BB News No. 78 dtd 15 Apr 2000

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 78 DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) April 15, 2000 (all rights reserved) NOTE TO RECIPIENTS. If you don't want to receive Burgenland Bunch newsletters, use the Membership Forms to change your status. We can't help with non-Burgenland family history. Comments and articles are appreciated. Please add your name to email, otherwise we must search large membership lists. Staff and web site addresses are listed at the end of newsletter section "B". Articles with no by-line are written by the editor. This first section of the 3-section newsletter concerns: - Pre-1921 Royal Austro-Hungarian Abbreviations - The BB Surname List and a New Maps Section, - Are You an Active or Passive Member, - Permission to Copy BB Newsletters, - Finding Proper Birth Records When There Are Duplicate Candidates, - Storks Arrive in Güssing, - The "Schwarze Madonna" of Güssing, - Some New Maps of Burgenland and - Gleanings from the Latest Burgenländische Gemeinschaft News. PRE-1921 ROYAL AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ABBREVIATIONS: o Shared Austro/Hungarian: "k.u.k." = kaiserlich und königlich = Imperial and Royal; o Austrian only: "k.k." = kaiserlich - königlich = Imperial and Royal; o Hungarian only: "k.u." = königlich ungarisch or kiraly magyar ("k.m.") = Royal Hungarian. o The Royal Navy (yes there was a Navy based at Pola [today Pula] on the Adriatic Sea) designated its ships as S.M.S. = Seiner Majestäts Schiff = His Majesty's Ship. BB SURNAME LIST DEFROSTED - NEW MAPS SECTION SURNAME LIST A little over a year ago, we had to freeze the Surname List when our maintenance volunteer resigned. We advertised for a replacement, but not many members had the necessary computer expertise to take it over and others were too busy with other matters. Member Thomas Steichen recently volunteered and he has the new list up and running. It will be a while before the backlog of entries gets reflected in the file so be patient, Tom has already made significant inroads into the backlog. We are considering eliminating the hyperlinks to member's addresses from this file since you can hyperlink from the member list. Maintenance of email address changes is very frustrating and time consuming and the fewer places these have to be made the better, something for members to consider. Although we realize the internet is changing rapidly and service from any given server can deteriorate, it is not wise to indiscriminately change email addresses. It causes newsletter editors severe headaches and can lead to all sorts of problems in the address and hyperlink files. I'm sorry to say that I've had to give up on some members whose mail keeps being returned. Keep it simple and keep it the same where possible and NEVER provide more than one address and ask us to choose one! You'll invariably cancel the one we choose! Also we use AOL's automatic reply mechanism and the address you send mail from will probably be the one to which we reply. So if you're writing from your friend's house that's the one we'll reply to unless you tell us otherwise. If you must change email addresses be sure to include old and new addresses as well as your name when you write us. Ignore these little mail courtesies and your membership is likely to end up in electronic limbo. In case you haven't used them, the membership list, the village list and the surname list are all available from the homepage. Just click on the hyperlinks and start searching (or use Edit-Find in the Top Window search mechanism of your Windows or AOL tool bar). New members should: 1. Search the membership list (arranged in the order entered) for addresses of members researching the same family names and villages (click on a name and you'll get an addressed email form) 2. Search village list (alpha) for village histories and names of other interested members(Bill Rudy updates this list monthly and tells me he'll be linking more village histories as time permits-if you click on village names in blue, you'll be taken to the village history) 3. Search surname list (alpha) to find those members researching the same family names and perhaps where they settled NEW MAP SECTION We've always had a map as part of the membership list. It lists just a few villages, but it's a great pictorial of the Burgenland. The original idea was that we would add members' villages as they joined. We then got too many members and had to forgo that nice touch. Charter member Mike Spahitz is a professional graphics designer (operating as MJS Creations from San Diego, CA-email www.mjscreations.com) and he contributed that original map as well as the BB title & Map of Austria, which have become our official logo. Now, member Klaus Gerger is preparing some Bezirk (district) maps of the Burgenland which will show all villages. In addition you can click between German, Hungarian and Croatian names. Another feature which Klaus has added are the house numbers and family names in Güssing and Rosenberg as of 1857 as well as showing (on a map) where those properties were located. House numbers are invaluable when linking families. You can reach (and download) those web pages which Klaus has completed via hyper link from the homepage. The BB Newsletter award of the month to both Tom and Klaus for their efforts on our behalf. ARE YOU AN ACTIVE OR PASSIVE MEMBER? Like all groups, we have active and passive members. We do have some who blow me off of my complacent perch with new ideas and new material. Then there are those who are actively into Burgenland genealogy. We hear from some of these when they cry "Eureka-I found my xxxxfather". Some are deeply into Burgenland research and end up on our staff. I often have to juggle their many contributions between issues and some times follow and edit the lengthy threads that their material generates. Their correspondence often triggers subjects for future articles and causes me to dig in my library. The majority of our members however, join and continue to receive our newsletters but we rarely hear from them again. I often wonder if they're stuck in their research or never really got started. Maybe some are hoping that they'll hear from someone who will give them some data. I know there are members who just like to read about the Burgenland, the newsletters are a little homesickness or nostalgia tonic. Others may be waiting until they have more time. Nothing wrong with any of those approaches, one of the ideas behind the BB is to eventually have a large data base of many Burgenland immigrants and their descendants with members helping members. In effect everyone pays their dues when they submit their original data. Thus everyone who joins contributes and just listing with us often bring results. Unlike some newsletters with their very impersonal "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" mechanism, if you want to receive our newsletter you have to contribute something up front. I'm a firm believer that things you get for nothing have little value. Our reward are messages like this one which we recently received from William Imre (via Hap Anderson). Hap writes: Gerry, I think this was meant for you. It's a good one.:-) From: William Frank Imre; Milan, TN. Michael IMRE, father came to Chicago in 1923 from Willersdorf. Mother Marie ULREICH, from Willersdorf or Bad Tatzmannsdorf about the same time. "Hap; Branch coordinator: My name is William Frank Imre, we would like to say "thank you all for the posting. This was a fruitful posting for our Family. We have Michael Imre in the posting. Had good results. The posting was read by Anita Nicka in Bad Tatzmannsdorf municipal administration office, who gave the E-mail address to her good friend Helga Schranz who turned it over to her daughter Karin Reberger. Karin has a computer and emailed us a great amount of good family records. This was on Feb. 7, 2000, a day that we will remember for a long long time. That was the day we found our Father's Michael Imre Family. With that find we have gone back 4 Generations on Michael's side . We are still finding more. Without the posting we would be still looking. So we all like to say thank you again. Keep up the good work. From the Imre Family. P.S. This posting made us all HAPPY more then I can say." Ed. Note - As we've been