Newsletter
Dedicated to Austrian-Hungarian Burgenland Family History

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 180
October 31, 2008, (c) 2008 by The Burgenland Bunch
All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided.

Our 13th Year
Editor: Johannes Graf, Copy Editor: Maureen Tighe-Brown
The Burgenland Bunch Newsletter (founded by Gerry Berghold, who retired in Summer, 2008, and died in August, 2008), is issued monthly as email and available online at http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org.

Current Status Of The BB:
* Members: 1661 * Surname Entries: 5426 * Query Board Entries: 3973
* Newsletters Archived: 179 * Number of Staff Members: 14


This newsletter has just one section. It concerns:
1) Homepage News
2) Answer for Kerry Kedl's Question in NL 177A
3) New BH&R Module
4) Bad Tatzmannsdorf Thumbnail Response
5) Romanes Village Names
6) Burgenländische Gemeinschaft's Martini-Fest
7) Lehigh Valley Ethnic Events, Oct.- Dec. 2008
8) Historical BB Newsletter Articles - Hianzisch & Language Changes
9) Hayden Comment


1. Homepage News

Burgenländers Honored and Remembered (BH&R) Website
The "Burgenländers Honored and Remembered" (BH&R) website has been moved to the BB server at address: http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/BH&R/home.htm. It may also be reach via the "BH&R" link in the links banner near the top of the BB homepage. The move was necessitated after AOL announced it was shutting down its "Hometown" user servers, effective at the end of October.

The BH&R site, managed by Frank Paukowits and a team of dedicated volunteers, documents Burgenland immigrants buried in New York, New Jersey, the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, Kansas, Nebraska, South Bend, Indiana, and other areas. This is a work-in-progress but many cemetery records and family pictures are currently available. The team continues to add records and invites you to submit data on your Burgenland-born family buried in the US.

Lehigh Valley Ethnic Events, in a fixed page
The Lehigh Valley Ethnic Events will be easily found at the same place: http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/Events/2008/LVEE.htm. New Events will be added and recent events deleted.

Tanczosberg included at Village Pictures Page
Tanczosberg is a small village at the top of a hill, now a part of Rehgraben. In former days, all of the inhabitants had the surname of Tanczos, so they named their village by their surname. It was a pig farmer hill with enough grass and water, two creeks left and right of the hill, but in between only a housing estate, mostly for Viennese residents. But most of the old houses are renovated and in a very good condition. I have been there seven times, but it was raining for six of those times; the day I took the pics was 2 hours after a rain.


2. Answer for Kerry Kedl's Question in NL 177A
(by Margaret Kaiser)

Kerry writes:
Hello, [Margaret]. My name is Kerry Kedl. I live in Laurys Station, PA, USA. I have looked at various Burgenland Bunch web articles and have noticed that you are also from my area, with ancestors from the same area. My Grandfather, Stephen Kedl, was born in Moschendorf, Austria. I am trying to put together a family tree to share with my relatives. I have obtained a CD with Catholic Church records of Birth, Death and wedding information from the entire town of Moschendorf from about 1799 to 1895. Do you have this disc? If not, would you like a copy? I am in need of more recent information. I can not trace things after my Grandfather's wedding. I can not see if he had any siblings or cousins. He is dead now and did not talk about his roots much. Do you have any advice for me that will help me find out any recent information? Thank You. Kerry

Margaret Kaiser's reply:
Civil vital records for Moschendorf were recorded in Allerheiligen/Pinkamindszent from October 1895 to 1908. These Family History Library microfilm numbers are:

These vital records were recorded in Hungarian. You might check with the local Family History Center to inquire if these films are on permanent loan. If not, you might order those appropriate for your research.

Allentown Pennsylvania Area
1881 Van Buren Dr, Whitehall, Lehigh, Pennsylvania, United States
Phone: 610-799-3522
Hours: Tues-Wed 9am-1pm; Fri 9am-12 pm; Tues 6:30pm-8:30pm; Wed 7pm-9pm; Th 6:30pm-9pm; 1st Sat. of every month Closed: 4th Th pm
Attention: In service on 4th Th 7pm - Open to public

Many thanks to Frank Teklits and Bob Strauch who provided assistance in replying to this query. Also, thanks to Albert Schuch who listed this information on "Albert's Burgenland Village Data," which is linked to the BB home page.

Margaret Kaiser


3. New BH&R Module
(by Frank Paukowits)

A few members from Minnesota have expressed an interest in having a separate module created on the Burgenland Honored and Remembered (BH&R) website dedicated to immigrants who settled in Minnesota and Wisconsin. These were some of the earliest Burgenländers who came to America, arriving in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Once they settled here, many ended up continuing to do what they did in Burgenland, which was to become farmers in the fertile heartland of the Midwest. The key to developing a meaningful module to honor these immigrants is to have pertinent information on their lives (that is, names, towns where they were raised, places where they are buried, etc.) and then to develop a comprehensive remembrance list. Think of it as comparable to what's on the Ellis Island site, except that this is exclusively dedicated to Burgenländers. Take a look at the BH&R website (link near the top of the BB homepage). You don't need to have all the information. Send over what you have to Frank Paukowits at: paukowits1(at)aol.com and Frank will work with the data provided, to ensure that your ancestors and relatives are identified and recognized in this special way on the BH&R site.


4. Bad Tatzmannsdorf Thumbnail Response
(by Tom Steichen)

Tom: In the June 2008 BB Newsletter (175A) we ran an article about new Village History Thumbnails. Frank Toussaint found the one on Bad Tatzmannsdorf to be of interest.

Frank writes:
First of all, I would like to thank you for your obviously considerable efforts for the Burgenland Bunch. They are appreciated.

Secondly, I would like to inform you about some Bad Tatzmannsdorf emigrants. In [BURGENLAND-NEWSLETTER] BB News No. 175A dtd. June 30, 2008 under item number 5 'ADDITIONS-DELETIONS TO BB VILLAGE LIST' under the section regarding 'New thumbnails' there are two paragraphs about the village of Bad Tatzmannsdorf. The second paragraph ends with: "it is doubtful if many Burgenland immigrants to America came from the area covered". If this statement was intended to provoke a response from a descendant of an emigrant from Bad Tatzmannsdorf, consider this email your friendly prize.

Here is some information about emigrants from Bad Tatzmannsdorf [Hungarian name Tarcsafürdö or just plain Tarcsa].

The ship's manifest for the S.S. Kronprinz Wilhelm sailing from Bremen arriving New York on June 24, 1902 lists (consecutively) the following passengers from Tarcsa:

The ship's manifest for the SS La Champagne sailing from Havre and arriving at the port of New York on October 5, 1902 lists (consecutively) the following passengers:

* I believe this is my grandmother because of her age and because the manifest states that she was going to her father, Josef, in Chicago. As of 2001 she had 147 descendants.

The ship's manifest for the S.S. La Touraine sailing from Harve and arriving at the port of New York on December 4, 1904 lists the following passenger:

This is my mother's Aunt Mitzi.

The ship's manifest for the S.S. President Roosevelt, sailing from Bremen, arriving at the port of New York in March, 1923 lists the following passenger:

This is my mother's Uncle Joe.

The ship's manifest for the S.S. Peninsula State sailing from Bremen, arriving at the port of New York on March 7th, 1922 lists the following passenger:

This is my mother's Uncle John.

These thirteen were found while searching for my Rehling relatives on Ancestry.com. It is unlikely that the only Tatzmanndorfers who emigrated were, or traveled with, my relatives. It is likely that many Burgenland immigrants to America came from the Bad Tatzmannsdorf.

Yours Truly, Frank Toussaint

Tom replied:
Dear Frank, Thank you for your note concerning Bad Tatzmannsdorf; it brought a smile to my face. I wish I could take credit for "provoking" you but, in fact, it was Gerry Berghold who wrote that text. I did wonder though, when I read it, whether he speculated perhaps too flippantly.

Just now, I ran a search and turned up 101 passengers arriving in Ellis Island from Tarcsa. Beyond that number, we must also recognize that it is likely that additional emigrants entered through other ports. So it seems clear that Gerry's speculation that "it is doubtful if many Burgenland immigrants to America came from the area covered" was off base (unless we do a Clinton on the meaning of "many"!).

I also ran a search on the Rehling name of Hungarian or Austrian ethnicity, which included the following (many of which you listed):

Yours sincerely, Tom Steichen


5. Romanes Village Names
(by Johannes Graf)

In the Burgenland Bunch, we have only the Hungarian and the Croatian minority connections, but another minority is the Roma. The problem for genealogy is that Romanes is not a written, only a spoken language. But recently, some institutions are beginning to change this dilemma. Whenever we get new members, some of the villages have unfamiliar names. For making some of this mystery clearer, here is a list of village names in Romanes and German:

6. Burgenländische Gemeinschaft's Martini-Fest
(by Tom Glatz)

Friday, November 7th, 2008
Chicago Gaelic Park
Tara Room
6119 W. 147th St.
Oak Forest, Illinois

Doors open from 7 PM, music until midnight
Music by the PHENIX, 8 pm

For Ticket information, please call:
Tom 708-422-3759
Martin 815-469-6645
Karl 847-298-8263


7. Lehigh Valley Ethnic Events / Oct.-Dec. 2008
(by Bob Strauch)

Nov. 1: Bazaar
Our Lord's Ascension Polish National Catholic Church in Bethlehem.

Nov. 1 & Nov. 2: Bazaar
St. John the Baptist Slovak Catholic Church in Allentown.

Nov. 2: Bazaar
St. Stephen of Hungary Catholic Church in Allentown.

Nov. 8: Food Bazaar
Queenship of Mary Catholic Church in Northampton (formerly Our Lady of Hungary).

Dec. 13: Christmas Bazaar and Food Sale
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Bethlehem.

Dec. 13: Christmas Concert and Dance
Coplay Sängerbund in Coplay.
Entertainment by the Coplay Sängerbund Mixed Chorus and the Joe Weber Orchestra.

Dec. 13: Annual Lehigh Sängerbund Christmas Concert
Egner Chapel / Muhlenberg College in Allentown.
Followed by a Dinner/Dance
at The Knights of Columbus
Music by the Emil Schanta Band.

Dec. 14: Russian Orthodox Christmas Concert
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Bethlehem.

Dec. 20: Ethnic Food and Bread Sale
Ss. Peter and Paul Polish Catholic Church in Allentown.


8. Historical BB Newsletter Articles
(by former Editor, Gerry Berghold)

Editor: This is part of our monthly series designed to recycle interesting
articles from the BB Newsletters of 10 years ago.

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No. 45, October 31, 1998
HIANZISCH & LANGUAGE CHANGES

Ed. Note: I struck some sparks in my use of the word "corrupted" when referring to dialects. First Yvonne Lockwood took me to task for Croatian and Hianzisch and now Bob Schatz has some remarks concerning Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania German or "pennsylvnisch deitsch"). The best I can say is that I used Webster's fourth definition of corrupted, "to alter from the original or correct form or version," as opposed to "change from good to bad." Nonetheless, both members have a point and I admit to a poor, albeit descriptive, choice of words.

Bob writes: Just wanted to add some thoughts and general ramblings to your questions about Hianzisch in the current newsletter and to defend the language of my Pennsylvania German forebears!

You asked if Hianzisch "is an early form of German dialect which was corrupted like Pennsylvania Dutch." For Shame! Pennsylvania Dutch is not a "corruption" at all - it is from the Rhineland dialect family with a few variations coming in via the Swiss and even fewer from English. Rhinelanders can understand Pennsylvania German and vice-versa. Several Pennsylvania German plays have been performed with great success in the Rhineland within the last 20 years. It is a rich and expressive language and contains an extensive technical vocabulary which belies the myth that it is a "corrupted" form of language or a language of unsophisticated people. I grew up with the language at home and later studied it with a very erudite man who eventually wrote a Pennsylvania German grammar book. Many contemporary speakers know that it is a much older language than the standard or literary German (Schriftdeutsch) in use today. A professor of mine taught that standard German is actually a child of Martin Luther and evolved from his translation of the Bible. This professor claimed that Luther went around asking various groups "would you understand it if I wrote it such and such a way?" and then arrived at an idiomatic consensus.

Linguists divide German dialects into three main bodies: High, Middle and Low. High German (Hochdeutsch) is so called because it is the family of languages spoken in the Alpine region in the south, and would include Hianzisch, Viennese and Styrian. The Middle German group is actually the family from which English evolved and (I suspect but am not sure) the German dialects in the Zips and Transylvania. Low German (Plattdeutsch) is the language family from the North, on the littoral plain. It is a common but unfortunate attitude that standard German is "high" and therefore right and proper, and that dialects are "low" and therefore unacceptable or low-class. This is simply another sad expression of that human tendency to regard some people and cultures as better than others. In point of fact, most standard versions of European languages are simply the dialects of the royal houses which eventually gained hegemony - modern standard English, for example, is a version of the language which evolved in the royal court in London; it would be a very different language today if a royal house in York had gained the upper hand.

We live in a culture which puts a heavy premium on the written word, but we just remember that language is primarily oral and dynamic, and that "standard" languages also only evolved once writing became popular and standardized. Our sense of "proper" English is the result of being taught grammar - "this is the right way!" But the reality is quite different: there are many ways, and all too often the "right" way is simply the way of those in power. Remember too that, for centuries in Europe, the language of the educated person was Latin; human snobbery referred to local native speech at any class level as "the vulgar" (hence the "Vulgate" version of the Bible).

Regarding Hianzisch, I regret that I did not have the opportunity to hear and speak it growing up. My grandparents from Urbersdorf died long before I was born and no one spoke Hianzisch in our family; I would have liked to have had that experience as well as the Pennsylvania German one. The beauty of language really intrigues me. I love words and I take a great deal of delight in the infinite variation of human speech. Like Nature, language is always evolving and taking on new forms of expression. I feel that we should not use words like "corruption" when discussing languages, because this implies a kind of fall from a state of purity, which, after all, never existed. Otherwise, even our English would be considered "corrupt" because it is no longer German or Latin or French, and yet it is all of these.

Incidentally the "Dutch" in Pennsylvania Dutch is not the misnomer that many people think it is. Frequently someone will claim that it is an English corruption of "Deutsch" or "Deitsch" but, in actuality, "Dutch" was at one time the legitimate English word for "German." Eventually, it was limited in its meaning to the people and Germanic language of the Netherlands. Sorry if this is a little incohesive. I wish I could also add more on Hianzisch. Fritz mentions the theory of Count Heinz, which I have read in several books on Burgenland.

Note by Editor (JG): Since then, the BB has its own Hianzn-dictionary by Heinz Koller, Albert & Ingeborg Schuch.
http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/Songbook/Hianzn/hianzn1.htm


9. Hayden Comment
(by Joanne Hayden)

...wait a minute, I read the biography of Hannes and find no mention of cousins in Indiana; ha! ha!; hope all is well with you and Elfie; I understand you like her cooking; precious moments in my life that we shopped the market and cooked together.

Joanne

Ed: Of course, I am so sorry to forget my cousins in Indiana. They were my reason to come to the Burgenland Bunch in 2000, because I was searching for related people in the USA. First, I found Paul M. Lehner (TX) as a member of the BB; with his help, I found the Adkins brothers (CA), Pat Doyle; and last but not least, the Schreyer families. Mike Schreyer and sister Joanne Hayden stayed in Austria in 2004 to mark the 100-year anniversary of the migration of their grandparents. Marton Schreyer and Elisabeth Lehner (my grandmother's sister), emigrating in April, 1904, to South Bend, Indiana. Mike and Joanne (with husband Mike) also were in Austria, in 2006. We like them.

END OF NEWSLETTER

NOTICE (Terms and Conditions): The Burgenland Bunch (BB) was formed and exists to assist Burgenland descendants in their research into their heritage and, toward that end, reserves the right to use any communication you have with us (email, letter, phone conversation, etc.) as part of our information exchange and educational research efforts.
• If you do not want your communication to be used for this purpose, indicate that it is "confidential" and we will abide by that request.
• Correspondents who communicate with the BB without requesting confidentiality retain their copyright but give a non-exclusive license to the BB allowing us to forward to BB members, publish in our monthly newsletter or on our website, and/or subsequently and permanently archive all or parts of such communications.

The Burgenland Bunch homepage (website) can be found at:
http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/

We can also be reached from the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft web site.

Use our website to access our lists and web pages.

BB NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES (reached via Home Page hyperlinks)

Burgenland Bunch Newsletter (c) 2008 by The Burgenland Bunch
All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided.