BB News No. 41 dtd 15 Aug 1998

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 41 DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND GENEALOGY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) August 15, 1998 All Rights Reserved. Permission To Copy Granted If Credit Is Given. NORTH CENTRAL BB PICNIC TODAY AT MINNEHAHA FALLS STATE PARK, MINNEAPOLIS, MN! GREETINGS TO ALL ATTENDEES! This first section of the 3 section newsletter features: - Ollersdorf (continuing the Father Leser series) - Sulz Bottling Plant - Saint Elizabeth - Location of Property Records - Comment on Styrian and Swabian Migration to Burgenland - Reasons For Migration (Parts I & II) - Austrian Flag - New Book Concerning German Emigration 34) OLLERSDORF (translated by Albert Schuch) -North of Stegersbach. Consists of the core village plus places called "Anger", "Bergen" and "Hocheck". First mentioned in 1428 as "Araand", the village was donated to Güssing Abbey by Count Lorenz UJLAKY in 1519. Became property of Count Franz Batthyány in 1524, like all villages of the Güssing domain. The Urbarium of 1693 mentions the following families living in "Ollerstorff": STROBL (7), CSAR (4), SAKMASTER (4), KRANCZ (4), PAISSL (BEISCHL) (4), GROFF (GRAF) (4), HOLPER (3), MANDLER (3), PEBER (3), FENCZ (2), PAOR (BAUER) (2), PANGARTNER (PAUMGARTNER), SINKOVICZ, HASL, BIBER, KAPPL, GARTNER, POPOFSICS, OZBALT (OSWALD), HOANCZL, HAMER, AMUNGER. The Batthyány-mill is rented by Mattecz STROBL. The Urbarium of 1750 mentions in "Baratfalva anders [= otherwise] Ollerstorff": STROBL (8), PEISCHL (5), CSAR (3), GRAF (3), KRANTZ (3), PIBER (2), FENCZ (2), HOLPER (2), STIMPFL, OSWALD, SAGMEISTER. All these families live in 29 houses and own 40 horses, 14 oxen, 47 cows, 22 calfs, 39 pigs etc., whereas the Söllner-widows: STROBL (3), HOLPER (2), GRAF, HAMER, PEISCHL own 4 cows. Number of inhabitants: 1812: 710; 1832: 547; 1870: 772; 1930: 935 (167 houses); ca. 60 Ollersdorf-natives in America (in 1930). Belonged to Stegersbach parish until 1870. Priests: 1871-78 Franz BAUMGARTNER; 1878-1909 Georg PLANKY; 1909-14 Karl ECKER; 1915-16 Wilhelm KUN; 1916 Karl BRAUN; 1917-19 Aloys WALLNER; 1919-23 Lorenz TELL; 1923-26 Franz SCHNECK; 1926-27 Franz TRANZ; 1927-28 Josef HAETINGER; 1928- Franz TRANZ (priest in Litzelsdorf). Teachers: Matthias SVETICS (1798-1808, from Rehgraben); Paul PLAJER (1812-18), Peter LOIBITS (1832), Josef MOLNAR (1840), Josef WEBER (1841-42), Matthias HOBL (1849), Anton BAUER and Karl BISCHOF (1855-57), Johann JANISCH (1866-1905), Franz SAM (1905-13), Alexander REMENYI (1913-15), no teacher 1915-16, Aloys HAM (1916-25), Johann KAROLLUS (1925-). Second teacher in 1930: Emmerich MATHAUSER, 117 pupils. (source: V+H Nr. 8-9/1958) SULZ BOTTLING PLANT (from Andrew Burghardt) Dear Hauptmann des BB-es! Last week Steve Klucharich asked about the large building across from the water bottling plant in Sulz: In March 1957 (!), while I was doing my research on Bgld. I stopped in Sulz. There I met Herr Meissinger, the owner of the spring and the estate. I presume that he was a "lesser" member of the land-holding nobility. He had just returned from 28 years in Argentina, to take over the place, the manor house (small palace) and spa. He was the head of a company that wanted to bottle the water and sell it in Wien, and elsewhere. This became "Gussinger Mineralwasser", as some of you may know. The manor house had been ruined by the Russian troops (who had left only a few months before), and he believed that whatever was left was then cleaned out by the locals! He wanted to build a resort spa out of the manor house, but he was very short of capital. He had sold off all the estate, except for 10 joch, which was to form a kind of park around the renovated, rebuilt manor house. That house (palace) must be what Steve saw. I'm afraid that I don't know how far Herr Meissinger got with his plans; perhaps it IS a resort spa now.... Ed. Note: In the recent book "Güssing im Wandel der Zeit", the manor house is called Kastell Sulz. It was built on the ruins of an older castle in 1800 by Count Festetic(z). It later (1857) belonged to Karl von Talosy, and then Alfred Stein. In 1973 it was declared a national monument. It was renovated in 1980 and was adapted for "cultural uses". The mineral water is exported to many places under the name Güssinger Mineralwasser (GesmbH.). Production is about 35 Million liters per year. In the past it was also called "Vitaquelle" and "Severinquelle-Mineralwasser". ST. ELIZABETH (ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY) (from Andrew Burghardt) A couple of weeks ago someone mentioned a church of St. Elizabeth, but didn't know much about the saint. She was a princess, the daughter of the King of Hungary, and is usually called Elizabeth of Hungary. At the age of 4 (!) she was betrothed to the son of the ruler of Thuringia, Germany. She was sent to the Wartburg, to be brought up for the position. In Germany she is usually called Elizabeth of Thuringia. She was a very popular countess, who organized the singing competition, immortalized by Wagner in his opera, Tannhauser. She became most famous for her works of charity; she was forever taking food to the poor. A legend has it that once she was stopped on her way out of the castle, but when her basket was uncovered it was found to contain not bread but roses. That's why she is often shown with a basket of roses. Unfortunately, her husband died young, and she and her children were driven out of the Wartburg by the former count's brother. She moved to Marburg in Hesse, where she continued her charitable work and founded a hospital. She died in Marburg, and a magnificent Gothic church was built over her tomb, which became a center for pilgrimages. The tomb and church are still there. (By the way, the Wartburg is also the castle where Luther began to translate the Bible.) LOCATION OF PROPERTY RECORDS (with Albert Schuch) < Question: Am I correct in assuming that land records (deeds and titles to land) are kept in the village Gemeindeamt? Are some in the Bezirkamt? I had a question and told them to write the Bürgermeister c/o the village Gemeindeamt. They wanted to know if there was any record of when their ancestor had a hotel. (I told them that kind of information might not be released to just anyone). > Answer: No, the land records are kept at the Bezirksgericht (in the "Grundbuch"). Old records may have been transferred to the Landesarchiv. But it is always a good choice to write to the Bürgermeister or to the Gemeindeamt. As far as I know, "Grundbuch" information is open to everybody. In this case, the Gemeindeamt may even be the better place to ask, because if the ancestor had a hotel, he may not have owned the land (just rented the house) and thus not be listed in the Grundbuch. ANOTHER ORIGIN OF "TOBAJ" VILLAGE NAME (from Fritz Konigshofer) By the way, I remember a story someone told me when I visited Burgenland at a young age, namely, that Tobaj is derived from the shout (connected with the appearance of an attractive woman): "Do woar a wei" (Da war ein Weib... There, there