1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER (by Tom Steichen)
 Still
wearing my mask... hope you are too! I simply do not want to return to another round of Covid restrictions like Burgenland
is enduring!
This month's bits and pieces (Article 1) contains a bit about Walter Dujmovits and his future
with the BG, the arrival of a team of horses, a website that spans Burgenland's century, a little Burgenland rap music, a
WW-II memoir and a monthly update on corona-virus happenings in Burgenland, plus our regular tidbit features, the monthly BB
Facebook report, book sales and a words-for-thought item.
While I do not include a separate extended article, this month's "Historical BB Newsletter Articles: Orphanage Near
Kukmirn?" item led to a 2021 Update that is far larger (and more informative) than the original. Over
the years, we have received lots of questions about ancestors who were orphaned or fostered and, to be honest, we've
responded with little more than an explanation of the difficulty of learning about the true origins of such individuals. I
know I've picked up bits and pieces about the orphanage/fostering process over the years but I lacked a coherent picture and
exact details on how to research such a problem. Still, I tackled the problem described in this old article and surprised
myself about what I was able to discover, due both to my increasing knowledge and to the availability of online (and other)
resources that did not exist 10 years ago. Have a read.
The remaining articles are our standard sections: (no) Ethnic Events and Emigrant Obituaries.
Burgenländische Gemeinschaft and Walter Dujmovits: I recently heard from Erwin Weinhofer, a Vice President of
the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft (BG). Erwin had signed the annual BG Christmas greetings this past winter (instead
of Walter) so I asked him why. His answer was that Walter had fallen and torn a tendon above his knee, forcing surgery and a
stay in a rehabilitation center. Even before the accident, Walter was having significant problems walking; now those
problems are worse and have kept him out of the BG office for months. Because of this, Walter had decided he will no longer
run for President of the Gemeinschaft. Erwin tells me that their next general meeting and election should be in
June... and they have "hope for a bright future for our organization."
In a reply to Erwin I wrote (in part):
I wish Walter peace and joy in his remaining years. We in the BB will miss his presence, though his renown lives on in
his book and in the discussion it periodically produces on our Facebook page.
I also wish you and the BG board wisdom in your next choice of BG President, a choice who, I hope, will continue a
relationship with the BB and encourage the government to remain in contact with the emigrant generations here, as well as
give the BG the "bright future" you envision.
On a different topic, Erwin also said that the 2021 BG picnic, planned for July 4th, has been canceled due to COVID 19.
Gift of Gustav Rehberger Sketches: I received a surprise package this past month from Pamela Demme, the
wife of Burgenland-born but now-deceased artist Gustav Rehberger. Two years ago, I wrote and published an article telling
Gustav's story. As Pamela is archiving Gustav's work and trying to preserve his memory, she was appreciative of the article.
More recently, she credited the article with directing the attention of the Burgenländische Landesmuseum to Gustav as
a candidate for a panel in their 100th Anniversary "Our Americans" exhibition, a panel that included artwork that
Gustav created for the movie "One-Eyed Jacks" starring Marlon Brando.
As a thank you, she chose to give me two 5x7 original sketches by Gustav of his favorite subject, horses (see below).
I responded (in part) saying:
Dear Pamela, you are so very sweet and kind to share some of Gustav’s work with me. I plan to frame them and someday
(but not soon!) pass them along to my two sons. So, you have gifted all of us! I did notice the “Brando” as part of
the Rehberger panel in the “Our Americans” exhibition. Once that exhibition is over, I expect “Brando” will be
preserved in the permanent collection of the Landesmuseum. A wonderful representation of the capability of
Burgenländers. Congrats! With appreciation, Tom
Which prompted this reply (in part):
Dear Tom, wonderful. I’m so happy to know the horses made it to your door. I’d love to learn the stories of the other
63 Burgenländers at the Landesmuseum. Because I’m sure there’s a similarity to Gustav’s story. Since I can’t get
there, a book about them is really needed! I’ll always regret, I didn’t interrogate Gustav more about his life in
Riedlingsdorf. Ciao, Pam
Pamela also noted that she had discovered two more photographs from Gustav's 1937 visit to Riedlingsdorf. As she had
already shared the other photographs with the BB, she attached the two new ones so they could be added to our collection (here).
She noted that "the Man with Doggie is sweet and the Unknown Church is dramatic ...and since Gustav
enlarged them to 11 x 14, he must’ve been fond of them." They are now the final two images in the above digital
collection.
"100 Years of Burgenland - Then and Now" Site: Walter Hermann has created a website at
www.burgenland100.at for Burgenland's 100th Anniversary wherein he shows an old
photograph of a Burgenland village scene overlaid with a current-day image of the same scene taken, as near as possible,
from the same vantage point. There is a slider where you can "move" between the old and new photos. These interactive pairs
of images invite you to compare, rediscover and think further. He calls it "an interactive journey through time" and he adds
new image pairs on a weekly basis. You are invited to visit and enjoy the images.
 Anybody
Up For A Little Burgenland Rap Music? BB member Bob Chapman shared a link with me for, of all things, a
Burgenland rap music video performed by a German-speaking/singing Franciscan monk who has origins in India! Although the
lyrics are in German, there are English captions at the bottom... but you better be a quick reader, as the words flow! The
link to the video is youtu.be/9X63EEIk_Uw.
