Hungarian Burgenland Archives in Budapest have been copied and are readily available here in the United States. This adds great impetus to Burgenland research. It is the purpose of the Burgenland Bunch to "show the way" to those interested in these records as well as finding others. Sharing information and bringing relatives together is also part of what we do.You are not alone in seeking family descendants among the immigrants. Erich Kumbusch, Albert Schuch, Klaus Gerger and Heinz Koller are Austrian members who are also engaged in such research. You will find their addresses as "CC" (carbon copy) to this email. I plan to use your email and this answer as an article in edition 27 of the Burgenland Bunch newsletter. This will bring your search to the immediate attention of all of our members (90 todate). I hope your own research will be successful and helped by belonging to the Burgenland Bunch. Gerry Berghold NEW MEMBER COMMENTS FROM DOWN UNDER New member Victor Fischer traces his Burgenland Croatian Immigrant Ancestors from Koszeg. Below is part of his email response to Anna Tanczos Kresh, with information concerning his mother's family: "Of my grandmother, her name was Tanczos Maria-Margit..... (she suffered from) despair at the loss of the house, land and possessions at the Communist takeover, Communist persecution, other family matters). She had five children, the first, my aunt, born in 1921, my mother Margit Hedwig in 1923, my uncle Arpad probably in 1925 (died in Melbourne in 1995) and then two more daughters, Adel Cecilia and Magdi. All are in Melbourne, except Magdi in Budapest. I will check but Maria-Margit was probably at least nineteen when married putting her birth at around 1902 or there about. She was the third child of five, of Aranka (maiden name not yet known), who died sometime in the 1930's and Zoltan, the town pharmacist who also died sometime in the 1930's. She had two older sisters, Aranka and Maria, both described as educated, and two younger brothers, Viktor and Zoltan. That is all I know from my mother's remembering; I assume all things being equal that this Viktor would have inherited the pharmacy. I have visited the pharmacy/apothecary, fully - and impressively - restored in the early 80's, near the well in the main square within the town walls. "My mother's father was Gratzl Frigyes (Frederick Gratzl) who died in 1937 at age 42, putting his birth in 1895. He lived and died in Koszeg - presumably was born there - and was the youngest by many years of nineteen children, and there is some unclarity about whether he died primarily of cancer and/or complications from a war injury (as mentioned previously he was a military man and a teacher of cadets; hopefully I will be getting the name of the academy to which he was attached soon). He was also apparently an anti communist activist very attached to the Catholic Church, which caused considerable problems for the family after WWII; the only other thing I know of his siblings at this stage is the third youngest was named Kalman. "I have visited my grandparents' grave in Koszeg and seen the family's former home which is now apartments, outside the town walls, but eerily recognizable from the water-color paintings and pencil sketches that my grandfather had made. Eerie because it had been a picture on a wall at home throughout my childhood, mysterious suggestion of a bygone time, and here it was , quite real and although never seen before, recognizable even to the stump of the chestnut tree in the front yard. The drawings show a large, prosperous and generous two story house with a large vegetable garden and a separate building with a water wheel - presumably a mill, I am not sure if it was in use as such in my mother's time. There are other drawings of orchards with views of Koszeg; the perspective suggests a few kilometers out of town. "My grandfather was the son of Gratzl Johann, flour miller in Koszeg who died in 1923, and Elisabeth nee Hoeffler who died in 1936 at age 89, making her born around 1847. Elisabeth's parents were Johann and Julianna nee Thiek." Will keep you informed of my progress, and thanks once more regards, U.Viktor Fischer BURGENLAND & PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN SCHATZ FAMILY RESEARCH (from Bob Schatz) I'm mailing you today a copy of the article I wrote in 1991 on my Schatz great-great-grandparents. I had originally intended to submit this to the National Genealogical Society Quarterly for possible publication, but I never did (I was a member for a number of years). The information on manorial tenancy which I'd like to present for a future newsletter will be abstracted from the text. Until 1840 