was a woman!), leading over the years/centuries to .... tobaj. I don't think it is a very credible story. RESPONSE TO ALLENTOWN ARTICLE (from Frank Teklits) I read with considerable interest your article about Allentown in the most recent BB newsletter. Your memory is outstanding as I had long forgotten some of the places you mentioned. My wife enjoyed reading the article as much as I did, and she lived in the 500 block of Jordan Street. She also complimented you on your memory. We were up visiting relatives in Stiles recently, and they mentioned that the Sängerbund is now closed, and that the entire neighborhood is now virtually all Hispanic. Both my wife and her sister recalled singing and playing their violins at the 'Bund. Your comment concerning the "Pennsylvania Dutch" was right on the money, as I recall many a scrap with them. We were the "fordammten Krobots" to them, and there was no love lost between us. (Frank also mentions that his translation of the Croatian History is nearing completion.) RESPONSE AFTER RECEIVING URL LIST (from Don Beringer) "Dear Anna, Thanks for the information. It's going to take time to ingest and analyze, but it should prove invaluable... thank you! After WW-II, our home in Waukesha, WI, was a Mecca for arriving D.P.s -- Germans, Hungarians, Slovaks, Bohemians -- because my parents were products of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, to them, all of these people were one folk sharing (if not a common language) common food and sensibilities. Most of those that came to our home were incredibly brave, resourceful people. In a way, it is sad that so many Americans missed experiencing these fine people who had the guts and the vision to start all over... that so many of us hadn't the time or inclination to listen to them... that the lessons from their experience seem to pass on to the new waves of immigration but not to us. Perhaps what I am trying to say is that I am grateful there are organizations such as your own that maintain that collective consciousness so essential to a sense of identity." STYRIAN & SWABIAN MIGRATION TO BURGENLAND (with Albert Schuch) Question: Your most recent Leser series, in which he mentions Lutheran refugees from Styria (Fürstenfeld to Rudersdorf, Eltendorf), is the first I've seen in print, although we've always felt this to the case for the Berghold Lutheran immigrants. Some of your other Berghold material also points this way. I wonder if there are any other references? Answer: Whenever I have seen this migration mentioned, the text was very vague and very short. This subject just hasn't been researched thoroughly. Same with Swabian immigration to villages like Hagensdorf and Luising: in a new chronical ["Chronik zur 800 Jahrfeier (1198-1998) Heiligenbrunn, mit den Ortsteilen Deutsch-Bieling, Hagensdorf, Heiligenbrunn, Luising und Reinersdorf", published 1998 by the Gemeinde Heiligenbrunn, 400 Schilling] it is mentioned that dialect and some oral history or old folk songs point in that direction - but no attempt has been made to prove it. Every now and then, chronicals like the one I just mentioned are published. Do you want me to send short announcements for the newsletter whenever I read of a new one? Problem is that the books are mentioned in the local papers, but without information on where to order them (but this will be the Gemeindeamt in most cases) and what the cost is (varies from ca. 200 to ca. 500 Schilling -$20-$50 each). Once again back to the Styrian immigration to Burgenland (Hungary): one simply has to look into the phonebooks for the villages on either side of the border to see the relations. So many names are the same! Question is how much of this migration was caused by the counter-reformation and how much by "simple" economic reasons. I personally think that the latter were by far more important. REASONS FOR MIGRATION - PARTS I & II OF A IV PART SERIES Adolf Königshofer on Emigration from Poppendorf from (Fritz Konigshofer). Gerry, I am sending you some translations of emigration articles from Der Volksfreund. I have divided the material into 4 e-mails. In this first installment, you find the translation of a generic article on the reasons for emigration written by my greatgrandfather Adolf in 1904. He got the job as teacher of the r-c school of Poppendorf in 1898, and started to write for Der Volksfreund in 1900. His articles provide a chronicle of life in Poppendorf and surrounding villages, but emigration clearly was the dominant theme. This article can be placed side by side to the one printed in an earlier BBunch newsletter, and dated May 25, 1907. Some readers of the newsletter have attributed that latter article to Adolf K., but as stated in the article's editorial, no such thing can be ascertained. Indeed, my guess is that the 1907 article, signed "Veritas" (the truth), had been written by somebody from the Strem/Güssing area, though perhaps also a teacher by profession. Here now is the 1904 article on emigration by Adolf: DVF, October 22, 1904 - Some Aspects about the Emigration (by Adolf Königshofer) PART I Who emigrates? Just like matters are arranged in human life, where one ranks low, the other higher, one higher still, and yet another the highest, there are also several classes among the emigrants, namely: those who have nothing to lose back at home; on the other hand, those who go far away in order to save their possessions at home from ruin; yet others who are driven by curiosity and by the craving for more [wealth]; and lastly those who have reason to feel unsafe on home territory and who see an enemy in every ordinary fellow human being. The ones in the first of these classes are people, whether male or female, who have no future in their homeland, who have no chance to establish their own hearth and home, and if they manage to do so, then their home is built upon plight and sorrow. Overseas, on foreign soil, they manage much earlier to establish a dear home. Back at home, how many of them would otherwise have become old bachelors or spinsters! Over there in America, where one can create, so-to-speak, something even out of nothing, they have achieved a pleasant prosperity for themselves, and consider us back in Europe as poor and hungry relations. The second class of emigrants is driven by sheer necessity; they have no choice but to go. If they stay at home, then they face the certainty of seeing their house or farm on the auction block. They have inherited an already heavily-burdened patrimony, have married, seen their families grow ever larger, faced increasing expenses and a doubling of their debts, while the savings bank, this blessed institute of the new age, knows no mercy; mortgages and high interest rates weigh like lead on their chests and suck the marrow out from these sorrowful men. Help is nowhere to be found; they have to go, and leave behind their dear nexts-of-kin, with the hope to assist them as much as they honestly would be able to help. Over there, in the New World, there is no work which they will shun, and they will even work at the risk of losing