urging members all along, if you are a passive member, in addition to the homepage listing, consider a posting to our WGW Query Board and also contact Albert Schuch for a listing in the weekly newspaper OZ (Oberwart Zeitung). With enough exposure, you too may hear from some Burgenland relatives. PERMISSION TO COPY BB NEWSLETTER ITEMS Our newsletters are issued under copyright, but we grant permission to copy for non-commercial purposes. The only caveat we have is that you must mention the source such as "Courtesy of G. Berghold, Burgenland Bunch Newsletter No. xx, dtd xx/xx/xx". However, if you copy our newsletters, send them to a magazine as your work or publish them as a book and sell them, you'll make us very unhappy. In a message dated 3/15/00 1:47:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, member Sue Straw writes: << I'd like to share some of the historical background contained in an earlier BB newsletter with some of my cousins and older relatives. I'll credit the Burgenland Bunch and original author in sending along the information. May I have your permission to copy this material? Sue >> Our Reply: Sue you have our permission to copy anything for the purposes mentioned. If you look at the end of the last section of each newsletter, you'll find that we say that permission to copy is granted, but provide credit (mention the source). I want our material to have the widest distribution among those interested. Regards, Gerry Berghold FINDING PROPER BIRTH RECORDS WHEN THERE ARE DUPLICATE CANDIDATES (from Fritz Königshofer) Fritz writes: How to buttress the identification of individuals in one's tree when the information from the direct records are ambiguous: By custom, marriages were usually held and recorded in the parish where the parents of the bride lived at the time of the marriage. Therefore, a marriage entry normally is a good indication that at least the bride was born in the area of the parish, or that her parents had moved to it. If the groom came from another parish, the marriage entry often states this fact. Sometimes one does not have the marriage entry of a couple, and even if one has it, there were many periods when the marriage records did not contain the names of the parents of the couple, and in some periods not even the ages of the couple. If then the search of earlier birth records yields several candidates for groom and/or bride, continuing the tree of ancestors backwards becomes ambiguous or even impossible. The situation is all the more difficult when last names or first names belong to the most frequent ones, such as Szabó, Nagy or Németh for the former, and Jänos or Katalin for the latter. What are some of the means the researcher can use to add information that would allow increasing the confidence that this or that baptismal entry is the right one for one's own line? If the searched-for person lived until the introduction of civil recording which started in October 1895, it can be worthwhile to search for the civil death record. The civil death records contain data on the names and last known places of residence of the parents, though in some cases the persons reporting the death did not know this information anymore. For some border regions of the former Hungarian Kingdom, LDS has been able to film the duplicates of the civil records covering Oct. 1895 till about 1920, and the parents of the deceased were recorded in them at least until 1907. Austria's Burgenland is a prime example which is completely covered by these duplicate civil records. For areas of today's Hungary, LDS films are currently becoming available for the civil records from Oct. 1895 till about 1907. Another good source of information is to track the house numbers where vital events happened. Some earlier records had used house numbers, but in general, house numbers were generally recorded from the early 1850s onwards. One son or daughter usually took over the house of the parents, or the older generations moved in with one of their children or grandchildren. A systematic search can often provide clues who of the older generation was linked to the younger one, with some likelihood of direct descendence. A very powerful means of increasing the certainty about allocating baptisms to marriages and deaths is to try to follow all bearers of a particular name, not only in the baptismal parish, but also in neighboring parishes. Quite obviously, when one finds early deaths of children, one can often eliminate certain baptismal entries as candidates. Furthermore, if a certain couple had a child with the same name later on, then even if no death record of the first child is found, it can be assumed that it had died early. Particularly in times of epidemics such as the recurrent occurrences of cholera, not all deaths were recorded as too many people died and priests often also got sick. Further, if several marriages and/or death entries are found for a particular name, the overall arrangement of the entries to each other will usually make certain allocations more probable than others. It is always a good idea to search for the records of all childbirths of an ancestor couple. Not only does this often provide more information on the status (profession, commoner or nobility), but will also indicate a range for the possible age of father, and particularly the mother. In a case in the Styrian portion of my tree, the baptismal entry for a sibling of one of my ancestors happened to state the parents of the parents. This solved a very difficult and long open question. However, in Hungarian records I have not knowingly encountered yet the names of the parents of the parents. If one has the childbirths of siblings, it is possible to search for their marriage records. Some of these marriage records may have the parents stated, serving as additional confirmation for allocating the sibling's birth entry to a particular marriage. From there, the house numbers (if any) and the names of witnesses might allow inferences from the marriage entry of your own ancestor to the most likely birth entry candidate. Yet another good source of additional information on the identity of an ancestor is to look for second, third etc. marriages when the spouse had died early. Sometimes, the entry of the other marriage (which could also be an earlier one) might have contained data on the age of the couple and on the names of their parents which the marriage entry of the two direct ancestors did not record. Since ages at marriage were often incorrect as priests often tended to amend the ages in the direction of making the age difference between groom and bride look more acceptable, the additional entries of other marriages (plus the age stated in the death record) often allow to tighten the ranges for the real birth year of your ancestor. The names of marriage witnesses and godparents are also a potential source of information. Marriage witnesses were often brothers of groom or bride, or close relatives or close friends of the family. Godparents might have been the uncle or aunt of the child. It is often only tenuous information that gets added this way, but in some cases it can make the difference between ambiguity and certainty. Other possible sources that could add information or eliminate alternatives are the parish records for other religions, census records and the records of church visitations. For instance, LDS has the records of some church visitations in Somogy county of about 1740 where the visiting "inspector" from the diocese recorded for every house (including non-Catholics) all names and ages of people living there including the farmhands. This then is a goldmine of information for the family researcher. Finally, if one has conducted all search based on duplicates (as many of the Hungarian records are for areas no longer in Hungary today), it is sometimes fruitful to look up the same entries in the original records by visiting the parish or the archive where they are stored, because priests often made marginal entries, e.g., on later marriages, or on fathers who identified themselves subsequently in case of originally out-of-wedlock births, within the original baptismal record of a person. Since duplicates were sent to the dioceses at the end of each year, they obviously do not contain these marginal notes. THE STORKS HAVE ARRIVED (Klaus Gerger) Cousin Klaus (Vienna and Güssing) sends a Spring greeting. He writes: "Hope you are well. Last weekend we were in Güssing. The countryside is turning green. The stork arrived just this day and moved into his nest opposite our house. "I read in your last newsletter that you received the Güssing - Körmend booklet. Did you see the little picture of the "Schwarze Madonna"? You asked me about it, but in this booklet I saw it for the first time. In my spare time I drew a map of the district of Güssing with all of the villages with their Austrian, Hungarian and Croatian names. You can view it at: the-burgenland-bunch.org/Map/VillageMaps.htm. I'd be grateful for suggestions. If it is useful, other districts will follow." Ed. Note - We've already addressed Klaus' maps in our lead article. The other two comments by Klaus triggered the short articles which follow: STORKS ARRIVE IN BURGENLAND (suggested by Klaus Gerger) A sure sign of Spring is the arrival of the storks from their winter feeding grounds in the Nile Delta. They return in late March to the same places every year to breed and have their young. We read stories of their nesting on top of Dutch chimneys, but they nest throughout Europe and the Burgenland is a favorite site. I've seen them in Mörbisch am See, Rust and other Neusiedler See villages, but not in Güssing so I'm wondering if their colonies are expanding. A census in the 1970's indicated about 150 nested in Mörbisch and Rust. It has always been considered good luck to have a stork family on your roof. I don't know if they choose these spots to be near humans, for warmth or whether they merely light on the highest spot available. As can be imagined "Vogel dreckt" can be a problem and many householders erect metal platforms over their chimneys to keep them from being blocked and provide a nesting site that can be cleaned and maintained by the storks without interference. Newer homes have central heating but many Burgenland houses still use wood stoves and chimneys. The return of the storks is always eagerly awaited in the same way that we in eastern United States look for the return of the robins. The Neusiedler See is an ornithologist's paradise, although there is ecological concern as tourism and development is balanced against ecological needs. At present the following may be found at various times of the year. *Quail, plover, redshank, avocet, glossy ibis, heron and egret. In the rushes there are bitterns and reed warblers. Wild duck include gadwall, shoveller, garganey, shelduck, pintail, widgeon, golden eye, teal, eider and velvet scooter. Wild geese and sea eagles are encountered. (* taken from Austria and the Austrians, S. Musulin, Praeger Publishers, 1971) SCHWARZE MADONNA (suggested by Klaus Gerger) In the Batthyány Crypt of the Franciscan Cloister in Güssing is a Loretto altar featuring a black Madonna and Child. It was commissioned in 1724 by Countess Isabella Batthyány and carries on the European traditions of the black Madonna as epitomized by the "Virgin of Czestochowa". Over five hundred black Madonna altar pieces may be found in Europe and elsewhere. Most were commissioned to give thanks for deliverance from some calamity. This one was probably a thank offering for victory over the Turks. See "The Cult of the Black Virgin" by Ean Begg, Penguin Books, 1985 for further information concerning these altar pieces from which some of the following has been extracted. "Art historians advance the theory that these black Madonnas (as opposed to white-the generally accepted racial characteristic of Mary, mother of Jesus) are a resurfacing of the powerful pagan goddesses of sexuality, underworld and earth-wisdom. The Black Virgins are symbols of power and majesty. This phenomenon has pagan and Gnostic Christian origins that flowed west with the cult of Mary Magdalene and resurfaced with the Cathars and Templars." Throughout the Burgenland one will find many religious icons and monuments, at the entrance to fields and pastures and on the side of highways and byways. Some were erected to give thanks for immigrant help following periods of war or economic disaster and say so. These include small wayside chapels, prayer sites and crosses. Religion has always played an important part in this region and even earlier pagan beliefs can be traced in fables, tradition and myth. GLEANINGS FROM THE LATEST BURGENLÄNDISCHE GEMEINSCHAFT NEWS It's always exciting when the bimonthly BG news arrives from Güssing. Sixteen pages from the "alte Heimat"! Editor Dr. Walter Dujmovits is adding some articles in English. This issue (March/April 2000) had Remembrances from the Family of John Wenzel (1859-1917) written by granddaughter Emma Wenzel. John Wenzel led a very early group of 45 Burgenland immigrants from the Bernstein area to Chicago in 1900. This eventually grew to 30M Burgenländers making Chicago the largest city of Burgenländers in the world. Another article in English was from author, retired university professor and BB member Andrew Burghardt (he wrote "Borderland" among other publications) who continued his "Early Memories of Burgenland 1956-1957", started in the previous issue. My first visit to Burgenland was in 1974 and I was fortunate in being able to see the last of the Burgenland of my ancestors. Andrew Burghardt's memories take you back another generation. The Burgenland of year 2000 is a far cry from those days. Old Burgenland, the little that is left, is now well hidden at the end of rural lanes to nowhere, although some is maintained as museums for tourists. Only castles, churches, a few "schlosser" and a very few thatched cottages remain. In place of a team of oxen and a wagon, you're more likely to see a Mercedes or a huge John Deere tractor. Older men still wear black boots and blue aprons when working, but you'll see jeans and Nike footwear on their descendants. Many older ladies still wear black dresses with aprons and head scarves while tending their gardens, but you'll see their daughters and granddaughters in church on Sunday dressed in the latest Viennese or Parisian fashions. Bobby Strauch, Burgenland correspondent from Allentown. PA continues his English translation of Burgenland recipes which appear in each issue. This issue includes veal cutlet with mushrooms and noodles with cheese and bacon (neither of which are personal favorites-veal should be breaded and fried and noodles call for cabbage or walnuts and sugar). Bobby is also featured in some of the German articles dealing with recent ethnic affairs in Allentown where he can be seen leading his choir or playing the button box accordion. The remainder of the issue is in German, but includes an immigrant story about the family of Paul Gross (born in Gaas 1893). "Aus Der Neuen Heimat" tells what is happening in places settled by Burgenland immigrants like Coplay, PA or Toronto, Canada and "Aus Der Alten Heimat" tells what is newsworthy in two pages of clips from the villages- Altschlaining to Zurndorf. There is an article about the Burgenland Bunch and our journalistic coup in reporting a new "first immigrant to America-Lorenz Schönbacher -1777" as reported by Albert Schuch first in an Austrian publication and later by your editor in the BB news. The article mentions the BB staff by name and outlines our activities. Page 15 carries a notice in German that BG membership fees are due. "Mitgleider im Ausland: Sie können ihren jährliche Mitgleidsbetrag. US$15." Even if you read no German, you'll find much of interest in the BG news. A page or two bound with your family history would be a nice touch. Pictures alone are worth the annual dues of $15 (includes 6 issues mailed postpaid from Güssing) and membership assures you of a hearty welcome and assistance in visiting spots of local interest if you ever visit the BG Güssing editorial offices. You can also order Dr. Walter Dujmovit's great book on the Auswanderung. To join, send your name and address with a personal check for $15 to Frau Renate Dolmanits, Secretary, Burgenländische Gemeinschaft, 7540 Güssing, Hauptplatz 7, Austria. Send your subscription via airmail and expect a wait of up to two months for a reply. Mention that you're a member of the Burgenland Bunch. (Newsletter continues as no. 78A) THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 78A DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold April 15, 2000 This second section of the 3 section newsletter contains: - Advance Notice of BB Mid-West Picnic, - Data Concerning the Artinger Family, - More on Croatian Nobility and - Aan Ethnic Music Update. TWIN CITIES BB PICNIC 2000 (Susan Peters & Hap Anderson) Just a little early notice on this year's picnic. Hap Anderson has made the reservations for this year. The picnic will be Sunday, August 13th, 10:00 - 3:00. It will be at the same place, Wabun Park, in Minneapolis. More details coming later. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone again and some new "relatives", too! Hoping the new year is being good to you, Susan and Hap. ARTINGER (ARDINGER) FAMILY Member Den Ardinger contacted me recently to discuss a recent contact I had received. I had copied him on my reply. We have a common interest in the Artinger line from southern Burgenland in that one of my main Sorger lines married an Artinger. Den had also written a nice synopsis of what he had found concerning this family (taken from various sources including our newsletters). I'm including our correspondence here as well as his synopsis to provide an example of what all BB members might consider doing for their descendents. Bob Zins writes: My g g g g grandfather was Christian Ardinger (Artinger) he was probably not an immigrant, but he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Probably born in Shippensburg, PA; perhaps the son of Peter Artinger. I am reasonably sure that the family originate in Austria. I am looking for the origin of the Artinger name. Robert R. Zins, Newport News, VA 23606 My reply: Artinger is undoubtedly a Germanic name. It is not common and G. F. Jones in "German American Names" does not list it. "inger" = person from place. "Art" or "Ard" does not ring a bell. Could be a minor geographic area or a water course. "T" and "D" often interchange in German. Now I have Artingers in my tree as early as 1727 in the Burgenland of Austria in the village of Inzenhof (Hungarian name was Borosgodor) along the Hungarian border. I am also aware of some Artinger immigration to Allentown, PA around 1910-20. Most known Burgenland emigration to America occurred 1850-1920 (greatest number after 1890). Almost none before that time although I do know of one member of Rawls' Regt. of Hessian troops who deserted and settled in North Carolina (name Shinpaugh). He was born in northern Burgenland. The German presence in the Burgenland starts in the 11th Century but most families of today trace their origins to migration from the north following the Turkish wars (the period 1520-1770), so it's possible that your ancestor was from this region. Early Austrian emigration from Salzburg to Georgia and North Carolina took place after 1731 when the archbishop expelled some 20,000 Protestants. First ship arrived in America in 1734. I find no Art(d)inger in my short lists of these immigrants. One guess is that your ancestors could well be Palatinate immigrants, the so-called Pennsylvania-Dutch, many of whom arrived after 1730, although a few hundred came through New York even earlier (1702). They settled the east coast of PA and migrated through Lancaster County and west even down into the Shenandoah Valley. I'd try Palatinate sources (use internet search) although Yoder in "PA German Immigrants 1709-1786" does not list an Artinger or Ardinger. I'd also try the online Austrian phone directory to see where today's Austrian Artingers are located. I know there is one in Güssing. Most people with a Germanic name ending in "inger" are from the Duchy of Wurtemberg (today Baden-Wurtemberg-Stuttgart) so that's another place to look. You might want to contact our member: Dennis B. Ardinger; Bridgeville, PA. ARTINGER (spelling changed in US to ARDINGER), ZWICKL (CWIKL various spellings); Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitzal, Felso Ronok, Sandorhegy (Tschanigraben). Settled in McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, PA. I doubt if we can help you but if you can indeed link to a Burgenland village, please get back to me. I'd love to find a southern Burgenland area immigrant this early. Gerry Berghold, editor BB Newsletter. Den Ardinger then writes: Thanks for this input. In fact, I was going to write you on this very subject! I've had contact with Bob Zins many times over the past few years and we've exchanged info on our lines. Coincidentally, his Ardinger line settled here in Allegheny County, PA too! His line is from the McKeesport, Allegheny County area and mine is from the other side of the county in McKees Rocks, Allegheny County. In the county court house in Pittsburgh, he and I have worked to identify the various lines... those that are his and those that are ours. There appear to be three lines... his line... which spells the name Ardinger too... descends from Rev War veteran Christian Ardinger in Maryland. My line in McKees Rocks... which was Artinger from Burgenland. And the third line which I'm 99% sure in connected to mine. I think this line goes back and connects with you too. I'm working on that one. I can connect my line from Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitzal to a couple of other villages in the area (i.e. Felso-Ronok and Also-Ronok). I'm keeping a running tally and updating my descendants list of Johann Artinger from Sandorhegy, which now sits at 182. What I wanted to ask you about is the origin of the Artinger name in the Burgenland area. They show up in the Sandorhegy area about 1789. I see that you have found earlier traces of them going back to 1727 in Inzenhof, which is still the local area. My question is, "Is this the earliest trace (1727) you have found for an Artinger family?" The reason I'm asking is that I'm writing an introduction to my descendants list right now and I'm trying to lay a foundation for others to identify the origin of the surname in Austria. To show you where I'm at, I'll attach the two pages that I've written on the Artinger origins. Would you kindly read it over and let me know if it sounds correct as far as you know? Over the past four years or so, I've been in contact with Othmar Artinger in Graz. We think we are related but he isn't sure but we seem to both come from the Heiligenkreuz area. When I asked him for his understanding of the Artinger name, he said he had questioned it many times also. He thought the name came from "Artig" which means "well behaved" and the "er" ending meaning someone who had those traits or came from a place with those traits. He said he always kidded his children that that is what it meant. On another occasion, back in 1977, I had a discussion with the UN Ambassador to Surinam on the name. He thought it came from words meaning "all things" or a person who was a "jack of all trades". I've never found the name in a surname book. I've had several contacts from distant cousins who read my piece on the Artinger Voyage to America in BB Newsletter 75. It has really helped me. I've been able to extend my lines and fill in some details too. Thanks a lot for printing it. As I update my lists on the Artinger line, I'll send you a copy. As I said above, I'm fairly sure we are distant cousins. On a side line, Bob Zins is an old army officer too. When he served in Vietnam as a captain, he was Bob Hope's bodyguard when he did his Christmas tours for the troops. He sent me a photo of him and Bob Hope together... here's a text file of the two pages I've written on the Artinger origin in Europe. Thanks. * * * * * * * * Origin of the Artinger Family in Europe The origin of our branch of the Artinger family can be traced back two centuries to what is today the southern portion of the Province of Burgenland, Austria. Burgenland, which means "castle country", lies in the extreme south east of Austria on the border with Hungary and Yugoslavia. Burgenland, Austria was formed after World War I from parts of the Hungarian counties (a county is called a "Megye") of Vas, Sopron and Moson. Most of Burgenland was formed from Vas Megye. This reorganization of the borders in the region was all part of the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At least two towns have specifically been identified as being the home to our family. One is Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitzal. This town is located in the Lafnitz river valley on the Hungarian border. It is the main east-west international border crossing between Austria and Hungary in southern Burgenland. The second town is Sandorhegy that is now called Tschanigraben. Both of these towns were within Vas County, Hungary at the time our family lived there. They are only a few miles apart. Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitztal, called Rabakeresztur in Hungarian, is in the Burgenland District of Jennersdorf. Tschanigraben is in the Burgenland District of Gussing. There are also Artinger families in other nearby towns that I am now trying to connect with. Especially the Artinger line in Felso-Ronok, Vas County, Hungary. Our branch of the Artinger family was Roman Catholic and Catholics went to church in both Heiligenkreuz and Felso-Ronok. Today, Heiligenkreuz is an international border crossing between Austria and Hungary and Felso-Ronok is the first Hungarian village from the border crossing. I feel fairly certain that the two Artinger lines tie together. There are a number of Artinger families from Felso-Ronok, Vas County, Hungary that emigrated to Pennsylvania at the same time our line did. Additionally, I have found a number of clues showing circumstantial evidence that the two Artinger lines unite into a common line in Austria. Germanic Nationality The Artinger line is of Germanic nationality and our ancestors probably migrated east through Austria over a period of hundreds of years during the middle ages or possibly even earlier. The Germanic influence in Burgenland began as far back as the 1100's when Germans first started to settle there. Additionally, there was a migration of Germanic peoples into the Burgenland region in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was during the later part of this period that the first references to the Artinger family begin appearing in historic records. The population of the Burgenland area is about 85 percent German with the remaining 15 percent being Croatian and Hungarian along with a small percentage of Jews, Turks and Gypsies. There were many small villages scattered about Vas County, Hungary in the late 1700s. The earliest reference that I have found that the Artinger family was in the area at that time comes from the "Father Gratian Anton Leser, O. F. M. (1873-1949) village series" which records the earliest village history including the family surnames. Among the earliest surnames recorded in Tschanigraben (Sandorhegy) in 1789-1802 is the name of Artinger. Tschanigraben was a very small village and had only 151 inhabitants in 1812. By 1929 it had grown to only 189. Tschanigraben was part of Inzenhof until about 1800. Its name is spelled in various ways in church records including the following: 1736 Schonagraben, 1765 Chanigram, 1789-1802 Sandorhegy gewohnlich (usually called) Sconagraben, then Tsonagraben, Csanagraben and Tsanagraben. The village is very rarely mentioned before 1789 so it is probable that the earliest families came from elsewhere prior to that time. The earliest surnames of Tschanigraben 1789-1802 included: Neubauer, Artinger, Stuiber, Krobath, Svetalics, Koppel (Keppel), Pamer, Bruner, Jost, Mulzet, Nikles, Mehlmauer, Falusi, Takerer, Konrath (Konrad), and Zimitz. The Migration Due to a number of economic reasons, there was a mass migration between 1880-1914 from the Burgenland region to the United States. This migration is called the "Auswanderung" in Austria and during this time many tens of thousands of people went "nach Amerika" (to America). It was during this migration that most of our branch of the Artinger family emigrated. During this mass migration from the Burgenland area a century ago, many thousands left the region together. It was common to travel in small groups with family and neighbors traveling together as part of a common support system. Thousands came to Pennsylvania and most settled either around Allentown or Pittsburgh. The heavy industries of Pennsylvania with its factories, mines, railroads and steel mills demanded a continuous stream of cheap immigrant labor and eastern Europe provided millions of young men for the work. Our branch of the Artinger family settled in McKees Rocks along the Ohio River just west of Pittsburgh. My grandfather, Albert Herman Ardinger, was born there in 1902, the year after my great grandparents arrived in Allegheny County. He was the only child of Alois Artinger and Mary Zwickle not born in Heiligenkreuz. My father, Albert Herman Ardinger, Jr., was born in the same house on Bouquet Street in McKees Rocks in 1923. It will be interesting to see where the family will be two centuries from today. Migrations of people are common in history and it is unlikely the population will remain stationary for long. As you study the attached listing of the descendants of Johann and Theresa Artinger, you will see that they are already scattered across the entire United States. Having spanned an ocean and two continents, it is not likely that they will stop anytime soon. _______________ Note: The story of the migration of Alois Artinger's family from Europe to America is covered in my 1999 manuscript titled, "The 1901 Voyage of the Artinger Family from Europe to America". For anyone interested in learning more about the life and times of our ancestors in Burgenland, Austria, I highly recommend reading some of the newsletters published on the internet by "The Burgenland Bunch Genealogy Group". This is the best resource I have found so far for explaining the confusing border and language changes in this area of Europe. This website contains a wealth of information concerning the history, geography, religion, nationalities and emigration of families living in the Burgenland region. The website can be found at http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org. MORE ON CROATIAN NOBILITY (Fritz Königshofer) I must remind our members that our notion of nobility is based on the English or European concept which is exemplified by the current English aristocracy who were granted (and still have) certain rights and privileges by a reigning monarch and passed entailed property and titles via primogeniture. This is not the concept which developed and prevailed in Hungary. Here the main concept while still one of birth (or royal grant) was more one of freedom from taxation and "robot" labor, ability to own property and limited service to the crown and populace. Entire villages would be ennobled because of some deed pleasing to the crown, but no property was included in the grant. The grant applied to the entire family not merely the eldest. As a Hungarian "noble", it was very possible to be much worse off financially than your neighbor who rented his plot from the local "Herrschaft" and performed robot labor. See previous articles for more on this subject. For our purposes, linkage to nobility can result in the availability of more family records. If you find the term "nobilus" or its equivalent in any church or civil record concerning your family, you may wish to explore this issue further. Most of these "nobilus" entries will be among Croatians (many ennobled when they agreed to serve as border guards or effectively resisted the Turks) and Hungarians (all families who could prove descent from the original Magyar tribes claimed noble status) and date from the 16th to 18th centuries. There are very few among those of German descent. The "Princes of the Empire" (i.e. Esterhazy), nobility created or enfiefed (granted Herrschafts, i.e. Batthyány) by the Austrian and Hungarian crown and Electors of the Holy Roman Empire are a different case entirely. Fritz Königshofer pursues documents of noble status for Frank Teklits in Vas Megye. Fritz writes to Frank Teklits: Please keep in mind that in the earliest complete census of Vas nobility which I have seen as extracted by Dr. Kälmän Horväth, covering the census of 1726/27, the Jänos Teklics in Rechnitz/Rohonc, as well as György and Miklós Teklich listed in Szent Péterfa, all claimed the 1601 nobility act as their proof. This means, if you can trace your line to one of these three Teklits living in 1726/27, you already have a claim as good as theirs was, for the further connection to Lukacs Teklits. As to the 1845 list, from the details you state you clearly have the same list as I. Nevertheless, as they are already made I'll send you the hardcopies just in case. He also