in Hungary, only the nobility had the right to own land. Other than the "königsleute," who would have lived in a royal town or demesne, the bulk of the population were free tenants and had what is known in law as leasehold (or copy hold) proprietorship (even the houses lived in were not owned outright by their residents but were the property of the lord). In 1840, laws were passed by the Hungarian Diet which allowed non-nobles the right to purchase real estate, but it was not until the April Laws of 1848 that the tenants were all granted freehold proprietorship. Our ancestors in Burgenland were not Leibigen (serfs), but rather Unterthanen. Leibigenschaft was completely abolished in the Habsburg lands by Josef II in the late 18th century. Unterthänigkeiteit (Jobbagiontum is the Magyar term, I believe) was abolished by the 1848 April Laws in Hungary (earlier in the "Austrian" lands and Western Europe). It implied a contractual arrangement with the Grundherr or land owner. (ed. note - has anyone ever seen a copy of an Unterthänigkeit contract?) Property ownership was also a requirement for any kind of political participation at the district or megye levels, and our ancestors therefore were not eligible. Interestingly, this attitude also prevailed in the early years of our republic: only property owners were allowed the right to vote at any level, local or national. It is also interesting to note that the etymology of our word FARM derives from an Old French word meaning lease or contract. FARMER still has as one of its definitions "a person who pays a fixed sum for a source of income" (Webster's). I think it's important that members of the Bunch do not apply our contemporary American concepts of farming and property-ownership to their Burgenland ancestors. This would be a total misreading of history and that society. In a way, understanding these facts of European life certainly helps us understand the appeal of America all the more. When my colonial ancestors received their deeds for 300+ CONTIGUOUS acres (and the right to vote for representation in the Pennsylvania Assembly), it was as if they had been ennobled in the Old Country. Such property holdings were completely unknown in Europe for other than nobility. You wrote me that you'd like to share my information on genealogical research with the Bunch. Please feel free. When I started my research in high school and college (way back in the 70s!) the LDS had not yet filmed the records in Budapest (ed. note: while filmed in the 1960's, I don't know when they were first released to the public), which explains why I decided to hire a genealogist in Austria to help me out with the generations before my great-grandparents. As I think I wrote you before, I stopped research in the LDS records in 1991. The other week you also wrote that your wife's family is Pennsylvania German. My maternal ancestors, the Kerns and the Troxells, were some of the earliest families to settle in Egypt, PA (at that time the northern frontier of Bucks County). Their gravestones are still to found in the graveyard of Egypt church, and one of their stone houses built in 1757 is on the National Register of Historic Places. Another of my ancestors was the gentleman who brought the State House bell (the Liberty Bell) north for safekeeping in Allentown (then Northampton Town) during the British occupation of Philadelphia. Growing up, we were much more aware of our maternal heritage, and it still gives me a deep satisfaction and pride of place and citizenship when I visit the "sites" and experience the connection to my past. The fact that my grandparents and great-grandmother were so loving makes it all the more potent. I've often speculated that if William Penn had also traveled through the Alpine region as well as the Rhineland, advertising his "Holy Experiment", would those of our ancestors who migrated to Hungary in the 18th century have moved to North America instead? Probably not, because, as faithful Catholics (for the most part), they probably would never have migrated to a colony of a Protestant king. Which may explain why the only groups to immigrate to America from Habsburg territory in the 18th century were the Lutherans from Salzburg and the United Brethren ("Moravians") from Bohemia and Moravia. (There was an early Pennsylvania-German Catholic settlement in Bally, PA, but I don't know where those families originated.) END OF NEWSLETTER - EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 27A DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND GENEALOGY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) January 15, 1998 (all rights reserved) This edition contains: - The Glatz Emigration from Loipersdorf - More on Burgenland Music - More Little Known Historical Terms Encountered in Genealogical Documents - Greetings from Charter Member Joe Gilly - Omaha, Nebraska Burgenland Enclave - More on Maps & Wine. AUSWANDERERSCHICKSAL (This "emigrant story" first appeared in the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft -BG- newslette, furnished here by the author. It is the second BG article of this type to appear in these newsletters {first was the "Sorgers of Rosenberg"}. We hope all members will eventually furnish similar articles, both to us and the BG. Taken together they provide a marvelous and invaluable record of Burgenland emigration and receive world-wide attention. My Sorger story has already triggered a number of responses). Loipersdorf and Hammerteich bei Lockenhaus (by Tom Glatz) I always enjoy reading about the Burgenland emigration to America. The story of my emigrant ancestors begins with my quest to find out about the places my Burgenland grandparents came from and try to re-establish ties with lost relatives. My grandparents were simple people but they contributed to the great diversity of America. They always remained proud of their heritage and were grateful to be American citizens. My grandfather John Glatz, was born in Loipersdorf, June 14th, 1884. He was the youngest of three children. He had a sister Maria, and a brother Samuel. Samuel went to Venezuela and was never heard from again. My grandfather left in 1910, and sailed from Bremen on the George Washington. He arrived at Ellis Island on February 10th of that year with only twenty-five dollars. This was less than what was usually allowed to enter America by the American immigration authorities. I had often heard how poor the people were back home and how some people did anything they could to come to America to better their lives. He first made his way to East St. Louis, to work in the coal mines of southern Illinois. Working underground was not for him. After a few hours he had enough! He then joined an earlier immigrant in the family in Chicago, his cousin Teresa Glatz Strock. She was to be his daughter's godmother, but we all called her Goudl and Rositant. I guess she went by the name Rose because there were so many Teresas in the family. My grandfather learned to be a blacksmith back home and was able to support his family here doing so by working for the railroads as many Burgenlaender did. He was hard working and family oriented. He championed the working class and was a strong supporter of the labor unions. He suffered like most people in America did during the depression by losing his life savings as well as his job. Then he had to live through the humiliation that many immigrants in America from German speaking areas of Europe did in the 1930s and 1940s because of Hitler and the second world war. Teresa was the one to keep contact with the relatives in Loipersdorf. She did all of the writing to the relatives. For years he had no desire to ever return home. But in 1960, he decided he wanted to see his native land once more before his death. Unfortunately he died that year after he had made his travel plans. In his family his sister Maria was the only one in the family to stay in Loipersdorf. My grandfather's cousin Teresa came from a large family, most of which stayed in Loipersdorf. She married a man from Luxembourg, Nicholas Strock. A brother Leopold came to Chicago around 1925. He married Mildred from Lockenhaus. Teresa left Loipersdorf before her youngest brother Johann was born. Luckily she always kept in touch with him. He was the first one in Austria that I had made contact with. I'll never forget how excited I was when I first received a letter from him. In 1977, I was able to locate many of my Glatz relatives in Austria through Johann. It was never a bother for him to ask the schoolmaster to translate letters from his newly found relatives in America. Unfortunately my grandfathers nephew who was his sister Marias son Johann had passed away before my first trip. But I was able to meet his sister, my grandfathers niece also named Teresa who lived in Breitenbrunn. I have been very fortunate that Marias grandchildren Josef Glatz of Vienna, and Adolf Weber of Breitenbrunn and their families have taken a lot of interest in me and my family in America. Thanks to the Glatz and Weber families I have seen a lot of Austria and experienced many Austrian home cooked meals! I can never thank them enough for their kindness and hospitality! The Lutheran pastor in Markt Allhau was also very kind to spend hours searching the names and dates of my ancestors back to the beginning of the record keeping in 1787. My