their lives, whether it is over or under the ground. At last they have managed to save their little bit, return home, but don't know what to do first with the money; they darn and mend like a cobbler, plugging holes here and there and, sooner than one can think, one sees them leave home again because their savings proved to be too little. Therefore, we find men who went to America 1, 2, 3, 4 times before they at last achieved a more untroubled life; however, their bodies are living proof that the Americans have no room for loafers. With regard to the third class of emigrants, these are the ones who indeed have no pressing need to roam about in far-away lands; however, the money lures; the good and well-to-do parents believe if this one or that one can earn something overseas, then why not also our boy or girl. And rightly, Hans or Mitzi are soon ready and eager to leave because they know that they would arrive in the land of the golden freedom and don't need to fear father and mother's stick there. They go, initially write back a lot, send once a few hundred Crowns, and then nothing gets heard from them for a long, long time. At last a letter arrives! What does it say: "Dear parents, Please accept my many apologies, but I couldn't do otherwise and have married. This and that guy and gal did the same thing as well. My little boy, Andy, is already 3 months old and looks just like you, dear father. Mother might have much pleasure, if she could see him, etc." A few in this class of emigrants stay just long enough until they have earned the money for the travel back, and then return with the remark that they did not need to work so very hard in America, as they anyway had enough for a living at home as well. The last class of emigrants usually comprises those who have no right concept for distinguishing between their and others' property, and who establish a home in the wide world at others' cost. They usually arrive abroad with a good deal of cash in their pocket. However, love also drives many a couple over the ocean. [End of article I] PART II While this article was triggered by a large wave of emigrations, it contains sentiments on general reasons for emigration. DVF of March 16, 1907 - "Emigration" by Adolf Königshofer No sooner have the most recent emigrants from Patafalva arrived in America than once again 10 more completely healthy and good men and women have set out, without much thought and unafraid of the dangers of the far-away trip, and followed in the footsteps of the previous ones. Among them, there is one who is leaving his home soil already for the 6th time. How come? Nobody cares about us; always we hear that we should not emigrate, and that we should stay here at home. Alright, we stay at home; but for God's sake, what are we supposed to do here? Live in poverty, go hungry? Give us work (and) food, and we shall never leave our homeland. Hungary is rich, they say, could have many factories and thus employ many thousand workers, but nobody does anything, and we bear no fault for having been born poor. Most of the counts, magnates and the likes, who do have the money and could help, instead do nothing, spend their time in Vienna, Paris, London; the American millionaire works with us and is our friend. Here, where we live, however, it would be necessary when you go somewhere, that you lay down your hat already in front of the door, or don't even carry any headgear in the first place. The most ordinary scribe deems us nonentities. Yes indeed, we are not being helped by anybody, and, therefore, nobody should be surprised when we often leave our homeland with sadness. The misery drives us away, the wish to avoid seeing one's few belongings come under the hammer. That's how it is. How many existences (lives) would already have been ruined, in Patafalva (Poppendorf) alone, if there were no America. Many a neighbor has extricated him or herself with bloodily-earned Dollars, after their properties had already been hanging by a hair. And the border police -- they apprehend one or the other here and there, but bring back with the caught ones only new worries for the village; the severest measures are good for nothing. The password is food, and again food -- which the border police cannot provide to them. In earlier times, the people worked in the harvest, in the threshing, but machines have replaced this line of work. Previously, people earned money with hauling; today, the railway goes in all directions. Hence, from where are we supposed to get out bread? How to manage the many payments, when plight and misery are daily guests at the table? Well, this is a wake-up call to all those who amass capital upon capital, but do not help their nextdoor neighbor, do not give them a leg up. Under such circumstances, the richest country must perish. Therefore, all of you who are sitting on your wallets, get off of them and speculate like the American who already ventures into an enterprise with (only) a few hundred Dollars; you can stem the emigration, save the dear homeland for the ones tired of it; be a united people of brothers, lend your hands to the needy, and thus allow them to reach their grave on the same piece of soil on which their cradle once stood. This way, you will establish monuments for yourself in the hearts of the people, which will last longer than any image cast from metal or stone. Only then will it be possible to change the saying of the great patriot Franz Dek (The Sage of Hungary) from "Magyarorszg nem volt, hanem lesz" [Hungary has not been, but will be] to "Magyarorszg nem lesz, hanem van" [Hungary will not be, it already is]. [end of II article] AUSTRIAN FLAG (Susan Peters and Albert Schuch) Susan Peters recently asked: << Maybe you can answer a question for me. Hap and I went shopping last night for Austrian and Hungarian flags. They had two kinds of Austrian flags. One had a bird on it and one didn't. Why two? Which is the official flag? >> Albert Schuch writes: << Thought you'd be interested in my answer: The one with the bird (eagle) in it is the official flag of the Austrian government and all its representatives (like embassies etc.). You will probably be surprised to hear that Austrian law forbids private usage of this type of flag! But very few Austrians know of this law, and those who know usually do not care. It is a strange law after all, isn't it?. (This eagle is the Austrian national coat of arms.) The flag without the eagle is the standard Austrian flag (Ed. note: three equal horizontal stripes-red-white-red. The eagle on the coat of arms in the center of the flag faces left, one claw holds a sickle, the other a hammer. Broken chains are attached to the claws. The eagle's head bears a crown of three pediments and his chest contains a shield of horizontal stripes same as the flag. This heraldic eagle has one head, the Habsburg has two looking left and right as does the Russian Romanov. The Prussian Hohenzollerns also use a one headed eagle that has empty claws. I personally fly the eagle flag on Austrian holidays, as well as the American, Hungarian and Burgenland flags