| 3) BB BEGINNING TO NOW (by Roman Paul Weber)
I have been member of BB since about 1997. I thought perhaps how my Burgenland interest
developed may be of some benefit for our newer BB members and may help them "get started"
telling how BB members helped me at the beginning and through the years until where I am now,
re Burgenland. I am Roman Paul Weber, b. 14 Nov 1929, Waite Park, MN. I welcome and enjoy
hearing from any and all BB members. I always respond to emails.
 My
father, Frank Weber, b 2 December 1894. Don't remember when or from whom, but I heard of
Burgenland Bunch about 1997. My wife that had been researching her ancestors rigorously for
about 20 years. I never paid much attention to all of her excitement when she discovered
relatives she never had known existed (she is back to 1600's ancestors. Original 13 Colonies,
and not "out of the US" yet). Wife encouraged me to contact the newly learned of, Burgenland
Bunch. I did. Without BB, I today would never would have learned of my many Bland ancestors,
nor as much as where my father was born and hundreds of pages of Bland ancestor Records I have
today.
When a young boy, all I knew was what my father had "mentioned" at some time was that he came
to America in earlier 1900s, but he didn't know exactly which year. He never mentioned coming
by ship or anything how he came here. He mentioned the town of Kirschlag, Austria and I always
thought that is where he came from. (The only "story" my dad ever told me of was that when a
boy where he came from "in Austria", that he and other boys took care of the town's cows and
would catch crabs (forgotten "crab" in German, crawfish in English) in a pasture stream while
watching the cow and boiling them in an old can of water and eating the white meat in crab
tails. White meat sort of the same as lobster meat. Dad told that story to me when I was 10 or
so. He said he remembered it all 'very well taking care of all the gathered village cows).
That is about all I ever knew. I knew my grandparents, dad's parent and visited them when they
lived in St Paul, MN, but not very often. Grandpa could speak English, but grandma as far as I
can recall never did learn to speak English. At least not that I could understand her very
well.
 Not
long after becoming a member of BB, I heard of "LDS libraries". I had never ever heard of
"LDS" and no idea that it was some kind of "religion" etc. Had it not been for BB, I probably
never would have heard of it and today wouldn't know anything more than what my dad had told
me, re the above paragraph. (I had enlisted in the navy after high school (St Cloud Tech) and
left Waite Park, MN, 1947 when 17 where I had been born and raised. Ended up army retirement
and moved to Highlandville, MO and have lived here ever since. 20 miles south of Springfield
and 20 miles north of Branson in the Ozark Hills). When I heard of LDS from BB, I found that
there was an LDS genealogical library in nearby Springfield, MO. I visited LDS, Springfield.
(My dad was first born and had 10 sisters. One sister, Rose McDonough, St Paul, MN was the
only one still living in 1998. Some family member had said Rose had mentioned hearing her dad,
my grandpa, Paul, talk about a place called "Steinbach" and she thought grandparents and
family immigrated from Steinbach, AUSTRIA. LDS worker found "Steinbach" had been part of
Hungary before 1920. Since my dad had been born in 1894, he was born in HUNGARY, not Austria!
LDS ordered a film from Salt Lake City for me that included Steibach, HUNGARY. When the film
arrived a week or so later I went to view it at LDS. "1894" being my dad's year of birth, I
couldn't find him on the film. A BB member I met (on-line) found my dad for me on same
numbered LDS film I had and told me the page and line number on my film where my dad's 2
December 1894 record was on the film. Reason I hadn't found my dad is that the recording
priest, was a Hungarian and my dad's name, Frank, in Hungarian is Ferenez, plus the priest
handwriting (shrift) was the old-day German handwriting. That was the beginning of spending
the following almost two years of daily viewing that film number and a second one researching
the first one led me to (other ancestors in near to Steinbach dorfs and towns. As I viewed
hundreds of pages, births, deaths and marriages, I would note the page and line number of an
ancestor I found each day and had LDS make copies for me of those pages. Only 10 cents per
copy. Today I have "hundreds" of pages of filmed copies of Burgenland ancestors. -- My older
brother had visited Budapest years earlier, 1980s or 90s and found there was no "Steinbach" in
Hungary. There wasn't at time he visited Hungary! Part of VAS county Hungary had become
Burgenland, AUSTRIA in 1920.
