Membership

Membership in your society, paid at the annual convention and through our last mailout, has reached a record, over 300. It is gratifying to see this support which grows each year. Another several hundred people have from time to time participated in our activities. Please consider becoming a Lifetime Member. This not only carries the convenience of permanent membership, it is also an endowment ensuring that the Bukovina Society will continue for our descendants. The Lifetime Fund is in a separate account from which only the interest earnings are used for society expenses.

Lifetime Members

24. Ladis K.D. Kristof, Washington

25. Leroy & Onieta Jean Bollig, Wichita

26. Most Rev. Adam Exner, O.M.I. Archbishop of Vancouver B.C. Canada

This BULLetin is being mailed only to paid members. Also contained in the mailout is a form for ordering books and materials of the society.

The Bylaws of the Bukovina Society are available to members. If you wish to receive a copy, send a self addressed, letter size stamped envelope (29 cents postage) to the secretary.

Bukovina People

Prof. Dr. Kurt Rein wrote a report of his tour of America for the members of Landsmannshaft der Buchenlanddeutschen in their publication Der Südostdeutsche, in the September 15, 1992 issue. The article, sent to the BULLetin compliments of Irmgard Ellingson, gave our German friends a detailed report of his visit to Bukovina settlements and will be continued in a future publication.

Dr. Rein has plans for a book to be published in the German and English languages for the summer of 1993. It will be a comprehensive work on the migration from Bukovina to America. It is a result of research in Bukovina and Germany covering the reasons for migration, military, religious, political, and ethnic matters, and the waves of migration to the US and Canada. Contributions to the information on contemporary centers of Bukovinians in the New World will be made by society members Irmgard Ellingson, Oren Windholz, Sophie Welisch, Paul Polansky, Paul Massier and others. Dialect, cultural assimilation, and heritage material such as copies of official and private documents will be in the book. We hope to make this book available at the Fifth Bukovinafest.

Dr. William D. Keel of the Department of Germanic Languages at Kansas University will be a guest of the Bukovina Society for several days in January, 1993. He is working with Dr. Rein on a project to record and preserve the dialects of the Bukovina Germans in and around Ellis. As part of the visit to the headquarters, he will give a talk on Sunday, January 17th, at 2:00 in the afternoon and spend other time interviewing people on the Bukovina German dialects. Ralph Burns is heading that phase of the project. Doctoral students at K U will follow up with work in the area.

[Picture not available: Dr. Bill Keel]

When Irmgard Ellingson, Paul Polansky, my wife Pat and I went to the 40th Bundestreffen in Augsburg in 1989, we made many friends. We learned sadly of the death of one on September 8, 1992, Adalbert Fuchs, who was born in Poiana Micului in Bukovina on April 23, 1923. He was a cousin to Joe Erbert and me through our Great Grandmother Josepha Erbert. He left Bukovina through conscription into the German army in the Second World War, and spent his career after the war in Germany. He provided many family stories that gave us a tie to the old homeland, and we continued to write to each other until his death.

The ASSOCIATION FOR BUKOVINA GERMAN CULTURE (ABC) in Curitiba, Brazil through their president gave us interesting information on the first settlers in Southern Brazil from Bukovina. Ayrton Goncalves Celestino wrote to me that he is descended of Bukovinians from Poiana Micului. His grandfather was Ignatz Schelbauer, son of Karl Schödlbauer who was with the first seven families to immigrate in 1887. He lists Schödlbauer (Schelbauer), Rankl, Baumgärtner, Neuburger, Schuster, a total of 41 persons. In 1888, 70 families consisting of 336 persons came from Poiana Micului and Bori-Gura Humora, and among them were, Maidl, Reichhardt, Herzer, Seidl, Neuburger, Hoffmann, Reitmeyer, Hable, Binder, Bertel, Fuchs, Hellinger, Hones, Reway, Neuwirth, Rach, Vollmond, Harant, Wolf, Mandl, Klostermann, and others. Several families joined them from Bukovina of Slovaken descent.

Ignatz Schelbauer wrote a pageant for the 50 year anniversary of the migration and the 100th jubilee was celebrated in 1987. They have a cultural center which includes a museum, library, and pioneer home, and programs on the German language, orchestra, and singing. Another story will appear in the next newsletter as a result of more information received from the ABC.

A BUKOVINA GERMAN REUNION was held for the second year at Chehalis, Washington for descendants of Bukovina Germans who arrived in the Lewis County area in the 1880's. Attending from the Bukovina Society at the October 3rd event were Irmgard Ellingson and Dorothy and Paul Massier. The organizers and hosts Mary Lee and Gil Rose showed them a good time in the Pacific Northwest. Following a potluck, there were displays of genealogies, photos and other memorabilia. Most of them were descendants of immigrants from Illischestie. The videotape of Bukovina taken by Larry Jensen was shown and generated a lot of interest.

[Picture not available: Mary Lee Rose
Picture not available: Dorothy and Paul Massier and Irmgard Ellingson]

GENEALOGY SERVICES. Irmgard Ellingson contacted the AROS Society, Ltd. (Archives of Russia) for assistance recently and passed the following information on for members whose families lived in the part of Bukovina now under Ukrainian jurisdiction. V. Pleskunov faxed beck a message confirming their ability to search records and a desire to build a close relationship with the Bukovina Society. The AROS has an agreement with the Russian-American Genealogical Archival Service (RAGAS). Proper forms and cost information is available from RAGAS at P 0 Box 236, Glen Echo, MD 20812.

sent us brochures and information about their facilities on Galveston Island. (2016 Strand, ZIP 77550). In addition to a series of interesting historical sites, the ship ELISSA, and the museum, a computer database of more than 117,000 immigrants can be accessed by simply typing the family name on the keyboard. Betty Cobb, Administrative Assistant, was kind enough to send the printout of those immigrants whose destination was Ellis, Kansas for the following dates:

Paul Massier spent some time at the Family History Library at Salt Lake City. Over 1.7 million rolls of microfilmed records (equal to about 6 million written volumes) and 325,000 microfiche are available. He suggests getting the information from them on sources and services at 35 North West Temple St., Salt Lake City, Utah 84150. In 1964 a system of family history centers was established to give more people access to the library's resources. More than 1,600 family history centers now operate in 57 countries. Remember you can contribute to their ancestral file, and a handout is available at the centers giving details on submitting information on your family. The library has over 235,00 volumes of books on published family histories and other research aids. Many are on microfilm for circulation. We recommend anyone having published family histories donate a copy to the library with permission to microfilm.

A member from Canada, Mr. Allan W. Schmidt, would like to hear from anyone with information on Satulmare, and particularly any individual with the surname Schmidt from that area. He is working on a genealogy of the Schmidt family. Please address letters to him at:

Volume 26,1991 edition of the Yearbook of German-American Studies has been given to the society library through the courtesy of Dr. William Keel.  It is published by The Society for German-American Studies.

The Franz Massirer Family, 1842-1992, was donated by Van and Mary Massirer of Texas. They have been at our conventions and offered some good ideas for future programs.

The Hubening-Hicke Family was donated by Rev. Alfredo A. Hubening, O.M.I. of Mexico.

Also in the library at headquarters are the Zerfas Ancestry, 1768-1983 and The Schulhauser Family 1880-1990. Many of our members have created family history books, both printed and in informal scrapbooks. Please think of donating a copy to the Bukovina Society library as these people have.

A free copy is available to society members of the Staudernheim Geib Family translation by Sophie Welisch from the book by Johann Dressler, "Das Geschlecht deer Staudernheimer Geib." The three page copy is available by sending a SASE to the secretary.