at other times). BOOK CONCERNING GERMAN EMIGRATION (from Bob Schatz) (Ed. Note: many of us, myself included, also have an interest in Pennsylvania German genealogy, having married into eastern Pennsylvania families who stem from the so called Pennsylvania Dutch. These people migrated mostly from the Palatinate (Rhein-Hesse-Bavaria) through the port of Philadelphia during the period 1715-1815. It's also interesting that this was about the same time other Germanic peoples were migrating to Hungary. I guess it's the luck of the draw as to whether your ancestors are Burgenländers or Pennylvania German or both!) Bob Schatz writes: "I'm writing today because of a book I've just started to read which may be of some interest to you also. The title is Hopeful Journeys: German Immigration, Settlement, and Political Culture in Colonial America, 1717-1775, by Aaron S. Fogleman, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1996. I started reading it because of my research in Pennsylvania-German genealogy, but discovered that the first few chapters of the book deal primarily with the European conditions which sparked German migration from the southwest (Rhineland, Baden, Schwabia, Wurttemburg) in the 18th century. These conditions sparked simultaneous immigration to America AND to Eastern Europe. The author claims that, in fact, there was more migration to Eastern Europe than to America, and often mentions Hungary. I thought of you because I remember you writing that you believe that your Burgenland ancestors may have come from the southwest area of Germany in the 18th century. The bibliography is extensive, and contains a few sources which seem to be complete compilations of immigration papers from the territories in the southwest. Perhaps if you can access these compilations, you just might find papers for a Berghold family moving to Hungary sometime in the 18th century. The author explores a bit of the psychology involved in the choice of destination, but it seems that moving to Eastern Europe was less expensive and a more "known" commodity, even though America promised much greater personal freedom. Interestingly, the author quotes an immigrant's letter saying that the settlers "in this country live like nobles" (which is someting I had written in one of my early emails to you!). I hope this may be of use to you!" (end of section one, BB news continued as no. 41A)

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 41A DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND GENEALOGY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) August 15, 1998 All Rights Reserved. Permission To Copy Granted If Credit Is Given. This second section of the 3 section newsletter features articles on: - Looking At Church Records - Looking At Civil Records - More On the Term "Ambo" - LDS Copies of Catholic Church Records - News From Chicago - More Historical Terms - A Few More Terms (includes the divisions of Eisenstadt) LOOKING AT CHURCH RECORDS (Gerry, Steve von Hitritz, Albert Schuch) Ed. When studying LDS church records and finding ancestors, you also invariably find some puzzling words and abbreviations. Steve von Hitritz ran into the following and called for help: >>What is "Mons." And "Oszlop" and "Zagrebia" ? Zagrebia probably is Zagreb, Croatia, but I don't know how the priest (would have) referred to Croatia in 1875. Oszlop may not be what it appears, but it is my best guess based upon priest's handwriting. I have seen another Latin term, "Carnio." Don't know what that is either. >> Answer from Ed. In looking at church records it has been my experience that the places mentioned are generaly nearby, often the Hungarian names (or abbreviations) of villages. I'm copying Albert Schuch who may be able to add more. Albert writes: It is always hard to interpret a word without knowing the context. But let me try: "Oszlop" is, like Gerry writes in his answer, the village Oslip (in the Eisenstadt district). "Zagrebia" will be Zagreb in Croatia - the Burgenland Croats frequently had some contacts to the Croatian mainland. This may indicate one of them. (I don't think that it refers to Zagersdorf.) "Mons." is Latin for mountain or hill - the German word is "Berg". So I think this might refer to either "Eisenstadt-Oberberg" or "Eisenstadt-Unterberg" - both were independent communities until 1938, when they were incorporated into Eisenstadt. "Carnio." probably is, as Gerry also writes, an abbreviation for "Carniola (empire name for the Istrian penninsula - former Yugoslavia, now Slovenia)". German name for "Carniola" is "Krain". LOOKING AT HUNGARIAN CIVIL RECORDS (Gerry, Jerry Molchany, Joe Jarfas) Hungarian Civil Records (1896-1921) are full of good data but they can be confusing. If you haven't had any experience with them, this may help. Jerry Molchany writes: >>My grandmother's parents were supposedly 1st cousins and both born in Woppendorf. I have their birth records. I don't have the marriage record since it is on another roll. The gov't (civil) records I'm looking at right now cover births from 1895-1920. I'll have to wait until I get the other 2 rolls (marriages and deaths) to see if they were actually married in Woppendorf.... I started going thru the 1895-1920 birth records. The format changed up to about 1907, then it switches back. One of the lines at the top of the records goes like this: "Megjelent az alulirott anyakönyvvezető (NAME) elött akinek állása (foglalkozása): baba". I tried using the online Hungarian dictionary but it didn't help much. Any ideas what this means? Can you think of a reason that my Grandmother's birth is not recorded? Her brothers are. >> Ed. writes: I'm copying Joe Jaras on this and asking him to give us a full translation. Try looking for your grandmother's birth in the church where her mother got married. The first child was frequently baptized in the mother's old church. Joe Jarfas writes: received your message and here is a rough translation: >In a message dated 98-06-30 08:49:49 EDT, you write: One of the lines at the top of the records goes like this: "Megjelent az alulirott anyakönyvvezető (NAME) elött akinek állása (foglalkozása): baba" Translates: Presented to the undersigned records keeper ... whose status (job, profession) is baby ... The 'burocrateeze' sentence translates to this: The above named - and undersigning - keeper of records received the data for a baby (even though it says so - but highly unlikely - the baby itself). And this keeper of records considered most important (or was required) to record the job or profession for the 'person'! The implication is that this was not a church record, but that of a civilian authority of one sort or an other, (but might have been copied from church records). Gerry's suggestion can be followed, provided of course that the parents did not move someplace else after the wedding. It could also have been that the first child did not get baptized (or the birth recorded) right after birth, but much later. Then, after they were reminded of their duties, they got all that done for the following children. Hope this helps a bit. The implication is that this was not a church record, but that of a civilian authority of one sort or an other, (but might have been copied from church records). >> The above having jogged my memory, I reply: Yes Joe (Jerry), I didn't recognize the format at first but this is typical Hungarian legalese from the first civil record form of 1896 to about 1910. Then they got simpler, not as much data. They go to two or more pages with an introduction where someone appears (in front of a Magistrate or town clerk whose name is given) and reports a birth or death. He (she) gives his name and place of residence and the particulars, father, mother, where and when born (died) etc. The earlier records provide names and places of birth of grandparents also. (Often filled in with the Hungarian word "ismeretlin" for unknown.) Deaths are often reported by a local doctor or priest. Marriage records are similar, but also contain particulars concerning the witnesses. Probably the most complete type of Hungarian record found. Period 1896-1921 were copied by LDS. MORE ON THE TERM "AMBO" (from Bob Schatz, Anna Kresh) Bob writes: "In the current BB newsletter you raise a question regarding the meaning of the Latin word "ambo", and speculate that it might refer to an individual's status. In fact, the word means "both" and, in the Güssing/Nemetujvar parish registers at least, was used in the baptismal and marriage entries when both husband and wife came from the same village. "Ambo Orbanfalva" meant simply that both were from Urbersdorf. Frequently the syntax would also appear as "ambo ex...." (literally, "both from..."). Anna writes: I found "ambo" used extensively in the 1828-1895 Nemet Csencs church records that I am currently studying. In the more recent records, which are Latin entries with both Latin and Hungarian headings, "ambo" is used to indicate that "both" parents originate from the same town. "Ambo" is Latin for "both" or "two together". For example, if the parents were both from Horvat Csencs, their "lokum originis (szlets helyk)" column contains "Ambo ex H. Csencs", literally translated from the Latin as "both from Horvat Csencs". LDS COPIES OF CATHOLIC CHURCH RECORDS (from Bob Schatz) Regarding the filming of Catholic church records by the LDS (Mormons), I suspect that the church authorities will not cooperate with the Mormons for two reasons. One, from the Catholic heirarchy's point of view, Mormon doctrine is beyond the pale of "acceptable" Christian theology as derived from the apostles. The Mormons claim that their docrine comes from the Book of Mormon, revealed by the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith in 1823 in upstate New York, and from the Doctrine and Covenants, another set of revelations to Smith. Their concept of the nature of God and the role of Jesus also differs substantially from that of apostolic Christianity. In addition, I believe the Mormons claim that the US Constitution is divine revelation and, up until 1890, they practiced polygamy. All these beliefs do not come within the pale of the Christian tradition as derived from the apostles. The second reason flows out of the first in that it is a question of doctrinal belief. Mormon theology claims that families do not cease to exist after death, and that it is possible to baptize one's ancestors and therefore bring them into the Mormon communion. This is the primary reason why the Mormons have microfilmed records so extensively. Naturally, the Catholic Church could not condone such use of its records. The Burgenland church records, which the Mormons have microfilmed, are all duplicates created to serve as civil records for the various komitat/megye archives. Starting in 1828 in the Kingdom of Hungary, church records did double duty as civil records of vital statistics. Separate civil registration of births, marriages and deaths only began in Hungary in 1895. As you may know, these 1828-1895 records are now all kept at the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest, which is where they were filmed by the Mormons through the cooperation of the Hungarian government. Interestingly, the records pre-1844 are often in Latin, not only because it was the official language of the Catholic Church, but also because it was the official language of Hungary. Magyar only became the official language of the kingdom in 1844, during the revolutionary era. Pardon me if I have gone on about matters which you already know. Best regards. NEWS FROM CHICAGO (from Tom Glatz) Food! Food! Food! Why are we always concerned about the taste of food? Today we had our BG appreciation dinner at a restaurant in the western suburbs (Dupage Co.) known as the Bohemian Crystal. It was wonderful. It is very similar to Vienese cuisine. At one time, there were more Bohemians in Chicago than Prague itself (more Croatians than Zagreb, more Poles than Warsaw, etc.). That is why we have all of these gloriously good restaurants. They have these dinners for the active working members of the BG. I have tried unsuccessfully to pay for the meals. They won't hear of it. We had duck, pork schnitzel, ribs, sauerkraut, Bohemian dumplings (they are yeast-based, sort of like uncooked bread - I don't care for them personally. I always order mashed potatoes). We had wonderful Pilsner Urquell beer from Bohemia. The price was reasonable because we had 20-some people. I would like to have the BBers from Chicago at this place. We even had our own little gemütlich room with the typical heart-shaped handpainted chairs & lots of pictures & artifacts from the Czech Republic. Anyway, they liked the newsletter very much! The Billisits were elated, and I gave them a copy of the one where you mentioned them. I explained to all present that they take too lightly all of the wonderful traditions in food that the women have kept all of these years. They were pleased. I took quite a few pictures. You will see them. I am going to send some to Dr. Dujmovits for the BG newspaper. I have more recipes for you from Charlotte Billisits. Some might be from her mother in law in Dürnbach. I rec'd a very nice book called Freiwillige Feuerwehr Rattersdorf 1897-1997 from acquaintance Josef Gneis, who lives there. It has lots of pictures of the volunteer fire dept. and names for everyone. There is also a lot about other things like the war years, other disasters (floods). I would be happy to look up anything as usual. Unfortunately for me so far, I am the only one with interest from Lockenhaus, Hammerteich and Rattersdorf. MORE ON HISTORICAL TERMS (from Fritz Königshofer) (Ed. As stated previously those old terms appearing on German and Hungarian records are difficult to translate using today's dictionaries. I suggest you make a list of those mentioned here and add them to your genealogical notes. You'll be glad you did when you next encounter them). Fritz writes: "Albert's new information on village terminology painfully reminded me of the mistake I made in translating the manuscript of my great-grandfather, as printed in the recent issue on Poppendorf. I had translated "Hutweiden" as