 In
2003, my brother and two daughters visited my dad's birthplace, Steinbach, Burgenland. Found
and met relatives living there today. Found house number my dad was born in. We have a 2nd
cousin still living, Josepha (Weber) Puchegger, living there now (took photos). Father of
Josepha is my gr uncle Daniel Weber, born 1867, Steinbach, older brother of my St Paul, MN
grandpa, Paul (Pal in Hungarian), born Steinbach #2, 1870. My grandma is Katrina (Catherine)
Schlogl, born 1874, house #13, Steinbach. I now have "Weber" and "Schlogl" back to earlier
1800s. Most generations of ancestors came from Steinbach and still living there today. Many
married and lived in other nearby to Steinbach towns. Kogl, Bubendorf, Redlschlag, Lebenbrun,
Gschorholz, and others. They all belonged to the Catholic Church in bigger city, Pilgersdorf
parish.
Welcome and will respond to emails,
Roman Paul Weber |
| The second section of this 2-section newsletter includes: 1) FROM
FIRST STEPS TO A TRIP REPORT (by Ronald Markland)
The information that follows is intended to give those who search for family history the
spirit to continue searching, never give up because just maybe you will uncover a minor fact
which ultimately solves a lot of your problems. Just the fact that you are looking sometimes
brings together others looking for a similar family. I owe many thanks to the Burgenland Bunch
for much of the information that I probably never would have otherwise been able to locate.
 In
the fall of 2005 many of our family gathered for a memorial service in St. Louis Missouri. In
the discussions at that service we came to the conclusion that our parents and grandparents
had not really given us a lot of information regarding the family's roots.
I with my cousin who lives in San Antonio, Texas, along with my daughter and niece, got
together the day after the service and looked at the family records, papers, and our memories.
We did find that my grandmother, Louise (Aufner) Guenther, immigrated from Austria, and from
the information scratched on the back of an envelop we found information indicating
"Burgenland, and Eltendorf". Thanks to the internet, I was able to do some quick searching and
found the Burgenland was a distinct area of Austria, and Eltendorf a small village. We only
knew that my grandmother’s (Louise Guenther) maiden name was Aufner. As I stumbled through the
various ancestry web help sites, I first noted that most of them were offering to do some type
of research, and usually for a healthy fee.
At some point I came across the www.the-burgenland-bunch.org
website. Not knowing exactly how my grandmother made it to the USA, or exactly when, was not
very helpful in finding any additional information. As I spent more time using the information
in the Burgenland Bunch site, I began to learn a little about the area she came from. I tried
to determine where a potential husband would meet his wife-to-be. That brought me to what I
call the "dorfs". There was Jennersdorf, Königsdorf, Eltendorf, and Dobersdorf. All appeared
from a Google Earth search to be close enough for an interested suitor to easily walk between.
At that time we were under the belief that my grandmother’s mother’s maiden name was Fuchs,
and that my great grandfather was an Aufner.
I quickly realized that the Burgenland Bunch had developed an extensive list of home sites,
and their occupants based upon census reports. Several emails back and forth with Gerry
Berghold were extremely helpful. I knew my grandmother’s birth date, and attempted to guess
the age of her parents at that time. This keyed me into a Josef Aufner, who lived at number 84
Eltendorf, based upon the 1858 census. This was as far as I could go. One evening I came up
with the crazy idea of writing a letter to a home which was there 150 years previously, and
with no idea as to who might be living there, even if the home still existed. In December of
2006 I wrote a letter to the "Occupants" of #84 Eltendorf Austria. I had little expectation
that I would receive a response, but at that time I had exhausted all other avenues.
 On
February 14, 2007, Valentine’s Day, I found a large envelop in my mailbox with many Austrian
postage stamps. My letter had been forwarded to the Gemeinde in Eltendorf. A Mr. Helmut Pieler
responded that my grandmother was born in Königsdorf (Kings Village), according to the records
in the rectory in Königsdorf. The old homestead of 124 Königsdorf no longer exists, and he
could not find anyone who was in some way related to my grandmother. He also provided my
grandmother’s birthday per the church records; we had been celebrating it a day late all those
years. Also, to our surprise, her mother’s maiden name was not Fuchs, but Kramer. At last some
firm details to search from.
I was able to somehow locate a website that had passenger lists. Family legend was very vague
on where they had arrived; some thought San Francisco. But after a lot of work I came across
an “Aloisa Aufner” who, with her sister Anna and brother Franz arrived in New York on
September 21, 1904. They were traveling to St. Louis, MO to meet their father, Franz Aufner.
The passenger list indicated their ages, which worked, along with the facts that they had
prepaid transportation tickets, and also the sum of $10.00 to cover any expenses incurred in
the trip. The passenger list also indicated the address in St. Louis where their father lived.
BINGO, we had them identified.
Well, now, I had them in St. Louis, but that is where it once again became difficult to find
information. I though that my great-grandfather Franz Aufner's name would show up in the 1910
census, but it did not. However, in the 1910 census I managed to find a listing for a Frank
Guenther with a wife named Louisa. This turned out to be my grandmother. I tried to follow up
on what happened to her sister and brother, but this became another nightmare. Through the
census reports and family information I was able to gather most of the data for the family
that developed from the Aloisa (now Louise) Aufner-Franz (now Frank) Guenther marriage. Trying
to track down all the family members was another exercise in futility, but we managed to
eventually locate many details. I have also learned that many of the details that are
indicated on death certificates contradict what family legend had passed down. How to handle
that information is always a concern.
Around November of 2007, I had finally decided that I had all the information that I could
readily obtain, and put the documentation into a three ring binder along with some of the
photographs that we had acquired. Some of the family were really excited by the information
that had been provided, some said thanks, and some I never heard from. I thought that perhaps
I had done my best to gather family history for the future generation, and placed the book and
research documents in my bookcase. I was proud of what I had done to gather my parents and my
memories, and I was happy with what I had found out. However, I knew that there was additional
information that I could never readily obtain locally. I was intrigued by the Burgenland Bunch
proposing a trip to travel through the area, but unfortunately it was cancelled by a shortage
of individuals who could make the trip at that time.
All during the year 2008 I thought about a trip to Austria, but knew it was not possible. Then
in November of 2008 I received an email. The Burgenland Bunch has a site listing individuals
researching certain family lines, and the email was from a Brigitte Aufner Rezac. Brigitte's
grandparents family had partially immigrated to "America" and she was interested if I could
help her find any details of her family. Her teenage sons are avid football players. Not
soccer but real American football. They had identified a college football player who had the
Aufner name and wanted to know if there was a relationship. The end result is that yes, there
was a relationship. Brigitte's grandfather (Karl) turned out to be my grandmother’s (Aloisa)
brother. No one was aware that any family remained in Austria. Brigitte was my cousin. The
number of emails that literally flew back and forth was amazing. Both she and I were trying to
gather details of the family and now we both had sources at each side of the Atlantic to do
that. The information that was available increased many-fold. As we discussed the details,
Brigitte offered that if I should ever be interested in visiting, her family had a guest house
in Mödling, Austria. It took me about one day to decide that yes I was interested in making
the trip. Brigitte indicated that the best time of the year was May. This is a good time of
the year weather-wise, but most important of all, she indicated, it is the time when the new
wines come out. Kind of an Oktoberfest in May, except it is wine, not beer. I immediately
jumped upon the opportunity, and scheduled a flight to arrive May 2, 2009.
 In
the meantime, my cousin Marjory and I discussed my trip, and the possibility of her
participating. After a few weeks she also came on board for the trip.
The following is a summary of the events that we enjoyed when we made the trip.
We took a total of three planes from St. Louis, MO and ending up in Vienna the afternoon of
the second day. Unfortunately, Marjory's luggage remained in London, and would arrive the
following day.
We spent the first two days with Brigitte and her family at their home in Mödling, Austria.
She and her husband, Otto, have two wonderful sons, Otto Jr. who is 16, and Stefan who is 14.
After my spending two months studying German using the Rosetta Stone program I was delighted
to find out that their English was much better than my German, and they welcomed the
opportunity to improve their use of English. We decided that the language we would use was
English. Also, I was advised that my "dialect" was definitely Burgenland, not that of Vienna.
Brigitte lives in a historic home constructed in the early 1800's. Beethoven was a guest of
the original owners. Their town of Mödling, Austria, is about 6 miles from downtown Vienna. It
is a typical picturesque village; a church whose construction began in the 1500s is less than
100 yards from their home. The streets are narrow, and driving them is a challenge; finding a
parking place is even more difficult.
 After
two days in Vienna, Brigitte and her father Siegfried Aufner drove us to the Burgenland. After
a 90 mile drive, and a short stop in Dobersdorf, we arrived at Annie Aufner Gratzl's home in
Jennersdorf. Shortly after we arrived in Jennersdorf, Pauline Aufner Stumpf and her son
Herbert drove in from Ingolstadt, Germany to participate in the reunion. Brigitte had pulled
out all the stops in making sure that as many Aufner family as possible could get together.
Annie and her family live on a small but wonderful farm about one mile from Jennersdorf. The
original home was replaced about 9 years ago and currently an energy-efficient heated by wood
structure stands on the site. We had a typical lunch of a clear broth with dumplings, which I
enjoyed, but then the real meal arrived. Roasted pork, sauerkraut, potato salad, and of
course, wine.
After lunch, we went to visit the local cemeteries, They are much better maintained than here
in the states, and I was overwhelmed by the number of visitors at the time that we were there,
and also with the both fresh, and planted, flowers. Many of the original headstones have been
replaced with newer ones, and additional names added; one cannot be certain of some of the
dates, which seem to conflict with current family legend. We then did some visiting to the
home sites of Karl, Anna, Aloisa, and Franz Aufner. The first night, we had a family gathering
of about 20 relatives, with a typical dinner, and a lot of local wines. While only about five
spoke English, we had a wonderful time.
The second day I had the opportunity to do a little early morning walking. The sun was up by
5:00 AM and I walked up the local farmers’ road. I heard the strangest bird call, it sounded
like a cuckoo clock. Discussing this with Annie later I was informed that it was the Kuckuck,
and all these years I thought that the Cuckoo bird was just something that lived in a clock.
I had the opportunity to go with Annie to drop off her son Dominik and daughter Victoria at
the local school. We arrived at the school about 7:30 AM and when walking through the building
which was filled with 5 to 8 year old children, I was amazed as to how well behaved they were,
unlike my memories of visits to my grandchildren's schools. After dropping off Dominik and
Victoria, we stopped by the local market for fresh bread the first day, and the second day
stopped by the dairy, two houses down where the cows were being milked as we picked up the
milk for coffee. Austrian coffee I found is very strong, I though that the spoon could be
stood up in it, due to the thickness, which is why they use the milk for coffee (we call it
half and half) as a thinning agent so you can drink it.
Our second day, we visited more family, and even visited a castle, (which was never owned by a
member of the Aufner family). Every evening ended up with about 3 hours of discussion
regarding relatives and what we and they knew or wanted to know. Both sides looked at old
photographs that they and we had questions about and they found old family albums of old
tin-types. These conversations usually began about 9 PM and ended quite late. Mysteriously,
one or two bottles of local wine always seemed to appear.
 Josef
Aufner and his wife Lisabeth live on a farm in the village of Newmarkt on the Raab. Josef is a
security guard, farmer and also has a side job of producing schnapps. He has won quite a few
awards at the local competitions for his efforts, as well as has his wife Lisabeth with her
preserves. We had to sample both of their products.. They use the local apples for the base of
what seemed to me to be a very good moonshine, with the still being kept in one of the out
buildings. My comment of moonshine was translated into German as moonlight, which caused a lot
of explaining, and a lot more sampling.
The third morning Annie took us to visit a tourist area, complete with German bunkers from
World War II, that overlooked present-day Hungary, just a few miles from her home. We then
stopped at Eltendorf for a typical lunch.
After three wonderful days in the Burgenland, we traveled with Pauline and Herbert back to
Vienna. Just prior to leaving Josef Aufner brought me a "sampler case" containing eight
bottles of his finest schnapps, and a jar of preserves from Lisabeth. I was concerned about
what was I going to do with all of the preserves?
That evening Brigitte had arranged a meeting with the Bürgermeister of the town of Mödling at
which, in addition to having our photos taken for the local newspaper, I was given a
3-foot-tall bottle of "Bürgermeister Wine". We were treated like royalty, and the mayor was a
real joy to talk with. We discussed their local politics, and also their thoughts about
"America". We later did some touring that evening on the way to have dinner at a "heurigen,"
which I found was usually a place run by a wine-maker who serves food while soliciting sales
of his products. In a way it is like a cafeteria; many different local favorites are
available, and you just order the amount that you want, which is then served family style. We
were able to taste many of the local foods in this manner. Of course, they kept bringing out
different wines. The cheeses were exceptional, and upon my return to St. Louis I went looking
for similar ones, but was told that USA requirements called for most of the foreign cheeses to
be pasteurized and due to that, the flavor and consistency of the local fresh products was
lost.
Later that evening (about 10:00 PM), Otto, Herbert, and I went to the grand opening of a
restaurant. Otto's electrical contracting firm had done the lighting design for the
restaurant, and he was also a good friend of the owner Pino. We ran into the Mayor again and
managed to close the facility at 2:00 AM.
The following day, we arose a little later than normal (think 10:00 AM), and we all drove
about one hour to the Neusiedl area and the Neusiedl Sea (lake in English). After a long
Hungarian-style lunch, we went on an excursion ride on the lake, Neusiedl Sea, which is part
of a nature preserve. The lake is quite large, but very shallow. We were told that a tall man
could walk across it, it must be 20 miles long and 3 to 4 miles wide, and averages 5 to 6 feet
in depth. The lake Neusiedl sports the largest campground in Europe and even though it was the
first of May, several hundreds of campers were already set up. Many leave their campers set up
all year long and use them just for weekend visits to the lake Neusiedl. The lake Neusiedl is
also the nesting area of the famous Gray goose, a protected bird that lives in the marsh
areas. Also, there is a local herd of wild swine that live in a segregated area. They have
very long hair running down the center of their backs, and are definitely not cute.
On Friday, Pauline and Herbert drove back home to Germany. Brigitte, Marjory, Otto, and I went
for another tour of Vienna. This one was of the famous farmers’ market area. You name it, they
had a stand selling it; all of the stands were permanent structures that were passed down
through the family for hundreds of years. Spices, vegetables, cheeses, meats of all kinds, and
fish were fresh and on display. The perimeter of the market was surrounded by small
restaurants, which served products freshly purchased in the market. We had a wonderful lunch
and then went to the main shopping district. When walking the streets, I noticed that while
most of the buildings were of an older seventeenth-century design, there was an occasional
grouping of more contemporary design. This I was told by Otto was due to the bombing of World
War II destroying buildings which were replaced with a newer, modern design.
The real highlight of the day was not the touring, but the fact that it was "pizza night".
Otto could become a professional chef in the USA if he wanted, and is known in the Mödling
area for being the best pizza maker in town. He starts from scratch with the flour, and keeps
his recipe a secret. After about two hours, the 10 to 12 loafs of pizza dough had risen and
were ready for preparation. He even has a small pizza oven built into the kitchen. The tomato
sauce for the pizza was just made from scratch, and he adds 4 different kinds of cheese. But
the main special ingredient is prosciutto ham that has just been thinly sliced from the entire
ham that he recently purchased in Italy. Watch out, Domino's and Pizza Hut, this stuff is
really good. The last pizza that he made that evening was his specialty, I named it a
breakfast pizza. When asked why, I responded that the sunny side up egg on top of fresh
prosciutto ham qualified it for that title.
 After
resting for a while, at 10:00 PM we went out for a walk and then stopped by Pino's restaurant
for a drink. People were filling all the tables, even at that late an hour. The food supply
was about exhausted, due to the overwhelming acceptance of the new restaurant. We did not
close the restaurant that evening, but I did run into my new friend the Mayor, this time with
his wife.
On Saturday, Otto, the boys, Marjory, and I went to tour Castle Schonbrunn. This was the main
castle of the emperor, and is in the center of Vienna. We walked the grounds, and saw every
corner. We must have walked 5 miles, uphill all the way out and back. And this was just the
morning. Then back to Mödling for a late lunch. After a few hours’ rest, Otto junior talked me
into taking the dog for a walk. We ended up climbing what I called Mount Mödling. This is just
behind their house, and while there is a paved route, Otto felt that I should use the one that
the locals use. At the very top is the site of an old watch tower originally constructed in
587 AD.. Upon returning to the house I was totally exhausted. Marjory and I spent about 4
hours talking about the wonderful experiences that we had shared on this trip, and tried our
best to understand why our family that had left Austria in 1904 and never went back for a
visit, nor in our memories ever communicated with or discussed the family that remained
behind. We both promised ourselves that we would attempt to find out any more details that we
could, now knowing more about the country, and the trying times that probably existed in the
early 1900s.
Sunday was Mother’s Day. While Brigitte, Marjory, and Otto Junior went to Mass, Otto senior
prepared for an Austrian Bar-B-Q. While he indicated that he had a gas grill, he preferred
using what we would call an electric griddle. Being an avid American Bar-B-Q fan, I knew that
this would never work. But then Otto brought out trays of chicken legs, pork chops, ribs, and
sausages. While in America we slow cook at 250 degrees, he did the same, but his temperature
was Centigrade not Fahrenheit. After sampling all of his Bar-B-Q several times, I had to
concede that the Austrian way is quicker, and possibly better. I admitted that the reason we
slow cook is that it gives us an excuse to drink more beer during the cooking process.. The
mounds of meat quickly disappeared.
Brigitte was interested in our doing more touring. However, Marjory and I told her that since
it was Mother’s Day, she should do what she wanted to do. Well, guess what she wanted to do:
go touring. We went on a ride to a high overlook that gave a fantastic view of all of Vienna,
and also the Danube River. While only a few miles outside of downtown Vienna, we had an
awesome view of the countryside. We then drove to a wonderful town just a mile of so away and
found more cathedrals, and vineyards, and wonderful villages. Otto pointed out a castle on a
hilltop several miles away. This is where King Richard was held hostage for ransom, which is a
part of the Robin Hood story. Then on to the Danube River. Being very familiar with the
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, it was a pleasure to see a river of its size that contained
only clear water, unlike the muddy waters that we have.
We then slowly made our way back to Mödling, knowing that early the next morning we had to
catch an early morning flight back to the USA. Since I had done most of my packing earlier
(having had to purchase an additional suitcase to take back all the gifts we were given) we
spent the evening discussing the new family that we had discovered. It was amazing that while
never having met prior to that time, we melded together like we had known each other for
generations, but then we had been together for generations, hadn't we? We just didn't know it.
Sadly, the next morning we left for the airport at 6 AM, and I am currently looking forward to
the next opportunity of once again getting together with my new Austrian relatives. We have
invited them to come visit and hope that they will be able to do this. When this happens I
intend to make sure that everyone knows, and that we show our Austrian family a wonderful time
in the USA. Another thing that I learned in Austria is the use of the computer-based
communications system called SKYPE. It is a free computer program, and using a video camera
(mine cost $54.00) you have both audio and video communications and there are no charges. In
the one month since I have returned, I have talked to my new Austrian relatives at least one
time per week, continuing to relive the memories, and also answer any new questions that
arise.
I owe all of this to the Burgenland Bunch. Thanks so much for being there. I hope that many
others will have similar experiences, in my case the chance of a lifetime.
Sincerely,
Ronald Markland |
Stylistically,
they modeled themselves on the legendary "Fidelen Neckenmarkter Weinhauer". This band had
represented a practice of music as it had been in many villages of Burgenland until the
’sixties in the last century. Bohemian polkas, the waltz and, above all, the polka francaise
ruled the repertoire, where, more important than a sober intonation, was an enthralling rhythm
that spontaneously invited one to dance. The drums (with the characteristic drum of a wood
block) remain a special characteristic of the "Buchgrabler" to this day. For the old pieces,
they also purchased clothes from their grandparents' days.