Sandesh Manuel, the singing monk, says "The aim and purpose of my video is to bring joy to people and to build bridges
through music, regardless of religious belief, origin and appearance."
I have to admit I smiled through much of it!
 WW-II
Burgenland Memories: Martina Freitag, an emigrant from Jennersdorf, Burgenland, just like her mother, recently
published a small book of her mother’s stories of life in WW-II Burgenland, The book is titled Rot-Weiß-Rot: A Village
Childhood in Wartime Austria.
Born in 1931 and raised in Jennersdorf, Johanna "Hannerl" Maurer married Karl Freitag and emigrated with him to Canada,
where they raised a family. After Karl died in 1985, she returned to Jennersdorf and contentedly lived in a farmhouse there
until 2013, when she returned to Canada for her final years. She died in 2019. As they wrote in her obituary, "Johanna
loved the traditions of her rural Austrian background, and she shared fascinating stories of her childhood with her children
and grandchildren."
The book is 75 pages, priced at $11.80 and can be ordered here:
lulu.com/rot-weiss-rot.
As for full disclosure, I have not read the book nor am I making a recommendation; rather, this is merely an informative
post about a Burgenland-related book.
 Corona
Virus in Burgenland: As mentioned last month, a summit of the governors of the three eastern Austrian
provinces, Burgenland, Lower Austria and Vienna, agreed to a short "hard" lockdown over Easter, from April 1 through April
6. That lockdown took place as agreed. However, while Vienna and Lower Austria "seamlessly" transitioned into a longer
lockdown, Burgenland chose to relax some (but not all) of the restrictions after the joint "hard" lockdown expired.
So Burgenland remains in what they are calling "lockdown light." Art and culture can now be enjoyed again, with museums,
galleries and libraries open to interested visitors. Trade, service providers and schools are open.
However, "shopping tourists" from Vienna and Lower Austria, as well as Hungary, are being turned away by police and a
campaign is underway to ensure compliance with Covid-19 measures throughout Burgenland, including a mask requirement at
indoors and outdoor shopping centers. Employees from Hungary, who have an ID, a printed confirmation of employment and a
recent virus test, are allowed entry.
In the schools, the older students returned to "shift" education and the elementary schools to face-to-face classroom
instruction, with compulsory virus tests on the first day back at school, including for teachers.
Later in the month, May 19th was announced for reopening "gastronomy, tourism and events." Even then, significant
restrictions will apply. For example, restaurants can have a maximum of four guests at socially-distant tables. Patrons must
have a recent negative corona test and a 10 pm curfew will be in effect. However, Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil
noted that “The prerequisite for this is that we succeed in keeping the incidence figures stable and low.”
As for the epidemic, itself, the total number of confirmed cases in Burgenland mid-month was 17,473, which is almost a 6%
infection rate among a population of about 292,000 citizens. Vaccination efforts continue, however, with over 65,000
Burgenländers having received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Given over 145,000 people have already
registered for a vaccination, the anticipated vaccination rate should exceed 60% of eligible citizens. The chart below
shows, by age group and gender, who has already received one or both doses of a vaccine:
But, for now there remain significant restrictions and a concerning infection rate in Burgenland.
 The
Facebook Bunch (from Vanessa Sandhu):
Greetings Burgenland Bunch!
I hope that this newsletter finds you and your loved ones well! Here is a recap of what we discussed this month in our
Facebook group. We now have 1628 members - sending a warm welcome to our 24 new members! Please consider joining us if
you haven’t done so. We are a friendly, helpful bunch!
facebook.com/TheBurgenlandBunchOFFICIAL
If you are in the mood to listen to some beautiful, traditional music from Burgenland, check out the link to the
Burgenländisches Volksliedwek’s YouTube channel, shared by member Martin Wolf:
m.youtube.com/channel/UC_Q3bbb-A
While out and about the other day, I stopped by the Coplay Sängerbund to photograph their war memorial. The
monument honors men and women of the Sängerbund who served during World War 2. I shared the photos with the group, and many
of us were able to find our Burgenland family memorialized there.
We had an interesting discussion regarding the fluctuation between languages which can be seen in different villages. Some
years, the Catholic Church records were in Latin. Other times, they were written in German or Hungarian. A variety of
reasons contributed to the flip-flopping, and the discussion was quite informative!
BB Staff member Patrick Kovacs shared a simplified birth index for Kukmirn 1895-1920, including Eisenhüttl,
Limbach, Neusiedl bei Güssing, and Rohr (1907-1908).
Member Roland Schuller shared his recipe for his wild garlic spread. Roland will be sharing English
explanations for his recipes on his Burgenland cooking channel found on YouTube. Every recipe that I have tried from
Roland’s videos has been delicious! Check it out and try some of his dishes. You won’t be disappointed!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oMgCz6ng7q4&fbclid
Member Karl Sarkozi mentioned: “Matriken.at has informed me that they do not intend to digitize the
register books for Mischendorf and Mariasdorf in the upcoming months. Might not even be this year.” On a positive note,
member Martin Wolf will begin scanning the Lutheran records of Neuhaus am Klausenbach and they will be online
in summer 2021 on Matricula (data.matricula-online.eu).
CONNECTIONS:
Member Nicole Steiner writes: “I am writing this on behalf of my father. He is trying to connect to
possible relatives that are now or were living in Chicago during WWII. My father immigrated to Canada in the mid 50’s from
the province of Burgenland with his parents and his sister. The children were always told that they had relatives living in
Chicago that immigrated before the Second World War. My grandparents always mentioned that they should go and see the uncles
in the USA. My father knows that these relative exist as he vividly remembers getting packages from these family members
just after the war. He remembers that the packages always had a large can of Crisco shortening and coffee with every
shipment. It wasn’t until the 60’s that my grandparents did find these relatives in Chicago and decided to visit them. My
father never remembers hearing a family name for these relatives. The original immigrants could be from the town of
Badersdorf or Pinkafeld.”
Member Jean Birmingham writes: “Anyone related to the Franciscus Horvath / Susanna Oswald; Jakob Lang /
Catherina Kopfensteiner; Michael Wolfinger / Maria Phem. All from the now Vas, Burgenland area. Also Leopoldus Oswald /
Josefa Keller.”
Member Robert Johnson writes: “I am interested in sharing information on any of the Gilley, Boder, Muhr,
Zieger, and Nicher surnames, 1890s-1900s. My mother’s family all hailed from Burgenland area. Thank you.”
If anyone would like to contact Nicole, Jean, or Robert, please contact me at
HooftyRN@msn.com. I’d be happy to pass along your contact
information to them!
That’s all for this month! Stay safe and healthy!
Vanessa
 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."
Current total sales are 1597 copies, as interested people purchased 5 more books during this past month.
As always, the book remains available for online purchase at a list price of $7.41
(which is the production charge for the book, as we purposely choose not to make a profit so we can avoid dealing
with the income tax consequences and so you can obtain the book at as low a cost as possible!), plus tax & shipping.
See the BB homepage for a link to the information / ordering page and for information
about current discounts (there is at least one discount on price or shipping available most of the time... if not, wait a
few days and there will be one!).
Getting the book and reading it is an excellent way to pass the time during the coronavirus-imposed "house arrest."
Burgenland Recipes: No recipe this month...
 Note:
We have updated the recipes sortable list with links directly to the recipes or food-related
articles published in our past newsletters. You can access the list by clicking our recipe box (to the right). Thanks to the
contributions of our members over the years, we have quite a collection of Burgenland recipes, some with several variations.
However, we have now used up most of our unpublished recipes... thus this recipe section will become dormant when we run
out. So, if you have a favorite family recipe, please consider sharing it with us. We will be happy to publish it. Our older
relatives, sadly, aren't with us forever, so don't allow your favorite ethnic dish to be lost to future generations.
You can send your recipe to BB Recipes Editor,
Alan Varga. Thanks!
Words for Thought (reprinted from 10 years ago...I'm preventing that third death!):
Around 10 years ago, I attended a Mexican funeral at the famous old San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas. The priest
offered the following story:
We have a tradition in Mexico that each person dies three times. First, there is the moment in which the body stops
functioning. Second, there is the time that the remains are consigned to the grave. Third, there is that moment, sometime
in the future, in which the person's name is spoken for the last time. Then the person is really gone.
Several years later, I got into genealogy and realized that persons who preserve the memories of persons from their own
familial past are preventing that third death.
-- Ted Klein, in RootsWeb Review, Vol. 1, No. 17, October, 1998
|
2) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES
Editor: This is part of our series designed to recycle interesting articles from the BB Newsletters of past years.
The entry below is from 10 years ago, one in which the BB staff gave reasonable but, still, unsatisfactory advice. When I
read through it, I wondered, with another 10 years of personal learning and the additional resources now available online,
whether I could improve on the answers we gave... and I could... significantly! So, below I present the original article and
then, below that, I follow with what I discovered over a few days this past month. Although I still had the email address of
the person, Dan Richman, who sent in the original question, sadly I received no response when I sent a message saying I had
learned much more. So, while I cannot enrich Dan with this new information, I can let it serve as a tutorial should you have
a similar question.
THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No. 209
April 30, 2011
ORPHANAGE NEAR KUKMIRN?
Dan Richman (a non-member) wrote to Alan Varga saying: Hi, I came across your Burgenland Bunch Genealogy Group
newsletter and was wondering if you might be able to point me in the right direction. My wife has a relative that was born
in 1874 and lived in Kukmirn before emigrating to the United States. The only thing we know about her time in Austria was
that she grew up in an orphanage, presumably near Kukmirn. Do you know of a way to find what orphanages were in that region
and how me might go about researching their records? Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Alan replied, copying the BB Staff, saying: Thanks for your interest. I can start you off with a link to our
Villages page, which has a brief history of the village, as well as email links to other BB members researching Kukmirn (36
of them), http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/Villages/K.htm.
I tried a Google search, but could find nothing on orphanages near Kukmirn or Güssing, so I am referring you on to our other
researchers, who may be able to help. Good luck with your search, and thanks again for contacting us.
Fritz Königshofer then wrote: Hi Dan, Is it possible that the relative of your wife was an orphan, and grew up
in foster care in Kukmirn (rather than in an orphanage)? From the 1870s onwards, orphans from Vienna and Graz were placed in
foster care in the areas of the Raab and Lafnitz valleys. The BB Newsletter occasionally picked up on this subject. Search
the BB Newsletter Archive for the word "orphans." Articles can be found, e.g., in Newsletters
58B, 91A, and
123B.
Does any information exist within your wife's family about the birth place and date of the relative? Has his birth entry be
found? It would be unlikely that an orphanage existed in a rather small rural town of one thousand or so inhabitants like
Kukmirn.
Dan replied to Fritz saying: Thanks for your reply. That may clear things up a bit in terms of Kukmirn not
housing an orphanage. Here's the actual story, in case anyone has ideas:
My wife's great-great grandmother, Emilie Illichman, was married to Frank Ernst. "Illichman" was her maiden name, but we
believe that "Illichman" have been the name of the family that she worked for. We don't know anything about where that
family lived.
Her husband, Frank Ernst, died at some point before Emilie immigrated to Allentown, PA. She arrived in New York as "Emilie
Ernst" on 12 Jun 1906, at the age of 32, with her five year old daughter Theresa. Upon immigrating to New York, Emilie
listed "Kukmer" as her previous residence, her language as "German" and her nationality as "Hungary". She was apparently
traveling to meet up with her husband's sibling living in Allentown.
That's all we know. It seems like her marriage to Frank Ernst and residence in Kukmirn may be my only solid clue we have. I
have no experience with researching overseas and am curious if there are any resources for researching this mysterious
story.
Fritz replied back: There is a lot you could research regarding your wife's line without traveling to Kukmirn
and the archives in Austria.
Have you gone over the Ellis Island records with a fine comb? Besides the 1906 arrival of Emilie Ernst, widow, age 32, and
her daughter Therese, age 5, there are possibly interesting arrivals as follows. In 1901, a Franz Ernst arrived from
Kukmirn. He was 44, married, and on his way to brother-in-law Josef Koller in McKees Rocks, PA (near Pittsburgh). Could this
be the husband of Emilie? There is also the arrival in 1902 of a Franz (transcribed as Frany) Ernst from (likely)
Kukmirn/Kukmér (transcribed as Kuknet). This Franz was 26 years old, married, and on the way to Homestead, PA, to meet his
brother-in-law Franz Ernst. Could the latter be the Franz of 1901? By the way, the first name Franz is Ferencz in Hungarian,
and in the USA often became Frank.
Emily's arrival record says that she was on the way to a brother-in-law Johann Lagler (not sure about the spelling) in
Allentown, PA. Since the surname of this man is not Ernst, he may have been married to a sister of Frank.
The last name Illichmann is quite rare. The Austrian phone directory shows no Illichmann in southern Burgenland (where
Kukmirn is located). There are less than 50 Illichmann listings in all of today's Austria. A few Illichmanns lived in
Transylvania, today part of Romania. The Ellis Island records have an Illichmann arrival from Bohemia, among a few other
arrivals.
Have you worked with the microfilms available for ordering and browsing at LDS Family History Centers? I would start with
the microfilms of the civil records of Kukmirn which cover vital events from October 1895 onwards, searching for the
marriage of Franz (Ferencz) Ernst and Emilie. You should also search the civil birth records for the birth entry of Therese
(Terez). The civil records contain lots of data, such as age, birth place, maiden name and religion. Kukmirn had a
substantial Lutheran congregation, besides a Roman-catholic one. You can then extend your search to the church records
duplicates which cover 1828 to Sept. 1895. In these records you should find the birth entry for Franz, and perhaps the one
of Emily (if she was born in Kukmirn).
Dan replied: Thank you so much for these ideas. It is an interesting point that the surname Illichman is rare.
I will take a further look this week and let you know if I find anything.
< end of original article >
2021 UPDATE: So, that is where things stood 10 years ago. We never again heard from Dan nor did we pursue research
into his question... that is, until my search for a reprintable historical BB newsletter article for this month prompted me
to consider whether I could learn more.As always, a search into the past entails starting from the
information one already has, so I began by finding the 1906 passenger manifest for Emilie and daughter Therese.
It was pretty much as described above: widowed mother and daughter traveling from Kukmer to brother-in-law Johann Lagler in
Allentown, PA. One extra bit I learned was that the ship departed Antwerp on June 2nd, so I had a tighter cut point on when
things had to happen in Europe.
The manifest also confirmed that the daughter was five in June 1906, implying she must have been born in the June 1900 to
June 1901 window. As my next step was to find the birth record for Therese, having a tight window was helpful.
I was, in fact, able to find this birth record... and it proved to be both a source of confusion and enlightenment!
A quick perusal of the document (copy here: ErnstTheresia1901birth.jpg, so you
can follow along... and you should!) will show you that the child was born 13 Mar 1901 in Kukmirn to Lutheran parents:
father Ferencz Ernst, age 33, living in Kukmirn and born in ugyanaz = the same, and a mother written only as
Ernst Ferenczné, that is, without the usual "szuletett maiden name" notation. However, there was an official
note in the upper right corner, written in Hungarian of course, that identified the mother as Illichmann Emelia,
which matched what Dan had shared. She was age 27, living in Kukmirn and born in Bécs a lelencházban = Vienna
foundling hospital/home.
So! We both seemingly confirmed and denied some of Dan's contentions about mother Emelia: She was born in
Vienna, not Kukmirn, and she was associated with the foundlings home there. Thus it seemed quite possible she was an orphan,
as Dan's family stories claimed, and if raised in an orphanage, it seemed almost certain that it was one in Vienna, as she
was born there and Kukmirn never had an orphanage. It also seemed more probable, as Fritz had conjectured, that she ended up
in Kukmirn because she was sent to a foster home there.
There were a number of other Hungarian-language notes on the birth document... the Megjegyzés: (Remark:)
section mentioned the father... and, as I do not really read Hungarian (I only recognize some words), I presumed it said
something about him being a witness to the birth so was a valid "informant" for the event (that is a common "remark" and, as
it was a big note, running into the margin, I didn't take the time to painstakingly translate all of it). The section below
the remark (that begins with word Felolvastatván) usually says the record was read in German to the signers, and this
one include words német nyelven (= German language) so I was pretty sure I was right. There was yet another
note in the margin that mentioned Samuel Prunn, the guy who had signed the document... but I didn't care about him so
ignored the note.
What I really wanted to do next was find the marriage record for the parents... so I moved on, working
backward in time from March 1901 and looking in the Kukmirn marriage records. Given the parents were 33 and 27 years of age
in 1901, I knew I might need to go back as far as ~1890 (when she would have been 16 or 17... but I was hoping for a
marriage much closer to the birth of their child!). I also knew it was possible that they married elsewhere... but if she
was an orphan from Vienna living in Kukmirn, I seriously doubted she would have gone back to Vienna for her marriage... and
it seemed she would have had no reason to marry in a jurisdiction other than Kukmirn. So I searched... and found nothing
in the Kukmirn civil marriage records... and then I jumped to the Kukmirn Lutheran records... nada, nothing
again, a complete waste of time!
Did I miss it? Was it in say 1900 and I simply read right past it, then searching another 10 year's worth of records for
nothing? But I really didn't believe that... I've done this type of search for too many years to make such a simple mistake.
So that's when that "twiggle" from the birth record came back to bother me again... that little thing I had noticed
but also ignored. Did you see it? I didn't mention it to you above, but it was something I had never seen on a
Hungarian civil birth record before...
 so
I went back and looked again... and still could not read it. The (rotated) image to the right shows what I had noticed.
That is, in the "vertical" text that appears beside the section for the father, where A törvényes atya translates to
"the legal father," the word for "legal" was scratched out and something written beside it. But, with my limited collection
of Hungarian words, I couldn't figure out what it was. Since I hadn't found the marriage record, I thought it might say
something like "the adoptive father." So I back-translated a bunch of words like that from English to Hungarian... nope!
This is when I gave up and did the sensible thing, dashing off a note to my favorite Hungarian translator, Julia
Szent-Gyorgyi, asking for help: "Hi Julia, I have a civil birth record (left side, attached) where the vertical text
for 'the legal father' has the word 'törvényes' scratched out and a word written in... but I can’t read what it is! Help! I
think it may explain a lot."
I asked just for the transcription/identification of that one word (knowing if I was right I would likely go back to Julia
for additional help!) but, with word in hand, she anticipated my course of action and translated the whole record, beginning
her response with:
_Természetes_ "natural". (Biological, in other words.) The handwriting is .... um. I'll just do the whole thing, I
think.
Yes! While I hadn't guessed the right word, I had the right concept in mind! He was the child's father but
was not married to the mother. But, given the mother and child carried the Ernst surname when they
emigrated, it was now evident that the parents married sometime after the birth of the child, so in a March 1901 to
June 1906 window; I had been searching on the wrong side of the birth date!
But then I stopped and asked myself why there had not been an official note where the father legally acknowledges
paternity (which are usually found in the upper right corner of the birth record). And I asked myself why all the
writing on the page was identical, as usually you see different writing used to add in the late-arriving
information about the father.
And so I looked at the complete translation Julia had provided... and learned about all the sins I had committed by
presuming things from "experience" and the few Hungarian words I knew. Here is what she wrote (and below I'll talk about
my presumptiveness!):
Number 18. Dated in Kukmér, 14 March 1901.
Informant: the below-named father, known personally to registrar
Natural father: Ferencz Ernst, Lutheran, agricultural day-laborer, residence Kukmér, birthplace the same, age 33 years
Mother: Mrs. Ferencz Ernst, Lutheran, agricultural day-laborer-woman, residence Kukmér, birthplace Vienna in the
foundling home, age 27 years
Birth: Kukmér under number 45, 13 March 1901, 10:30 p.m.
Child: girl, Lutheran, Terézia
Remark: Ferencz Ernst declares that he has direct knowledge of the birth and that he acknowledges the child as his own.
In the pre-printed text the word "legal" has been crossed out and "natural" has been written in its place. The
herein-entered child bears residency in Merantz?, Moravia.
Read forth, explained to the German-speaking informant in the German language, approved and signed.
Sámuel Prunn informant.
As certification of the secondary copy. Kukmér, 14 March 1901.
[ Margin:]
Before signing, Ferencz Ernst informant modified his declaration, saying that the mother's family and given names are
not "Mrs. Ferencz Ernst", but "Emilia Illichmann". Ferencz Ernst o.h. [=by his own hand], Nándor Gibiszer o.h.
registrar. I certify that this matches the original. 14 March 1901. Nándor Gibiszer registrar.
The informant's signature on this secondary copy was erroneously entered as "Samuel Prunn", which is corrected to the
"Franz Ernst" found in the original. Nándor Gibiszer registrar.
All of my "sins" arise from the remarks and margin notes that I could not read with any degree of accuracy... let me
start with the marginal notes that Julia provides last.
The very last indicates that "Samuel Prunn" was erroneously written in as signing as "informant" instead of Franz Ernst...
not real important, yes, but had I noted the wrong signature at the bottom of the form I might have questioned my
presumption that the Remark section was about Franz qualifying as informant... after all, someone else was informant
(incorrect, of course, but still...).
The other marginal note is much more important and one that I (and maybe you) misunderstood on a first read. That
note does not say she was Mrs. Franz Ernst, neé Emilie Illichmann, rather it says that she was only Emilie
Illichmann ...and that calling her Mrs. Franz Ernst was wrong! This was a note written at the time the child's
birth record was being recorded and signed, and when the parents were not married, so only her maiden name was correct!
Given this, I'll note that I had never seen a father's name included on an illegitimate birth record at the time it was
first recorded!
The last item that deserves discussion is the "Remark." First, it contained the acknowledgement of paternity that I
expected to appear in the upper right. Second, it clearly explained about the "scratch-out" that had prompted me to ask
Julia for help. Third, it held the compelling sentence: "The herein-entered child bears residency in Merantz?, Moravia"
(I'll ignore that for now but will come back to it later). Lastly, it said nothing about qualifying as the informant, as I
had foolishly presumed!
With the above in mind I pursued the marriage record again... but I looked after the date of birth for
Therese... and it did not take long to find the record. It appeared in the Kukmirn civil records dated 31 Jan 1904. Both
bride and groom were listed as living at nearby Hárspatak (Limbach) 52, with him as an agricultural day worker and her
unspecified (but if I may be so presumptive to presume yet again despite my dismal record, likely keeping house and raising
their child!).
The interesting part of the marriage record is that it lists "Bécs Alservorstadt 195 szám" as her birthplace,
provides a complete birth date, 11 Mar 1874, and gives the name of her mother, Franziska Illichmann. The
Bécs Alservorstadt 195 szám address was the main address of the k.k. Allgemeines Krankenhaus und Findelhaus =
Imperial and Royal General Hospital and Foundling House in the Alservorstadt district of Vienna. While I did not
know this at the time I first read that address, it would be key in finding the birth record for Emilie Illichmann!
But there was a problem... I had no idea what Vienna parish recorded foundling births. Did the hospital have
its own parish? Were Catholic births recorded separately from Lutheran births? Did whomever controlled the hospital decide
what religion would baptize the child, or did they ask the mother? I had no answers.
Further, I looked up Alservorstadt, which I knew was a neighborhood in Vienna, and discovered that most of it is
contained in the 9th district, called Alsergrund, and the remaining part in the 8th district, called Josefstadt...
but which district was the hospital in? And more so, where was the parish that recorded the baptisms?
One thing I did know was that the GenTeam website had a section titled "Foundling Baptisms in Vienna
Between 1816 And 1868" and I wondered if it reported parish names for those births. But it did not! And further, close
attention to its title indicated it would not be real helpful for an 1874 birth.
Since I was already on the GenTeam website, I decided to see if there were other Vienna datasets that might be useful
and noted that there was a section titled "Index of Roman Catholic baptisms of Vienna between 1585 and 1918" and also
a section called "Indices of Protestant Records in Vienna."
I opened the first of these and put the Illichmann name in the search box, really expecting nothing... but there she
was! Right name and right birth date... but what was that parish? Gebäranstalt? Never heard of it!
It turns out that Gebäranstalt is the German word for "birthing facility" ...not a parish name! But the entry
did list the Vienna district, 8, and it indicated that the birth record would be on page 226 of book 103... which would be
quite helpful if I could identify the actual parish.
Still, I knew that Matricula Online has a section for the Vienna Catholic Archdiocese (which covers
both Vienna and the eastern half of the Lower Austria province... and only contains 567 parishes!!!). Things were
really not that bad, though, as I had used that site enough to also know that the Vienna districts were separate and
numbered; a quick check revealed only four parishes in the 8th district: Alservorstadtkrankenhaus,
Alservorstadtpfarre, Breitenfeld, and Maria Treu. Given these parish names, it seemed
Alservorstadtkrankenhaus (=Alservorstadt Hospital) was the obvious choice... and there proved to be a book
designated 01-103 (where the leading "01" indicates a baptism book and the number after the dash is the actual book number).
Going to page 226 yielded the following (Note: you must pay attention to the handwritten page number in the upper left
corner of the image, as the page number may differ a little from the image number; in fact, this was image 236; for this
image, as shown below, I've excluded the intervening entries between the column titles and the desired entry; further, you
may click on it for a larger image):
So there was Emilie, having a classic, no-questions-asked birth record. A Catholic illegitimate female (but she listed
herself as Lutheran on her daughter's birth record!) born to mother Franziska Illichmann, who gave no street address
or other identifying information. Perhaps, however, a small bit of information slipped in, as the godparent (Pathen
column) is Therese Illichmann, Handarbeiterin (= manual worker), Hernals # 13. Was this a sister to Franziska?
One cannot know, but Emilie names her first child Therese, perhaps in honor of her aunt.
We also see address Hernals # 13 for the godmother. If Therese and Franziska were sisters, it seems possible they
were living together in Vienna, so this might be Franziska's address too. Hernals is yet another district of Vienna
(the 17th), a long narrow one whose eastern end abuts Alservorstadt just a quarter-mile from the hospital. The main
road through the length of Hernals is now called Hernalser Hauptstraße (but becomes Kinderspitalgasse as it
enters the 8th district then merges into Alser Straße before it passes by where the lying-in hospital and
Findelhaus used to be). I cannot know whether Hernals # 13 was an abbreviated Hernalser Hauptstraße 13,
but current-day # 13 is one of the first buildings located in the Hernals district on that road.
It is at this point that I want to go back to the statement in the birth record of daughter Therese that I
promised to revisit: "The herein-entered child bears residency in Merantz?, Moravia."
I can only assume that this statement was added to Therese's birth record because it spoke to the issue of Zuständigkeit,
which translates from German to jurisdiction / responsibility / place of belonging. The place of
belonging is the community that must bear financial and social responsibility if a person becomes destitute. For an
illegitimate child, the place is inherited from the child's mother. Although we have translated the words in the
Hungarian birth record to "bears residency," I can't imagine it having meaning other than this social welfare
concept.
 If so, it indicates that
Franziska Illichmann also had roots in this "Merantz?, Moravia" (Julia's interpretation of the scribbled village
name). While I agree with Julia about Moravia, my read of the village name is more like Kerantz, where the lead
letter also might also be H or P, the n might be u, and the z might be i.
Initially, I was unable to identify the village under any of these spellings. To me, whatever the village name was,
it appeared German in construction, but I wondered what the corresponding Moravian-dialect name might be and, more so, as
historical Moravia is now part of the Czech Republic... what name had the Czech's applied?
 Eventually,
I discovered a possibility: Herautz, now Heroltice, Štíty, Czechia. Looking at various old maps, I also found
spellings Heraltice and Heraultz for this village. It is ~55 miles north (and slightly east) of Brno, the
historical capital of Moravia, and ~125 miles north (and also slightly east) of Vienna. Whether this is the correct village
would require additional confirmative research... but, I found no other possibilities... and, there were death records
available online for the village. Within five minutes of looking in those records, I discovered the deaths of five
Illichmanns, so it is clear the Illichmann surname was present there. Later, I discovered there were significant additional
records for the village but located nearby in parish Štíty (Schildberg). Of note, all of these records were Catholic and
written in German. I'll leave it to Dan to dig further into this village... but I found the births of several Franziska
Illichmann's of the approximate right age to be Emilie's mother.
What is more important, though, is that the mention of this place (wherever it was) raises a question: How did Emilie
Illichmann know her village of Zuständigkeit, so she could pass it on to her daughter? Her own birth record did not
record it... so where did she learn it? Was she, in fact, not given up by her mother to the Findelhaus, rather
remained in her personal care (or that of her aunt) and only later went to Burgenland for employment? I think this clearly
calls into question the notions of orphanhood and foster care put forth by Dan Richman in his messages and by
the BB staff in our responses.
I want to close this out with a few ribbon-tying comments.
Franz Ernst, father to Therese and husband to Emilie, died of tuberculosis in Limbach 52 (same address he was living
at when he married Emilie) on 9 Mar 1906.
As noted above, Emilie and Therese emigrated in early June 1906 and Emilie (Illichmann) Ernst quickly remarried (13
Apr 1907) after arriving in Allentown, PA. Her new husband, Joseph Schwartz, was a widower from "Eisenbrug, Hungary"
(presumable a misspelling of Eisenburg, the German name for Vas County). They go on to have a number of children
together and Emilie eventually died in 1956 in Emmaus, PA.
Daughter Therese appeared in the 1910 census in their household as Tracie Schwartz, but on her marriage record
to Frank Hacker in 1920, she is recorded as Theresa Ernest, with parents Frank and Emile Ernest. She
eventually died in Philadelphia in 1968, having raised a family of her own with husband Frank.
So here we are, having learned so much more than we could just 10 years ago, both about these people and about the resources
now available to help learn about them. Given this, I encourage you to revisit those "orphan" ancestors who have stumped you
in the past. Perhaps there is now a treasure-trove of data waiting to be found.
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5) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES
Helene Weissenboeck (née Klenner)
 Helene Weissenboeck passed away
peacefully in her sleep at Park Lane Terrace, Paris, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, in her 89th year.
Helene was born on May 14, 1932 in Oberwart, Austria, the fourth of nine children. She met her husband there and together
they moved to Canada in 1956.
She resided in Cambridge until November, 2020, when she moved to Park Lane Terrace due to declining health. Helene was a
dedicated hard worker, rarely ever taking a sick day off. She worked 32 years and retired from Kralinator Filters (now known
as Hanes Dana). Helene loved everything to be organized and clean. She enjoyed working in her flower gardens and watching
golf on TV, even though she never played the game. Helene loved her family, and was very proud of them; she never forgot
anyone's birthday, and always sent cards to her many nieces and nephews in Austria, as well as Christmas and Easter cards.
Helene will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered by her children Arno (Sue) of Kincardine, Christa Dobranski (Larry) of
St. George, grandchildren Greg (Tanya), Mark (Maureen), Bryan (Joe), David, and Ryan (Amy), and great-grandchildren Emmett,
Noelyn, Elena, Dean, Grace, and Eric.
Helene was predeceased by her husband Kurt Weissenboeck in 2001 and her siblings Anna, Wilma, Josef, Rudy, and Eric.
A private burial will take place at Parklawn Cemetery in Cambridge. As expressions of sympathy, donations may be made to the
Lung Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, or the Alzheimer's Society. Online condolences may be made at
www.barthelfuneralhome.com
Published in The Cambridge Times on Apr. 23, 2021
Margaret Williams (née Harangozó)
Margaret Williams, age 77, of St.
Augustine, Florida, passed away on April 13, 2021 at Baptist South Center for Caring.
Born "Magdalena" to the late Jozsef and Agnes (Krammer) Harangozó in Szentpéterfa (Petrovo Selo/Prostum), Hungary, she
immigrated with her family to the U.S. at the age of 13. She took the name of Margaret and grew up in the Bay area of
California.
For many years she worked in Silicon Valley as a quality control inspector for a semiconductor manufacturer and was a
homemaker and mother. In 2003, she retired and moved to St. Augustine, Florida. She was a very active member of San Juan del
Rio Catholic Church where she taught Religious Education and was a member of the choir and the ladies auxiliary. She was a
talented gardener and was a member of the Garden Club of St. Augustine, and gladly volunteered her time beautifying the
downtown area. She was a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend to many. She will be deeply missed.
She was preceded in death by a brother, Emery Harangozó.
She is survived by her son, Edward "Ed" Williams and his wife Marialea "Leah" of Jacksonville; a sister, Trudy Harangozó of
Port St. Lucie; a brother, Louis Harangozó and his wife Evelyn of Alameda, California, and granddaughter, Maile Williams;
and a niece, Analisa Harangozó.
A funeral mass will be held at 10 am on Saturday, May 1, 2021 at San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church. Interment will follow at
Craig Memorial Park. A visitation will be held from 7 to 9 pm on Friday, April 30, 2021 at St. Johns Family Funeral Home.
St. Johns Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Published in St. Augustine Record from Apr. 27 to Apr. 28, 2021
Franz Kokasch
It is with deep sorrow that we
announce the death of Franz Kokasch of Glendale, New York, who passed away on April 3, 2021, at the age of 91, leaving to
mourn family and friends.
A native of Glasing, Austria, he owned a barber shop on Forest Avenue for 30 years.
He was a dedicated Musik Freunde Band member for 50 years, and a supporting member of the Original Enzian
Schuhplattlerverein and the Brooklyn Kolping Society.
He was predeceased by his brother Adolph. He is survived by his wife Alice; his daughters, Katherine Valencia and Theresa
Wiederhold; his sons-in-law, Robert Valencia and Steven Wiederhold; his grandchildren, Frank, Sara and Isabella; and his
sibling Resi. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews and friends.
A funeral service was held on Sunday, April 11th 2021 from 10:15 AM to 11:15 AM at the St. Matthias Church (58-15 Catalpa
Ave, Flushing, NY 11385). Visitation was held on Sunday, April 11th 2021 at 3:00 PM.
Johanna "Joan" Chorney (née Tuider)
Our beloved mother and grandmother,
Johanna "Joan" Chorney, 97, passed away peacefully Tuesday, March 16th, 2021 at her home in Saskatoon, Canada.
Joan was born in Oberdorf, Austria and came to the Glaslyn area (Midnight Lake) of Saskatchewan with her family.
Joan and Peter Chorney were married July 21, 1944 in Holy Cross Catholic Church in Fairholme, SK.
Joan is survived by her twin sister, Julie Phillips of Saskatoon, SK; daughter, Linda Summers of Calgary, AB; son, Elton
(Jan) of Butte, Montana; grandchildren: Monica (John) Vettergreen, and Ryan (Gay) Summers of Calgary AB, Laura (Kevin)
Taylor of Strathmore, AB, Maureen Chorney and Collette Chorney of Butte, Montana; great grandchildren: Haley and Quinn
Taylor of Strathmore, AB; sister-in-law, Jenny Kuhmayer of Glaslyn, SK, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
She was predeceased in death by her husband, Peter; her brother, Karl, her parents: Johanna and Johann; step-father, Leo;
brother-in-law, Elton and son-in-law, Richard.
We are especially grateful to Jean (Terry) Elliott, Wayne (Janell) Phillips, and Darlene (Terry) Hogg, who helped her so
much these last few years. Due to Covid, services and interment will be announced and held at a later date. The family
requests memorial donations be made to Holy Cross Catholic Church in Glaslyn, SK or to a Charity of the Donor's Choice.
Condolences for the family can be left at www.eternalmemoriesfuneral.ca.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Vanessa Macnab of Eternal Memories Funeral Service & Crematorium.
Published in The Battlefords News-Optimist from Apr. 1 to May 1, 2021
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