BB News No. 83 dtd 30 Jun 2000

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 83 DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (issued biweekly by G. Berghold) June 30, 2000 (all rights reserved) Note to recipients. We now have 523 readers. If you don't want to receive Burgenland Bunch newsletters, email with message "remove". ("Cancel" will cancel membership, homepage listings and mail.) Send changes to the same place. To join, see our homepage. We can't help with non-Burgenland family history. Comments and articles are appreciated. Please add your full name to email. Our staff and web site addresses are listed at the end of newsletter section "B". Introductions, notes and articles without a by-line are written by the editor. This first section of the 3-section newsletter contains the articles: * Language - An Immigrant Problem * Taste of the Burgenland - Raised Strudel * Klaus Gerger's Village House Lists * Are We Genealogical Idiots (?) * SS Death Index Update * Message From Riedlingsdorf * Ethnic Records (Music) - 78 RPM to ROM * Haydn and the Burgenland LANGUAGE JUST ONE OF MANY IMMIGRANT PROBLEMS If you want to know what it feels like to be an immigrant in a land where you don't know the language, take a trip without a guide. Then wander out on the street away from the tourist areas and try to do something requiring communication. This can be most frustrating. Even more so if you know a few words of the language and get caught in a localism faux pas. I know just enough German to get into trouble. A word will pop into my mind and I'll often mispronounce it or find that it is not appropriate to the situation. Ignore those umlauts or mispronounce them and you're in real trouble. One woman, at a reception, when asked how she felt, wanted to say she was lethargic from jet lag (she wanted to use the word "träge", instead she pronounce it "träch(t)ig" (pregnant). Since she was elderly and unmarried this created a lot of amusement and embarrassment. When visiting Pinka Mindszent, Hungary I tried to find the cemetery. I asked in English, no response, in German all I got was a sneer so I reverted to sign language. I laid my head alongside my folded hands and pointed to the ground. I was told "kein (camping) platz." I never did find the cemetery. My grandmother Hedwig Mühl-Pöltl Sorger had a story told to her by an immigrant cousin. Seems the immigrant and his wife Julia were told to go to "Allentownpa" when they got off the boat. The train stopped in Allentown, PA and the man asked if it was the right place. The conductor said that was the destination on their tickets so the man hollered to his wife "Eulie, Eulie, steig auf, steig auf (get off, get off)! Allentownpa, wir sind dort (we're there)! All the other passengers laughed. Whenever we went on a trip and came home, my brother or I would holler "Alles steig auf, Allentownpa" - it always got a giggle from my mother. Just another instance of something immigrants had to learn, town name followed by state name abbreviation is not pronounced that way. There are also stories of some immigrants going to Allentown, NJ, by mistake. TASTE OF THE BURGENLAND - RAISED STRUDEL As far as I'm concerned, Austrian-Hungarian pastry reigns supreme among life's delicious eating. Not only does it look and taste delicious, it satisfies something in the genes. Member Bob Unger tells me that on his trips to Burgenland, he eats poppy seed strudel every day, so I'm not alone in my preference. Mehlspeisen (or things made with flour) are my favorite foods. One of the best of these is raised (yeast) strudel. There are two main types of filling (although I have heard of others) remembered from my grandmother's kitchen: poppy seed (Mohn) and nut (Nussen). These are normally not easy to make, unless you are well experienced in baking with yeast. In addition, poppy seeds and nuts must be ground with sugar and made into a spreadable filling. You need a grinder and a source of bulk poppy seeds. With the advent of the bread machine and canned fillings (Solo Brand, available from baking section of many supermarkets or contact address given below), making a good raised strudel is easy. My recipe follows: Raised Strudel Dough Have all ingredients room temperature before starting. 1 cup warm milk (scalded - don't boil) 1/4 cup softened butter (microwave) 1 egg beaten 3 1/4 cups of flour (high gluten or bread flour is best) 1 tsp salt 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp or more lemon rind grated (I like a little more) 1/2 tsp cardamom (optional but gives a nice "Danish Pastry" flavor) 1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 tsps) Filling 2 cans Solo Poppy Seed Filling (SOLO, Dept. N, Sokol & Company, 5315 Dansher Road, Countryside, IL, 60525-3192, www.solofoods.com) 1 cup, more or less, raisins Put dough ingredients in bread machine in order applicable to your machine (mine asks for all wet ingredients first - yeast last in a depression in the flour). Process on dough cycle (mix, knead and one rise). Prepare filling, open 2 cans SOLO poppy seed mix (Solo also makes an almond mix which makes a delicious nut strudel, although the traditional recipe calls for walnuts, ground with sugar, and a little warm milk as opposed to almonds), drain 1 cup of raisins which have been soaked in rum or water (soaking is optional) and remove liquid before using). When dough cycle is complete, remove dough to a floured surface. Divide dough into two halves. Roll each half to a rectangle about 9" x 13". Spread each half with one can of the filling, sprinkle with half of the raisins. Roll up each spread rectangle as for jelly roll and place on greased pan or cookie sheet seam side down. Make sure ends are sealed (pinch dough) so filling won't run out. Let rise once, covered with a dish towel in warm place until about double (about 35-45 minutes). Brush top with a little extra melted butter and bake in 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Strudel should be brown on top. Makes two strudels. Dust top with powdered sugar when cool and slice 3/4 inch or so to serve. Freezes well and also makes nice broiler toast (cut thick), great spread with butter or peanut butter. As stated, there are variations, so you can experiment. One suggestion is to add well drained or dried cherries or apricots, with or without raisins. You can also try other dried fruit, plumped. My grandmother sometimes added melted chocolate to half of the dough, rolled it out, put the two rolled sheets together and made a black and white strudel. None of these variations are as original as the poppy seed and nut. SOLO makes some other fillings, like strawberry and apricot, with which I want to experiment. The SOLO fillings were designed for Hebraic Hamantaschen (filled pocket cookies) and the filling has a little more sugar than the strudel usually calls for but works just fine. A delectable pastry. The filling also makes a great poppy seed or almond cake (recipes back of label). My cousin, Helena Gibiser Gilly, Poppendorf, served us the nut strudel formed and baked into large "kipfel"-like crescents (about the size of a croissant). They were great and could be made easily from the above recipe, just form differently and maybe bake less. If you don't have a bread machine, you can use the same ingredients (make a yeast sponge with yeast, warm milk, flour and a little sugar before mixing the other ingredients) and knead by hand until dough is silky. Takes a while and you must know the feel of the dough. Let the dough rise twice before rolling it out. Finish as above. Gute essen! KLAUS GERGER'S VILLAGE HOUSE LISTS Klaus continues to expand his map site (available as a new item by hyperlink from the BB Homepage). He is now adding lists of house owners/residents from the mid 1800's for selected Burgenland villages. At present, these are in the vicinity of Güssing and Jennersdorf, but check them out periodically. These lists are a new source of data, coming as they do from the land registers of the villages. The name of the head of house/owner is shown along with the house number. GERMAN-HUNGARIAN VILLAGE NAMES STILL A PROBLEM In a message dated 6/14/00 7:03:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Barb Groh writes: << I was fortunate enough to be able to spend about a day and a half at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City on a recent vacation. Unfortunately, we do not have any close by where we live. In looking through the Neustift/Tobaj microfilm, I came across a few villages that I am not familiar with. I was under the impression that my relatives on my father's side were either born in Neustift or Tobaj. However, I came across three other villages - Kolosvar, Nemethyvar and Roxahegy. Are these little villages close by Neustift with different names? The writing was sure difficult to read on many records. When I record the info into my database, I would like to make this clear. Appreciate a reply. >> ANSWER: Barb, you are running into Hungarian names of villages. These are all very close to Neustift. You should go to Albert's Village List on the homepage, then go to the district of Güssing and print yourself a list of the German and Hungarian village names in that district. You must have this to make sense out of the LDS records. Had you done this you would have found that Nemethyvar is Nemetjuvar, the Hungarian for Güssing. Likewise, Kolosvar (Glasing) and Roxahegy (Rosenberg) are Hungarian names for very small villages (under 300 population) and the inhabitants go to church in Güssing. Both villages are now part of Güssing (called "Ortsteile" or attached villages). Rosenberg is not on Albert's list because it is considered part of Güssing along with Glassing, Krottendorf, St. Nicholas, Steingraben and Urbersdorf (it is on Klaus Gerger's lists). With Rosenberg, you are in luck however. Go to the homepage and click on Klaus Gerger's map site. There you'll find a map of Rosenberg with the house numbers and names shown! Both Klaus and I have ancestors from this village. Likewise you might also like to review Klaus's other Güssing-area maps. He also shows German, Hungarian and Croatian names. ARE WE GENEALOGICAL IDIOTS? I've seen a number of "The Complete Idiot's Guide To XXX" and have eschewed them as I refuse to buy anything that starts off by insulting me. Now I find this advertisement: RootsWeb staff member, Rhonda R. McClure, won first place in the "Books" category of the annual Excellence in Writing competition of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (formerly Council of Genealogy Columnists) for THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO ONLINE GENEALOGY, published by Alpha Books/Macmillan. Details at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cgc/ SS DEATH INDEX UPDATE SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX (SSDI) UPDATE. The May 2000 update of the SSDI is in place at RootsWeb and has 63,861,027 entries. http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi (Previously published by RootsWeb.com, Inc., RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Genealogy News, Vol. 3, No. 24, 14 June 2000. RootsWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/) RIEDLINGSDORF MESSAGE From Heinz Bundschuh: Hallo Gerry! My name is Heinz Bundschuh. I am member of the choral society MGV Riedlingsdorf and we created a new homepage for our club and for the village. http://members.aon.at/mgvriedlingsdorf The homepage includes also interesting pictures from Riedlingsdorf. Barry Kaipel told me, that he sent the address to the Burgenland Bunch, so it is possible, that you got it in the last weeks. Let me know if you need more information about Riedlingsdorf. Perhaps I am able to provide it. Kind regards from Burgenland. Heinz ETHNIC MUSIC RECORDS - 78 RPM TO ROM (from Nadine Hardin) Hello, I am a member of your group (which I love), searching for my family (Farkas, Benko, Galgoczi, Fejes, Tschida, Ivanovic, Luttmansberg, Adorjan), and I came across some 78 rpm records from my grandmother Farkas, one dating 1921 and 1922. I would love to transfer the sound to current times (ROMS), and I am wondering if you could put me in contact with someone who has already done this type of project. Then I would like to donate the records to a Hungarian Historical Society. The list is long, and some of the performers might be related to some surnames our group is researching: Label: Radiola Electro Record "Zalamenti Kis Faluban," Szantho Gyula enekel, Lakatos Tibor ciganyzenekara (1921) "Egy Oszhaju Asszony," Fenyes Kato enekel, kiseri a Durium Zenekar (1822) Label: Paprikas (made in New York) "Vegig mentem az Ormodi Temeton," Mindszenthy Istvan enekel, Olah Kalman ciganyzenekara "Szerenad A Hegyeken," Jaray Jozsef operanekes. "Zug Az Erod, Zug A Nadas" (Dr. T. Gorgo), Nyarkay Karoly, tenor "Messze Van a Nyiregyhazi Kaszarnya" (v. I. Kokay), Nyoray Koroly, tenor "Piros Punkoso Napjan," nyaray Karoly, tenor "Aki Nekem Mindenem Volt" (T. Kalmar), Nyaray Karoly, tenor "Kis csolakom a Dunan lengedez" (J. Ivanovici), Rakossy Tibor, tenor. "Debreceni Tanccsardasok", played by Maxie Fransko & his Hungarian Gypsy Orchestra. "Kicsi napsugaram, a te eletedre,""Sallay Misi, enekel "Jegviragos Hideg Tel Volt", Mindszenti Istvan enekel "Lehullot A Rozsalevel," Nyoray Koroly, Tenor "Domboldalon All Egy Oreg Nyarfa" (P.Gyongy) & "Minden Este Beulok Egy Kis Kocsmaba", Nyaray Karoly, Tenor. "Iag De Ravasz Dolog Ez A Tavasz", (I. Garai) Nyaray Karoly, Tenor. "Cserebogar Szalli," Nyaray Karoly, Tenor. "A Negy Folyo," Mindszenti Isvan enekel, Olah Kalman ciganyzenekara "Szep A rozsam, Nincs Hibaja," Cselenyi Jozsef enekel, Olah Kalman ciganyzenekara Label: RCA Victor (recorded in Europe) "Erik A Hajlik a Buzakalasz" (Darezs), Nagyvaradu Bura Sandor (recorded in Europe) "Kar A Sudar ?Enyenek Kerek Ez A Zsemlye." Magyary Imre (recorded in Europe) "Ha Rossz Vagyok Hozzad" (Kalmar Tibor), Nagyvaradi Bura Sandor (recorded in Europe) "Tejben Furdik Az En Rozsam (Szekacs) & Piros Piros, Piros (Altschul), Magyary Imre (recorded in Europe) "Beszegodtem Tarnocara" (Travnyik), "A Szomszedban Van Egy" Oreg Eperfa" (Kery), Cleseny Josef & Magyary Imre "Nem Tudom En Mit Vetettem (Dr. Sando Jeno), Cseleny Jozsef. Label: Columbia "Hajoljon Le Edes Anyan", Keraly Erno - the other side of the label is worn our, my dear grandmother must have loved this one! I was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, and we were fond of the Hungarian Music Hour that played every Sunday, and the couple that sponsored it were friends to my family. Any suggestions from anyone on how I can preserve these very beautiful records, most in mint condition? HAYDN AND THE BURGENLAND Being a rural bread basket as well as a much fought over border region, the Burgenland doesn't have many claims to fame other than a few aristocratic families and a few authors, poets, artists and some well known emigrants. Music has always been a Burgenland passion and, while not born in the Burgenland, Joseph Haydn is claimed as one of its most illustrious sons. The Haydn Saal (room) in the Esterhazy Schloss in Eisenstadt, as well as numerous Burgenland memorials, museums, etc., are indicative of the reverence in which he is held. Having mentioned two books (below), concerning his life, in previous newsletters, triggered some response. "Two books in English re the Esterhazy family (princes of the Empire from about 1650, they had the Herrschaft of most of northern Burgenland and vast portions of western Hungary), which can provide background are: "Haydn - His Life & Times", Landon, Jones, Indiana Univ. Press, 1988 and "The Landed Estates of the Esterhazy Princes", Gates-Coon, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1994 (includes 26 page select bibliography)." Fritz Königshofer writes: << In Newsletter 80, you mention a biography of composer Joseph Haydn. Do you have this book? I always wonder what is known about the ancestry of Haydn. He was born in Rohrau, which is really right at the border to the Burgenland, and the family name Haiden or Haidn is quite present in northern Burgenland records. Therefore, I wonder whether Haydn's heritage was partly in Hungary/Burgenland. >> My answer: Yes I have the book and would be pleased to loan it to you. It has chapters concerning his life interspersed with chapters explaining his music. Very little about his birth, much about life in Vienna and at Esterhaza. Joseph Haydn was born either 31 March or 1 April, 1732 in the village of Rohrau, in Lower Austria (in the district Unter Wiener Wald) on the domains of the Counts Harrach. His mother was his father's second wife. His father was a wheelwright (well traveled in his earlier years and an amateur musician) and became Marktrichter of Rohrau. Father's name was Mathias, mother was Anna Maria Koller, who had been a cook in the Harrach castle. Joseph was the second of 12 children, most of whom died in infancy, but two others also became musicians. Johann Michael (1737), a celebrated composer in Salzburg, and Johann Evangelist (1743), tenor in the Esterhazy chapel choir at Eisenstadt. Haydn's birthplace was subjected to floods and burned in 1899. There are four principal biographies of his life, in German, other than the one I have, including an autobiographical sketch he wrote in 1776. He went to school in the nearby village of Haimburg, then the Choir School of St. Stephen's in Vienna. Later, of course, he was hired by the Esterhazys and had a house in Eisenstadt (which burned and was rebuilt at least twice), but spent much time at Esterhaza after it was built, except for his travels and sojourns in London and elsewhere. Nothing more is said about his ancestors. The book I have is "Haydn, His Life and Music", Landon and Jones, Indiana Univ. Press, 1988. ISBN 0-253-37265-8. Below is part of the bibliography: Autobiographical Sketch that Haydn wrote for an Austrian Magazine, 1776? G. A. Griesinger,"Biographische Notizen über Joseph Haydn", Leipzig, 1810 A. C. Dies "Biographische Nachtrichten von Joseph Haydn", Vienna, 1810 Giuseppe Carpani "Le Haydine", Milan 1812 (Italian?) Anthony von Hoboken "Joseph Haydn "Themematisch bibliographisches Werkverzeichnes", Mainz. 3 vols. 1957-78 Denes Bartha "Joseph Haydn, Gesammelte Briefe unf Aufzeichnungen, Kassel 1965 Vernon Gotwals, "Haydn-two contemporary portraits", Madison, Wisconsin 1968. (translations of Griesinger and Dies) Mraz & Schlag, "Joseph Haydn in zeiner Zeit" exhibition catalog Eisenstadt 1982. These are the ones mentioned that deal with life and times (plus other bibliography). Fritz responds: On your kind bibliographical excerpts, as listed below, none sounds like a candidate to present a tree of Haydn. However, I am printing your message and will take it with me on my vacation in Austria to check the list against the holdings of the Styrian State Library. When I'm there, I'll also look whether anybody has published a genealogy of Joseph Haydn. (ED. NOTE: I understand it's possible that Fritz may be able to link to Haydn's maternal tree, thus the interest. Given Fritz's considerable research skills, we'll be interested to see if this develops. More later.) (Newsletter continues as no. 83A) THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 83A DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (issued biweekly by G. Berghold) June 30, 2000 This second section of the 3 section newsletter contains * The Taste of the Burgenland - Yesterday's Restaurant * Civil Birth Records * More Comment Concerning Kathleen Kelly's Trip to Burgenland * A Member's Comment * A Marriage Problem * Typical Prospective Member Query * Pöltl Name THE TASTE OF THE BURGENLAND - "YESTERDAY'S RESTAURANT" - COPLAY, PA (suggested by Kathy Browning) The ethnic mix in the Americas has contributed to an equivalent mix in our cuisine. This is readily apparent in the tremendous popularity of Italian, Hispanic and Asian food among others. Stir fry, pasta, pizza, chili, enchiladas, etc. have become part of the American scene. Even here in Winchester, VA, we have Bulgarian, Brazilian and Indian (Sikh-Punjabi) restaurants along with a number of Asian, Hispanic and Italian restaurants. Regional ethnic food is equally popular in some locales but we must often visit the ethnic enclaves to find it. True Burgenland restaurants are hard to find outside of Chicago and New York. The nearest equivalent to me is the world class "Bavarian Inn" in Shepardstown, WV. They serve a great "rouladen" and numerous "schnitzels" as well as a fair Apfel strudel, but their specialties are more German than Austro/Hungarian. They lack those traces of the east in their recipes. One authentic Burgenland restaurant that I have enjoyed is "Yesterday's" located at 2nd & Chestnut Streets, Coplay, PA (just north of Allentown). Here you'll find many Burgenland specialties and afterwards you can stroll the cemetery looking for Burgenland immigrant family names (be sure to also visit the one behind the Catholic church in West Coplay (Stiles). If you're still in need of refreshment, you can finish the day by stopping at any of the ethnic taverns - on a weekend you may find some button-box accordion entertainers. Coplay is still almost a south Burgenland village. Many of the immigrants came from the districts of Güssing and Jennersdorf (Szt. Gotthard, Hungary district pre 1921). I recently heard from the sister of Yesterday's owners, Lou & Dotty Klucharich. She writes: << Just a note to tell you about my brother's restaurant in Coplay, Pennsylvania, "Yesterday's." It is an ethnic restaurant serving all those Austrian dishes which our grandmothers and g-grandmothers made. Dumplings, strudel, palatchinkins, kraut knöckles, stuffed cabbage, pogaschals, Dobish cakes, and Nut Kipfels, along with Hungarian and Polish dishes also. On my only trip to Deutsch Ehrensdorf, the village of my paternal grandmother, Karoline Legath Kopfer, my husband and I stopped in Rudy's Gasthaus, where we feasted on Weiner schnitzel and homemade wine from the neighbor's vineyard. We found out that he visited in Coplay and ate a wonderful Austrian dinner in Yesterday's Restaurant. What a delightful surprise! There is a sprinkling of Grossmurbisch Klucharichs (Kluscarits) throughout this area of the Lehigh Valley. Next time you visit the Lehigh Valley, I would heartily recommend a visit to Lou and Dotty Klucharich's restaurant for a taste of Burgenland! Kathy Klucharich Browning >> To which I replied: I've eaten at Yesterday's and enjoyed it, but perhaps our members would like to know about it. I'll publish your memo in a future issue. Coplay is worth a visit, as it, more than many other enclaves, retains a lot of the Burgenland village atmosphere. My grandmother's twin sister, Fannie Mühl Wallitsch Holzer (from Kleinmurbisch and Güssing), and her husband, Charles Holzer, had the West End Coplay Hotel (Stiles) at Ruch & Oak Streets for many years. Their daughter, Hilda Wallitsch Burkhart, and her husband then took it over. While they no longer have the hotel (it is still being run as a tavern), I still correspond with her and her son Kenneth. Regards, Gerry Berghold CIVIL BIRTH RECORDS - MORE - A QUESTION Burgenland Civil Records are covered in some detail in newsletters 41A and 54A. These are the Hungarian municipal records, which started in 1896 and, in effect, replaced the church records (still maintained but available only at the parish office) as official records of births, marriage and death. These civil records are available as microfilm from the LDS for the years 1896 to 1921. You will find them following the church records for each village in the LDS index. Use Albert's list to determine which village contains the civil records for your village. As previously stated, they are full of data not normally found in the church records, although they do require the use of an Hungarian dictionary. In later years the amount of detail is reduced but, if you have an event which took place between 1896 and about 1906, you'll find parents, grandparents, occupations, "standigkeit", house numbers, etc. A treasure trove of information. The first name appearing on each record is often the name of the person reporting the event. It can be a parent, midwife, doctor, priest or even a neighbor or close relative. So many family heads had emigrated, often leaving family behind, that they were not available. The next name on the record is generally the recorder, entered quite large with a flourish! Only then will you see the name of the newborn child, marriage couple or deceased individual. This order varies somewhat as the record format changes, but be aware that you must read the entire document to make sense out of it. The previously mentioned newsletter articles can help you. Microfilm is only available for those villages ceded to Austria. Of particular interest to those researching the villages of southern Burgenland are those for the Güssing area - LDS numbers 0700420-430. Marilyn Rome asked Fritz Königshofer if he would comment on why the midwife would have reported a birth. Fritz replies: Marilyn, With the help of a Hungarian colleague, I have been able to get the meaning of the entry in Ferenc Zapfel's civil birth record about the reporting done by the midwife, Anna Schiebinger. The record states that "Anna Schiebinger, who had witnessed the birth, reported it instead of the father who was away." This may mean that father Jänos Zapfel was working somewhere else at the time, perhaps in the US? MORE COMMENTS CONCERNING KATHLEEN KELLY'S TRIP TO NORTHERN BURGENLAND Kathleen writes: You were so right when you said the "angels really smiled" on me. I felt the Austrian trip flowed so well, and I am in contact via e-mail to the Familie Klein at the Illmitzimmerhof Pension where I stayed in Illmitz. They asked me to help market their wine here by taking it to David Bouley's new restaurant "Danube," which is rated one of the best in NYC. Speaking of restaurants, I found the food in Illmitz, Apetlon and Pamhagen to be very good and everything tasted so fresh. I had the best ever white asparagus creme soup, very good salads, and the most delicious apricot creme ice cream (I went back for seconds). All were moderately priced. Because of Illmitz's charm, setting, its proximity to Vienna, and the Pannonian claim of 200 days of sun a year, one of my first thoughts was that this would be a fabulous place to have a summer home, or as a place for retirement. Sure enough, my last day there I saw many new homes being built on the outskirts of town; some, in my opinion, were out-of-proportion large with respect to the other houses there. I also happened to meet in the store of Peter Klus (it is a gathering/meeting place besides a store) several Germans and a Viennese who were all building retirement homes there. (ED. NOTE: Many Austrians have apartments in Vienna and build, purchase or renovate second homes "in the country" for weekends, holidays and eventually retirement. This is one way that they can enjoy the benefits of rural living in or near the homes of their families while still being able to find work in the industrialized areas. A similar practice in the US would go a long way to stop urban decay and aid the rebirth of our cities. It would also help reduce the development of our rural areas with attendant problems. The older Burgenland village homes are not easily restored. One Viennese worker told me he bought an old peasant cottage for the equivalent of $35M but it was costing him in excess of $100M to modernize it! Still, I can't think of a nicer arrangement for a retired Austrian than an apartment in Vienna and a small home elsewhere.) The Klein family told me that some of the streets in Illmitz had been rebuilt because, for a few decades up to the 1950's, portions of whole streets were burned down for "insurance money." They also spoke of the return of the Burgenland emigres who, upon their return, built American-style houses, and the area where they built them the locals called "little Chicago." I tried to do research in the cemeteries in all three villages, but the oldest graves dated from the end of the 19th Century (circa 1895). I was told by people working in the cemeteries that the families buried family members who died later over the older graves, and some grave sites had three to four layers. I did not have the time to check on church records. When I have time, I will look through the materials Herr Stein gave me and, if I find anything of interest, I will advise you. Thank you again for all your dedication to the BB. Kathleen writes further: I just read BB Newsletter 81A and, because Robert Hayes passed through the villages of Illmitz, Apetlon and Pamhagen that I recently visited, I relived the sights in my mind's eye and I also recalled hearing the birds singing everywhere. I should also mention the lace curtains that adorned all the windows in homes -- such a myriad of designs! And I forgot to ask if anyone can tell me the name in English for the "akazie" tree that has fragrant white flowers similar in appearance to Queen Anne's lace that grew everywhere in the area. (Ed. - Akazie is the "acacia" or locust tree. I have a few behind my house.) I would like to comment on the border crossing at Pamhagen. Robert mentions that "some tension was evident." Although I did not cross into Hungary, I saw Austrian soldiers at the end of every road in Pamhagen leading into Hungary. They were also stationed at the river and at the bridges. I was told that it was not to keep the Hungarians out that they patrolled the area, but rather to keep the Iraqi and Iranians out. They have had a lot of difficulties with people from these countries trying to enter EU through this area. A MEMBER'S COMMENT (from Kim Bulone) I wanted to take this time and thank one of your staff members, Albert Schuch, for some help he gave me regarding my Schuch family. I say "my" because we haven't found a link between us at this time. I wrote to him a few weeks before Easter and explained that my family came from Monyorokerek (Eberau) to Chicago and wondered if he had any information for me. He wrote back saying that he remembered an article written in the Burgenlandische Gemeinschaft in 1997 entitled "Chicagoans visit the home of their parents". During his Easter vacation he found the article and related photos. In one photo, I recognized my grandmother's brother and two of her cousins! The other was the exact photo that I have on my wall in my home! I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated that Albert went out of his way do to this for me. The Burgenland Bunch has been so helpful in my research. I hope I can return the favor to anyone out there needing information as well! P.S. I have found some old letters from Eberau... they are written in Hungarian script and I can't read them. Can you recommend anybody who does translations? Thanks! TANCZOS-KLUCSARITS DILEMMA & PANY NOBILITY (Anna Kresh, Fritz Königshofer) (ED. COMMENT: Marriages frequently elude us, they invariably take place in some village (home of the bride?) other than the ones we're familiar with. When we find them they can lead to many other branches of the family. Anna has been having a problem with a Tanczos-Klucsarits (lots of them) marriage and asked Fritz for help.) Fritz writes: Anna, I've been back from my one month business travel for more than a week, but catching up with e-mail has been a bit overwhelming. Anyway, the film of the St. Nikolaus parish of Güssing has arrived and I was able to take a brief look last week. My second, more thorough inspection was thwarted by the Easter holidays, as the LDS Center last week already closed on Thursday or so. The film is indeed full of Klucsarits entries. However, I did not find (yet) a Tanczos/Klucsarits marriage. One big problem is that the ink used by the priest in some of the years around 1840/50 is nearly unreadable. I'll try to put the microfilm under the readers with the brightest lamps and see what I can find. However, as I perhaps already have written, I believe you are on a very promising track with the birth you found of a John Tanczos/Jandrisevits in 1844 and the possible successive legitimating of this birth by the marriage of the parents in 1851 (if this marriage is indeed related). You need to get hold of the original record of the 1844 birth to see if a marginal entry on subsequent legitimating of the birth was made in it. Even if there is no marginal entry there, it is still possible that this is the correct Jänos for you, but if there is, you have near certainty. You could also try to obtain the church entry of Jänos's death (from the records likely still held at the church), and see whether it said anything on his parents. In the civil records, there was clearly confusion about the maiden name of the mother, and Klucsarits may have been agreed to and entered in error. I had also ordered the records of the Roman Catholic church of Gerersdorf, a parish which forms a geographic triangle with Güssing and the Tschantschendorfs. On first glance, the records of Gerersdorf are teeming with bearers of the name Tänczos! The impression is as if Gerersdorf was a center of the Tänczos name in southern Burgenland. Anna, when I was in Budapest last month, I checked a bit about the Pany nobility. It appears that no noble Panys are recorded in any census or other nobility book of Vas county. However, the Siebmacher Wappenbuch for Hungary, Vol. 1, p. 480, edition of 1893, describes a noble family Pany and shows their coat of arms on Tafel [exhibit] 351. Accordingly, this family received their nobility from King Leopold I, issued in Wiener Neustadt on April 7, 1668, and publicly announced in the county Torna, and valid for Valentin Päny, his brother Johann and Johann's wife Katharina Deäk, their son Stefan, as well as for the other brother Stefan and his son Martin, and the blood-relative Gregor Varga. Therefore, this Pany family resided in county Torna. Further, I found a reference (but did not note down the source) to a noble family Pänyi (Christoph) under the noble families of Zemplén county and referring to year 1505. TYPICAL PROSPECTIVE MEMBER QUERY Some of you may no longer remember your first exchange of Burgenland Bunch email. We've tried various approaches over the last four years. Now with over 550 members and very few cancellations, we don't supply as much initial data as we used to. We now expect new members to do their own digging, although we still supply direction. Many questions have already been answered and answers are available in our archives. As you might expect, there are some people who expect us to immediately supply them with a full-blown genealogy, others expect us to do their work for them. Sometimes we will, if we find a situation that tickles our fancy. It's fairly easy to separate those who are really interested in family history in the Burgenland and those who have only limited interest. Some are looking for something for little effort on their part. These get an "invitation" letter and we rarely hear from them again. Sometimes I think these are students looking for a term paper! When a prospective member does not supply all of the data we desire, we'll send them our "invitation letter" and follow with a "welcome letter" when they respond to the invitation. This provides them with what they need to continue with research and visit our web sites. Fortunately, most of our contacts are very pleasant and interesting, like the one that follows. In a message dated 6/19/00 9:17:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, William G. Kramer writes: << Please see the attached and advise if you can help. Thanks. William G. Kramer >> <> Our reply: There are two ways we can help, but you must do the work, we can't do it for you. One way we can help is for you to search our membership, surname and village lists as well as our newsletter archives available from hyperlink from our homepage (see address at end of invitation). The other is for you to search the Neuberg church record microfilm available at any LDS Family History Center. The film numbers are: 0700736 for 1847-1895. Neuberg (Ujhegy in Hungarian, pre 1921 - Nova Ora in Croatian) is in the district of Güssing. Prior to 1947, the inhabitants went to church in St. Michael (records 1828-1896 are nos. 0700716-717). There are also civil records 1897-1921: Nos. 0700476-488. Your Kramer and Pomper names are, of course, German, while all of the "its" names are Croatian. Refugees from Croatia (Turkish invasion) were settled in the Güssing area as early as 1524 by Franz Batthyány when he was given the Herrschaft of Güssing. All of the names you mention are still in the Güssing area phone books and many of our members are researching some of them. As to where they settled, they probably arrived at the port of New York (most Burgenland emigrants came through NY) and then went on to Chicago, which still has a large ethnic-Burgenland community. There is a Pomper who publishes a small newsletter of the doings of ethnic-Burgenland clubs in Chicago. Some of your names are also found in the Allentown, PA, area. To join us follow the instructions below. Regards, Gerry Berghold, BB. BURGENLAND BUNCH INVITATION If you are doing Burgenland genealogical research or have an interest in the Province of Burgenland in Austria (Vas, Moson & Sopron Megye [counties], Hungary pre 1921) and wish to join our group, which is specializing in this area, etc. (snip) A reply was received thanking us for our reply and indicating they would be joining. PÖLTL (POELTL) NAME One page or chapter of every family history should contain some information concerning the family names. It need not be definitive, probably never will be for most of us, but it can contain what we know of the derivation of the names and what we have found. I've covered some names in previous issues of the newsletter. I do this when I become aware of something special or a little different. One of my family names is a strange one - the name PÖLTL (Americanized to POELTL). Since I happen to have a distant cousin with this name, I keep looking for information that I can send him. I recently received the following via the internet (one of the benefits of being listed with the BB). My reply is an example of one way in which a family name can be described. In a message dated 6/5/00 10:44:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Helmut Belthle writes: << Dear Mr. Berghold, I've read the surname Pöltl in the Burgenland Helper. I'm very much interested in that name, for my ancestors had this name too till they switched from Bavaria (near Munich) to the area of Stuttgart (capital of Baden-Württemberg) in 1670. As far as I know all Pöltl were knackers in the 17th and 18th century. Is that similar to the Pöltl family of Austria? In Ismaning (a town north of Munich) there is a great farm (house) that is called Pöltl-Hof. The former inhabitant(s) in the 16th C. were big and famous farmers called Pöltl. Considering this, it might be possible that the first representatives of the family came from Ismaning. How far could you trace back the Austrian Pöltls? Do you see any link between the German and the Austrian Pöltl-family? Please drop me a line. Thanks! Sincerely Helmut Belthle Amtsrat Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg Referat 21 Königstr. 46 70173 Stuttgart Germany >> My answer: Herr Helmut Belthle, Thank you for the contact. It isn't often that I hear of someone interested in the name Pöltl. This was the family name of my maternal great-grandmother from the village of Rosenberg (Rosahegy in Hungarian) which is now an appendage (Ortsteile) of Güssing, Province of Burgenland, Austria. Her name was Joanna Pöltl Mühl(1835-1941), which she changed to Poeltl, as did several cousins and other relatives who also emigrated to Allentown, Pennsylvania. She came in 1905 with her twin daughters, following her son who emigrated earlier. The Mühl name became Muehl. There are still Poeltl descendants in the Allentown area. The Pöltls of nr. 217 Rosenberg were small holders (farmers) with vineyards. Birth records also show them as "Polgar" (Hungarian for citizen or Burgher), No knackers (collected animal carcases for processing) that I have found. The earliest I've found (in the Catholic church records of Güssing) was one Johannes Pöltl, 1769-1853, same place. There were numerous descendants from his two known sons, Johannes Jacob and Ferencz. They married into Majer and Beidl families. Another family from Rosenberg was my maternal grandfather Alois Sorger. They were potters with vineyards also. Other Germanic families with which they were related were Artinger, Weber, Nikitscher, and Sammerl. Unlike the Berghold line, who were Lutheran refugees from Styria and Lower Austria about the time of the last of the Turkish wars (1690?), I believe the Pöltls and other German families came from Franconia, Swabia or Bavaria (no proof). All of a sudden in the late 1600's, German names begin to become the majority in southern Burgenland where, before, they were mostly Hungarian (Magyar) and Slav (Croatian). This leads me to believe they were colonists who took up land which was depopulated during the Turkish and Kuruzen (Hungarian Transylvanian revolutionaries) troubles of the 1600's when many of the southern Burgenland villages were destroyed and inhabitants killed or carried off. This was too early to be part of the Donau Schwabian migration, which, for the most part, resettled further east and south. The Güssing Herrschaft was the domain of the Batthyány family, who owned much land, many castles and villages and vineyards interspersed among those I've mentioned. Franz Batthyány received the Herrschaft from King Lajos (Ludwig II) of Hungary in 1524. I have noticed some Pöltl families in northern Burgenland but have not been able to link them to my line. One is now a state official of some sort but his name escapes me. I have often wondered how the name began. The best I could think was that it was a contraction from St. Hippolytus or Leopold. Then there is the city of St. Pölten. Any thoughts on this? I appreciate your interest in this name and would be pleased to hear further from you. While it is most doubtful that we can link our respective families, it is possible that they did link somewhere in the German states. Then again, the German presence in the Burgenland dates back to the 12th century and, while it is doubtful if any of their descendants survived the many periods of war and plague, it is always possible. I am aware of various church and civil records extant in the German state archives that list migrations to Hungary over the centuries. It has been my hope that I might someday find such a list which would contain the Germanic names found in the Güssing area. It is very possible that these families migrated to the Burgenland as a group for mutual aid and protection, perhaps encouraged by agents of the Batthyány family. If you should be aware of any such records, please advise. Regards, Gerry Berghold (Newsletter continues as no. 83B) THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 83B DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (issued biweekly by G. Berghold) June 30, 2000 This third section of the 3 section newsletter contains: - a report of Bob Loerzel's Recent Trip to Austria. It includes some side trips to possible pre-Burgenland places of origin in southern Germany and some comments concerning local records. It is another most interesting report and a BB exclusive. Many members are visiting the "Heimat" this year. Are we having an "Auswanderung" centennial? Also included in this section are: - a Preview of Bob Geshel's Recent Trip (coming in the next addition), - URL and Member Changes. BOB LOERZEL'S TRIP TO AUSTRIA (Editor's Comment) Like most of our members, Bob did his homework before he left. He also asked us the following question and subsequently followed much of our advice: << Is there anything in particular you would recommend researching while I'm in Austria that can't be done in the US? >> Our answer: I see Albert Schuch has already answered you (Ed. - See previous newsletters for travel hints). I'd suggest you review any of the trip reports dealing with southern Burgenland. While you'll be mainly interested in the district of Oberwart, by all means try to see all of the Burgenland places of interest. As far as genealogy is concerned, Albert has mentioned some things. In addition I'd look for your ancestor's home (you should have a house number from the LDS records). While you say Mischendorf (Pinka Miske), aren't there some other villages mentioned for your families in the LDS records like Kotezicken, Kleinbaschselten, Grossbachselten, Rohrbach, Neuhaus? I'd check them out also. In addition to writing cemetery data, also photograph them (use ASA 400 film with a filter or a digital camera). Visit the Mischendorf Gemeindeamt (Nr. 107) and ask if they have any thing which might help (they will at least have the civil records from 1896 to date). Also go to a bookshop in Oberwart (or Güssing) and buy Kersner and Peternell's "Der Bezirk Oberwart im Wandel der Zeit", see page 234. See what other books are available. Don't miss visiting Güssing, Oberwart, Eisenstadt, Mörbisch am See and Rust. Also Frauenkirchen if you have the time. While in Eisenstadt visit the Landesmuseum. More publications. You must see some of the castles, certainly Forchtenstein, Bernstein, Sclaining and Güssing. Also Güssing Auswanderer Museum. Visit the B. Gemeindeschaft office in Güssing and ask for Mrs. Dolmanits. Read my article 2, Genealogy on Site in the Burgenland for more. Hyperlink from the Homepage. Newsletters dealing with trips are nos. 12, 14, 25, 36A,34A, 40, 53A and a few others. Bob Unger and I are working on a "Trip Tips" article which may be out before June. You might want to contact Bob in the meantime. Hope this helps. Gerry Berghold ROBERT LOERZEL'S TRIP Here is my account of my recent trip to Burgenland and some other recent research I've done. Feel free to use this or portions of it in the Burgenland Bunch Newsletter. (Ed. Note: Bob asks some questions in this report which I've answered with Ed. Comments). My trip to Burgenland (and many other parts of Europe) was fabulous. Here are some details, observations and questions that might be helpful to other genealogy buffs. Before leaving on the trip, I did some preliminary research and made a couple of interesting discoveries. I had never looked at the 1828 Hungarian Census (that was mentioned in earlier BB newsletters) for Mischendorf, the town where my family is from, so I requested that microfilm through my local Family History Center. I haven't had much time to analyze the records yet, but they look fascinating. What's especially interesting is the three pages of handwritten observations at the end of the census. Of course, it's in barely legible Hungarian, so I'm not sure what it says. Question: Do many of the other towns have long sections of observations like this? What subjects do these observations tend to cover? (Ed.-yes they do, while I've not translated any, they appear to be summaries as well as notes concerning some of the entries. It would take someone fluent in Hungarian script to translate them and I'm not sure they would add anything significant.) I also discovered that the LDS has a series of microfilms called "Feudäliskori összeiräsok, 1714-1848," which are described as "Hungarian governmental records from the feudal ages for Vas County ... Taxation, population, property records." I took a look at the three films with sections on Mischendorf/Pinkamiske. It appears that film 1729844 is a population survey from 1804-1805; film 1729853 is tax-collection records from 1838; and film 1729877 is an inventory of possessions belonging to Mischendorf residents from sometime in the period 1834-1844. Of course, it's all in Hungarian, but it's in a standard format that shouldn't be too difficult to translate. Question: Have these records been mentioned in earlier BB newsletters? Does anyone know what sort of information they contain? (Ed.-Yes they have been mentioned, they are very similar to census records, but they refer mainly to tax collections.) The one other thing I did before heading to Europe was to go through the family tree I'd compiled with information from the LDS microfilm of births, marriages and deaths. I discovered that Theresia Andruchowitz-Halper in Vienna had compiled much of the same information and put it in the Ancestral File on the LDS's www.familysearch.com Web site. Checking there, I was able to fill in some gaps in my family tree. I had been rather sloppy in keeping track of exactly where my ancestors had lived. Theresia was much better about this, and so I used her information to discover that some of the people of my family tree hadn't actually lived in Mischendorf. Rather, they were in the neighboring towns such as Kohfidisch that were included in the same church records as Mischendorf. Before going to Austria, I spent a couple of weeks visiting Paris, Amsterdam and various parts of Germany. I went on a separate genealogical quest to find my Lörzel roots in the Unterfranken area of northern Bavaria, but met with limited success. I discovered the church records are at the area's diocese, in Würzburg, but the man at the archives told me the next available date to view the microfilm was Nov. 22! I did meet up with a Lörzel family and we compared family trees. I also visited the Oberstreu Rathaus, where the clerk took us up to the third floor -- a room filled with old books and documents. As a genealogist, I was salivating to see this potential treasure trove of information. But there was a problem: The clerk could not find the index that shows which records from Oberstreu are in which box or book. A similar index for the records of the neighboring village Mittelstreu (part of the same Gemeinde, or municipality, as Oberstreu) was on the desk, and glancing through it, I got an idea of what sort of information the boxes contained. Much of it looked very interesting, such as lists of families that lived in the village and a record of "Ein- und Auswanderung," showing who had moved into and out of the village during the 1800s. But without the index for Oberstreu, we weren't able to accomplish anything. I hope that I can return to Oberstreu sometime in the next few years, and it would be wonderful to arrange some time when I could go through the records in that room. In addition to basic vital records, I might find other details about the lives of my ancestors. All of this got me to wondering about what sort of records one might find at the village halls in Mischendorf. (More on that later.) (Ed. Note: You never know what you'll find in a village Gemeindeamt-it always pays to ask if they have a village "chronik" or history. Often locals will do some research and give copies to the gemeindeamt library or files.) When I got to Vienna on June 3, I called Theresia and we arranged to meet at the local Family History Center. It was my good fortune that she works there and could open up the center for me on a Saturday when it wouldn't normally be open. She showed me her family tree database, which amazingly enough includes all 7,000 names in the LDS microfilm from Mischendorf for 1828-1895, and I was able to add some additional names to my family tree. I gave her copies of the Hungarian records I had recently found, and she was happily surprised to see them. She hopes to have her son-in-law, who is fluent in Hungarian, translate them for us. The next evening, I went out for a drink with Albert Schuch, and then the next morning, Theresia and I drove to Eisenstadt, along with Bob Geshel from Phoenix, Arizona, and Dieter Göschl, from Freising, Germany. After driving around and around the block and asking several people for directions, we finally located the Catholic Diocese Archives, where Theresia had made an appointment for us to view their records. The director of the archives was gone that week, but the secretary was very helpful. It was really amazing to see and touch the yellowed pages of the books that the parish priests had used in the 1700s. Theresia and I were both a bit overwhelmed by the information in the two Mischendorf books covering 1714 through the early 1800s. Both of us have reached the point where we have dozens of different families in our genealogies, so that virtually everyone listed in the old documents is a potential relative. It's hard to know what to take notes on if you have a limited amount of time. (Ed. Note:-zero in on the direct blood lines.) While Theresia took some notes, I decided to try photographing the pages of the books with my digital video camera, which can take still photos. This was an idea I got from an earlier BB newsletter. The dilemma I faced was: Should I take notes and get about 1/20th of the information I want, or should I spend all of my time photographing the pages, when I am not sure how legible the print will be on the photographs? I decided to follow the latter course. While Bob and Dieter went off to other parts of Burgenland, I went to Eisenstadt by myself on Tuesday to finish the filming. It took me most of two days to photograph all of the pages in the two Mischendorf books. Man, was my arm sore after that! I then went back on Wednesday morning because I'd noticed many interesting-looking reference books on the shelves in the archive rooms. Though I had no appointment for Wednesday, the secretary said it was no problem for me to extend my research time for a day. I photographed more pages, this time from books that collect various Latin documents from the early history of Burgenland. I found particularly interesting some books with records of "parish visits" (canonical visitations) to the various towns, including Mischendorf, which appear to offer some details about what the towns were like. I drove down to southern Burgenland that afternoon and found a hotel room in Grosspetersdorf. Unfortunately, I hadn't left much time to do sightseeing, so I wasn't able to see any of the castles or major sights in Burgenland, but I was able to drive around Mischendorf and the surrounding towns, taking photos and video. I had visited once before, when my great-aunt and uncle were still living there, but this was the first time I'd had a car at my disposal, which made it much easier to get around and see things. I visited the Mischendorf cemetery and used my digital video camera to take still pictures of each headstone. As in many European cemeteries, the older graves have not been preserved, but the information I found there should help me figure out what happened in recent decades to some of my cousins. I also photographed the war monuments in Mischendorf and all of the surrounding towns, and visited a few of the other local cemeteries. When I was looking in the Kotezicken cemetery for the graves of people named Polzer, I struck up a conversation with one of the older ladies who ride their bikes to the cemetery and fix up the flowers on people's graves. It turned out her maiden name was Polzer, so you can imagine she was surprised to find someone from America poking around in the graveyard looking for Polzer graves. The next morning, I visited the parish records office in Mischendorf (which is actually in the same building as the post office and municipality, rather than in the church). Theresia had made an appointment for me there, too. I wanted to see the church records because of a gap between the books in Eisenstadt and the LDS microfilm. The LDS microfilm begins in 1828, and the Mischendorf records in Eisenstadt cover these years: births, 1715-1814; marriages, 1715-1829; and deaths, 1715-1816. That meant I was missing the birth records from 1814-1827, and the death records for 1817-1827, and these records were supposed to be at the parish. The parish secretary was very helpful, and let me sit in a room for a few hours looking at the books, which were in much better condition and more legible than the ancient tomes in Eisenstadt. I used my video camera to photograph the pages from the missing years... And then I made an interesting discovery. Paging through the years after 1827, which I had already researched via the LDS microfilm, I noticed that the records at the parish have notes and observations that were added in later years, which are not included in the LDS microfilm. For example, in the birth record for a child, the priest had added information years later about whom this person married and when, or when the person had died decades later. (Ed. Note: many priests when searching for proof of baptism for say a marriage, will then annotate the previous entry, serves as a trail for future entries. I've seen some of these even on LDS microfilm.) In some places, a child's first name was crossed out, with a different name written in, apparently years later. I am guessing this is because some people came to be known by different names than the ones they were baptized with. It was also puzzling that in some places, the name of the father had been scratched out with an entirely different name written in different handwriting later. What does this mean? Is the second name that of a stepfather? Or was it discovered that someone else was the real father? Or was this simply a correction of a clerical error? In the case of one illegitimate child on my family tree, a note was added that seems to explain the child's last name was changed when his mother later got married. At that point, the child's surname was apparently changed from that of his mother (Knarr) to that of his stepfather (Kassanits). I don't know if the records in other parishes contain these sort of later notes, additions and corrections. But if you are relying on the LDS microfilm for your family tree, it may be worth checking the books at the parish in Burgenland to see if there are additional details like this. Question: There seem to be double sets of these books, with some kept at the parish or Eisenstadt and some in Budapest, where the LDS microfilmed them. Did the priests keep two sets of book simultaneously, or did someone go through the books later and copy everything? If so, which books are the originals? (Ed. Note: the ones at the parish and at Eisenstadt. Those in Budapest are copies made by who knows who at some later period.) The room where I was sitting had some plaques on the wall detailing the village's history, so I photographed those as well. I then asked if there were any books on the history of Mischendorf I could buy, and the parish secretary took me over to the Gemeinde office, where I bought a copy of "Der Bezirk Oberwart in Wandel der Zeit," a handsome illustrated hardcover book from 1996 with short chapters on all the towns in the Oberwart Bezirk. (Ed. Note: See previous newsletter articles concerning this series of books. I have them all thanks to the help of cousin Klaus Gerger who is using them to complete his new map series available by hyperlink from the home page.) The section on Mischendorf confirmed some things I had noticed about the town's name while going through all of these records. Before it was Mischendorf and before it was Pinkamiske, it had simply been known as Miske. According to this book, it had originally been known as Myske, from a Hungarian form of the name Michael. That name apparently evolved into Mischendorf over the centuries, so it seems to be a German attempt at pronouncing a Hungarian name. Other towns in the area have similar etymologies: Kotzeicken was originally Szeg, which become Zugen or Zicken, then Kotezicken. The Hungarian name Fuzes, Füzes or Fyuzes evolved into Egyhazasfyzes, which became Kirchfidisch, and Gyepewfyzes, which became Kohfidisch. The confusing thing about those collections of old Latin records is that there were apparently two or maybe three towns called Myske, Miske or Mischke, so it wasn't always clear which town old records were referring to. The indexes of these books indicate that one town called Miske became Mischendorf, and one became Strebersdorf (or Repcemicske). There's also a town called Miske that is sometimes referred to as Vasaromiske, but I can't seem to find that one in Albert's Village Data, so I'm not sure if that is a third village or one of the first two that I mentioned. In any case, I highly recommend getting the Oberwart Bezirk book if your family is from that region. Also, I caught a glimpse of some of the records stored at the Mischendorf Gemeinde office when I was there, and it looked like the typical sorts of records you would expect to find at a village hall (business permits, taxes, etc.) Question: Does anyone have experience using local government records for their genealogy? What's available? What's useful? How accommodating are the governments in providing this information? (Ed. Note: Albert Schuch has commented on these. He feels they are available for search, particularly those that involve land ownership.) I don't think the Gemeinde's records at Mischendorf go back very far. I'm guessing the really old stuff was kept by the Hungarians, but I really don't know. After buying that book, I hurried to Graz, where I visited my cousins that afternoon. I hadn't really left enough time for a long visit, but it was nice to see them nevertheless. Upon returning to America, I took a look at all that videotape I made of the church record books. Some of it is legible, but some of it will be awfully difficult to read. I don't yet have the attachment that will enable me to download these pictures to my computer, so maybe it will help if I can play around with the images in Photoshop. In any case, it'll be a lot of work to decipher all of it and make sense of it, but if I can manage it, it'll be enough genealogical data to keep me busy for a couple of years. (End of report) PREVIEW OF BOB GESHEL'S TRIP Well, I survived my trip to the Burgenland...in spite of LTU Airlines! But that's another story! I found many records at Eisenstadt and the parish at Eberau!I was able to go back to 1722! At the Gaas Catholic Church cemetery, we found many Keschls (Geschl). The people at the Diocese office in Eisenstadt, and the priest and his assistant at the parish in Eberau were extremely helpful and friendly!I can't say enough good about them! As one member noted, one can stay in the Burgenland for $50 dollars a day! I left with $480 and returned with $168. that's $312 dollars for six days (including beer and cigarettes)! Lodging was generally about 300 to 350 Shillings. I'll provide you with a more detailed story later. BURGENLAND BUNCH INTERNET LINKS - ADDITIONS, REVISIONS 6/30/00 (from Internet/URL Editor Anna Tanczos Kresh) AUSTRIAN, AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN INTERNET LINKS o European Car Rental - Auto Europe http://www.autoeurope.com or Europe by Car http://www.europebycar.com (Bob Unger) o Elderhostel <www.elderhostel.org> - a not-for-profit organization offering high-quality, affordable, educational adventures for adults who are 55 and older; short-term educational programs (Bob Unger) URL CHANGES (revised links/descriptions) o Soundex Overview/Converter http://www.bradandkathy.com/genealogy/yasc.html - convert one or more surnames to U.S. Census Soundex code(s); excellent Soundex overview (address change - Brad Mohr, site owner) o Bezirk Maps http://members.1012surfnet.at/gerger/Map/VillageMaps.htm - by BB member Klaus Gerger; maps of various Burgenland districts with village names in 3 languages; householder lists; some downloadable; work in progress (new village additions; check New, Next, and Planned lists - Klaus Gerger) MEMBER CHANGES - WE NOW HAVE OVER 537 MEMBERS. Please be considerate when sending changes. frequent email address changes and additions to listings, switching screen names, using multiple screen names etc. creates a chore for those of us who have to update multiple files. Try to get it right the first time. Try to always use the same address and screen name for your BB email and always provide your full name on all correspondence. We're all volunteers. Make our jobs easier. NEW MEMBERS Eileen M. Beach, Richmond, VA. KROBOTH, SEIER. Güssing, Moschendorf. Settled in Nazareth, PA. Mary Erhard, Minnetonka, MN., BACHER, SCHNEIDER, Feltorony/Halbturn. Emigrated to US May 1885. Moved to St Paul, MN l888, to Waconia, MN 1892. Kent Hofler, White Hall, VA. HOFLER, VOLKOWICZ, Jabing. Settled in New York City. Mark Steven Kobulnick, Bellmore, NY. HAFNER, Gerersdorf (bei Güssing); ZLOKLIKOVITS, Eisenhüttl. Janice Kucirek, Omaha, NE. PERLINGER, Paul Hungary-Austria Tomas Nadorfy (Dreisziger) Tarafas and Daniel A. Nadorfy P., Caracas-Venezuela. TARAFAS, from Pinkamindszent (German name Allerheiligen), Val (sw of Budapest), Szombathely, and Budapest Hungary. To Venezuela and Buenos Aires, Argentina and US. (One of our first South American contacts.) Sandy Richter, Caseyville, IL. HALWACH, Rose; SCHUTZENHOFER, Frank; Grafenschachen, (District Oberwart) Austria Settled in East Saint Louis, IL. CHANGE Robert Schmidt Gary Portsche Michael Damhesel CANCEL R. W. Stiegelmar; Rockwall, TX; STIEGELMAR; Gols. (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 Bunch Newsletter distributed courtesy of (c) 1999 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/ P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 Newsletter and List Rights Reserved. Permission to Copy Granted; Must Provide Credit.