BB News No. 184 dtd 28 Feb 2009

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 184 DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY February 28, 2009 (c) 2009 - The Burgenland Bunch - all rights reserved Our 13th Year, Editor: Johannes Graf and Copy Editor Maureen Tighe-Brown The Burgenland Bunch Newsletter, founded by Gerry Berghold, retired, is issued monthly as email and is available online at http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org Current Status Of The BB: * Members: 1694 * Surname Entries: 5497 * Query Board Entries: 4034 * Newsletters Archived: 183 * Number of Staff Members: 14 EMAIL RECIPIENTS, PLEASE READ: You are receiving this email newsletter because you are a BB member or have asked to be added to our distribution list. To subscribe or unsubscribe, use the change form available from our Home page at http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org. You cannot send email to this newsletter. If you have problems receiving the newsletter as email, it may be read, downloaded, printed or copied from the BB Home page. There is also an archive of previous newsletters. This first section of our 2-section newsletter concerns: 1. Pictures of Gerry and Molly Berghold 2. German Script Letters - a new tool 3. Passaic County, NJ Declarations/Naturalizations Now On-Line (by Margaret Kaiser) 4. Canadian immigration (Mike Huber & Fritz Königshofer) 5. The Church of Szentimre/St. Emmerich in Rönök/Radling 6. Memories of St. Emmerich (by Bob Strauch) 1. PICTURES OF GERRY AND MOLLY BERGHOLD BB-member Heinz Koller from Güssing have made an online picture page of photos from Gerry and Molly Berghold's visit of 2001. http://picasaweb.google.de/heineles.webalbum/Berghold?authkey=5_XzO0rMvBA&feat=directlink 2. GERMAN SCRIPT LETTERS - A NEW TOOL BB member Marsha Jenakovich tells us of a problem she had, which many people have had, of deciphering handwritten German script: Hi Tom I've been doing my own family research in the LDS records and have gotten pretty good at reading the old script (well, post-1800 anyway). Unfortunately, I have one family entry I just can't seem to decipher. I'm hoping that another member of the BB could help me read the information on the attached digital copies of a marriage record. My relatives (the last entry in 1820) are Joan. Szalmer son of Laurentius...(?) filius filius pastor and his wife is Susanna (?) daughter of Joseph and Maria (?) pastoris filia. I can ALMOST read Susanna's last name...okay, no, I can't read it at all. : ) Sometimes I wish these parish priests could take a handwriting class! I appreciate any help anyone can provide! Marsha Jenakovich So some staff members helped her with this problem, and now we have posted a page of all known German old-style "Kurrent" letters for future handling. http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/Help/BB-german-letters.htm 3. PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ DECLARATIONS/NATURALIZATIONS NOW ON-LINE (by Margaret Kaiser) Many Burgenlanders immigrated to Passaic County, New Jersey to work in the area's clothing mills and other factories, and in time, as a result, the New Jersey Burgenlaender Society was established in Passaic County. The BH&R (Burgenlaenders Honored and Remembered) web site includes a formal photo taken in 1932 of this society's membership. Many of the 115 photographed members have been identified by name. (Refer to http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/BH&R/homelinks/nj_burgenlaender_society-1932.htm to view these Burgenland-immigrants.) Recently Passaic County naturalization and land property records were made available online. This is more than an index since the actual document images are viewable and printable. There is no cost to use this site and there is no registration requirement. The web site is: http://records.passaiccountynj.org Some of the naturalization records include a photo of the applicant. Many of the naturalization files specify the applicant's hometown. In some cases there are name spelling variations, but if you enter the first few letters of a name, you'll received all names beginning with those letters. The BH&R is being updated to reflect now-known hometowns of the NJ Honorees. If you have any Burgenland ancestors to add to the BH&R Honoree List from NJ or elsewhere, please submit them. Good luck finding your ancestors with this additional search tool. 4. CANADIAN IMMIGRATION (Mike Huber & Fritz Königshofer) Mike Huber wrote: Dear Herr Königshofer: Greetings from Pennsylvania. I have been a Burgenland Bunch member for several years and I have been researching my Burgenland ancestors since 1977. Recently, I discovered ship passenger lists with my grandfather and his brothers, who traveled from Burgenland to Bremerhaven and Hamburg, Germany, and then sailed to Canada. Landing in Quebec in the 1920s, they would then travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba, or even as far as British Columbia to work in the sawmills for a year before gaining freedom and emigrating to the United States (sounds to me like indentured servants). My grandfather was the 6th of his brothers to travel from Austria to Canada. I have been trying to research the sawmills and have discovered that the housing boom in the western US required lumber, which was readily available in Canada. Anyway, on the ship passenger listing for my grandfather in 1929, his destination was the "L.I.B." in Winnipeg. After an unsuccessful Google search, I wrote to the City Library in Winnipeg with the L.I.B. information and address (439 Main Street) and was told that L.I.B. stood for the Lutheran Immigration Board. I'm trying to get some history on why the L.I.B. would be recruiting Austrians to work in the sawmills. Have you come across the L.I.B. in your Austro-Hungarian research? It has occurred to me that perhaps the Viennese newspaper may have run ads in the 1920s. Have you seen any of these? I will try to use my library to get access to newspaper, but I wanted to try you first. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated. There were several men on the 1929 manifest heading to L.I.B. in Winnipeg, so it must have been a popular venture. In addition, I'm sure my grandfather didn't have a lot of money, but he showed up in Quebec City with $25.00 on his person. I'm guessing the L.I.B. also bought him a train ticket to Manitoba. Respectfully yours, Mike Huber PS If I've sent this request to you by mistake (meaning it should go to another editor), I apologize and ask you for the correct address. Hannes Graf ( a distant cousin of my father) is very busy doing a great job with the nesletter, and I didn't want to add to his full inbox. Fritz Königshofer reply: Dear Mike, Thank you for your very interesting message. Unfortunately, I have to admit that the matter you raise (LIB and its recruitment practices) is completely new to me. I recommend that you contact Dr. Walter Dujmovits, president of the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft, who is also a member of the BB and has written a book and several articles on the subject of emigration from Burgenland. It's possible that the LIB directly canvassed the relatively few Lutheran parishes in the new Austrian state of Burgenland and offered to pay the fare in exchange for a lock at the emigrant's employment for one year. If you have not yet done so, please put Lutheran Immigration Board Winnipeg into a google search. The first-listed result I received is a book that deals with immigration to Canada. You find this book at http://books.google.com/books?id=awZGrPonfSMC&pg=PA196&lpg=PA196&dq=Lutheran+Immigration+Board+Winnipeg&source=bl&ots=ncIdGs8Hns&sig=TOe4nFB3_Iqk8fxJaez67vcyNRk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result Fritz Königshofer Miker Huber reply: Dear Fritz: Thank you for the note. I had googled the LIB, and it returned the book in your link. Unfortunately, LIB is only mentioned once and it is vague. I ordered it through inter-library loan, anyway, just to make sure. I will sent a note to Dr. Dujmovits. Hopefully we can find some evidence. I appreciate your quick reply. Best regards, Mike Huber 5. THE CHURCH OF SZENTIMRE/ST. EMMERICH IN RÖNÖK/RADLING (translated by Bob Strauch) [Ed. 2021: The apparent original German text, credited to Karin Hösch, can be found here: http://szentgotthard.plebania.hu/nemet/nemetronok.html ?fbclid=IwAR1vlZaOOWJ5nh3oCInRbXs7iuGuSijdGSH9xdGthchbjCY6QsJP6z0Vy6w. However, it is not clear whether this material was online in 2009 when Bob provided a translation. Bob thinks he may have seen it first back in the 1990s when Elfi Jaindl sent him newspaper articles and historial texts about the church to support solicitation of funds for the restoration from the emigrant American communities.] Village and Parish History The western Hungarian village of Rönök (Radling) is located between Szentgotthárd (St. Gotthard) and Szombathely (Steinamanger), east of the neighboring municipality of Inzenhof, which is located across the border in Austria. The settlement already appears in documents in the 14th Century. In 1318, a village magistrate referred to as “Paul, son of Hermann von Rennek” is mentioned in connection with a sale. In 1333 there was a dispute over ownership of a property called “Ryunuk” between a certain Petew, son of Duruzlaus, and his son Johannes and Tatamerius, the royal vice chancellor and provost of Székesféhervár (Stuhlweißenburg). A document drawn up between January 20, 1335 and May 14, 1336 names Tatamerius and his brothers Stephen and Bako as heirs of the property known as “Ryunuk”. During the same time period, King Charles I ordered the Capital of Vasvár (Eisenburg) to determine the legal situation of the property. Later in 1336, the Capital reported to the King, that as per his orders, the borders of the property called “Ryunuk” were established in the presence of its neighbors on May 14th of that year and would henceforth be known as “Olsowryunuk” (Alsórönök/Unterradling) and would remain in the possession of Tatamerius and his brothers. To its west lie the area designated as “Feulseuryunuk” (Felsorönök/Oberradling), separated from it by border markers. On November16, 1336 the property Alsórönök was finally sanctioned by the king in view of the many services and diplomatic and military tasks performed by the owners. Originally, Felsorönök belonged to the parish of Güssing and it was only at the beginning of the 17th Century that it became an independent parish. Starting in 1618, Reformed and then Protestant pastors became responsible for performing church services, a duty which was given back to Catholic priests in 1652. A church inquiry in 1757 referred to the church dedicated to St. Emmerich in Felsorönök as a branch of the nearby monastery in Heiligenkreuz. In 1789, the creation of a new parish was reported. Formerly part of the diocese of Györ (Raab), the parish was transferred at the end of the 18th Century to the diocese of Szombathely, which had be founded by Empress Maria Theresia and sanctioned by Pope Pius VI in 1777. In 1950, the villages of Alsórönök and Felsorönök were united to form Rönök. Architectural History of the Church The Original Church Only a few reports about the original church building are known. The first mention of a sacred building in Felsorönök appeared in the 15th Century when a priest named Kelemen was reported working there in 1452. In 1698 a historian named Kazo referred to the church as spacious and having an arched chancel and a wooden choir. A church inquiry from 1757 showed that the church, which stood some distance to the west of the village (probably Alsórönök), had a tower covered with wooden shingles as well as a vestry. The chancel was arched (as already described in 1698) and the nave had a ceiling made of wooden boards. The facilities included three altars: the main altar of St. Emmerich and two unconsecrated altars dedicated to the Virgin Mary. On July 15, 1864, lightning struck the church tower. The repairs lasted until 1866. In 1867, a new altar dedicated to St. Emmerich was purchased and consecrated on the June 11th of that year. Three days prior, on June 8th, a new pulpit commemorating the coronation of Emperor Franz Joseph I as King of Hungary had been completed. The Construction of the New Church According to records of the time, demolishment of the church was begun in 1893, presumably with the aim of building a larger one. The specific designs for the new building were completed in August 1898 and attributed to the Leipzig-born and Vienna-based architect Ludwig Schöne. His works include, among others, the Protestant church in Körmend (1886), both the Catholic parish church (1892/93) and Savings Bank (1880-90) in Köszeg (Güns), as well as the synagogue in Szombathely (1878-1880). [Editorial note: Other sources attribute the design to Sándor Baumgarten, a well-known architect from Budapest who specialized in school buildings.] The laying of the cornerstone of the new church, which was now served by parish priest Josef Bartl, took place on November 2, 1902 and construction was overseen by Josef Lang from Szentgotthárd. Funding was secured from the Royal Hungarian Church Fund. On August 28, 1904, outside construction was completed and the church was soon used for pastoral purposes. The project was not yet quite finished at this point and donations for its completion were solicited. On April 13, 1945, retreating German troops set the church on fire. However, local residents acted quickly in putting out the fire, thus limiting the amount of damage. In 1951, the last mass held at St. Emmerich was read by parish priest János Komíves (1919-1999), who had to leave the country under intense political pressure. Since the church was now located in the so-called “No Man's Land”, an uninhabited area on the border between Austria and Hungary, it was left to decay and became a ruin. The Reconstruction of the Church Only after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 could the reconstruction of St. Emmerich commence. To this purpose the association "Save St.Emmerich’s Church” was established and held its inaugural meeting on November 23, 1989. The restoration project, which was championed particularly by the association’s chairwoman, Elfriede Jaindl from Inzenhof, began in autumn of 1990.Various companies and organizations contributed to the success of the project, among them the Vocational Schools in Vienna-Floridsdorf and Villach, who completed the copper work on the tower in 1991 under the direction of Guild Master Manfred Willitsch. On August 19, 1991, the tower cross was blessed by Pope John Paul II in the presence of Bishops Stefan László (diocese of Eisenstadt) and István Konkoly (diocese of Szombathely). At that time, only the tower and the roof of the church had been finished. The following year, the remaining church was completed and consecrated on September 20, 1992. 6. MEMORIES OF ST. EMMERICH (RÖNÖK, HUNGARY) (by Bob Strauch) (Ed: from NL-133C published 10.31.2004) On the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of St. Emmerich's Church in Oberradling/Felsörönök: Recollections of Margareta Schanta of Whitehall/PA, native of Raabfidisch, as told to daughter Gretl. "Each village in the parish had its special place to stand around the church before mass began. Also, men/boys and women/girls stood in their separate groups. For example, the girls from Fidischer Bergen stood on the southwest side near the right side of the church entrance. This is where they chatted and decided where they would go to dance that afternoon. The folks from Hausergraben (just below the church) were always the last ones to show up, often waiting until the final bells." "Quite often when Mass began, some of the boys were "missing". They were over in the stables hanging out with "Gfoarri-Ferdl" (the parish priest's brother, Ferdinand, who wasn't a priest, of course). As was the custom, "Bartl-Gfoarri" (Father Bartl) would walk back through the church blessing everyone with holy water at the beginning of the mass, but he'd just keep walking out the door - a few minutes later, the boys would come running in from the stables." "Holy days were always celebrated with the Schröttner Orchestra from Raabfidisch playing in church - sometimes on brass instruments, sometimes on strings. Once or twice at Christmas, the brass players would go up in the church tower and play several Christmas hymns ("Turmblasen"), which could be heard throughout the surrounding hills and valleys. They didn't do this too often because the stairs were steep and narrow - difficult to navigate with instruments. Music was an important part of life at St. Emmerich's. "Bartl-Gfoarri" himself played the bass violin." "At Easter Vigil, there was always a big procession with the brass band, flags, singers, firemen and boy scouts ("Levente") in their uniforms. They would shoot off a little cannon (this was Gfoarri-Ferdl's job and he selected a few of the older boys to help - a big honor) during certain times of the procession. Since gunpowder couldn't be bought in Hungary, this was always "smuggled" over from Austria. When everyone walked home after the vigil around twilight, the "Osterfeuer" were burning - everyone tried to put these bonfires on a high point and include a stump so it would keep burning for a long time". Newsletter continues as number 184A.
THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 184A DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY February 28, 2009 (c) 2009 - The Burgenland Bunch - all rights reserved The second section of this 2-section newsletter includes: 1. FELSÖ-RÖNÖK, HUNGARY and CHURCH OF ST. EMMERICH 2. LAND HOLDING TERMINOLOGY (Schuch, Königshofer, Schatz) 3. ETHNIC EVENTS MARCH 2009 (courtesy of Bob Strauch) 4. BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES Editoral note: This is part of our monthly series designed to recycle interesting articles from the BB Newsletters of 10 years ago. Our current newsletter features the Church of St. Emmerich (St. Imre); thus we recycle some of its history, as recorded in the Jan 1999 Newsletter. In addition, A February, 1999, article speaks to the multi-lingual nomenclature used to identify the land-holding status of our Burgenland ancestors. THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No.51B JANUARY 31, 1999 1. FELSÖ-RÖNÖK, HUNGARY and CHURCH OF ST. EMMERICH Ed.(Gerry) - Felsö Rönök or 'Ober Radling' is the third village after crossing the Hungarian border at Heiligenkreuz on 'Rt. 8' in southern Burgenland. The border, as drawn in 1921, swept sharply west here so as to keep Szentgotthárd in Hungary. Szentgotthárd was then the Bezirk municipality for most of today's villages below Bezirk Güssing. It was replaced by Bezirk Jennersdorf. Many families with Hungarian ties were split as a result. A number of BB members have ancestors from this area and the Felsö Rönök LDS records date from 1789, Nos. 0601492-494. In 1873, there were 1400 RC's attending church there (included Alsö Rönök) and 120 Lutherans, who used the Martin Luther Kirche in Eltendorf (Körtvélyes). There were 16 Jews (Kormend synagogue?). I've been following a Felsö Rönök correspondence between Margaret Kaiser, Bernadette Sulzer and others. Margaret, who has conducted much research in this area, is planning an article on the history of the church. She recently asked some questions, which Fritz Königshofer answered in addition to translating Felsö Rönök material appearing at the turn of the century in the "Volksfreund". Margaret's questions and Fritz's answers follow: Margaret writes: "do you think pre-1789 records exist somewhere in a Diocese or were destroyed along the way? If so, how/where does one go about seeking them? Would the archive be Austrian or Hungarian? What is the reformed church? Is that like the Dutch Reformed? Or is it another form of Lutheran (in this country we would say another Synod)? From letters from my distant relative, who is acquainted with the current Priest, the earlier parish records on hand on site begin in 1860. The LDS films begin around 1789. The parish records are on site from 1860 to present." Fritz replies: "Margaret, In the Hungarian context, the "Reformed Church" invariably means the Calvinist form of Protestantism. In Austria, we call it the "Helvetian (Swiss) Confession" as compared to the Augsburgian (Lutheran) one. The parish priest of Felsö Rönök would likely be the best person to know since when matrikels were recorded in the parish, and what happened to the earliest ones; or in which parish earlier recordings were made for inhabitants of the village. Since you have expanded on the story of the Szent Imre church, let me enumerate the articles I copied on the subject from Der Volksfreund: Jan 24, 1891, p6. About the derelict state of the existing church which apparently was a stone construction. The parish priest Nikolaus Herczeg is said to try very hard to urge the church and civil authorities to do something, but to no avail. Feb 7, 1891, p5. Parish priest Herczeg responds to the above article by stating that the authorities have already acted, and that the measures toward planning and building a new church are under way. He expects a quick start and completion of the new church within 15 months. Feb 21, 1891, p6-7. Rudolf Ruisz reacts to the statement of the parish priest. He declares that it was he who had written the article of Jan. 24, and that the priest's rebuttal had not been able to explain away the fact that the existing church presented an imminent danger to priest and congregation when holding services or ringing the church bells. Apr 3, 1897, p6-7. Letter to the editor from a visitor to the cemetery of Oberradling (the visitor wanted to visit the graves of his or her children). The letter deplores the state of wilderness and lack of care in the whole graveyard, as well as the derelict schoolhouse next to it. Feb 25, 1899, p7. Reports on concerns that the old little church might crash down any moment; that recently, during a service held while a storm was going on outside, the church had started to shake in its fundaments so that the congregation had to flee outside at once. The authorities have now closed the church and approved funding for building a new church. Plans for it are already available for view. Two builders have been found so far who would be willing to erect the new church, namely Josef Lang of Szent Gotthárd, and Roman Tropper of Graz. Sep 7, 1901, p3. Recalls that the old church had been closed by the authorities two years ago, and that one year ago the builder Lang of Szent Gotthárd had been selected to erect the new church. Nobody seems to know why so far not even the fundaments have been laid for the new church. Mass was being held at the schoolhouse for the last 1 1/2 years, creating an impossible situation for the new teacher R. Linger and his family. The article then reports that a village delegation led by the teacher went to Rátót to complain at the "Ministerpräsident" [perhaps meaning the district's governor?] and was promised effective help to get the work underway. All articles are in German. Further, I noted that Der Volksfreund of June 17, 1905, p3, reported about the consecration of the new Szent Imre church that would serve Alsö and Felsö Rönök and Räba Szent Mihäly. The ceremony took place under the most terrible weather conditions. The church is stated to be a masterpiece of modern architecture, having the best organ near and far. "Thus the wish of parish priest J. Bartl has found its fulfillment." [Bartl had succeeded Herczeg.] In Sep 1909, the newspaper reported about the completion of a brand new school house in Felsö Rönök. The teacher at the time was Rudolf Steiger. The issue of July 23, 1910 reports that the 18-year old son of the "much-liked teacher of Oberradling Rudolf Steiner" [sic; his name was either Steiger or Steiner] had drowned when swimming in Güssing; the son had been a hairdresser there. This completes the copies and notes I have about events in Felsö Rönök. THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No.52B FEBRUARY 28, 1999 2. LAND HOLDING TERMINOLOGY (Schuch, Königshofer, Schatz) (Ed. (Gerry) - In previous newsletters we've discussed the varying "status" terminologies that we find in old documents mentioning our Burgenland ancestors. A definition of these terms is necesary for us to understand the position our ancestors held in their villages as well as an appreciation of living conditions. The following interchange adds to previous articles. Being discussed is the amount of land "sessio" (Latin) required to have the status of full-farmer: "landwirt" (German), "agricola" (Latin), "paraszt" (Hungarian), or a non-farmer: "söllner" (German), "colonus" (Latin), "napszamosno" (Hungarian-day laborer) - although the latter could own a house and some land, but not enough land to be considered a landwirt, etc. Fritz Königshofer to Albert Schuch: On this useful find (article concernig definition of "sessio"), I have only one question. Should it mean that a farmer had to have at least one eigths of a sessio, rather than 8 eights as in your message? Otherwise, the definition leaves open the status and term for owners of between one eigths and 8 eights. My other question is whether one eights was enough to make you a full farmer, or whether you had to have more than one eights. From the article you cited, it appears that one eighth or more made you a farmer, and the other categories applied to people with less than one eighth. I am raising this question as we had the Latin term octavalista which we translated into "Söllner"... I wonder whether there is a possibility that it rather was a synonym for a full farmer [owning one eighth or more]. Bob Schatz to all: Thank you for this interesting exchange. I would only like to add that my own research seems to indicate that these terms were used not so much to designate a rank, but simply the amount of land farmed. My research is limited to Urbersdorf and a few other villages near Güssing, and so I can only speak of them. Here in the early 19th century (before 1848 and then the Kommassierung - land distribution - of the 1860s) the amount of land a family farmed was dependant on two factors: the entire amount of land belonging to the village as a commune (its Hattar-Hotter), and the number of households in the commune. In an urbarium (tax record) which I uncovered for Urbersdorf from 1840, the Hattar is equally divided among all the farming households, which left every household farming a 5/8 sessio. I have always interpreted this to mean that this society was much more communal in nature than our own, and that it would have been unusual (and anti-social?) for a farmer to acquire another 1/8 or so on his own. I guess I mention this so that we avoid applying twentieth century interpretations to the fact that some farmers were "full" and others were not. My reading of the data I have at hand is that most farmers had little private control over how much land they farmed - this was entirely dependant on the size of the village lands relative to the number of its farming households. This communal approach to farming seems to be rooted in the values and practices of the Middle Ages and was quite different from our own capitalist concepts of private enterprise. Does this interpretation fit with everyone else's research? Forgive me if I am belaboring this. I've checked the works of Kiralyi and Jaszi regarding full and partial sessios. According to the urbarial regulations enacted under Maria Teresa, circa 1764, one sessio was the maximum amount of acreage a household could farm. A farmer working one full sessio would have been referred to as a "full" farmer because he farmed the maximum amount of land possible for a manorial tenant. At the time that the Empress Queen's regulations were promulgated, one eighth of a sessio was deemed adequate to support an extended family and allow it to fulfill its fee/tithe/tax obligations to landlord, church and royal and local governments. Because this society practiced open-field agriculture, a family's sessio would actually have been distributed as several strips of land scattered throughout the village Hotter/Hatar (my relatives in Strem once explained that this was partly to insure that no one family would farm all the best soil). A sessio also varied in size depending on the fertility of the soil. A sessio in the District of Güssing was actually 5 to 10 Joch smaller than a sessio in the northern Districts because the land was somewhat more fertile in the south. What amazes me is that the Bünker article which Albert found was written in 1894, almost fifty years after the manorial system had been abolished in Hungary. The fact that farmers still used the concept of the sessio and the eighth would seem to imply that ancient traditions and usage did not change all that drastically after the Kommassierung, even though farmers had the outright ownership of their land by that time. What also interests me (from a psychological and idiomatic point of view) is why farming units (the sessio) were reckoned from the top down, so to speak. Why call the maximum amount of land a "sessio" and smaller amounts an 8th, 3/8th, etc.? Why not start from the bottom up, especially since it was rare for any farmer to hold one full sessio? Ed. Summary: >From what has been covered in this and previous newsletters, I believe we can view Burgenland "farming" in the following way. Prior to 1848-1860's when land distribution went into effect, the land surrounding any particular village was owned by the aristocracy (Herrschaft). It was divided into portions which would provide subsistence for an average family and allow them to meet rent and tax obligations. As colonists joined the village they were assigned a portion as well as a village lot and or a house and rights to certain communal land like wood lots and pasture (commons). The rights to "rent" such portions could be inherited. As years went by, intermarriage and other changes resulted in some villagers acquiring more or less of a portion. With the redistribution of land (cost born by aristocracy, government and peasant), further changes took place resulting in a considerable change to previous arrangements. It was after this period that the ownership of land achieved a "status" value. Thus certain terms like "landwirt" came into being after the 1860's. I'd like general consensus to the following "status" terms: Period before 1848 (Kommassierung) Tenant farmer: "agricola" (Latin), "paraszt", (Hungarian) Non-farmer: "söllner" (German), "colonus" (Latin) "napszamosno" (Hungarian-day laborer) Others? Period after 1848 Farmer: "landwirt" (German) Non-farmer: "söllner" (German), "colonus" (Latin) "napszamosno" (Hungarian-day laborer) Others? 3. ETHNIC EVENTS MARCH 2009 (courtesy of Bob Strauch) Saturday, March 14 - St. Patrick's Day Dance @ Coplay Sängerbund in Coplay. Music by the Josef Kroboth Orchestra. 4. BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch) Mary H. Groller Mary H. Groller, 92, of Allentown, died on January 28, 2009 surrounded by her loving family in the home of her daughter, Joanne Conelias. She was the wife of the late Joseph J. Groller, who died in 1998. Mary was born in Northampton on August 14, 1916 (and raised in Szentpéterfa/Prostrum), daughter of the late John and Mary (Mikisits) Gerencser. She was a devout member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Allentown. Mary was an avid bowler for more than 72 years. She loved playing bingo, going to Atlantic City, playing cards with her friends and family and listening to Hungarian and polka music. Mary made the best kiffles in the Lehigh Valley. Mary will be lovingly remembered by her family and friends as someone who always had a smile on her face and enjoyed life. She especially enjoyed the company of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and attended as many of their activities as possible. Survivors: Son, Joseph M. Groller and his wife, Kris, of Bethlehem; daughters, Joanne, wife of Trent P. Conelias, of Bethlehem and Bonnie and her late husband, Ernie Affa, of Fort Collins, Colorado; sister, Catherine "Kitty" Rank of Northampton; six grandchildren, Trent, Dean, Michael, Coriann, Samantha and Alexandra; six great-grandchildren, Madison and Abigail Affa, Connor and Cade Conelias and Kiefer and Brody Batz; nieces, nephews. Herman Drauch Herman Drauch, 85, of Allentown, passed away on Thursday, February 19, 2009 in Cedarbrook, South Whitehall Township. He was the husband of the late Helena Drauch. Born in Poppendorf, Burgenland, Austria, Herman was a son of the late John and Cecelia (Baumann) Drauch. He was a member of Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church, Allentown. Herman was self employed and had a rug cleaning service in Allentown. He served with the Army during World War II. Survivor: Surviving is a brother, John G. of Allentown. 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