THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 29
DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND GENEALOGY
(issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold)
February 15, 1998
(all rights reserved)

TIME TO THINK ABOUT VALENTINES, FASCHING & FASTNACHTS!

This edition of the newsletter contains articles on:
- Deutsch Beiling, Reinersdorf, Summetendorf & Strem (the Father Leser Series)
- the Austrian American Newsletter
- Taxes (the "dica")
- Some Poppendorf Immigrants
- An On-Line German-English Translator
- Croatian Migration and Origin
- A Primer of Diacritical Marks (the Umlaut)

**"Die Grundsau" (ground hog-woodchuck) that lives in a hole in the field
next door to our house did not see his shadow on Feb. 2nd, so we will have an
early Spring!**


BURGENLAND VILLAGE DATA FROM THE PATER GRATIAN ANTON LESER, O. F. M.
(1873-1949) EXCERPTS (cont. from newsletters nos. 21-28; by Albert Schuch)

16) Deutsch Bieling
Called Bikkes, Bykews, and Bükkes since 1225. The Batthyány Urbarium of 1750
of Biechling aka Büx lists the Richter' (equivalent of mayor) Hans
PELTZMANN; the Geschworenen' (village council members) Stefan ZOPF, Georg
HUEBER, Hans FANDL, all of the above being farmers; other farmers: Georg
MÜLLNER, Georg RIEGLER, Georg ZOPF, Stefan SAMMUSL, Michael LUKA, Hans ZOPF,
Adam MÜLLNER, Stefan FANDL and Stefan PAIL. The baptism records of 1750 also
show the surnames: SAMER, SCHNALZER, ZODL, KOH, SCHALLER, PFEIFFER, SCHADN,
KROBOTH, FITZER, HALPER, MENGL, CSILLAG, SAJER, SCHRANZ. These people
probably belonged to the ERDÖDY domain. Part of Heiligenbrunn parish: Church
built in 1898, widow Rosalia TRAUPMANN donated 300 florins (note:
King/Emperor Franz Joseph donated 50 fl). In 1812 the community bought the
house of Georg and Johann HUBER, to turn it into a school house. Teacher was
Franz JANISCH. Further teachers: 1827-30 Josef KOLLMANN, 1833 Daniel HOEDL,
1837-44 Franz KREMCZNER, 1847-51 Gottfried LOTH; 1851-73 school attended in
Heiligenbrunn; 1874/75 new school house built; teachers after 1877: Josef
BERGER, his son Sigmund BERGER; Julius SZENTGYÖRGYI (1879-80); Josef STEIGER
(around 1898); Josef WINDISCH (1890- 1905); Anna NEMETH (1905-1912); Paula
METZNER (1912-21); Josef MOSER (1922). (source: V+H Nr. 9/1957)

17) Reinersdorf: called Salman or Zsalman until 1496; Zaalmar, Sarmar and
Samar until 1631; first divided into German- and Croatian-Samand in 1662,
reunited in 1860. Had Croatian speaking majority in 1929. The
Batthyány-Urbarium of 1750 of Deutsch Reinersdorf includes: Matthaeus
STOISITS, Nikolaus GROHOTOLSZKY, Franz BIER, Michael DEUTSCH, Georg MARX,
Georg GROHOTOLSZKY, Georg PFEIFFER. Urbarium for Kroatisch Reinersdorf of
1750 not known. Baptism records of 1750 show additional surnames for
Reinersdorf: DOMASICS, OBRADOVICZ, SOVJAZ, FRENCZ, KOVACS, KNAZAR, JOKA. Part
of Heiligenbrunn parish. First known teacher was Johann FABIANKOVITS, whose
daughter died 1847 in Deutsch Reinersdorf, 11 days old. 1858-97 Georg
EGRESITS; 1897-1900 Johann PLOHOVITS, 1900-10, Alexander ILIAS, 1910-12 Eugen
CSAKANY, 1912-13 Nikolaus LAITISCH, 1913-22 Stefan NEMETH, 1922- Vinzenz
VLASICH, 1923- Herta VLASICH MENSCHIK (source: V+H Nr. 9-10/1957)

18) Sumetendorf: 1750-names: Michael SCHALLER, Georg HALPER, widow of Philipp
NEUPAUER, Michael PFEIFFER, Michael NEUPAUER, LADER; the baptism records of
1750 show the additional surnames (of people probably not belonging to the
Batthyány domain): REGER, GRAD, SCHULER, FANDL, SCHADN, ZIMMERMANN.
Originally part of Heiligenbrunn parish, since 1877 of Strem parish. School
built in 1907. Teachers: 1907-12 Flora PECLY; 1912-(29) Anna HUBER. (source:
V+H Nr. 10/1957)

19) Strem: Partly burned down in 1605 by BOCSKAY's and in 1622 by BETHLEN's
forces, looted by the "Kuruzzen" rebels in 1704 and 1706 (as was the whole
area). Inhabitants in 1693: FABICS Peter, FABICS Jure, KIRONOVICS Peter,
FABICS Ivan, TOMSICS Jure, PIPLICS Mikula, RESETARICS Ivan, Jure & Martin,
BLASKOVICS Jandre, KIRINSCHICS Peter, Sztar STIPSICS Ivan ("S(z)tar" =
Croatian for "the elder"), NOVASZEL Martin, Star FACSICS Ivan, MARGITICS
Jure, Star STIPSICS Jure, widow of STIPSICS Mikola, widow of TIVLUNITZ Marko,
STOISICS Jure, Ivan & Marko, STIPSICS Vuk, Gergo & Marko, SIEFFER Peter,
ERNST Hans (Geschworener), UNGER Jergh, GARGER Hans, SAIER Hans, TRAUTMANN
Michl, FAIT Philipp, GARGER Hans, KOHLER Andre, SADN Andre, STINDL Augustin,
SIMT Steffel, GARGER Philipp, SMIT Michl, ANDRE Steffel, TRINKEL Jergh,
REKKER Michl (Richter), SZAIHER Hans. Söllner: widow of HOARER Peter, PFAIFER
Hans, SIFFER Hans. 1745-names: TUNST, GARGER Georg, Michl & Peter;
SCHABHIRTL, MARTH, KOCH, MEDL, DEUTSCH, FRIEMANN, WEINHOFER, PINTER, KÄDNER,
UNGER Martin, Michael, Hans, Georg & Stefan; KLEPEIS Georg & Stefan; LOIS,
KERN, KEPEL, GRATZER, OSWALD, SCHERSTERITSCH, EYSSNER, FANDL; LOISSER,
GRÖLLER, KLOIKISCHER, BÖLTZMANN, PLIANDL, MARX, KOLLMANN, KÖRKER, STRANTZEL,
TRAUPMAN, SCHÄRTTER, RÖCKER. In 1929 350 (!) emigrants were counted in
America. Originally part of Heiligenbrunn parish. Became independent parish
in 1877. Priests: Franz REICHL (1877-79), Matthias JADERNI (1879-92), Hyazint
MAITZ, Michael POCK, Kaspar PAVDY, Johann RONAY (1892-1926), Josef GILSWERT,
Ludwig KISS (from 1927). Teachers: 1805-19 Johann SZAKATSI (from Olah in Zala
megye, in 1812 ca. 58 years old); 1837-40 Josef WURDITS, died 1840 aged 37;
1846-60 Friedrich STEIGER, 1866-75 Franz PETRIKOVITS, 1876 Ignaz KOKOLY,
1876-1913 Aloys ANHALT, 1913-(29) Anton LANTOS; in the 20th century: Josef
MOSER, Maria Josef FRANEK, August KOBLISCHKA, Gustav A. FISCHNA, Ludwig
HOLZER.(source: V+H Nr. 10-12 /1957)


THE AUSTRIAN AMERICAN

Member Tom Glatz, Chicago, sent us a four page monthly newsletter called "The
Austrian American". It is written, published and distributed by Walter E.
Pomper, 6031 N. Navarre Ave., Chicago, IL 60631-2630. In its 22nd year, this
publication started as a clearing house for the Chicago area Austrian Clubs .
It covers local news as well as Austrian news from the Bundespressedienst
(Government news service) in Vienna. Traditions, cartoons, anniversaries, and
news from the past are also featured. It serves readers all over the world.
An annual donation of $5.00 a year pays for printing and mailing. Walter
Pomper has no intention of going online, but says "you can use anything you
wish for your newsletter", for which we extend our thanks and reciprocity.
The February 1998 edition arrived a few days ago, reminding us that Fasching
and Fastnact is almost here! Time for Fastnacht Krapfen and a cup of Viennese
coffee mit Schlag! The newsletter tells us there are many Austrian activities
already scheduled in the Chicago area for 1998 and that a recent Burgenland
visitor was Franz Baumgartner from Rotenturm. It reports that the new Euro
dollar has been pegged at a value of 13.94 Schillings (about $1.15) and by
January 1, 2001 all outstanding (Schilling) bank notes will be collected.
NOTICE: By January 1, 2002 all current national bank notes will lose their
value. If you have any Schilling notes, plan to SPEND OR EXCHANGE or you'll
keep them as souvenirs! Also reported is news that Austrian women can now
serve in the military (non-combat) and in 1999, the Austrian telephone
numbering system will be simplified (1000 area codes reduced to 26). The new
US ambassador to Austria is Kathryn Walt Hall, Texas business woman from
Dallas. Wouldn't that be a great job!


ANSWER TO TAX QUESTIONS (the "Dica") - from Albert Schuch

We have the Income Tax--our ancestors had the "Dica"--among others. Concerning
the "Dica": I wrote earlier that I thought the amount of this tax varied
constantly depending on decisions of the "Reichstag" (parliament, also called
"Landtag"; only the nobility and ranking clergy were members). Below you'll
find a short extract (translated) of an article on the Hungarian tax system
in 1780 that hopefully will shed a little more light on this question.

Source: Heinrich MARCZALI: Ungarns Steuersystem im Jahre 1780.
In: Ungarische Revue 1882, p. 235-254:

Noblemen didn't have to pay taxes, so when in 1715 the Hungarian parliament
pledged a permanent contribution to the cost of the Austro-Hungarian army,
this was to be paid by the citizens of the free towns, and by the farmers and
workers living in the villages. This "war tax" amounted to 2.1 million florins
in 1724 (for the whole country), it rose to 2.5 million florins in 1728-9, to
3.2 million florins in 1751, to 3.9 million florins in 1765, and to around 4.4
million florins in the early 1880's. This was not considered to be a large sum,
but the peasants had to pay in cash, and cash was scarce. The parliament just
made the overall decision on the total tax. In subsequent negotiations
(called "rectificatio portarum") it was up to each county (Comitat, Megye) to
keep its share of "portae" as low as possible. The traditional tax unit was
called "porta" (an equivalent of 688 florins, 50 Denars (note: 60 denars/florin)),
"porta" having long lost its original meaning of "farm (house)" (in German: "Hof").

In order to further divide the tax liabilty among the communities and
individuals, an artificial tax unit named "Dica" was created. The farmer, his
family, his cattle, his land, his agricultural products etc. were all
measured in equivalents of a "Dica" or a part of a "Dica". The price of
labour and agricultural products varied considerably from Comitat to Comitat,
and thus so did the money equivalent of a "Dica". In places where people
could sell their products easily, the tax was relativly high. This applied to
all Comitats at the Austrian border, because the Austrian, especially the
Viennese market was close, the soil was fertile, and population density was
high. The western and also the northern Comitats (now mostly Slovakian
territory) had to pay relatively many "portae", and the money equivalent of a
"dica" was relatively high.

Apart from this war tax, the people also had to pay the "Domesticalsteuer", a
tax covering the cost of the Comitat and community administration, amounting
to approximately 1/5 to 1/4 of the war tax. In Comitats with a large population,
the individual share was smaller. Marczali gives a few interesting figures for
the Ödenburg (Sopron) Comitat, but he doesn't say to which year they apply. I
guess it would be for 1780 (I conclude this from the title of the article):
The whole Comitat Sopron had to pay 127,371 "dica", and the money equivalent
of one "dica" was 1 florin, 33 kreuzer (note: 60 kreuzer/florin) war tax and
37 kreuzer domestic tax. 3/4 of the tax had to be paid in the winter, since the
farmers were expected to have money from the sale of cattle and corn at this time
of the year.
(end of extract)


POPPENDORF IMMIGRANTS FROM 1907

(to Gertrude Schlener of the BBunch from Fritz Königshofer):
My material from the newspaper Der Volksfreund includes a
little article about the emigration of a few Poppendorfers, namely a group
which left the village for America on 18 February 1907. The group included a
Züzilia Oberecker, Maria Host, Züzilia Schwarz and Theresia Koller.


ON-LINE LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR (from Anna Kresh)

I found an new on-line translator that isn't perfect but can translate a
whole web page. Go to the AltaVista Translator at:
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com
It translated a huge page for me, but left some interesting stuff
untranslated. It also seems to quit after it has reached the end of an html
segment (separate files?).

I have been experimenting with the AltaVista translator I mentioned
previously and am sending you the results.
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com

I extracted some German text that Erich Kumbusch had sent to me some time ago
and cut and pasted a paragraph at a time and put each paragraph through the
translator. The text below shows the German to English translations. The
translation isn't perfect but it gives you a pretty good start at translation
in bulk. I'm actually surprised at some of the guesses it made.
Example:
"So ich mu nun Schlu machen. Ich schreibe diesen Brief im Bro, da ich zu
Hause zu wenig Zeit habe. Eine Menge Leute schreiben mir bezglich Burgenland
und Klucserics nach meiner Aufnahme in die Burgenländer Homepage. Ich habe
als Hobby Bienen zu betreuen, die jetzt im Frhling sehr viel Arbeit machen.
Zustzlich mu ich mit meiner Tochter lernen, damit sie halbwegs gute Noten
in der Schule bekommt. Unser 4 Tages-Ausflug nach Kopenhagen war sehr schön
aber anstrengend. Am Wochenende waren wir im Salzkammergut um ein Quartier
fr den Sommerurlaub zu suchen. Wir fanden einen schönen Bauernhof nahe dem
Altausseer See. Wir wollen heuer unseren Urlaub in Oesterreich verbringen.
Letztes Jahr waren wir eine Woche in Rom und 3 Wochen in Schottland un mssen
daher heuer sparen:) Auerdem ist Oesterreich auch sehr schön wenn es nicht
regnet."
Translation (unedited):
So I must make now conclusion. I write this letter in the office, since I
have at home too few time. A quantity of people writes me concerning castle
country and Klucserics after my accommodation into the castle countries
homepage. I have to care for bees, which make very much work now in spring as
hobby. Additionally I must learn with my daughter, so that she gets halfway
good notes in the school. Our 4 daily trip to Copenhagen was very beautifully
however exerting. On weekend we were to be looked up in the salt chamber
property around an accomodation for the summer vacation. We found a beautiful
farm near the Altausseer lake we want this year our vacation in Austria to
spend. Last year were we one week in Rome and 3 weeks in Scotland un must
therefore this year save:) Additionally Austria is also very beautiful if it
does not rain.


CROAT MIGRATION (from John Lavendoski)

A few months ago, you (Albert Schuch) wrote me about a book by Dr.
Tobler...See attached message...It is especially interesting to me in light
of the recent information* (below) which Frank Teklits has sent me regarding
the origins of the Croats who migrated to Szentpeterfa. He said:
"One particular paragraph that got my attention while translating,....
Professor Dubrovich states that the villages of Petrovo Selo (Szentpeterfa)
and Hrastovica in Hungary point or refer to the old hometown. Further he
wrote, that the inhabitants of the villages most probably came from the area
of Croatia around the town of Kostainica after that town surrendered to the
Turks in 1556. Checking with some contacts in Zagreb, along with their
forwarding a very fine, detailed map of Croatia, pointed me to two towns in
that country with the names of Petrovo Selo. I am virtually positive that it
is the town of Stari Petrovo Selo. Although I've tried to get more
information, I still haven't determined who was the Host church to the St
Peter & Paul Church in Szentpeterfa, to see if any church records can be
found containing names of our ancestry, and their hometowns."

Albert Schuch replies:
John, I was in the "Landesarchiv" in Eisenstadt yesterday, doing research for
my doctoral thesis. Good news for you: Dr. Tobler, who works for the archive,
has told me he is (together with two other men, one of them being from
Croatia) currently involved in writing a book including all known documents
on the Croat migration. Sounds interesting. I will notify you when it is
available.

*CROATIAN ORIGINS

We continue to look for those elusive places which our ancestors left when
they migrated to the Burgenland. Since we're dealing mostly with the pre-1700
period, it's extremely difficult, to say the least. Frank Teklits, in his
translation of a Croatian history sent me the following, referred to in John
Lavendoski's comment above. It's work like this that brings clues to light:

<< "I have come across something interesting concerning Szent Peterfa
(Prostrum in German, and Petrovo Selo in Croatian) while translating. A
short paragraph on the town stated that the history of it "points to the
homeland", which I interpreted as implying that there is a village in Croatia
with the same name. In a dialogue with some folks in Zagreb who along with
supplying me with a map of Croatia. also did some research which located two
village with very similar names. But before I jump the gun and start looking
there, I must go to Hungary and complete my lineage back to the 1680's with
the records in my Dad's village. I plan on requesting Fr. Paul Reicher
(BBunch member) in his next conversation with the priest over there, to see
if he can determine which was the prime Church of which Szent Peterfa was
but a mission Church. Hopefully that data would allow me to search beyond
the 1680's for information pointing to either Hungary or Croatia for further
ancestry." >>


UMLAUT (and Hungarian DIACRITIAL MARKS) HELP (from Fritz Königshofer)

On your discussion of the Umlaut issue, I wonder whether you are aware of the
"undocumented keyboard layout" under Windows which facilitates the typing of
Umlauts. If you work on a PC with Windows, you could call up "Main," then
"Control Panel," then "International," and select "US International" as the
keyboard, in lieu of "US" which is with what all PCs in this country come
preset as default. With the "US International" layout, the quotation marks
and apostrophies will only type out when you follow them by a space or a
character that has no accented form. However, when you type, e.g., quotation
mark followed by o, it will produce ö, et cetera. You get the drift. One
needs to get accustomed to it, but once one is, it becomes very easy to type
German, French or Hungarian characters, and use the same keyboard layout for
the normal English correspondence as well. Just as I do right now. This way,
one does not have to go back to "character selection" from a separate
alphabet, or switch to the German keyboard (for which one needs to paint the
characters on the keys). The only character that cannot be produced by this
alphabet is the long stroked of Hungary, which, for this reason, Hungarians
everywhere reproduce as (unless they work with a Hungarian keyboard). I
have a page which documents the "undocumented" US International keyboard, and
would be happy to send you a copy.

MORE DIACRITICAL MARKS (from Dean Joseph Wagner)

http://www.isd.net/dwagner2/genie.htm
My grandmother's parents where born in Wallern im Burgenland. I am
researching the surnames Halbauer, Deutsch, Sommers/Summer, Graisy/Graz,
Eberstorfer /Ebersdorfer, Müllner, Bauer, Heil, and Koppi. I also have
information, through a second marriage, on Kölndorfer, Stramer, Weinhandl,
Marhöll. Also, I noticed that you don't have umlauts on your vowels. I
thought I could help you by providing some letters with umlauts and other
accent marks. Simply copy them straight from this e-mail into your web
document. (A nice idea)


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