grandmother Maria Schloegl was born into a Catholic family in Hammerteich near Lockenhaus, December 18, 1890. She arrived with her friend Mrs. Binder (we never did know her maiden name) at Ellis Island on the ship Rochambeau in 1912. I spoke with one of her best friends who was from Raiding, Teresa Bauer Flasch, before she died. We called her Flasch Goudl since she was my fathers godmother. She told me my grandmother worked as a cook in the Tivoli Restaurant in Vienna for a time to save money for the trip to America. My grandmother had intentions of only staying in America temporarily. She desired to return to Austria to marry her friend Hans from Tirol. But she stayed in Chicago and married my grandfather. My grandmother had a difficult life in America and could only find work doing house-cleaning in the large hotels and for Chicagos wealthy and famous who lived in mansions on the citys lake front. She died December 25, 1934. In 1938, my grandfather married another Burgenlaenderin. This time he married the widow Paulina Behof Sinkovits from Oberpullendorf. We called her Grandma. She was the only grandmother I ever knew. She treated my father as her own son and us as her very own grandchildren. She lived until 1974 and gave me the greatest impression about Burgenland. She told me a lot about her life. She told me how she made a rendezvous with her brother to meet in France to come to America. He left trying to avoid being conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army right before the first world war. I always thought she was so intelligent to fluently speak German, Hungarian, and Croatian. During the war years and after, the Grandma sent packages not only to her family in Oberpullendorf, but also to my real grandmothers family in Hammerteich. My relatives remembered this and seemed grateful. I was surprised to see the family pictures that I brought with on my first trip were identical to the pictures my relatives had. My father had made them and gave Grandma copies to send to Lockenhaus in the 1940s and 1950s. My father had frequently told me about his two cousins, the Janisch sisters: Maria and Helene. They were born in his house in Chicago. His aunt Theresa Schloegl came to Chicago after the first World War and married Louis Janisch April 21, 1923, in Chicago. He was also from Lockenhaus. They lived for a short time in Union Mills, near Laporte, Indiana, a mostly farming community with some Burgenlaender. Louis died soon after Helene was born. Aunt Theresa developed cancer and decided to take the children back to Lockenhaus. She believed that there would be more people to take care of her children there than in America. She then passed away and the children were raised by Janisch relatives. He also told me about his uncle Ludwig Schloegl, who lost his arm in the first world war. I had never forgotten any of this. Ties hadnt been re-established with the Lockenhaus relatives until just before my trip in 1980. I think they were shocked that there was a relative on their mothers side of the family that remembered them. I was lucky that the daughter of the woman that came with my grandmother from Lockenhaus or really Hammerteich, Dorothy Binder, was able to put me in touch with Mrs. Schuch (nee Wally). Mrs. Schuch who was from Lockenhaus and related to Maria and Helene, knew my grandmother. I remember my anxious but joyful first day in Lockenhaus. It seemed like half of the town was there to greet me! The wonderful kindness and hospitality of my relatives help quickly put me at ease. I have become close with the families of Maria and Helene. Thanks to the Fuchs and Lackners of Lockenhaus I have seen much of middle and southern Burgenland and parts of Hungary. I have also tasted some of the best Burgenland cuisine in Maria and Helenes kitchens. Lockenhaus is small, but one of my favorite places. The restored castle is magnificent. The baroque church is beautifully renovated. The hilly terrain of the Guenser Gebirge along with these monuments and quaint old and new houses make Lockenhaus a truly nice place to visit. It is one of Burgenlands and Austrias best kept secrets. I hope some day to experience the famous Lockenhauser Kammermusikfest. My grandparents first lived in the Burgenland part of the of the Back of the Yards area in Chicago. Their children Mary was born here in 1914, and my father John was born here in 1916. Later the family lived in Fuller Park and in a few other smaller Burgenland, German or Hungarian settlements depending upon which railroad my grandfather worked for at the time. There were many labor struggles in the railroads during this period in America. Grandma always shopped at Uidls butchers to make Wiener Schnitzel for our Sunday dinner at her house. Later when Grandma was older and didnt bake so much, we would go to Urbauers for Mohn and Nuss Strudl. My grandparents were married in this neighborhood at the German Evangelical Church of Peace by the pastor Ludwig Kohlman, February 21st, 1914. This was one of the many churches in the area that were founded by the previous Germans and that the evangelisch Burgenlaender felt comfortable attending. I was present at many weddings and funerals at this church at various addresses. I often heard too about the good times to be had at Ringbauers and Kollaritschs halls in Fuller Park! Im fortunate that my father never let me forget about the towns his parents came from. It is a different reality for some of us Burgenland descendants who live outside of Burgenland and that are second, third or more generation. The emigrants have lived the culture, traditions, and way of life that is different from ours. Some of us of the later generations outside of Burgenland are curious and want to know about their ancestors and their culture. I didnt know much about my grandparents lives before they reached America. But I was a very fortunate having them around me growing up. Now fate seems to have given me the responsibility to keep the ties alive with relatives in Austria. The fate of my emigrant ancestors has led me to learn and treasure the culture of Burgenland! MORE ON AUSTRIAN (BURGENLAND) MUSIC (also from Tom Glatz) (ed. note: Both Tom and Albert Schuch have made me aware of these ethnic pieces. We'll continue to seek a source, a price and ordering information, if still available. What may be of genealogical value is that some may date before the migrations to the Burgenland and thus may provide a clue as to family origin.) There are supposed to be cassettes from each Province in the series "Tondokumente Zur Volksmusik in Oesterreich." As far as I know only Burgenland (vol. 1), Niederoesterreich (vol. 2), and Steiermark (vol. 3) have been issued. I have all 3. RST Records, Rudolf Staeger, A-1052 Wien was selling them. Who knows what the price is now with the dollar fluctuation. I actually sent much more than what was required because I couldn't get an answer from them on how much to send to include postage. (They kept it all too!) I first received a very fancy notice, almost like an invitation to purchase the first 2. Then (friend) Bob Strauch told me that the 3rd one was out. Soon afterwards I saw it minus the information booklet at Tower Records in Chicago. Luckily Bob had an extra copy of the booklet. I keep checking to see if they get the next one in (I don't know what province it will be). Bob will probably tell me when it is available. RST records can probably help anyone find music from Austria. The Tanzgeiger also has put out CD's & tapes. They are good. Rudi Pietsch & wife Franciska are wonderful musicians. His address is Institut Für Volksmusik Forschung, Ungargasse 14, A-1170, Wien. I have several recordings by Robert Payer. He was one of those expelled from the Hungarian side of the border after the war (town of Agendorf near Oedenburg in the north). Many record companies have produced his recordings. I bought some here and some out there. A lot of Burgenlaender here (Chicago) have given me copies of recordings they have of Kapelle from different towns in Burgenland. Bob Strauch recently sent me: Harald Dreo/Sepp Gmasz, Volksmusik im Burgenland, Burgenlaendische Volksballaden. This is a notice of a cd or cd's for sale from Boehlau Verlag, Ges. m.b.H. & Co. KG, Sachsenplatz 4-6, A-1201 Wien. There is a Viennese series of which Tower Records had some of: It included Fritz Matauschek, "Blinde Resi" aus Ottakring Therese Sprung-Hafenscher, Successors of the Schrammel Brothers, etc. I look for the obscure and the reasonable at Tower Records, Germanfest in Milwaukee every summer, and other places. I have a real find on the Naxos label of Schrammel music: Music from Old Vienna, Wiener Schrammel Music by the Thalia Schrammeln. I think it was only $4.00. I like Naxos for classical music. They are so reasonable! Toni Stricker is the famous Viennese violinist (although I think he or his parents were born in southern Burgenland). The record company for this is OK-Musica, 1060 Wien. Besides Burgenlaender, we have a lot of Austrians from other provinces in Chicago. It is a very influential community. We have an Austrian trade commission and a consulate here. We have a famous Viennese baker who spends a lot of his time organizing things. His name is Gerhard Kaes. He is very influential in the Austrian-American Council of the Midwest. His picture (but name was not mentioned) in the last Austrian Information from Washington. He was extremely influential in promoting this new Austrian Day in America. He has from time to time hosted groups from Austria. I was fortunate to attend the Toni Stricker concert as well as a Schubert mass which was a singing group from Austria. The summer before last was a big one for us here. Since it was the millennium (of Austria), many groups were here and I saw them all and bought CD's when possible. Two other Austrian American council members have a small store called Austrian Station in Chicago. I have been able to pick up a lot of CD's and tapes there. There was a series 1000 Jahre Oesterreich Volksmusik, Blasmusik, and Werke grosser Komponisten. The address on these is GESA Musikproduktion Wiesenstrasse 8, A-3261, Steinakirchen. I like Robert Stolz Operetten a lot! When Tower Records bought out Rose Records here, I found Venus In Seide and Frühjahrsparade. The producer of these is in Germany. Unfortunately there was no address listed: BMG Music Group in Germany. Here are two new sources for Austrian music that might interest you: Naxos of America Inc. 8440 Remington Ave. Pennsauken, NJ 08110 609-751-4744 url http://www.hnh.com and for the Robert Stolz cd's: BMG Classics U S A, 1540 Broadway NY 10036-4098 fax 212-930-1640. Naxos has a nice cd & very inexpensive Schrammel Quartet. Both of these places will probably send you their catalogs for free. I got them from Tower Records in Chicago. Albert Schuch Also Sends The Following: I recently bought a fine folk music record: "Spielmusik Schönfeldinger- Bernstein" from Lotus records / Salzburg http://www.lotusrecords.at It comes with a nice booklet (German / English) with a few photos (one taken in Chicago ca. 1915, showing emigrants Rudolf and Josef Schönfeldinger). Quoting from the booklet (text by Dr. Sepp Gmasz, translated by Lynne Donaldson): The musician, bandmaster and composer of numerous pieces of folk music Karl Schönfeldinger was born in Bernstein on 7th Aug 1897. His ancestors came from Harkau near Ödenburg in the 18th century to build new lives as small holders, crafts people and as musicians. Music-making in small circles and at village festivals was an unbroken family tradition for many generations. Grandfather went on foot with his two sons from Bernstein to Harkau and Agendorf for the major village festivities, like "Kirtag" and "Fasching", where in a week they could earn enough with their music to buy a cow. They achieved their greatest public recognition in the region around Harkau, where good musicians were anything but rare due to the proximity of Ödenburg, the provincial capital. "The Hianzers blow the best!" was the popular verdict regarding the family of musicians from the Hianzei, as the central and southern areas of the Burgenland were then known. Inevitably, young Karl began to learn the violin from his father. Of the nine children in his generation three died of diphtheria, and two brothers and a sister emigrated to America. The family's ensemble was comprised of clarinet, violin, viola and double bass. At age fourteen, Karl received his first flugelhorn - it was the usual practice at that time for gifted musicians to learn to play a wind instrument as well as a stringed one. Apprenticeship to a tailor, to whom the puny lad was sent by his father, was not much to his taste, but at least the master tailor was also a passionate clarinetist. He quickly recognized his apprentice's musical talent and took him along to the local balls. By the age of 16 Karl was the front man for his family's band, playing lead violin.... The recordings are from 1966 - 1979. Karl died in 1979, but the family band plays on. I had the opportunity to hear his son and granddaughter (and a third man who I believe was a friend, not a family member) play on the 10th Dec in a Gasthaus in Vienna. It was there that I bought the CD. MORE LITTLE KNOWN HISTORICAL TERMS The Frank Teklits translation of a Croatian History (which we eagerly await) continues to require an explanation of obscure and obsolete terms provided by Albert Schuch: Page 87 P7S2 Halterhaus "Halter" is a slang term for "shepherd"; so the "Halterhaus" is "the shepherd's house"; it was owned by the community/village and inhabited by the current shepherd(s); in almost every village you still find a "Gemeindehaus" today: this will be the former "Halterhaus" in most cases. Page 88 P2S2 Rittmeister = captain of cavalry (since this is a military rank, you might leave it untranslated with translation added in parenthesis) Page 88 P4S3 Bergbuchern and Bergregistern What the "Urbar" is for the farming land, the "Bergbuch" and "Bergregister" are for the vineyards. I don't know if there is a difference between "Bergbuch" and "Bergregister". I think they both are conscriptions (registrations) of vineyards (including size and owners) of a certain area. Note that in slang the word "Berg" is often used as a synonym for "Weinberg" which is "vineyard"! Page 89 P6S3 Neustifter ...a person from a town by that name? no, not in this case; here Neustifter are (new) settlers Page 89 P6S4 Bauernhaushaltungen ...farmhouse owner? the term "Haushaltung" always refers to a family (headed by the "Haushaltungsvorstand", the head of the family; translate as "farmer families" Page 89 P7S2 Pfarrhof - rectory, vicarage (house owned by the parish, the priest lives there) Page 90 P1S6 Joch Aecker - "Joch" is an old square measure (1 Joch = ca. 5755 square meters), I don't think you should translate it as yoke (although this is also a meaning of the word "Joch"); "Aecker" = fields, arable land << The term Lehen is in the dictionaries as fief, but it can also refer to a parcel of land. How does one distinguish between these two widely varying meanings other than in the context of the sentence including the term? >>Sorry, the context is the only way I know: the term "Lehen" can refer to a person's (legal) title to a property (which may be the whole county or just one farm (sessio)), on the other hand it is (even more) often also used for the property itself. As for the term "parcel of land" in your question (which I translate as singular piece of land): the term "Lehen" usually does not refer to a singular piece of land. Page 90 P3S5 Edelhof - noble farmstead/noble farm/noble courtyard? I do think that this is something like a "Meierhof", a big farm. But unlike the Meierhof, which was usually a part of the domain, the Edelhof seems to have been sort of a small domain inside the domain. The feudal lord will have given it to an important servant (officer) as a means of payment. Page 90 P3S5 Holden - "Holden" are "Söllner", people who do not own farming land; in this context, these "Holden" are kind of 'attached' to the "Edelhof": they have to do their "Robot" on the land belonging to the Edelhof etc. (the owner of the Edelhof is their feudal lord) (You can still find the term "Holde" in surnames like "Berghold") Page 90 P3S5 Pfarrholden - the "Pfarrholden" have their houses on land owned by the church (parish); so the parish, that is in fact the priest, is their feudal lord. Page 91 P2S2 What is meant by the phrase 1/4 and 1/16th fiefs? here we have "Lehen" used as a synonym for farm (or more correctly: a certain fixed amount of the farming land belonging to a village). The older a village gets, the more divided fiefs. As stated earlier, the main reason for this was the increase in population. (Theoretically, one could even say that the term "Lehen" was also used as a kind of a square measure that was valid only in one village!) Page 91 P2S6 Wiesen = meadows, I also spot the word "Tagwerk" in this context: Maybe you do not know this: this term was also used as a square measure. This refers to the area a single worker can mow in one day. >> The other reason for contacting you is to let you know of my concern as to properly translate whenever I see the term Lehen. You advised me that it can be interpreted as either a fief, or sessio, I am now concerned that I may not be using those two meanings properly. Is there any general guideline that you know of I can use? For example, since an Urbar is basically a listing of land registrations, if a sentence in German says, according to an Urbar from any given locality, would the word Lehen in that context be used exclusively to mean a sessio, or fraction thereof? >> Yes, this is the basic meaning in such a case. It refers to the property (sessio) in the first place, but it also tells us about the legal title that is involved. >> If an Urbar contains both uses of the word, how would I distinguish a reference to a fief from a sessio in that sentence? << All I know about that word "fief" is that my dictionary gives it as the translation for "Lehen", meaning I have no English explanation. (Perhaps you could provide one?) So I am always assuming that the word "fief" also has the same two uses. Page 94 P4S2 metzen - a "Metzen" is a measure of capacity Page 94 P5S3 Schmeide - wrong spelling; Schmiede = a forge (where a blacksmith works) CHARTER MEMBER SENDS GREETINGS (from Joe Gilly) It's been about a year since I made the comment that wouldn't it be great if the BB could go worldwide. Well here we are thanks to you and all of your hard work. I've learned a great deal from you and your wonderful newsletters, as well as from the other members. All of