Go back to Villages, Page R      Go to Village Histories Index Page

Rehgraben
Village of 190 residents in the Güssing district.

South of Gerersdorf. Croatian village names Pracsa, Prascha, Prascen, Prastya and Praschevo in the 19th century.

The Urbarium of 1750 names the following families: ZWETICS (5), DERGOSITS (4), ZLAKLIKOVICS (2), TANCZOS (2), MIKSITS, HUSIVITS; they had 22 sons, 17 houses, 4 horses, 13 oxen, 20 cows, 3 calfs, 18 pigs and 8 beehives. The families RIELICH, HOPIZAN, TAKACS, WUKOVICH, KLANATZKY, KEMETER and SCHRETTNER came to Rehgraben after 1750.

Matthias SVETITS, who was born in Rehgraben, was teacher in Stinatz (5 years), Ollersdorf (19 years) and in Stegersbach (1809-12).

Many inhabitants used to work for their landlord. After the Robot had been abolished (1848) they went to Styria or Central Hungary as farm hands and maid-servants, after 1900 America became the land of their desire, they worked in the cement mills or as coachmen, saved a few 1000 Dollars and returned home or stayed in America. Others emigrated to Vienna and other cities. Today (1930) 143 natives of Rehgraben live in the USA, in Canada and in Argentinia.

The mill is owned (in 1930) by Joseph SCHRETTNER, the brick-kiln by Josef WUKOVITS.

Number of inhabitants: 1812: 271; 1832: 319; 1850: 393; 1870: 466: 1830: 480 (all Catholic).

Rehgraen was a part of Kukmirn parish until 1789, when it became a part of Gerersdorf parish. Church built in 1925. A cemetery already existed in 1812, but only in 1906 the inhabitants started to erect gravestones.

The children went to school in Gerersdorf, until a school house was built in Rehgraben 1862-64. Teachers: KOLARITS; Johann ILLETICS; Alois KLUTOVATZ (8-10 years around 1871), KOTRSITS; Albert RUISZ (1878-80); ULRICH; EISINGERITS (ca. 1883), Johann ILLETITS (4 years); Josef KAPPEL (1899-1901); Adalbert STIFTER (ca. 1905), Peter IZLER (1910), Karl MINAROVITS (1910-22); Desiderius DVORAK (1922), Leo HÖBAUS (until 1925), Rudolf SCHNEIDER (until 1926), Franz WANESCHEK (1926-).

Source: Dr. Josef Loibersbeck's series "Um den Eisenberg", published in "Volk und Heimat" 19/1958; summarized and translated by Albert Schuch 10 Nov 1999

Additional information from: Harald & Leonhard Prickler: Hoheitszeichen der kroatischen Gemeinden des Burgenlandes. Eisenstadt 1997 (published by the hkdc = hrvatski kulturni i dokumentarni centar), p. 257-258:

The (Güssing) Urbarium of 1576 mentions the following surnames for Rehgraben: BELOSOWYTT, BOZNYCH, GLYSWYTH, JENAKOWYTT, MYSYTH, PAWSYTH, SKORYOWYTT, WKOWYTH, ZLOKLYOWYTH. At that time the village was called "Verhovina". (Today the Croatian village name is "Prascevo") [spelling of names changed later like JENAKOWYTT to JENAKOVICS]

Güssing church records of the years 1670-1689 mention the following surnames of inhabitants: BALLA, DUIMOUICH, ENTRIS, FRANCHIC, HUSZOUICH (HUSOVICZ),JANDRICZ, JOKOVICZ, JUNGER, JUSICH, KEDEL, KEGLEVICZ, KODNAR, KOKIKAVICZ, KOMAYS, KONHANTL, KRAKOVICZ, LAKY, LOKVIKOVICZ, MATICICZ, MIXICH, MICICZ, ROUINSAZ, SILADI, SUBICH, SZTIPAN, SZUETICH (CZUETICH, SUETICZ), TANCZOS, TRGOVCICZ, VALICZ (VALITZ, BALICZ), ZTANCHICH, ZWANICZ, ZWITKOVICZ. Many different names, seems to have been a constant movement of families during these years.

When the parish Gerersdorf (bei Güssing) was established in 1789, Rehgraben became a part of it. In the census of 1910 the village had 399 inhabitants. 349 of them declared that Croatian was their mother tongue. The census of 1923 reports 428 inhabitants, 317 of them with Croatian mother tongue.

Go back to Villages, Page R      Go to Village Histories Index Page