writes: This is the further information I found on Teklits in the books by Kälmän Horväth about the nobility censuses held in Vas county. I hope that you still have my previous messages when I gave you the entries from a number of early censuses....Firstly, the transcription I had given you where I had been uncertain about the year was definitely from the 1754/55 census of nobility, and not from 1774. Therefore, you can now clearly place these Teklics [sic] entries. In today's visit to the Széchényi Library, I found two nobility census listings I had not paid attention to before. They were also excerpted by Dr. Kälman Horväth and described by him in four small volumes called "Vas värmegye nemesi összeÃräsai" published 1941/42 in Szombathely. The first set of entries seems to define the results of the nobility census of 1781/82. I will give you now a full transcription of what this census says for Szent Péterfa, including a translation (though I warn you, my Latin is very rusty). The list has only Teklics names, no others, and on apparent purpose it listed only males: "Nicolai Condam Teklics Filius Georgius, habet filium Josephum. Alterius Nicolai condam Teklics Filius Adamus, habet filios Franciscum, et Joannem. Joannis condam Teklics Filii Georgius habet filium Georgium Paulus sine filiis. Alterius Tert (note: Newsletter 78A was truncated and the remainder lost) THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 78B DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (issued biweekly by Gerald Berghold) April 15, 2000 This third section of the 3 section newsletter has articles pertaining to: - Sending Money to Austria, - An Allentown, PA Cemetery Search, - URL and Member Changes, and - our Staff Masthead and BB Internet Addresses. MAKING DONATIONS OR PAYING FOR FOREIGN RECORD SEARCHES Lauri Deninger writes: "Another question for the FAQ list (maybe no one else has asked this before)... In making an information request to a parish in the Burgenland (for example, I received the address for the Roman Catholic Parish office for Illmitz, Neusiedler See), the FAQ list mentioned 'a small donation for the parish' and 'International Reply Coupons.' I assume the IRCs would be available at my post office (like a money order?), but how would I enclose a donation - should I enclose US dollars, and have them exchange it, or is there a better system? Would $10 be an appropriate amount? "Thanks so much, I really appreciate all the work you and the other volunteers do for your web site, and to advance genealogy in that corner of the world (and elsewhere that these folks traveled). I just started doing genealogy last summer, but am having a blast! I joined the Burgenland Bunch and have been really enjoying your newsletters - they are packed with useful information! Keep up the good work!" My Reply: IRC's are available from the post office. Send 2 or 3. For a donation, I'd enclose a $10 bill as the easiest way. That's about 120 Austrian schillings - a nice start. Later, if you get a lot of information, another $15 would not be too much. Remember you're taking a chance sending cash, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. If someone agrees to do some lookup for you and sends photo copies, you can make some other arrangement. Expanding The Answer: Certainly money talks and it's a sure-fire way to get someone's attention. Sending money to another country, however, is always a problem. Banks charge bank transfer fees that are exorbitant unless the sum is large. US foreign postal money orders take forever. Personal checks will clear but Austrian banks charge the recipient hefty fees. International reply coupons are good but some small village post offices will not accept them. Cash (US dollars) is always easy for the sender and the recipient but there is always the exposure to theft. Ruesch International (700 Eleventh St., Washington, DC 20001, telephone 800-424-2923) is available for checks drawn on foreign banks in national currency and their fees are low. It requires a phone call, clearance of your advance payment and a week or more to receive a check in foreign funds. Sometimes credit cards are appropriate for foreign businesses, but not for a local priest or Bürgermeister. What to do? For some purposes, I've found the best approach is to send my personal check and pay for the Austrian bank charges. I do this by valuing the Austrian Schilling at a premium. Current exchange rate (as listed in financial pages) is now about eight cents per schilling. I value it at ten cents, which is a 25% improvement, more than enough to cover bank charges and postage. I'm usually dealing in small sums and the premium is insignificant, particularly when one considers that an ounce of mail calls for at least eight schillings, much more for airmail. I use this method for businesses, publications and book dealers (also credit cards) and organizations. I use personal checks in my dealings with the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft and have found it works well. I would not do this if I were not a member as I feel their assistance in making personal purchases should be limited to members. This is not something to do for a local church donation. Here I take a chance and send cash (ten dollar bills are good). I wrap it in a piece of heavy paper, use a security envelope and always use airmail. The recipient can exchange this money at any bank or money exchange (Geld Wechsel), but again there is an exchange fee so I again overvalue the schilling. So far I've not lost money through theft but it's always possible. Take a chance. Often I've found that when dealing with friends and correspondents it's easy to work on an exchange basis. This takes a lot of trust on both sides and is not for strangers. After all, a lot of surface mail queries can soon add up at US airmail over one dollar an ounce and foreign fees are comparable. It also requires a lengthy correspondence in order for things to equal out. After buying and sending me some CD's or publications I'd like, I can do likewise for the sender. I always try to pay more than I receive and consider it one of the costs of doing genealogy. We ask for a donation of time-we shouldn't also expect a monetary donation without some form of compensation. A CEMETERY SEARCH - ALLENTOWN, PA (from correspondence with Angela Latta and Phyllis Sauerzopf) I've always felt that at least three documents were necessary to complete family linkage, those which support birth, marriage and death. Sometimes one leads to another, but frequently, as a result of moves, death records can be the hardest to find. I needed so many for my family history that I went to Austria and also back to my place of birth to complete my files. You'll find the stories of these trips as Heritage Quest Magazine articles II and III, available from our archives. Recently two of our members began a similar search and their experiences my help others. Angela Latta writes: Phyllis Sauerzopf and I are trying to locate my grandfather's grave in an Allentown cemetery; however, Phyllis tells me that there are several cemeteries, and she doesn't know which one he's in. She recommended I contact you because you know so much about Allentown. My grandfather was Catholic and came from Burgenland (Reinersdorf). He died around 1950. He lived in Allentown after coming to the US in 1925. Can you give us some suggestions as to how we might go about finding where he is? We would both V E R Y much appreciate it. I also wanted to thank you again for the work you do to help others find their roots. Because of your efforts and the efforts of the other contributors, I was able to find Phyllis. She and I have together found my family in Pittsburgh and Maryland, relatives I didn't even know existed. Phyllis and I plan to go to Austria this July with the BG group. Although I have communicated with Phyllis numerous times, we haven't actually met. I will fly from Oregon to the East, meet my brother, then we will drive to meet Phyllis and my 1st cousin, who we have also never met. He is a Catholic priest! We plan to all meet at the cemetery at our grandfather's grave! We are all Traupmans! What a wonderful moment that will be!! But all this could not have happened if it weren't for the BB site!! Thanks to you we are joyous that have found our US family, and will continue our research in Austria for our ancestors. My Answer: Here are the local Allentown cemeteries. If your grandfather was RC, I'd guess he went to church at the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 4th & Chew Sts and thus he would be in their Catholic cemetery near Catasauqua. My mother's people are buried there. Lots of Bugenlanders. No office, but you might try calling the church at 610-434-5171. From my magazine article no. III: CEMETERY SEARCH With my wife Molly (nee Beck) as my ever faithful helper (we also researched her family in Bucks and Northampton counties) we started by visiting family cemeteries in Lehigh County. The larger cemeteries had offices and index files that pinpointed graves. The smaller required some walk and search. The office index files were found to be a good source of data showing such things as birth & death date, parents, cause of death, undertaker, next of kin, date and cost of burial. While I usually had my relatives birth and death years, the complete dates were sometimes missing and the index cards or grave markers furnished them. Much easier than writing and paying for death certificates. Military service also appeared on some tombstones. We were pleased by the general immaculate condition of most cemeteries and grave sites. We did notice that the trend to flat markers makes difficult reading as the markers frequently sink beneath the surface and become covered with turf. A problem for future searchers unless the data is preserved in a data bank. Relatives were found in the following cemeteries: Blue Church (St. Paul's) - Coopersburg; Cedar Hill Memorial Park - Allentown; Coplay - Coplay; Fairview - Allentown; Grandview - Allentown; Highland Park - Allentown; Sacred Heart Catholic - Allentown (Fullerton, near Catasauqua); St. Paul's Lutheran - Catasauqua; West Coplay Catholic - Stiles. CHURCH SEARCH An earlier visit to the family churches in Austria had paid big dividends (see previous article), so we also visited churches in Allentown. Many southern Burgenländers are (were) Lutherans and they sought Lutheran churches when they came to America. St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Chew St. and Ridge Ave., Allentown, was formed by German speaking immigrants from the Palatinate (the so called Pennsylvania Dutch) in 1866. By 1900, the neighborhood was home to German speaking Burgenländers and they gravitated to this church which has always had a German speaking pastor. It is unique today in that a German language service is still held every Sunday, even though the neighborhood is now home to people of Hispanic descent. The records from 1865 are still available and reference was discussed with the pastor. He indicated that a history of the church was available at the Lehigh County Historical Society Library (2nd floor, Old Courthouse, 5th & Hamilton Sts.). An invite to their upcoming October Fest was also extended. A monument to the 400th (1883) anniversary of Martin Luther in front of the church is noteworthy. (NOTE ST. PETER'S IS NO LONGER ACTIVE AS SUCH, THEY ARE IN A TEMPORARY BUILDING AS THEY PLAN TO BUILD A NEW CHURCH. USE LEHIGH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO SEE THEIR RECORDS.) My maternal grandparents were Catholic and although I inherited the family documents and had complete genealogical material, this was an opportunity to visit seldom seen graves. The German Catholic church in Allentown is the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" (4th & Chew Sts.) which also had a German language service. I had no need to see their records and thus I'm not sure of their availability. Their cemetery is located north east of the city near Catasauqua and has a wealth of Burgenland immigrant names. Three other ethnic cemeteries (Italian, Ukrainian and Jewish) are nearby. LEHIGH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Church Records: Located in the early colonial county courthouse, the library of this society has a wealth of local information. A slight charge allows the use of their services from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM daily. Much genealogical material is available. Of major interest were bound copies of most Lehigh County Church records with indices including those for St Peter's. One of the society's projects involves the copying and indexing of local church records. We came away with birth, marriage and death data for many of my relatives (note: death data 1935-55 was not complete). The first Burgenländers entries dated from the 1890's. Using this material, it was possible to track the emigration of many relatives uncovered in the Martin Luther Kirche records in Eltendorf, Austria. The St. Peter's records often provide Austrian town of birth and parents names. I was not able to find the who and why of birth and marriage records sent to the Hungarian government 1902-1913 and shown and first found by me in their civil records (note-later developed that these records were sent to Hungary as the immigrants were planning to return). I have both St Peter's and Hungarian records of grandparents' marriage and births of children. It was a pleasure to read my own baptism entry (I have the certificate) as well as my brother's. Our family relocated early and we did not attend this church very long. City Directories: These are available at the Historical Society from the 1880's forward and some cover outlying areas as well as Allentown. Showing residence, often name of spouse, adult children and occupation, they are a wonderful source of genealogical fill material. Unfortunately, misspellings of foreign names abound. My computer files show RESIDENCE as a note, and I like to include residence by year for the main blood lines. The first Burgenland entries are again in the 1890 period. Phyllis Sauerzopf responds: Thank you very much for providing Angela Latta and I information on how to find Angela's grandfather, Frank Traupman who was buried in Allentown around 1950. I told Angela first that I remembered you writing about your trip to the Allentown cemeteries for relatives. I thought it was in a newsletter. No wonder I couldn't find it. It was in one of the magazines. I did search for Frank in the cemetery towards Catasaqua about a month ago, thanks to your information on it's location in a newsletter. It is HUGE! I couldn't find him, so I went back again today and searched for 3 more hours along with my daughter's help. I searched further this time, not just in the front where so many familiar names are, but way down to the bottom left where there were Catholic's among Protestants. A lady working at a grave gave me the information that they were mixed together. I did not find a single Traupman after a total of 5 hours of searching altogether. I don't think he is in there. Besides your Simitz's up in the Burgenland section, I found Berghold's and Simitz's in this section which was way down in the far left,(if you are facing in from Fullerton Ave.) where Cath. and Prot. were mixed together. Berghold, Frank - Feb.27,1897 - Dec.21,1974 Berghold, Julia - April 1,1898 - Jan. 16,1975 I also found a Simitz in this area, who is not mentioned in your family tree. Father, Simitz, Eduard - 1901 - 1974 Mother, Simitz, Maria - 1902 - 1984 Simitz, Ludwig - 1892-1959 buried with: Simitz, Emma T. - 1904-1955. >> From Phyllis Sauerzopf to LEA, Dear Lea, I sent the email to Gerry and you at first... I got it mixed up, since Simitz is your name and not Gerry's. I guess that's ok though. I just happened to copy down 30 Trinkle's and Trinkl's since Traupman's and Trinkl's were connected by marriage back in the Heiligenbrunn parish. SO you are in luck. I wrote to Diedra Deutsch the same day I wrote to Gerry and told her I could help her with Trinkle's if she had not been to this cemetery. She never replied. I'm glad YOU did, since I am willing to share this. There were some Trinkl families grouped together. Since there are so many, why don't we start with first names. Let me know if there are specific names you need and I will search my notes for them first. Thank goodness I can share this with you. I didn't want this valuable information to just sit here. I believe we did talk before. I remember you mentioning the Sauerzopf's in Canada. Angela called the Sacred Heart Church. They found a Frank Troutman who died in 1946 who was buried in a Catholic church in Fullerton, or Whitehall. I didn't get the specifics. I don't think it would be him. There were hundreds of Troutman's in Pa, according to Ancestry.com. So she will call other churches. I will let you know if I find any other cemeteries, So far it is looking good for Angela and I to go to Burgenland in July. Tessie Teklits is still waiting for information, but she has us listed!!! I already talked to Albert, and we will get to meet him. Viva Austria! Our dream is coming true!!! Sincerely, Phyllis Sauerzopf BURGENLAND BUNCH INTERNET LINKS - ADDITIONS, REVISIONS 4/15/00 (from Internet/URL Editor Anna Tanczos Kresh) AUSTRIAN, AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN INTERNET LINKS o WorldSkip http://www.worldskip.com/ - exceptional site providing extensive information on countries of the world, including Austria, Croatia, Hungary, etc.; national/international news sources; business and banking; radio, newspapers, and magazines; transportation services, including airports and bus terminals; hotels; embassies; arts and cultural events; entertainment ticket services; universities; online Hungarian language course; many more (Lea Buzby) MAP SITES ON THE INTERNET o Bezirk Maps http://members.1012surfnet.at/gerger/Map/VillageMaps.htm - maps of the district of Güssing showing village names in 3 languages; maps drawn by BB member Klaus Gerger; downloadable; 1857 Güssing householder list; other districts may follow URL CHANGES (revised links/descriptions) o Nielsen, Ralph http://www.strodl.co.uk/ - The East Riding of Yorkshire, England; Strodl Family Tree (new address) o Burgenländische Freiheit (BF) http://www.bf-online.at/ - owned by the Socialist Party (SPÖ) of Burgenland, comparable to the U.S. Democratic Party; largest circulation (new address) o Heritage Quest - Genealogy Software http://www.heritagequest.com/genealogy/software/index.html - links to many genealogical software products (change in description only; previous directions no longer apply) o Parsons Technology http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/products.html - Family Tree Maker, Family Origins, Archives (change in description) o Hungarian Settlements - brief descriptions and information on the location of villages in present day Hungary: Vas County http://testver.sednet.hu/vasm/e_alap.html, Gyor-Moson-Sopron County http://testver.sednet.hu/gyorm/e_alap.html, Veszprem County http://testver.sednet.hu/veszpm/e_alap.html (changes in description) o MSU Historical Text Archive http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/wooton/34/hungary/hungary.html - Austro-Hungarian maps dating from 400-1920 AD (not very detailed); coats of arms, history, national anthem, songs, costumes (new address) o Web of On-line Dictionaries http://www.yourdictionary.com/ - links to more than 500 on-line dictionaries, thesauri, vocabulary aids and indexes for more than 150 languages (new address) o Measurement Conversions http://www.convertit.com/ - ConvertIt measurements converter (formerly Entisoft Units Measurement Conversion Calculator) o Old Bohemian Units of Measurement http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/reg/SUD/bmasse.html - (probably limited to use by historians, etc.) click on Genealogical Resources/Conversion Factors for some Old Bohemian Units; Bohemian (and Austrian) measurement conversions for linear, dry, liquid, volume, area o Old Units of Measurement http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/misc/units/ - Tabelle zur Umsetzung von alten MaÃŸen in heutige Einheiten - Translation table of old to contemporary units of measurement (with the addition of still valid measurements) URLS DROPPED - LINKS BROKEN/CHANGED - INFORM URL EDITOR IF YOU KNOW ALTERNATE URL o Landesverband Burgenland Tourismus http://www.burgenland-tourism.at/index.asp - Burgenland Tourism; excellent information on Burgenland provinces; click Regionen for calendar of events in the villages; links to hotels and inns http://www.burgenland-tourism.at/activity.asp?menu3=2 (links broken) o AudioOnDemand http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/ - on demand radio from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Vatican, and many more (each site offers multiple languages)(links broken - similar German site at www.audioondemand.de is for sale) o Croatian Translator: Joann Bedic Aftanas, an experienced Croatian/English translator will assist us with our Croatian language translations; please be reasonable (no response to queries) MEMBER CHANGES Undeliverable addresses will be removed from the distribution list: NEW Joan Emery; Sullivan, WI. EMERY (EMRE), Zahling, last known residence Wien (Vienna) Austria, to Allentown, PA, 1903. LEITGEB ? Austria to Allentown, PA, 1903. SCHIMENEK Eisenberg-Koenigsdorf to Allentown, PA, 1902. DEUTSCH, Kukmirn, last known residence Rudersdorf (Radafalva), to Allentown, PA, 1901. Audrey Kappel; Pittsburgh, PA. RADASCHITZ (RADASITS), KUGLER. Each were residents of Minihof and settled in Pittsburgh, PA. Eric Gironda; Boise, ID. SEISER, STROBL, SHUCK, PIESCHL, Ollersdorf; JUSITS, Stegersbach. Petra Gludovatz, Vienna, Austria. Searching for GLUDOVATZ, Steinbrunn and JURASOVITS, Siegendorf. Rebecca S. Holdaas, Port Orchard, WA. ROKOP from Sopron Megye; settled in South Bend, IN. Alice Holt; Salem, OR. Johann DEMMER, wife Elisabeth PORTSCHY, Gols. Came to America in 1874 with Sons Paul DEMMER, 19, and Lorenz DEMMER, 37, wife Susanne STEIGLMAHR and children Johann 6 and Theresia 3. Lived in McCook, NE, then Herndon, KS. Another son, Matthias DEMMER was in Kansas by 1880 census. Later moved to Jackson County, OR Mary K. Leitner, Atwood, KS. KOGL, HAUTZINGER, Andau. LEITNER, Lebeny, Hungary. Karla (Mandl) Moore; East Hartford, CT. MANDL, THOMAS, Grieselstein (Korostyen, Hungary), KLOIBER, SCHWARZ, Weichselbaum (Badafalva, Hungary). Settled in New Britain, CT 1910-1912. Joel Neubauer; Williamsburg, VA and Olney, MD. NEUBAUER and KOLLER , Bad Tatzmannsdorf and Sulzriegel areas. My ancestors left the Burgenland in the early 20th century and settled in Allentown, PA. Robert B Neumann, Las Vegas, NV researching the HOFFMANN/WEBER families in Bubendorf who settled in Winsted,MN. Robert M. Rene M.D., Woodland Hills, CA. RECHNITZER, Frauenkirchen. Settled in Budapest, Vienna and finally Berlin. Died of natural causes 1936 (pat. grandfather). My father (Vilmos Rechnitzer) served in Austro-Hungarian Army 1915-1918, 38th Honved Division, emigrated to U.S. 1925 (New York, NY). Changed name to William Rene, died 1984 Van Nuys, CA. CHANGE Arthur Schaffer; Chicago, Il. PAPST, Allhau, SCHAFFER, Rotenturm. EKKER Rotenturm, DERKOVITS Neuberg, Kohfidisch, WOLFER Kohfidisch, GRAMERIN, Rechnitz, OSWALD, Rohrbach, HEINRICH, THALLER, WILFLING, GOLLES, Grosswillersdorf, Sochau, SCHWARZIN, PAURIN, ZACHIN, DILLINGERIN --?.ZIERMANN, UIDL, PAUSS, MADL Markt Allhau. Settled in Chicago, Il. (added more names and villages) ADDRESS CHANGES Thomas Steichen; Winston-Salem, NC; Researching: HALBAUER and TRAUTNER (in Wallern), WEISS (in Halbturn/Feltorony), and LASSL (in Mosonszolnok/Zanegg); WEISS/HALBAUER settled in Stearns Co, MN. Gary Fink. Ralph Nielsen, in The East Riding of Yorkshire, England END OF NEWSLETTER BURGENLAND BUNCH STAFF Coordinator & Editor Newsletter (Gerald J. Berghold; Winchester, VA) Burgenland Editor (Albert Schuch; Vienna & Kleinpetersdorf, Austria) Home Page Editor (Hap Anderson) Internet/URL Editor (Anna Tanczos Kresh; Butler, PA) Contributing Editors: Austro/Hungarian Research (Fritz Königshofer) Burgenland Lake Corner Research (Dale Knebel) Chicago Burgenland Enclave (Tom Glatz) Croatian Burgenland (Frank Teklits) Home Page village lists (Bill Rudy) Home Page surname lists (Tom Steichen) Judaic Burgenland (Maureen Tighe-Brown) Western Hungary-Bakony Region (Ernest Chrisbacher) Western US BB Members-Research (Bob Unger) WorldGenWeb-Austria, RootsWeb Liason-Burgenland (Charles Wardell, Austria) BB ARCHIVES (can be reached from Home Page hyperlinks) BURGENLAND HOME PAGE http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org Burgenland Bunch Newsletter distributed courtesy of (c) 1999 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 Roots Web BB newsletter archives index and threaded search facility available Newsletter and List Rights Reserved. Permission to Copy Granted; Provide Credit.