you certainly have my thanks and gratitude. Congratulations on a very productive genealogical year. I've had some very interesting e-mail exchanges with some of the other BB members. One of them was from Bob Schatz who told me about a GYILI (another spelling variant) that he noticed on the Urbarial tables (1767) for Urbersdorf. Another interesting exchange was with Fritz Konigshofer. Apparently, his family in Graz had a friendship with a GILLY in Graz. He's going to quiz his family for details. Especially interesting was his revelation that the village of Wallendorf was founded by French speaking Belgian Wallons who remained there after the battle of St. Gotthard-Mogersdorf in 1664. This information has me more and more convinced that my elusive Irish ancestor might have arrived at that time. I already have confirmation that there were both Scot and Irish Imperial staff officers (remnants of Wallenstein's "Söldnerarmee") at Mogersdorf in 1664. The possibility is further underscored by the GILI listed in the baptismal records between 1669 and 1699 as reported in your BB newsletter #25. The timing certainly fits and makes this a strong possibility. I'll probably contact the Austrian Military Archives again and ask if they have any lists of officers serving in this battle. I struck out with them the first time, but maybe my questions weren't specific enough. MORE MAPS (from Bob Loerzel) Several times, the newsletter has mentioned maps. I didn't see any references to the Austria-Hungary topographic maps from 1881 and 1882, which are available on microfiche at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Are you aware of these? They are quite detailed, showing even the small mini-villages, streets, and even tiny black rectangles to represent each house. And they include both the German and Hungarian names for many places. In case you've never seen these maps, I've attached a sample of the Grosspetersdorf area that I scanned from a photocopy of the microfiche. I also picked up an excellent map in a Vienna bookstore a few years ago. It's published by Haupka & Co. The map I have is called "Auto-Wander-und Freizeitkarte: Steiermark, Graz, Südl. Burgenland." There is a separate map that includes northern Burgenland. This map is on a scale of 1 to 100,000, and it includes many of the smaller villages. For example, around the town of Mischendorf where my family is from, it also shows such tiny places as Kleinbachselten and Perlmühle. It also shows forests in a fair amount of detail and has symbols for churches. A SOUTH OMAHA, NE ENCLAVE (from B. J. Horrum) I have copied so many records and have done as you suggested, looking forward for clearer spellings of names. How I wish I knew German. I would scoop up all those books in your newsletter and read and read. We too, have a Burgenland of sorts in South Omaha in St. Joseph Parish, where my mother, Elizabeth Theiler was born and married. Many people who descend from the Burgenland immigrants (especially St. John and St. Peter) live in this parish. The Franciscan Fathers and Brothers ran the parish. Ron Baxter, who is working on his September Trip to Burgenland, went to school there. I know Ron hopes to get everything to you probably after Christmas. His son, Father Greg Baxter will be coming home from Rome (where he is studying) for Christmas. Ron's paper on his trip will be well worth the reading. (A lovely Xmas greeting was also included.) MORE ON WINE - from Jim Reumann Re your comments in Burgenland Bunch no. 24 about Austrian wines, just a comment for what it is worth. My family in Deutschkreutz is in the wine business; has small vineyards and winery. But, Deutschkreutz is almost all vineyards and wineries. Having said that, I have tasted many of the wines produced in Deutschkreutz and they are as good as I have tasted from any region. This past June [1997] my cousin, Gunther Glockl, who is the Bezirksgeschaftsfuhrer for that region of the Burgenland, took me [and his brother-in-law] to the local wine shop which is run by the town of Deutschkreutz to promote the regions' wines. It is on the web at:http://www.bnet.co.at/mb-tourism. My cousin Gunther, ever the consummate politician, is in want of finding a way to distribute the wines of Deutschkreutz in America and has asked me to help him in this endeavor. Not being in the business, I find that A] Austrian wines are not sold in this area and B] the laws almost prohibit someone like me from importing for sale. I have brought wines back; had no problem going through customs either in Cincinnati or Atlanta. If you would like, I will obtain further info from Gunther. END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD