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THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 364 March 31, 2025, © 2025 by The Burgenland Bunch All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided. Editor: Thomas Steichen (email: tj.steichen@comcast.net) BB Home Page: the-burgenland-bunch.org BB Newsletter Archives: BB Newsletters BB Facebook Page: TheBurgenlandBunchOFFICIAL Our 29th year! The BB was founded in 1997 by Gerald Berghold (1930-2008). |
| Current Status Of The BB: * Members: 3265 * Surname Entries: 9460 * Query Entries: 5967 * Staff Members: 14 |
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This newsletter concerns: |
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Our regular tidbits include the monthly BB Facebook report, book sales, and some
Words for Thought. Odds are, if you had your mtDNA analyzed, you did so via FamilyTreeDNA, as they offered the
service at a fraction of the cost of the other vendor. This also means that their database of mtDNA results was by
far the largest in existence. Over the years, security concerns have dried up the availability of publicly
available mtDNA data, which likely explains why PhyloTree has not been updated since 2017. You can read their full report here:
https://cis.org/Report/ForeignBorn-January-2025.
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3) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES Editor: The article below is part of our series designed to recycle interesting articles from the BB Newsletters of 10 years ago. It was the second part of a review of a book about Hungarian peasant society and used an image on a member's family postcard to illustrate some of the insights offered by the book's authors. While I did not choose to repeat part one of that book review, I think it is a worthwhile read, so a link to it is in the article below, as is a link to the article where the postcard first appeared. I believe the combination provides much understanding of how our ancestors lived.  THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No. 253 March 31, 2015 PROPER PEASANTS: FAMILY STRUCTURES  In
Newsletter No. 237 (November 30, 2013), I introduced the book "Proper
Peasants: Traditional Life in a Hungarian Village" and promised more articles drawn from the insights it
presents. The authors were Edit Fél and Tamás Hofer and it is their thoughts on peasant family structures that
I'll try to distill into a manageable size in this article.As I stated in the initial article about the book, my intention is to describe those details that might enlighten us on how our Burgenland ancestors lived and interacted with their fellow citizens. Even though the subject village is far from Burgenland, both Fritz Königshofer, who recommended the book to me, and I believe it has sufficient universal nature to make it applicable to Burgenland during its Hungarian time. Related to that, BB member Ginger McGurk once shared a postcard with the staff, asking for a translation of the handwritten message on the back (Newsletter No. 239, 31 Jan 2014). The front of the card (see below) shows a Hungarian family (relatives of Ginger's) that embodied the character of the time and place that was Burgenland under Hungarian rule. And the text of the message, when translated and then viewed through the perspective of Fél and Hofer's analysis of peasant family structures, is poignant. Before I get to Fél and Hofer's family structure analysis, I want to point out a few features apparent in the family image below (Note: while these 'features' are supported by the card's message and are consistent with Hungarian peasant family structure, please know that I am, nonetheless, making conjectures, not stating facts). First, note that the older lady has pride of place in the center of the photograph... yet the likely mother of the pictured children is relegated to a standing position at the edge of the photo. Also note that the older gentleman and the adult man (who likely is the father of the children and husband to the standing lady) are given almost equal positions seated next to the older lady; this despite the fact that the adult standing lady is almost certainly the daughter of the older couple (per Ginger's information) and the seated man is only a son-in-law. The eldest son anchors the other end, by his grandfather, and is attired in a seemingly new suit.  So why are the people arranged in this manner?  Let me start with a little background information... according to Fél and Hofer, in the traditional Hungarian land-owning/farming household, the older people, men and women, retained authority in the household until death. However, it was generally desirable that one or more sons would "marry into the household" to insure maintenance of the family's economic base and provide a secure retirement for the parents. However, if no sons existed or did not "marry in" (for whatever reason), a daughter and her spouse were obliged to live with her parents; the vő (son-in-law), came into the household to provide manpower. Given the importance of family (család) in traditional Hungarian social life, this second situation (a vő coming in) was far less desirable for both the household's family and for the vő. The married-in vő was part of the háznép (household) but not the family. Fél and Hofer say that "Nobody wants to become a married-in vő. A young man is always forced to do so by circumstances or tempted by the 'desire for property'." In the preferred arrangement of one or more sons marrying in, the son's wife, the meny (daughter-in-law), would be brought to the house of his parents on the day of marriage along with her hope chest; no other noticeable change occurred in the house or household. In the alternative arrangement, if a son left his család before the death of his father to marry in elsewhere, the vő usually came into the new household with only his clothes and a hatchet, regardless of how rich his father was. His clothing was placed in his wife's hope chest and, like a meny, his coming induced no noticeable change in house or household. However, the future of the vő was often assured by a contract with his wife's family that entitled him to payment of "the average wages of a hired man" for the duration of his marriage should he leave the household after the childless death of his wife or if he should be sent away. In the household, the head and ruler is usually the oldest man, the gazda (head of the family), and he is the owner of the family estate (more formally, a gazda is a peasant owning a farm that is sufficient to enable him to support his family without additional income). However, it is possible that a male child or a woman could be the gazda because of the death or military service of the putative gazda. Whoever is gazda, they have absolute authority over the household and its property, having final word on economic decisions and even marriages of members of the household, and control all family income. The gazda does the marketing, buying and selling its livestock and produce, even purchasing the clothing of household members. He/she has the place of honor at the dinner table, being first to eat, given the best pieces, and cutting and distributing bread to household members as he/she sees fit, and has the best sleeping place. However, the main share of the farm work also is his responsibility, leading the work, setting the pace, and helping the weaker workers. The position of gazda is maintained until death and no property is handed over until that time. However, after age 50 the gazda may assume a more "directorial" role, letting the hard labor be done by younger family members. Men (including boys from age 12), led by the gazda, spend most of the year (from early spring until late fall) living in the kert (the "farmyard," a fenced-in place, outside the village proper, containing a stable for horses, cattle and sheep, a cart shed and tool house, and a stack yard where stacks of hay, straw, or grain in sheaf are stored). The men are there to care for and guard the animals and crops and to be nearer the fields for farm duties. The men may return to the house in the evening for food but other meals are brought to the fields. A husband might share a marital bed with his wife only one or two nights a week; the rest were spent sleeping in the kert. [Side note: Joe Jarfas tells me that the more modern meaning of kert in the Szombathely area (where he was raised) is a fenced area around the house holding a vegetable garden, flowers and/or fruit trees, all being attended by the women of the household. The terms rétek (where animals were kept) and földek (where crops were grown) were used for the male domains and were the places where men lived much of the year. He later looked up 'kert' in his Hungarian etymological dictionary, which revealed a first mention of the word in print in 1055... having the current "garden" meaning. Only in the 13-1400s did it begin to have regional variations that encompassed the "farmyard" meaning used by Fél and Hofer in Átány.] Second in command is the gazdasszony (gazda + woman), the wife of the gazda. While the gazda bears the burden of the agricultural labor, the gazdasszony has that of the house and household. The gazda asks only what shall be eaten but it is the gazdasszony who has responsibility to provide the food and make ends meet. She has the right to know what is happening in the farm and fields, where the men are working and what they are doing, and she shares with her husband any problems with household members or expenses. She has the next-most honored position in the household, sitting beside her husband at the table and sharing his bed. When meny-s are in the household, her precedence is emphasized by her right to cook and bake (her sense of self-worth is tied to being able to do these things); the others are merely helpers in these tasks. It is also her right and duty to carve the meat at table and to allot shares as she sees fit; likewise to allot food for field lunches. She is the keeper of the family purse, with all cash within the family entrusted to her care. When the gazda needs money, he gets it from her and then provides an exact account of what was spent; likewise, any cash earned by a sale of family property is reported to her and the cash turned over to her for safekeeping. However, she keeps two different accounts. Proceeds from the sale of livestock, grain, etc. constituted the "tőke" (capital), the money for farm expenses. Only the gazda can spend this money. Money for expenses of the house (supplies, lamp oil, clothing for her and her daughters, tobacco for the men, even spending money for bachelor sons) must be raised by her by selling poultry, milk, bread, linen, etc. Suits and boots for men may be paid from tőke money, but female attire never. In order to build the trousseau of daughters, geese are raised by the gazdasszony for the eiderdown for a featherbed and hemp is grown to be woven into linen; the goal being to have enough linens in the trousseau to last the daughter's lifetime. As for food, typically a 300-400 pound pig, taken from the family stock (kept in the house yard at night but sent out to pasture daily with a swineherd), is expected to feed a family of four for a year. Grain for bread is also supplied by the farm fields and milk is from the family cows (milked by the women). All other foods are raised or grown under the guidance of the gazdasszony and she must assure it all stretches the full year. As for grown sons and daughters, and especially meny-s and vő-s, they do what they are told and have no real influence in decision-making. Inheritances only occur on the death of the gazda, so there may be many years of effective servitude before a reward comes. However, it is the gazda's responsibility to preserve and improve the estate and never to sell inherited property (purchased property can be ethically sold). Daughters (and meny-s) are expected to milk the cows, assist in hoeing the fields in the summer, and do household labors under the direction of the gazdasszony. Sons and vő-s take care of the livestock, plant, attend and harvest the crops, and work with the draft animals, per the wishes of the gazda. Younger sons and daughters (especially sons, as they can carry on the family name) are what Fél and Hofer call "the ornaments of the house" and are raised by the mother and grandparents. At six years of age they become school children, which they attend for six years. Upon leaving school, a girl is considered "eladó" (marriageable), however a boy is merely considered "suttyó" (a youth). He moves to the kert where he is slowly taught the art of farming. When he grows older and stronger, he may work on the farm or be sent off to work as a swineherd, shepherd or day laborer. While there is pride in "being given orders only by one's father," life as a worker elsewhere was often easier, as you only had to do what you were hired for, as opposed to whatever your father dreamed up. A boy may start his farming career by hoeing crops but reaping was considered "the real work of men." Only when the art of reaping was learned, usually at age 16 or 17, could a boy be considered a full-fledged worker. Even then, he had to pass the test of keeping up with a team of trained harvesters before he was considered a man. Success at that graduated him to the life of a bachelor, a scythe man, where he was allowed to smoke in public and serve himself at table. He was also given a good suit, new boots and spending money, and began a short, irresponsible (but condoned) period of life known as the "bachelor's life." Bachelor life meant roaming every night with other bachelors... dancing, drinking and brawling. While some work was done to support this lifestyle, little thought was given to his family or its economic welfare. Even more so, depending on his mother—or a little minor in-family theft—to support his lifestyle was not uncommon. However, the bachelor's life ended at age 18 when a two-to-three-year period of military service began. Upon return from service, getting married and starting adult life became the goal and bachelorhood was no longer condoned. Upon completion of their school years, girls worked in the house, attending the younger children, doing chores, and preparing their trousseaus, and they hoed in the fields in the summer. They were not taught to cook (as that was the duty of older women). At age fourteen they begin to receive suitors and were expected to be married by age seventeen or eighteen. By age twenty, an unmarried girl was regarded as an "old maid" and was expected to sit in the "spinster's pew" in church. They lost the right to choose their own husband and were actively "marketed" by their family in an effort to "give them out of the house." So this brings us back to the picture above and my question as to "why are the people arranged in this manner?" Pictures were considered part of household life, not of agricultural endeavors, so fell under the control of the gazdasszony. As such, given her place of honor in the house, she was also given place of honor in the picture, seated upfront and center. Her husband, the gazda, was placed to her right, also seated. The only surprise is that the vő was also given a place of honor, seated beside his mother-in-law. This was driven, in part, by the fact that he was male (and males were clearly considered more valuable and honor-deserving than females in the Hungarian village society and families). However, it also strongly suggests a few other things. First, as a vő, he must have somehow endeared himself to the family, becoming accepted more as "son" than "son-in-law" (if not, the eldest grandson might have been afforded the more honorable, seated position). Second, from the picture, it seems that the gazda himself was no longer strong (especially in comparison to his wife), so likely had ceded some family leadership to his son-in-law and eventual heir. Likewise, the difference in footwear between gazda and son-in-law suggests the same; the gazda no longer wears the boots of a working man. Even the fact that the vő is holding a cigar, a sign of manliness during that time, while his father-in-law is not, suggests a higher-than-expected status in the family. As for his wife, slightly behind and to the left was considered the proper place for a wife when walking in the village. To echo that in the picture was quite understandable. Even more so, her place on the edge of the family also echoes her relatively-low current status in her peasant family structure and home. As for the eldest son/grandson and his new suit, it seems likely that he had entered his bachelor life, still young but regarded as a man and allowed to be up front with the other adults. (Nonetheless, his facial expression suggests he might be happier out carousing with his friends!) Placing the younger children in the background was also consistent with their place in village and family society and their difference from their elder "bachelor" brother. Thus there is much about this picture that is consistent with what Fél and Hofer tell us about family structures in Hungarian peasant villages of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having read their book, the picture said so much more to me than it might have done otherwise. Again, I recommend the book to you if you are interested in increasing your understanding of our Austro-Hungarian roots. |
4) ETHNIC EVENTS LEHIGH VALLEY, PA Please consult the club links for their events: coplaysaengerbund.com lancasterliederkranz.com readingliederkranz.com evergreenclub.org NEW BRITAIN, CT Friday-Sunday, 1-8 pm: Biergarten is open. Austrian Donau Club, 545 Arch Street. |
5) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (none this month) |
| END OF NEWSLETTER (Even good things must end!) |
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| Burgenland Bunch Newsletter, copyright © 2025 by The Burgenland Bunch All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided. |
News
This
month's random bits and pieces (Article 1) starts with a wrap-up for the Austrian
federal election, which finally has a new coalition government in place. Next, I talk about a new mtDNA
haplotree called MitoTree, which is replacing the venerable PhyloTree. The third bit is about
the images of the matrikal records for the Burgenland Evangelical churches going online... are they all
available now? Next, I discuss three new features for the FamilySearch Family Tree tool. In the
fifth bit, I'm pleased to announce the contribution of a transcription of Apetlon death records,
compliments of Rebecca Chamberlain. Our sixth bit also reports a contribution: Patrick Kovacs provided an
enhanced Heugraben 1858 house list that adds plot numbers and modern spellings for surnames. In the 7th bit, I
tell you about some significant archaeology discoveries near Mattersburg... at least one of these is
"mammoth"! The eighth bit reports that the US has hit a record proportion of foreign-born in its population (that
is, the record since 1850 when the Census Bureau started tracking place of birth). Our penultimate bit reports
that 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy and likely will be sold. We end with a minor dispute in
Hackerberg... still it's major enough to give you hiccups!
Austrian
Federal Election—We Have A Government: Via a coalition of the center-right ÖVP, the center-left SPÖ and
the liberal NEOS (its first entrance into the federal government), Austria finally has a new government in place,
a record-setting 5+ months after the election. The plurality-winning far-right FPÖ has been relegated to the
opposition. The three-way coalition will control 110 seats in the parliament, significantly more than the 92
needed for a ruling majority. While some say that the election was stolen from the FPÖ and that the will of the
people was thwarted, the FPÖ earned only 57 seats (and less than 29% of the vote), nowhere near a majority and not
much more than the ÖVP's 51 (26%) or the SPÖ's 41 (21%).
Burgenland
Evangelisch Record Images Going Online: a few months back, Patrick Kovacs sent me a note to report that
the images of the matrikal records of the Burgenland Evangelisch churches (both classical Lutheran
[Augsburg / A.B.] and classical Calvinist / Reformed [Helvetic / H.B.] confessions) have started to appear
online at 
FamilySearch Family Tree Updates:
FamilySearch has had an interactive, collaborative family tree system for quite some time, but they enhanced it in
a number of ways recently. 
which
runs through town. An 8-year-old Mattersburg boy spied it when passing by on his bike. Being interested in
archaeology, he thought it was petrified wood and looked closer, which revealed it might be a tusk, so he reported
it to the authorities. Archaeologist Dorothea Talaa first thought it was the tusk of a European forest elephant,
which were much larger than modern elephants, having a shoulder height of over four meters (13 feet) and weighing
up to ten tons. They lived before the appearance of modern humans, being a food source for the Neanderthals who
lived in Europe about 100,000 years ago, but dying out in the last Ice Age. Remains are rare, so are quite
important. However, further techniques indicated that it likely came from a more modern steppe mammoth or an Ice
Age wooly mammoth. Even a classic woolly mammoth is important, but a steppe mammoth find in Austria would be a
scientific sensation, as it would be the first of its kind found there.
Foreign-Born
in US Hits Record Level: According to a recent report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS),
both the number of foreign-born people and their percentage in the US population reached a record high in the US
Census Bureau's January 2025 Current Population Survey (CPS) results. The Census Bureau first tracked place
of birth in 1850, so these are highs over the 1850-2025 era. CIS reports that the foreign-born / immigrant
population (legal and illegal together) was estimated by the Census Bureau at 53.3 million people and 15.8 percent
of the US population, easily exceeding the historical high of 14.8% in 1890 (which was nearly matched in 1910 with
14.7%). This 1890-1910 period was the tail end of the era known as the “Great Wave” of immigration, which included
many of our emigrant ancestors.
After
1910, the percentage continually dropped until reaching a low of 4.7% in 1970; it has been on the rise ever
since. The chart here (adapted slightly from a chart in the CIS report) shows these trends. 
23andMe
Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection: Genetic testing company 23andMe filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in March, saying it would pursue a sale after years of struggling to find a sustainable
business model. That means the company—and the genetic information of its 15 million customers—will likely soon be
up for grabs to the highest bidder.
that
street names and orientation numbers should replace the historical "Konskription" house numbers and
presenting a map with planned street names. Further, they announced that Hackerberg would receive a new postcode.
The
Facebook Bunch (from Vanessa Sandhu):
Update
for book "The Burgenländer Emigration to America": Here is this month's update on purchases of the English
issue of the 3rd edition of Dr. Walter Dujmovits' book "Die Amerika-Wanderung Der Burgenländer."
