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THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 207 February 28, 2011, © 2011 by The Burgenland Bunch All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided. Our 15th Year, Interim Editor: Thomas Steichen, Copy Editor: Maureen Tighe-Brown The Burgenland Bunch Newsletter is issued monthly online. It was founded by Gerald Berghold (who retired in Summer 2008 and died in August 2008). |
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Current Status Of The BB: * Members: 1910 * Surname Entries: 6577 * Query Board Entries: 4544 * Number of Staff Members: 17 |
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This newsletter concerns: 1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER 2) CHANGES AT FAMILYSEARCH.ORG 3) WHERE DID THEY SETTLE? ...AND WHERE ARE WE? 4) "OUR BURGENLAND ROOTS" RESEARCH GROUP (by Mary Rushing) 5) BURGENLAND WEB TV 6) TERMS ZSELLÉR AND COLONI - REVISITED (Matt Boisen et al.) 7) SOUTH BEND HUNGARIANS - BH&R FOLLOW-UP (by Gary Gabrich) 8) BURGENLAND DNA PROJECT LAUNCHED (by Frank Paukowits) 9) A MEMBER UPDATE (Anne Reed Shannon et al.) 10) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES: EISENBERG-EISENBURG CONFUSION 11) ETHNIC EVENTS (courtesy of Bob Strauch, Margaret Kaiser & Kay Weber) 12) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch & Barbara Lang) |
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1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER (by Tom Steichen)  This
month we wander the web a bit, with commentaries on the new FamilySearch.org site and Burgenland web TV
channel, TV-SuedOst. Hopefully, these articles will impart a bit of new knowledge for you. Article 3 is the oddity, being an analysis and discussion about where our Burgenland emigrants settled in contrast to where we members currently live. I think it explains a bit about the times, both now and when our ancestors arrived. We also offer reconstructions of two email threads, one thread discussing historical terminology, the other tracing the life of a single emigrant. Perhaps the first thread will help you understand the social standing of your Burgenland ancestors; the second is more a feel-good "American dream" story... I hope you enjoy it. This month's "Historical BB Newsletter Article" also evolved out of a member comment and the discussion thread that followed it. I picked it because I thought the content was well worth republishing; however, it also shows that then, as now, member questions and comments were a key source for newsletter content and the dissemination of generally useful Burgenland-related knowledge. So do send in your questions and comments! Gary Gabrich and Frank Paukowits provide a pair of member-written articles, Gary's being a promised BH&R follow-up about early South Bend settlers and Frank's being a note on a new DNA project, and Mary Rushing invites (some of) you to join a new group. Of course, we also publish upcoming "Ethnic Events" and honor the recently departed in the "Burgenland Emigrant Obituaries" section. We hope you find something herein useful, interesting or new.
So, what have we learned in 2,065 years? Evidently... nothing. |
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2) CHANGES AT FAMILYSEARCH.ORG If you recently visited the LDS's online genealogical site www.familysearch.org, you already know that they have put up a new interface... one that is highly frustrating (because of bugs, slow response, and just being different) yet amazingly powerful and useful (when it works). Reading through the blog about the changes is almost hilarious: one highly positive and thrilled response followed by another decrying the insanity of replacing the old interface... and sprinkled among those are 
dry staff responses trying to explain why changes were made, how to find things that used to be more obvious (at least to
the initiated) and asking for patience as they complete the changes. To add to the confusion, clicking on the default LDS FamilySearch.org site has, at various times over the last year, landed on a "Pilot" site, a "Beta" site or the old site. Once at one of these, LDS has added and removed content in a seemingly willy-nilly manner... here today, gone tomorrow, back again the day after... its no wonder users are frustrated! And to fully benefit from the new features, you must now have a login and password... and some users seem reluctant to want to be identified in that way (all they ask for is a name and email address... but you don't have to tell the truth for the account to work!). Yet despite all that, I come down on the side of being thrilled with what I can now accomplish there (again, with the caveat of "when it is working"). One of the reasons I'm thrilled is that much more original content important to Midwest research (scans of census records, death records, marriage records, etc.) is online. My ancestors all settled in Minnesota (and spread out from there) and I live in North Carolina, so getting access to original records is difficult for me. Having these materials just on the other side of my keyboard is great! One nice addition are various State censuses. For example, Minnesota performed censuses in years ending in five from 1855 until 1905; given that the Federal census of 1890 was destroyed by fire, the 1885 and 1895 Minnesota state censuses are particularly valuable to me. A second reason is that the new search facility allows both an "exact" search and an "approximate" search. As you likely know, online indexes are full of errors because the transcriber misread the record, the original author miswrote the name and/or because our ancestors had a unfortunate tendency to report their name in multiple ways over the years, even changing their country of origin. So "exact" searches require you to guess how the name might have been indexed... and this guessing the right search term is not easy! The new "approximate" search (decried by many because it returns so many seemingly unrelated results) is more powerful than the old version and has helped me find a number of records that I previously spent hours looking for yet never stumbled on the "correct" search term. In fact, one such recent search resulted in records that caused me to totally change the early history of my Burgenlanders in Minnesota... what I thought I "knew" was simply false! So, if you have some hard to find ancestors, you might want to revisit FamilySearch.org... but expect to be both frustrated and thrilled as the LDS programmers continue working through the implementation over this year! |
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3) WHERE DID THEY SETTLE? ...AND WHERE ARE WE? I recently updated the "Where We Are" pages (http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/Regions/World.html) that are accessible from the Members pages. This is a series of map-driven data files listing BB members by state or country. For example, of our US members, 1562 have identified the state they are from (there are additional US members but we don't know their state). Not surprisingly, Pennsylvania, with 210 members, is home to the greatest number of members from one state. This follows because Gerry Berghold (and, therefore, the BB) had roots in Pennsylvania and because Pennsylvania was a frequent destination for Burgenland emigrants. What might be a bigger surprise is that the only other states with more than 100 members are Illinois (148), Minnesota (146) and California (131). At the other end of the scale, there are no members from Mississippi and Wyoming. These numbers caused me to wonder where, in fact, our Burgenland emigrant ancestors actually settled... or, more accurately, where did our members report that their ancestors settled. We list on our Surnames pages these destinations, so I decided to tabulate them. In the table below, The states are listed in order of most mentions as a settlement destination and then, when there are ties in destination counts, ordered by the number of members we have from that state. So for PA, you should read the two numbers as 1226 mentions of Pennsylvania as a destination state and 210 BB members from there.
Given PA had the most destination mentions, it makes sense that it should have the most BB members. However, it would
be just as sensible to argue that, because it has the most BB members, it should have the most mentions as a settlement
destination! Indeed, one cannot separate these causes and effects... and I suspect both are true! |
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4) "OUR BURGENLAND ROOTS" RESEARCH GROUP (by Mary Rushing) Ed. note: We received an email from Mary Rushing asking us to included the following notice in the BB newsletter... so here it is: Mary writes: If you have ancestors from Austria-Hungary, particularly the Burgenland area, who settled in northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska, you might like to join our social network called Our Burgenland Roots. This fun and recently formed group is committed to compiling and sharing genealogical and related records (e.g., photos, family histories and other documents) to the mutual benefit of its members. If you respond with your name and an e-mail address to maryerushing@yahoo.com, we’ll send to you an invitation to join. Ed. note: At my request, Mary shared additional information about the group. It formed initially as an email exchange but, wanting a better way to do this, a member set them up in January as a private family group on MyFamily.com, a sister site to  Ancestry.com.
There are currently (in mid-February) 32 members who have posted 7 family trees, 16 photo albums (holding 276 photos) and
12 data files, and who also have 58 discussion threads underway. For BB members who have family from this area, it appears
to be a great group to join! |
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5) BURGENLAND WEB TV  Are
you nostalgic or curious about what is happening in Burgenland? Gerhard Schneller, of web TV channel
TV-SuedOst, invites you to view his work. The segments provided generally appear to
be 3 to 5 minutes in length and cover news, sports, culture and events of southeastern Austria and Burgenland.He writes: Hello! My name is Gerhard Schneller. I am the producer for the web-tv channel www.tv-suedost.at. There you can find news from south Burgenland in culture, lifestyle… (more than 160 contributions in the archive 2009/10). If you like it, share this channel as often as you want. Mit besten Grüßen aus dem Südburgenland TV-SuedOst Nachrichten aus dem Südosten Österreichs Gerhard Schneller T +43 (0) 664 / 43 22 694 Angerstr.23, A-7562 Eltendorf Süd - Burgenland office@tv-suedost.at www.tv-suedost.at |
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6) TERMS ZSELLÉR AND COLONI - REVISITED Back in November, an email discussion was held about the terms Zsellér and Coloni and the various related words used to describe peasants in Burgenland. Matt Boisen kicked it off and others joined in. Matt wrote: Speaking of the LDS films and land ownership, the differences between zsellérs, colonii, and other Hungarian/Latin? descriptions come up. This has probably been discussed many times, but I wanted to clarify this. One of my great great grandfathers was a "colonus", the other a "zsellér". The best I can understand is that these describe two land-owning peasant classes, based on "first come, first serve" and size/responsibility differences? "Colonus" is a larger farmer, from the first-settled families after the border wars, got better land that can support his family, whereas a "zsellér" owns just his house and maybe a garden plot but has to work out to make ends meet? Is that close to correct? I replied: I'll pull some discussion from archived newsletters on this Colonus vs. Zsellér terminology [Ed. note: Be warned; some of this information is wrong!]. NL 52B: Period before 1848 (Kommassierung) Tenant farmer: "agricola" (Latin), "paraszt", (Hungarian) Non-farmer: "söllner" (German), "colonus" (Latin) "napszámosno" (Hungarian-day laborer) Period after 1848 Farmer: "landwirt" (German) Non-farmer: "sollner" (German), "colonus" (Latin) "napszámosno" (Hungarian-day laborer) NL 54A: "Zsellér" is also Hungarian and is defined as a "cotter," a peasant or farm laborer who occupies a cottage and small holding of land in return for services. This person would work directly for the landowner on a purely "robot" basis. An English equivalent (also found in the US) is the person who gets the use of a house as well as pay on the farm of a yeoman or large estate in return for being a "hired man". Many also tilled garden plots for their own use. Within the BB, we have consistently called people with their own houses but little land by the German term Söllner. So, it looks like colonus and zsellér are essentially equal terms. Both would be day-laborers or craftsmen rather than land-owning farmers. Of course, before 1848, only nobility could "own" land. Some peasants (the agricola) had heritable rights to use of and profit from land, but not outright ownership of it. Only after 1848 could they own land (i.e., be a landwirt). [Ed note: Below is where we start correcting our errors!] Richard Potetz weighed in: I don't know much about the use of these headings, but maybe this will be useful. In the 1828 Hungarian census records for Neumarkt an der Raab, all heads of household were included under just one of three Latin headings: · Coloni = farmers (renting the land till 1848) · Inquilini = tenants · Subinquilini = subtenants I have attached a photo of the last page [Ed: not shown here] for Neumarkt a/d Raab because that gives the final tally for the village. There were 96 Coloni, 3 Inquilini, and 2 Subinquilini. I replied: This is interesting, Richard. Given the numbers from Neumarkt, it would be hard to argue that all these "Coloni" were craftsmen or day laborers... the tenant-farmer relationship was simply too well established in 1828 to expect that almost all in the village were day-laborers on someone else's property. I pulled the definition/explanation below from the web: Colonatus (Late Latin, from Latin colonus, “farmer”), a special form of production relationship between a large land-owner and the immediate producer, the colonus; the system was widely employed in the Roman Empire. Under the colonatus system, landed property was divided into a multitude of parcels given out for rent to coloni, who were either free or dependent on the landowner. The spread of the system was furthered by the limited production possibilities of the slaveholding system. The colonatus system presupposed a certain economic independence of the immediate producer, the colonus: he ran his own farm and therefore had an interest in the growth of the productivity of labor and in the careful and rational use of tools and the means of production. Two periods may be traced in the history of the colonatus. Initially, from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D., the colonus was an immediate producer who was juridically free and economically independent of the landowner and could use not only the labor of members of his own family in working his rented parcel but also the labor of slaves belonging to him. Thus, he was a kind of petty slaveholder. Because he was compelled to pay his rent in money, he was at the same time directly tied to the market. The low productivity of slave labor and the curtailment of the sources of additional slaves ruined a great many petty and middle slaveholding farmers. In the second period, which began in the second century A.D., the relations between the landowner and the colonus profoundly changed: the colonus was no longer a petty farmer and slaveholder but a direct producer lacking economic independence; the landowner became his patron and protector. The colonus was virtually bound to the estate, losing his direct links with the market. Rent was now defined as a share of the harvest (from one-fourth to one-third). The colonus also performed several nonmonetary obligations, including several days of plowing, weeding, and harvesting. During the fourth and fifth centuries, colonatus relations began to be regulated by Roman legislation, and their introduction in the empire became compulsory. Coloni were juridically bound to the land. According to the law of Emperor Anastasius (ruled 491–518), every farmer who worked on an estate for 30 years became a colonus regardless of his social or economic status. The colonus lost a number of the rights of a freeman: his rights to marry, to inherit, and to move freely were restricted, and he fell under the administrative jurisdiction of the landowner. Groups of the dependent rural population differing by origin, juridical status, and social position were merged in the fourth and fifth centuries into one estate having common rights and obligations; this estate occupied a position between slaves and freemen and anticipated the medieval serfs. The establishment of colonatus relations occurred not in the form of a rural idyll, as the French historian Fustel de Coulanges supposes, but in the circumstances of the bitter class struggle that engendered the social movements of the third to fifth centuries. [http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Colonatus] --- My only concern about the above is the time period wherein the term is defined (clearly, the tenant-farmer relationship in Burgenland was identical to the second-period form above). Our period of interest is nearly 1000 years later. Did the word's definition still hold or had the word changed meaning in the 1600 to mid-1800 period? I'm inclined to think the definition did hold and what was presented in NL 52B was a misinterpretation. Fritz, you were part of that 52B discussion... any comments? Matt replied: So, there must be a reason for the different terms, other than Latin vs. Hungarian. Felix Game (http://www.felix-game.ca/html_files/gfarmer2.html) has four divisions, in which zsellér = either inquilini or subinquilini, but otherwise there are distinct differences between the rest, based on some rather complex fractional formulas for service to the estate. And there's always that open-ended "what did they own and when?" question. Game states: Not counting the various social levels which existed outside the village, the population inside the village was made up almost entirely of people who made their living off the land. Yet not all were called 'farmer' because that word was reserved for a specific social level. Only those were called 'farmer' (Latin: colunus) who had taken possession of a type of land on which grain had to be grown, and which was subject to 1/9 or 1/10 tithe (Hungarian: úrbéri telek; Latin: constitutivum urbariale, agri sessionales). These 'farmers' in turn formed a hierarchy according to the amount of land they had taken in terms of "sessions" (session is derived from sessio; in Hungarian: hely). Thus there were 'whole farmers', 'half farmers', and 'quarter farmers'. By definition then, every other inhabitant of the village was not colunus but inquilinus (Hungarian: zsellér). My interest in this seemingly hair-splitting issue is that one of my ancestors was listed as a colonus, the other a zsellér. This colonus was able to support his daughter, her husband (a zsellér/subinquilini carpenter) and their family, and eventually give them money to emigrate. In family lore, he was considered "wealthy". This was, of course, in 1888, after the land reforms, but he was listed as a colonus in the church record of 1845. Fritz Königshofer jumped in: My apologies for not entering this discussion earlier, but with Thanksgiving approaching, time is pressing. I do agree that colonus corresponds to farmer/Bauer, while zsellér corresponds to inquilinus/Söllner. The latter were almost land-less and considered "poor people" as compared to farmers. They made a living by providing seasonal labor to farmers, and/or as cobblers or potters, etc. So it appears that we are in agreement that the Newsletter 52 definitions were in error. Coloni were land-holding farmers of substantially higher social and economic status than Zsellérs. Zsellérs were seasonal (day) laborers and craftsmen. |
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7) SOUTH BEND HUNGARIANS - BH&R FOLLOW-UP (by Gary Gabrich) Friends, I am pleased to add these forgotten first arrivals of Burgenlanders and spouses to the South Bend, Indiana area.  This
batch of immigrants were first arrivals, all arriving here between 1881 and 1895. Steven Wartha was the first to arrive in
1881. Brothers Lawrence and Michael Wartha were Steven's nephews. John S Tschida and his wife were next to arrive along
with their sons John P and Frank J as well as daughter Johanna, who married Michael Wartha. Anthony and John J Tschida
were brothers, but I have not yet tied them into the John S family. John T Tschida arrived and met his wife Catherine
here. He was again of another Tschida clan. At the same time, we have George Tschida and wife arriving along with their
children Juliana, Steven M and Elizabeth (already entered as Mrs. Balthasar Bleich). As you can see, I have focused on the
Tschida's but there were other families still to be researched.One final point: please note that the Cedar Grove cemetery is located on the University of Notre Dame campus, which is not part of the city of South Bend. They are a separate entity recognized by the state with their own police, post office, fire dept. and water dept. The address is Cedar Grove Cemetery, Notre Dame, IN 46556; others should be corrected. Cedar Grove was the only Catholic Cemetery in the area until around 1912, when many other cemeteries were founded: St. Joseph's for the Polish, Sacred Heart for the Hungarians and later Highland, which was the choice of many Burgenlanders who, no doubt, relished their unique identity, especially after 1920. Gary Gabrich Name Hometown Birth Death Cemetery Location Wartha, Steven; Pamhagen; 1860; 1918; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Wartha, Gizella (Kertesz); Hegyko, Sop. M; 1867; 1924; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Wartha, Lawrence; Pamhagen; 1871; 1955 ;Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Wartha, Johanna (Tschida); Pamhagen; 1873; 1901; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Wartha, Mary (Horvath); Pali, Sop. M; 1885; 1967; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Wartha, Michael; Pamhagen; 1877; 1950; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Wartha, Johanna (Tschida); Pamhagen; 1875; 1968; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, John S; Pamhagen; 1843; 1926; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Elizabeth (Schwarzbauer); Wallern; 1849; 1932; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, John P; Pamhagen; 1881; 1954; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Anna (Luttman[sberger]); Pamhagen; 1881; 1929; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Frank J; Pamhagen; 1883; 1955; Riverview; South Bend, IN Tschida, Moudelle (Brodbeck); -; -; -; Riverview; South Bend, IN Tschida, Anthony; Pamhagen; 1871; 191;1 Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Mary (Eble); -; 1878; 1958; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, John J; Pamhagen; 1868; 1939; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Anna (Engle); -; 1875; 1944; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, John T; Pamhagen; 1869; 1920; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Catherine (Effenberger); Pamhagen; 1869; -; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, George; Pamhagen; 1854; 1933; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Tschida, Julianna (Strantz); Pamhagen; 1857; 1933; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame, IN Griman, Martin; Pamhagen; -; 1915; Cedar Grave; Notre Dame, IN Griman, Julianna (Tschida); Pamhagen; 1884; 1943; Cedar Grove; Notre Dame' IN Tschida, Steven M; Pamhagen; 1886; 1864; Highland; South Bend, IN Tschida, Katherina (Engle); -; -; 1949; Highland; South Bend, IN Corrections/ Additions Ernest Dragon (formerly Dragonits); Deutschkreutz; 1888; 1967; Sacred Heart; South Bend, IN Agnes Dragon (Prikoszovits); K. Minihof; 1887; 1936; Sacred Heart; South Bend, IN |
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8) BURGENLAND DNA PROJECT LAUNCHED (by Frank Paukowits)  Do you
want to know with whom you have common ancestors and get a rough idea of how far back they lived? Or, are you interested
in finding out as much as possible about the origins of the various ethnic groups that settled in Burgenland? This and
other types of information are now available through genetic DNA testing. While it is not a substitute for a good
old-fashioned review of historical documents and records, DNA testing provides a fine complement to the more traditional
genealogy-related investigative techniques.A DNA project solely for Burgenländers was launched recently. FamilyTreeDNA is hosting it and Frank Paukowits (Burgenland Bunch member), assisted by two researchers from Hungary, is coordinating it. FamilyTreeDNA has a database of close to 320,000 records that are useful for comparison purposes. It is the largest organization of its kind specializing in genetic research for genealogy purposes. If you have interest in knowing more about your ancient family roots, get in touch with Frank Paukowits at paukowits1@aol.com. He can provide details on what is involved. |
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9) A MEMBER UPDATE Member Anne Reed Shannon recently submitted an Information Change Form that snowballed into the telling of much of a life story. She provided the following "new text" for her member entry:
I replied: Hi Anne, Ellis Island shows a Korma Csandl, age 24, son of Karl from Hagensdorf, arriving Feb
24, 1923 on the SS Paris from LeHarve. Is this your guy?
www.ellisisland.org: Korma Csandl Anne replied: Yes. They are my grandparents. Margaret Chandl Reed (1928-2010) is my mother. Thank you so
much. |
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10) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES Editor: This is part of our occasional series designed to recycle interesting articles from the BB Newsletters of 10 years ago. This month we add to the confusion first reported 10 years ago concerning Eisenberg and Eisenburg... I'll let you read it below... THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No. 93 February 28, 2001 EISENBERG-EISENBURG CONFUSION Burgenland Province Austria Queries A new message, "New info," was posted by Susan on Wed, 17 Jan 2001. It is a response to "Strem, Austria and Eisenberg, Hungary," posted by Susan on Fri, 29 Dec 2000; Surname: MONDSCHEIN, GROLLER. The message reads as follows: "Since posting my last query, I found from the Aug 13, 1901 Zeeland passenger list on microfilm that Michael "Mike" and Johanna "Jennie" Gröller were from Strém, Hungary. They were married before emigrating. On the Naturalization paper, it stated they were both born in Eisenberg, Hungary. I am going to back-track by ordering the marriages from Strem, Austria on microfilm in the civil records and hope to find something new." Another message, "Eisenberg," was posted by Susan Chimento on Sun, 21 Jan 2001. It is a response to "New info," posted by Susan on Wed, 17 Jan 2001; Surname: Graf, Fassel. The message reads as follows: "It was with great interest that I read the queries and responses about Eisenberg or Eisenburg. My grandfather, Leonard Graf, emigrated from Austria in 1910. I never heard of Eisenberg until I sent away for his naturalization papers. On the petition for naturalization, with the information typed, it stated he was from Litzelsdorf, Eisenberg, Hungary. The declaration of intent, which is a poor copy, has the information written (in script). There it appears as though Eisenburg is spelled with a u. Years ago, I had asked my Uncle Joe where he was from in Austria and he said Eisenberg. Even though I've collected much information about my family, these are the only times I've run across the place name Eisenberg." A new message, "Litzelsdorf," was posted by Fritz Königshofer on Sun, 21 Jan 2001. It is a response to "Eisenberg," posted by Susan Chimento on Sun, 21 Jan 2001. The message reads as follows: "Susan: While there is a little hamlet Eisenberg [an der Pinka] just to the east of Litzelsdorf, I believe that, from the context you are citing, it is evident that the meaning there is Eisenburg, which was the German name of the county [Hungarian: Vas]. "Litzelsdorf, Eisenburg, Hungary" would have been the normal, ascending sequence of defining the village of your grandfather." (Ed. [Gerry] Note: Village of Eisenberg [an der Pinka] was called Schauka and Cséke [Csejke] in Hungarian, it was in the district of Szombathely, Hungary and is now in the district of Oberwart as the Gemeinde (community) of Deutsch-Eisenberg, which includes the villages of Edlitz im Bgld., Eisenberg an der Pinka, Höll and St. Kathrein im Bgld. I agree with Fritz that, when you see Eisenburg shown on documents, they probably mean Komitat (county) Eisenburg (Hungarian Vas Megye) and not the village. I have seen Eisenburg and Eisenberg shown as the place of origin in the US Census for 1910-1920, Lehigh-Northampton Counties, PA. Village of Eisenberg only had 473 inhabitants in 1873. Be aware of this when considering an Eisenberg place of origin.) Ed. note (Tom, 2011): It is worthwhile to 
note that there was also a village called Vasvár (German name Eisenburg) in the district of Vasvári in Vas Megye,
Hungary. It was some 25 km S-SE of Szombathely (and about 21 km from the nearest point in Burgenland); whereas, Cséke
(Eisenberg an der Pinka) was about 15 km W-SW of Szombathely. We list Vasvár as a village on our Villages pages and
it has 10 researchers who have named it as an emigrant village. However, it is not clear to me whether these researchers
meant the village (Vasvár) or the county (Vas) when they listed Eisenburg! And I'm not sure why we (the BB) included it,
as the village is a substantial distance from Burgenland!In addition, I have a number of  c.1900
maps that show an Eisenberg (Hungarian: Vashegy) about 1 km north of Cséke (Csejke). Of course, both Eisenberg and Vashegy
translate to "iron mountain," so this may be referring to a geographic feature rather than a village... and there is what
appears to be an elevation and mountain-like symbol D just below the text "Eisenbg (Vashegy)"
...but there are also little black dots (indicating houses) in the area, so it is not absolutely clear from the map!Regardless, it remains clear that those interested in Eisenberg / Eisenburg must use caution and some supporting evidence before choosing one over the other, though as a reference to a county, Eisenburg includes the villages of Eisenburg (Vasvár) and Eisenberg (Cséke). |
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11) ETHNIC EVENTS LEHIGH VALLEY, PA (courtesy of Bob Strauch) Saturday, March 5, 2011: Fasching. Evergreen Heimatbund/Country Club, Fleetwood, PA. Music by the Josef Kroboth Orchestra. Info: www.evergreenclub.org/events Sunday, March 6, 2011: 34th Schlachtfest/Pig Roast. Holy Family Club, Nazareth, PA. Music by the J&J Orchestra. Info: www.holyfamilyclub.com Saturday, March 12, 2011: St. Patrick's Dance. Coplay Sängerbund, Coplay, PA. Music by the Josef Kroboth Orchestra. Friday, March 25, 2011: Spring German Show. Evergreen Heimatbund/Country Club, Fleetwood, PA. Info: www.evergreenclub.org/events Saturday, March 26, 2011: 58th Bockbierfest. Reading Liederkranz, Reading, PA. Music by the Joe Weber Orchestra. Info: www.readingliederkranz.com LANCASTER, PA Saturday, March 19, 7:30 - 11:30 pm: Bockbier Fest. Lancaster Liederkranz, 722 S. Chiques Rd, Manheim, PA. $8 ($10 guest) at door or in advance at the bar. Music by Heidi und the Heimat Echo. Dinner Service: 5:30-8pm. It is not necessary to attend the dance to enjoy Dietrich's Dance Night Menu. Seating is available in the Barroom for those not attending the dance. lancasterliederkranz@verizon.net, 717-898-8451 (after 4pm M-F). Website http://www.lancasterliederkranz.com/. Additional 2011 Lancaster Liederkranz Dance Schedule: April 16: Ein Abend in Wien. Music by the Walt Groller Orchestra April 30: Spring Concert & Dance. Music TBD May 14: Maitanz. Music by Joe Kroboth NEW BRITAIN, CT (courtesy of Margaret Kaiser) Friday, March 4, 7 pm: Heimat Abend (Home Evening) with guitarist Peter Frey. Austrian Donau Club (http://austriandonauclub.com/, 545 Arch Street). $3. (Kitchen special: Wursts) Sunday, March 13, 8 am - 12 noon: Sonntag Frühstuck (Sunday Breakfast). Austrian Donau Club. Friday, March 18: Heurigan Abend ("A meeting where wine of the latest vintage is drunk") with Schachtelgebirger Musikanten (Box Mountain Musicians). Austrian Donau Club. $3. (Kitchen special: Sauerbraten). Friday, March 25, 7 pm: Gemütlichkeit Abend (Congenial Evening) with violinist Nick Kwas. Austrian Donau Club. $ Free. (light fare) Tuesdays at 7 pm: Men's and Women's Singing Societies meet. Austrian Donau Club. Thursdays at 7 pm: Alpenland Tänzer (Alpine Country Dancers) meet. Austrian Donau Club. ST. LOUIS, MO (courtesy of Kay Weber) Friday, March 18, 6 pm: Trivia Night. St. Louis Genealogical Society (event at Maryland Heights Community Centre, 2344 McKelvey Road). $15 (table of 8: $120). An evening of fun, excitement and fellowship, with cash prizes, silent auctions, 50/50 drawings, Mulligans and pre-trivia games. Soft drinks and snacks provided. Contact StLGS for more info and sign-up procedure: phone 314-647-8547 / email office@stlgs.org / website www.stlgs.org. |
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12) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch) Stella M. Beehrle  Stella M.
Beehrle, 90, of Whitehall, passed away February 3, 2011, at Whitehall Manor. Born in Henndorf, Burgenland, Austria, she
was a daughter of the late Michael and Mary (Stengl) Gumhold.She was the wife of the late Herman J. Beehrle for 65 years until his death on September 25, 2005. She was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Allentown. She was a presser for Penn State Mills for 30 years and then went to work for Climax Manufacturing where she retired. Survivors: Son, Richard, husband of Mary, of Royal Palm Beach, FL; daughter, Patricia, wife of Charles Zimmerman, of Whitehall; brother, William, of Allentown; grandchildren, Charles, of Whitehall, and Donna and Carol, of Florida; great-grandchildren, London, Chloe, and Bradley all, of Florida. Services: Mass of Christian Burial, 10 a.m. Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, 336 N. 4th St., Allentown. Viewing: 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., Tuesday at Weber Funeral Home, 502 Ridge Ave., Allentown, PA. Interment in Cedar Hill Memorial Park. (www.weberfuneralhomes.com) Contributions: In lieu of flowers, to the Alzheimer's Association, 399 Market St., #102, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Published in Morning Call on February 5, 2011.  Mary Scheffler
Hattie Barbara (nee Bilowith) Kuch |
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END OF NEWSLETTER |
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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/ Burgenland Bunch Newsletter, copyright © 2011 by The Burgenland Bunch All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided. |
News
So, our emigrant ancestors didn't go to California (as least as a first destination) but their descendants sure did! The
other "sun" states, Florida (23rd in mentions but 7th in members) and Arizona (tied for 38th (with 13 other states) with 0
mentions but 16th in members) behave the same, unsurprising way. Perhaps a bigger surprise is that Virginia and North
Carolina, tied at 28th (with 10 other states) with only 1 destination mention each, rank 11th and 16th in members.
Hattie
Barbara (nee Bilowith) Kuch passed away at Centre Crest Nursing Home in Bellefonte, PA, on Friday, October 29, 2010; she
was 98 years old.