willow trees! I am sorry, at the time I knew no better; I really had no clue at all. Meanwhile, I had found out myself from the Leser articles, which Albert had kindly copied for me, that "Hutweiden" was the term for the "common pastures" of a village, perhaps the southeast German term for the word Allme(i)nde as used in most (?) German lands. I had mixed up "Weide" (willow tree) with "Weide" in the meaning of pasture! Hut means "hat" in German, at least at first glance, somewhat resembling the shape of willow trees. So, this track led me on and on, into ever more eroneous territory. Now I believe that Hut in Hutweide probably refers to "hüten" in the sense of shepherding or herding. This brings me to my wish and question on whether we could try to further clarify the terms used in Burgenland villages of yore. The Leser series also refers to "Rottgründe" as compared to the "Sessionsgründe" of a village, and states that the tithe was still collected from the "Rottgründe" after 1848, although there was no question that tithe no longer applied to the "Sessionsgründe." Perhaps this relates to the question which had been left open in the discussion on terms we had early this year, when Albert reported his puzzlement about the village areas that still required the tithe after 1848. I have no idea about the distinction between Rottgründe and Sessionsgründe. However, the word "Rott..." might refer to "roden" (clearing), and the distinction might derive from when the clearance had been carried out. Sessionsgründe might describe the older, established exploited (farmed, pastured, forested) areas, whereas Rottgründe were areas that had become exploited more recently. The Hutweiden were parts of the village that were jointly used by all inhabitants, although it seems that there was a Hutweide reserved for the farmers of the village, and one for the "Söllner" (smallholders, Hungarian: zsellér). It appears that during the Commassierung (called "Flurbereinigung" in other parts of German lands), the Hutweiden were thrown into the total pool of land for redistribution to individual farmers and thus ceased to exist as commons for the village. Other interesting terms are the "Hotter," probably descibing the whole of the village in its borders against neighboring villages, possibly called Dorfmark or Gemeindemark in other German lands. Perhaps this is also the same thing as the term Gemeindeflur. Another term was/is "Anger" which might describe a field of grass (or a pasture), but might more specifically mean a bordering area, such as the grass fields bordering the area of cultivation (grain and vegetable fields). You might recall that, in the Poppendorf manuscript, one inhabitant mentioned had the name Angerhacker, which might refer to a family with the name of Hacker, living at the "Anger"-grounds of the village. I am not even 50% sure of the following, but the Hungarian word for Anger might be "dl." A term I don't recall from the Burgenland, but certainly used a lot in neighboring Styria is "Leiten," typically meaning a pasture on the side (slope) of a mountain or hill. As I had mentioned during the previous discussion we had on the subject, the typical allocation of land to a farmer in newly settled areas in German lands in the Middle Ages was called the Hufe, ranging from about 10 hectares to 20 and more (the "Königshufe"). When I revisited Albert's previous writings about the typical size of a full session in Hungary (16 to 40 Joch or Hold), I was surprised how closely this resembles the typical Hufe (my English dictionary translates the word as "hide", which Webster calls an old English land measure amounting to 24 to 40 hectares, a larger measure than in Germany but still within the same ballpark). I wonder how often I might have missed the boat once again in this write-up, but my intention was to help rekindle this interesting discussion of an area which I think we have not fully nailed down as yet." A FEW MORE TERMS (Albert Schuch answers Steve von Hitritz concerning some church record terms): "Cerdo sodalis" - "sodalis" is Latin for "journeyman" (in German: "Geselle"), "cerdo" for "tanner" (in German: "Gerber" or "Lederer"); [The SPITZER leather factory / tannery in Eisenstadt was a quite famous one - maybe this person worked there. I'd be interested to know the name of this person or at least where he came from, as my disseration partially deals with the tanneries in this area.] > "ancilla" or "aucilla" usually next to a wife's name. - "ancilla" is Latin for "(maid) servant" (in German: "Magd"); > On the record for Locus Domicilii cum Nro. Domus is either Mons. XX. or Arx XX where XX is a number. - Eisenstadt has developed from 4 once independent communities: 1) Eisenstadt, 2) Unterberg (the former Jewish Ghetto), independent until 1938, 3) Oberberg (short: "Am Berg"), independent until 1939, 4) Schlossgrund, independent until 1923. "Mons" is Latin for "mountain" (in German: "Berg"), hence in this case will refer to "Oberberg"; "Arx" is Latin for "castle" (in German: "Schloss"), hence refers to the "Schlossgrund" (castle area; under jurisdiction of the Princes Esterhazy until 1848) > On later records in 1880s, Locus Domicilii says Kismarton Mons. or Kismarton Arx. And a number. - "Kismarton" is the official Hungarian name for "Eisenstadt". The literal meaning is "Small [Saint] Martin" as opposed to "Nagymarton" (German: "Mattersdorf", today "Mattersburg"), literally meaning "Large [Saint] Martin"; for "Mons" and "Arx" see above; The number is always the house number. (end of second section; BB news continued as no. 41B)

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 41B DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND GENEALOGY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) August 15, 1998 All Rights Reserved. Permission To Copy Granted If Credit Is Given. This third section of the 3 section newsletter features articles on: - Emigration Papers - Hamburg Ship List Search - Alexander Berghold's "Land und Leute" - Bremen Port of Departure - Mail From Eisenstadt - Metric Conversions - Germanfest 1998 - Dialect Geography - Mail From a New Member EMIGRATION PAPERS (from Roman Paul Weber & Albert Schuch) Roman writes: << When my grandfather, Paul Weber left Steinbach and Burgenland with his wife Katalin and my father, Ferenez and daughters, in 1903, could he just pack up and leave? Or, did the Hungarian government require that he had to fill out documents or otherwise inform them, in writing, that he and listed dependents were leaving to emigrate to America, when going, property owned and how disposed of, and such? If they had to register when they were departing the country, would such a register record exist today someplace? Budapest? >> Albert answers: This is a good question. There is no doubt that some emigrants indeed did just pack up and leave. But this was illegal and they would have had to have had special reasons to do so, like avoiding the draft (military service lasted for 3 years, had lasted for 12 years until some time in the 19th century), imprisonment, paying for children, etc. I know that they had to apply for permission to emigrate at the k.u.k. Bezirkskommissariat in the 1850s (see an article written by Hans PAUL which I translated for a previous BB newsletter), later on, probably they had to register at the Bezirkshauptmannschaft (both meaning district administration). After the "creation" of Burgenland, our territory belonged to Austria. Emigration was then observed and registered by the "Wanderungsamt" (migration office) in Vienna. They compiled and published monthly emigration statistics. I think that the Wanderungsamt received all ship passenger lists. I don't know whether the Hungarian archives still keep material on the registration of emigrants for the time ca. 1860-1920 (the PAUL article proves existence for the 1850s; source is the archive in Sopron) but it is possible. If so, I'd guess that the documents are in the Comitat-archives (would be in Sopron for Bubendorf area). HAMBURG SHIP LIST SEARCH (from Giles Gerken) Wanted to remark that even tho I paid $35 back in '70s to have search made for May-July 1875 ship list from Hamburg, I was told names were not there. So I looked for years at all other possibilities. Finally in exasperation decided to search Hamburg lists myself. After only 15 minutes, I found all the ancestors listed plainly. So don't take the word of some of these search places is what I want to pass on to members. My ancestors left Hamburg 26 May 1875 for New York on Ship (Schiffe) GELLERT sailing under "Deutscher" flag. I was quite elated with the find and made copies. Only problem now is to decipher village name in "Ungarn" (Hungary) from which they left. Seems to have about 14 letters looks something like -lll-enemerein. If anyone has any idea I would appreciate, otherwise will send copy to some Hungarian friends. ALEXANDER BERGHOLD, "LAND und LEUTE"; BREMEN PORT OF DEPARTURE (by Gerry Berghold) Previous newsletters have mentioned Father Alexander Berghold, missionary to Minnesota in the 1880's. He built a number of Catholic parishes and was an author and poet of some note. He came from Styria in the vicinity of Graz and returned there when he retired. He died at the end of WW-I. While I have yet to link to this particular Berghold (since he comes from the region from which I believe my people migrated to the Burgenland pre-1690, I'm certain we're from the same tree), I'm fascinated by his life. A correspondent (James Seifert, DDS) is involved with raising a memorial to him in his former parish in New Ulm and Fritz Königshofer and Albert Schuch have helped to uncover more facts concerning his life. I recently received a copy of Berghold's book "Land & Leute" written in 1891. It's a compilation of his travels in the US, Europe and the Near East. A lengthy vacation after, as he writes, "Finally, after sixteen years of unbroken toil, I am able to take a vacation journey." Included with the book is a table of "Short Travel Routes". It appears to be an advertisement for the North German Lloyd Steamship Line. It advertises "a little less than nine (possibly six or seven days) Bremen to New York leaving every Wednesday and Sunday evening (1890-91). It mentions that passengers from Austria can travel as quickly from Bremen as they can from Hamburg (obviously a shot at their competitor HAPAG (Hamburg American Packet AG). It also lists the travel time from Bremen to Wien as 27 hours, and the mileage from New York to various American cities. NEWSLETTER COMMENT (from Edward Wolf) Just finished "printing" my copy of BB News #39B. I was really pleased that Tom Glatz sent you a copy of the cookbook compiled by the Jolly Burgenlander Social Club (Chicago). This cookbook project was undertaken by the club while my wife, Sharon Wolf, was president of the group. I still remember how we talked about the wonderful recipes that would be lost forever once the emigrants from Burgenland passed on and what a great idea it would be to compile some of the recipes in book form. All the members worked together and we eventually placed an order for 500 copies of the book. I might add that some of the members were certain that we could never sell that many, but we prevailed and the 500 copies went so fast that we had to place another order. We ended up selling over 2,000 copies and the project was a great success. Keep up the good work. MAIL FROM EISENSTADT (from Gerhard Lang) All the best greetings from Austria. A lot of my ancestral studies went to sleep at the moment due to other urgent jobs which I have to do. At the moment I'm working on the annual newspaper of my "Musikverein Freistadt Rust". Each year in July and August we have "Gästekonzerte" every Friday, where we play entertainment music for the visitors of Rust - marches, polkas, waltzes and parodies on famous music-groups (as the "Zillertaler Schürzenjäger" or last year I made a parody-text on the famous "Wolgalied" out of the operetta "The Zarewitsch" and acted as Ivan Rebroff, a famous German singer of Russian folk-songs; this year we plan to make a parody on "The Three Tenors" - Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras). A lot of people come to see the show and hear our music, often visitors plan their holidays at the time of the concerts. At Rust's "Seehof", a beautiful yard with arcades and chestnut-trees in, we put up tables and benches to sit and visitors can enjoy "Spritzer" (wine mixed with soda or mineral-water), "Jubilaeumswein" (a special wine, which has been harvested in the year of the celebration of our 20th anniversary) and bread with different sorts of "Aufstrich", various spreads (e.g. "Liptauer" - made of sheep-curd, red paprika, caraway, salt, filets of anchovies). For these concerts, we're going to look for sponsors - because there's nothing to pay for entrance by the visitors - and therefore we try to get some extra money for our efforts. For these sponsors we created our newspaper, called "Noti's News", a few years ago and it's my job to do the layout and to write a few stories for this paper. But I have to send a big "HOORAY" in the case of my genealogical studies: Two months ago I found the descendants of my grand-uncle Charles Beilschmidt in the U.S.!!! About at Easter I visited my parents at Rust and talked with my mother about my studies, her uncle who migrated to the U.S. and that there was no success in finding his children and grand-children. She took out an album with old photos and an old newspaper article telling about the 40th wedding anniversary of her uncle and his wife. I found out that they had a party at their home and a list of names of the invited people was added to that article. Once more I looked through the white pages at the Internet and I found one name and one village which were the same as in the article. I found a PC programm called "Net2Phone" which allows you to make phone calls with the Internet (don't ask me how it works, but it does!) for about the quarter price of a "normal" call. I dialed the number I found out and had been connected to a nice elder lady and - what shall I say - she told me that she is not the person mentioned in the article, that was her cousin; but she knows a nephew of my uncle and that he has an e-mail address. A few days later I received an e-mail from him and he told me a lot about the family of my grand-uncle. In the meanwhile, I have a lot of data concerning the U.S. line of our family. A daughter of my grand-uncle is still alive and I'm in contact with a daughter of their son. Both promised to send more detailed data on their families. So I'm happy to say that a two-year, almost hopeless search came to a lucky end. So: don't give up, maybe due to a lucky chance you too can cut the Gordian knot! ....I have always been looking for the BB Newsletters and reading them. I'm going to plan an addition to the music CD's and the Burgenland Folk-music out of one of the last Newsletters. I hope you had a nice Fourth of July with your family and that you found the correct mixture between beer and wine (grin!). At the moment the "Ruster Goldene Weinwoche" takes place at my hometown from July 24th until August 2nd. This year they have their 30th fest and I take part with the wind orchestra of Rust, playing the opening evening and two "Fruehschoppen" on both Sundays. During the week, me and my family visit the Weinwoche as guest and enjoy the "Grillhendl" (grilled chicken), "Bratwürste" (grilled sausages), cheese in different variations and, most of all, the famous Ruster wines. Every day a music band is playing for entertainment and the people enjoy listening to the music, taste the famous Rust wines at the "Rathausplatz". Maureen visited the Rathausplatz during her vistit at Austria. Albert told me in his last e-mail that he has to go serve the Austrian army. I hope he'll enjoy (grin!). I'll be on Holidays from Aug. 8 to Aug. 25. For one week I'll go to Altenmarkt (Salzburg county) with the youth of our wind -orchestra to spend a week of training and studying and to prepare them for a concert where they are allowed to play with the orchestra..... The 2nd week I'll spend at home, looking after the house in Rust, maybe there's some time left to go to the pond of our fishing club. I hope to hear from you soon, best regards -- Gerhard H. & Martina Lang; A-7001 Eisenstadt, Austria; web-site: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/6290/ ;Genealogical search: Beilschmidt, Kruft, Gaal, Pelz, Pfeiffer in the U.S. with any roots to the Freetown of Rust, Burgenland or to the former "Deutsch-West-Ungarn" METRIC CONVERSIONS (from Lewis Tanzos) (Ed. Note: Now you'll know why I changed my college major from Chemistry to Business!) Lewis writes: Just a heads up on the cooking issue from the July 15 Burgenland Bunch news: The note from Anna Kresh (who is a relative of mine, on the Tanczos side) mentions needing a conversion for cubic centimetres. By definition, 1 cubic centimetre is 1 mililitre. That's how the mililitre is defined. There's a calculator at http://calc.entisoft.com/scripts/unitscgi.exe You start there, there's a box that says "Convert From" above it. I entered 1cc. In "Convert To", I put "US fl oz". It responds: Conversion Result: cubic centimeters = 0.033814022701843 fluid ounce. It also gives: (further down, in "Sample Conversions") 1 cc = .00002565 amphora (Greek amphora), .00000101 displacement ton, .27051218 dram fluid (fluid dram), .00002522 ephah (Israeli ephah), 8.83E-07 freight ton, .00845351 gill, .0002097 hekat (Israeli hekat),.02254268 jigger, .00013209 methuselah, .00845351 noggin, .00007957 oil arroba (Spanish oil arroba), .00017611 rehoboam, .00001419 strike, .06762805 tablespoon, .00563567 tea cup, .20288414 teaspoon, .00000105 tun (English tun), .0000275 UK bushel (British bushel), .00021997 UK gallon (British gallon), .00175975 UK pint (British pint). REPORT ON GERMANFEST (MINNESOTA) 1998 (from Tom Glatz) Germanfest had wonderful food as usual. I picked up an obscure recording of Robert Stolz conducting all Johann & Josef Strass music. It is distinctly Stolz. It was only 10 dollars. The entertainment was disappointing because the construction delays made a 1 1/2 hour trip from Chicago over 3 hours. We missed a lot of the string music, which is what I was mostly interested in. Next year we are going to look for alternative transportation, perhaps I might even drive. The DANK bus that we took was late in picking us up. There were 2 music groups from Austria, one from Land Salzburg, a Musikkapelle. They were excellent, genuine, & very professional. The other from Niederoesterreich was rather boring. We didn't hang around to hear them. The food was good as usual. This year as Nachspeise I had Schaumtorte, which is baked egg white on the bottom with ice cream. This is topped with lots of whip cream & strawberries! It was delicious. Of course they had lots of other tortes, the usual funnel cake, etc.. The Klub Oesterreich always serves our Gulasch. Sometimes I do get this. There are great microbrewries in Milwaukee. A good one is Sprecher. This outfit makes a lot of typical German beers like pilsen. I indulged in one. DIALECT GEOGRAPHY (from Tom Glatz) Bob Strauch & I were talking not too long ago about how far into Hungary the Heanzisch & Heideboden dialects extend. He told me the Heideboden went almost all the way to the Donau. But the Heanzisch was really confined to the Pinka & Raab (river) valleys. He sent me a list of all of these towns which I will eventually forward copies to you. NEW MEMBER WRITES (from Marlene Thuringer Bennett) As a new member of the Burgenland Bunch I am totally impressed & very appreciative of all the work you and others have done in researching our families in Austria and the former Austria-Hungary. Two of my 1st cousins & I are taking a trip to Austria this Fall. We plan to research in Pamhagen & Eisenstadt and will also enjoy a 10-day escorted tour of this beautiful country, home of our grandparents who came to Iowa in 1903 and 1904, and then eventually settled in Murray County, Minnesota. My grandparents were Joseph Thuringer & Mary Agnes Ketter Thuringer. They were born and raised in Pamhagen. Joseph Thuringer came to the U.S. in 1903. Mary Agnes Ketter came one year later and they married in West Bend, Iowa. Later they moved to Currie, Murray County, Minnesota, then to Lake Wilson, Murray County where they lived for most of the remainder of their lives. I was born and raised in Lake Wilson, only a few blocks from where my grandparents lived. I had a loving, close relationship with my grandparents. Visiting their place of birth, walking where they walked, and viewing the same scenes they saw as they grew up promises to be one of the biggest thrills of my lifetime. Attending the Burgenland Bunch Picnic in St. Paul would be a lot of fun. I am sorry that I am unable to attend this year. Perhaps if another is held next year I will have an opportunity to be there. I shall make plans. I hope I will be able to contribute new information to our Burgenland Bunch as I learn more about how to do genealogical research. I am only beginning. Thank you for assisting each of us in researching our family lines. END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD