NEWSLETTER

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

New life members are Ralph and Viola Burns, Ellis and William A. Martin, Eugene, OR, soon to be Melbourne, Australia.

Donations to the copier fund are Frank E. Braun, Phoenix, AZ and Ladis K. D. Kristof, Yamhill, OR.

The annual membership renewals have come in at a very good rate. We appreciate the support.

LINK TO THE BUKOWINA-INSTITUT

For those Bukovina Society members on the internet, a new URL will be of interest, although it is in the German language. Norbert Rindle sent an e-mail message that he is working at the institut in Augsburg, Germany and has created a home page linked to our home page. See at: http://home.t-online.de/home/Norbert_Rindle/buko1.htm

MUSEUM OPEN

The society has been granted a worker under the Green Thumb program. Thelma Spinks has been busy keeping the facility open from 1-5 each day except Monday. In addition to staffing the museum, she has worked with the board in arranging the exhibits and does many special assignments. The society acquired three glass display cases as a surplus donation from the Ellis County Historical Society. This has put the artifacts in a more secure and orderly manner for visitors. Glen Neuburger of Western Aluminum and Glass donated and installed glass for repair of a display case. Ray Schoenthaler, museum director, has sent out a call for additional donations or loans of items for display as a result of the increased space.

BUKOVINA BRIEFS

Can any dedicated genealogists out there top this story, or is it an old trick we had not heard. While waiting for some printing, the clerk noticed our historical material and remarked that a lady had been in recently who was doing a search of a local cemetery. She found a family name, went to the print shop and had a note laminated and returned to put it on the tombstone requesting contact. Two years later she received a call from a lady who visited the grave and it turned out they were related.

Larry Jensen did some web browsing recently that turned up a Ukrainian band in Toronto that proudly uses the label, The Bukovina Brass! They have a web home page http://home.inforamp.net/~rlitwin that explains some of the background of the band, and also offers some sample clips (in "wav" file format) from their album, called "Colours". He ordered a copy of the CD and said it is a lively set of melodies, although the liner notes are in Ukrainian (printed in the Cyrillic). In addition to ordering directly from the band, the Yevshan Ukrainian Music-Book-Gift Store in Beaconsfield, Quebec handles it as well as many other items in their 84 page catalog. Phone 800-265-9858

Where Aspens Whisper is an extraordinary book about 150 families with photographs and resources. Published in 1980 about the founding of Edenwold, a Bukovina community, there are families with ties to Kansas such as Ast, Sauer and Schoenthaler. Available in hard cover for $20.00 (Postage paid) from Deanna Radmacher, P. O. Box 23, Edenwold, Saskatchewan, Canada SOG IKO

German Bohemian Heritage Tour of Germany-Bohemia-Austria will be conducted October 5-18, 1998. For brochure contact: Robert Paulson, 800 West Idaho Ave. St. Paul, MN 55517, call 612-488-0405 or e-mail: rpaulgb@pioneerplanet.infi.net

Bill Martin has visited the society museum on several occasions and recently sent his ahnentafel, along with five copies of his book to us through Ray Schoenthaler, A Martin Genealogy, Tied to the History of Germanna, Virginia. One will be for permanent use of the society and the others displayed for sale through the society secretary. The families in addition to Martin are, Moore, Wendling, Turner, Zachmann, Ehresmann, Richter, Otterbach, Heimbach, Fischbach, and Stuell. We appreciate the donation. He also wrote to explain the word Beisasse. It is a term that was used in the middle ages to denote a person without full citizenship, similar to today's "legal alien", or one with residence authorization, but not the full rights of citizenship. The word is no longer used in the German language.

A map of Catalui (Cataloi), Dobrudscha and other information was sent to the editor for the society headquarters. This has been placed there, but we lost the cover letter. Would the donor kindly write again?

SURNAME/RESEARCH EXCHANGE

Chris Teron e-mailed to Larry Jensen, "Here's another story of how the newsletter's surname exchange works. After posting my name and relatives, I heard from Gerald Machnee who lives near Winnipeg, Manitoba. He recognized my name because his ancestors came from the same village in Bukovina (Breedok) and our families grew up together in Gardenton, Manitoba. As we corresponded, we quickly discovered that we have a marriage between our families. He was able to tell me of relatives of ours that we did not know of, including the name of my great great grandfather which I did not know. He has given me many other leads to explore. Keep up the great work." Chris has a web page at: http://members.aol.com/CTeron/index.html#Top Of Page

Fay Jordaens found a resource for an ancestor who started his life as a Lutheran but converted to the Baptist faith. The North American Baptist Heritage Commission has history available back to the 1850s. Their purpose is to collect, preserve, display and make available the treasured records of their people and their work. A flat rate of $10.00 covers information and data for searches taking up to five hours. Obits are $5.00 additional. Their address is 1525 S. Grange Ave., Sioux Falls, S. D. 57105-1599, phone 605-336-6588, ext. 371.

Frank Braun wrote that he is a 50 year member of American Turners. He is interested in any further information on Turners in Bukovina. He is aware of Irma Bornemann's mention of the name in her book. Write at: 4621 E. Sunrise Dr. Phoenix, AZ 85044

Sylvia Hasenkopf is researching the Hasenkopf (Hasenkoph) family from Althuetten and Augustendorf. She is still trying to locate parish records for these two towns or census records from Bukovina. If someone can help, contact her at HC 2 Box 855, Cairo, New York 12413

Al Schmidt, e-mail alschmidt@cyberus.ca, postal address of 7897 Decarie Dr, Gloucester ON K1C 2J4 Canada is seeking the following:

• Ancestors of the Rev. Father (Pfarrer) Otto Schmegner b. 1894 in Radautz. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1924. From Sep 1927, he was assistant parish priest in Radautz and later the administrator.
• Parentage of the Rev. Father Konrad Obst b. abt. 1907. He was ordained Roman Catholic priest in 1933. From the fall of 1933 until 15 Oct 1934 he was the assistant parish priest in Radautz.
• Any and all information of the Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Father Ernst Haik, b. 7 Jul 1908, ordained 1934. He was the assistant parish priest in Radautz from Oct 1934 until 1 Aug 1939.
• Parentage of the Rev. Father Emil Häusler, b. 1890 in Radautz. He was ordained Roman Catholic priest in 1915. From Nov. 1929 was the parish priest in Sereth where he died 8 Apr 1935 and was buried.

Larry Jensen reports that if someone wants to order a set of maps of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for their local Family History Center (a bargain at 15 cents each), they are available on a set of 142 microfiche, scale of 1:75,000. The numbers and a rough idea of the portions of Bukovina they cover:

AUTHENTIC AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN COOKING

During the tour to Bukovina, we were served Paprikas in several of the countries we visited at times for lunch as the vegetable dish. Since that time, I have looked for a similar recipe and found one on the internet at a site created by June Meyer. June has kindly posted many of her family recipes at http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/recipes.html We have enjoyed several of these. The book, June Meyer's Authentic Hungarian Heirloom Recipes, is now available. It is more than just a wonderful cookbook. It is nicely organized, spiral bound, with one recipe per page. It has an ingredients page, an alphabetical index, a History of German settlement in Southern Hungary, a History of the Danube Swabians in the Twentieth Century by Sue Clarkson and an account of life in Altkeer, Batchka region, Hungary around the turn of the century.

To order: Send a check or money order in the USA for $20.00 which includes shipping. Illinois is $21.75 to cover state tax. In Canada the cost is $25.00 which includes shipping.

June Meyer, 978 Maple Court, Deerfield, Illinois 60015 e-mail info at: June4@interaccess.com

VISIT TO BUKOVINA

by: Isabel Jungwirth

My husband and I have been researching our joint family history for at least a dozen years. His ancestors were Germans who came from Bohemia to Wisconsin in 1881. They came to Saskatchewan to homestead in 1903. My ancestors were Polish & Germans who came from Bukovina to Saskatchewan, some as early as 1898. Our research has taken us to Wisconsin and Salt Lake several times, but it has always been our dream to someday go to Eastern Europe.

In the fall of 1996 we heard about a tour being planned for the Czech & Slovak Republics. The June Festival Tour would take us to the exact area where the Jungwirth ancestors came from. This tour also offered a visit to the ancestral village with a driver and a translator. We could also extend our stay in Europe if we chose to do so. This made it possible to plan a visit to Bukovina. The Czech part of our trip was being arranged for us, but the Bukovina, Ukraine excursion was up to us to figure out.

Fortunately we discovered a travel company in Alberta with experience in travel to Ukraine. We were told that we needed a visa to go to Ukraine. This involved either an invitation from someone over there, or a hotel reservation. Since we did not know anyone there, the travel agent arranged a hotel reservation for us and also handled the visa arrangements. An itinerary was set up for us to spend at least a week in Bukovina.

On June 17, 1997 we left Saskatoon for Chicago and then on to Newark, New Jersey where we were to join the tour group going to the Czech & Slovak Republics. In Newark, we boarded a Czech Airlines flight to Prague and spent the next 2 weeks on that tour. When the group left Prague on July 2, we stayed behind to continue with our Bukovina adventure.

This was the scary part. Both of us speak only English and remember a bit of German from our younger days. We were not sure what to expect in Ukraine, even though we had been told "some" people speak English. We had been promised that an English-speaking driver would meet us at the train in Lviv, and that we could find a translator through the hotel in Chernivtsi. We also had the names of a couple of residents of Chernivtsi who could speak English, knew we were coming and were willing to help us out in case of need.

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2, we boarded a train in Prague that would take us, 24 hours later, to the city of Lviv. The train trip was comfortable since a sleeper compartment had been arranged or us. We brought our own food , since there did not seem to be a food service on the train. We had fruit, buns, cheese, juice and water with us., and that was quite adequate for our needs. Our compartment had 3 bunks, and we were joined by a young Ukrainian man at about 10 p.m. This made things a bit crowded and awkward, but was not unusual on this train.

We were awakened during the night when we got to the border between the Czech & Slovak Republics. Border guards made the rounds of all the cars, and asked to see our passports. The also did a quick check of the compartment, even looking under the seat of the bottom bunk. Thankfully there was nothing for them to find, since the language differences would have had made it hard for us to explain anything. After the guards left, we were told to make sure our door was well locked.

In the morning we were given the Customs Declaration forms, all in Ukrainian, to complete before we got to the border crossing a Chop. Most of the people in our train car did not speak English, but we were very lucky to meet a young Swiss teacher who did. She was very helpful to us in filling out these forms. We had prepared for the trip by obtaining traveler's cheques and cash in U.S. funds, and had to declare the amount of money we were carrying in all currencies. By this time we had Canadian, U.S. and Czech money with us.

It was about 10 a.m. when we reached the border at Chop. At this point the train makes a two hour stop so that the bogies (wheels) on the passenger cars can be changed to accommodate the different gauge tracks in Ukraine. This gives the border guards ample time to board the train and examine all passports and declarations. This much we had expected. Our declarations were collected, and then we were surprised to have our passports taken as well. After a short time, my husband and I, were invited to step off the train and follow the guards into the border station. About 12 of us from this train were asked to be seated and wait. All communication had been conducted in Ukrainian, and we were very worried about how we would answer any questions, that might be put to us. While we waited, guards kept walking back and forth past us, in and out of the offices, but no one asked us anything. While we waited, we were approached by one of the other people form the train. This was a young man from the U.S. who was going to Lviv to teach for a year. He seemed to speak some of the language. None of the guards spoke to us, but after waiting for about 45 minutes, our passports were returned to us and we were allowed to return to the train. We found this to be a very intimidating experience.

The train continued its journey through the Carpathian Mountains, and made only a few stops along the way. Each time the train stopped, there would be people along the tracks waving loaves of bread and bottled water in the hope that someone on the train would buy an item. This was an indication of things to come and of conditions in the country.

We were able to enjoy the beautiful countryside in the daylight hours. Most of the other people in our train car were getting tired of sitting by now, and spent much of their time standing at the windows in the aisle. We got to meet some very nice people during this time. We had expected to arrive in Lviv in the afternoon, but it was 7:45 p.m. local time when we finally got there. Of course, this also includes the one hour time difference in the next time zone.

Our next task was to find the taxi driver that had been arranged for us. We had no idea what to expect and made our way slowly through the busy train station and down to the lower level to the exit onto the street. We finally noticed a man standing in the midst of the crowd holding a placard with the name "JUNGWIRTH" on it. What a welcome sight that was! When we finally reached him and introduced ourselves, we were disappointed to find that he spoke no English at all! However, he took some of our luggage and led the way to the car, a new Renault, which belonged to the hotel.

According to the road map of Ukraine that I had been able to find at home, the distance from Lviv to Chernivtsi is only 282 km (about 170 miles). It took us 5 hours to get there by car. The road was paved and in reasonably good condition, but we had to pass through many small villages along the way, and this meant slowing down each time. Since our driver could not communicate with us, and the road sign were all in the Cyrillic alphabet, we found it difficult to even know where we were going. By showing him our map, he realized that we were interested in the names of the villages, and after that he began to tell us what places we were going through. Along the way we were stopped a couple of times by military police and our driver was asked to produce a handful of papers, which he kept handy on the sun visor. We wee never asked for anything, and may as well have been invisible. We tried to find our from the driver what this was about, and he just said it was "Control."

We finally reached our hotel, the Cheremosh, in Chernivtsi (formerly Czernowitz) at 1:00 a.m. Here one of the receptionists spoke English and we arranged for a translator for the next day, as well as a car and our driver, Vasyly. We were shown to a very comfortable room with a private bath. After a good night's rest we went for breakfast in the hotel dining room. This is a big tourist hotel, but there were very few tourists to be seen. We paid $76 US a night for the hotel room, with breakfast for an extra dollar. It seemed that they would make sausage and eggs for us, in addition to the meat and cheese, buns and jam, and tea or coffee that was already laid out on the table. This proved to be a bigger breakfast than we are used to.

On our first morning we met the translator who works for the hotel in the summer. Zoya was most indispensable to us in the days to come. Our first task was to obtain some of the local currency at the exchange office in the hotel. The currency had recently changed from the old Kupon to the Hryvnyas. I found out later that this 'large' amount quite shocked Zoya, since common wages seem to be $40.00 a month. We paid the hotel $7 US per hour for the car and driver, and $3.50 an hour for the translator, usually about $100 each day. We do not know how much these people were actually paid by the hotel.

Our faithful driver, Vasyly had the car all fueled and polished for our journey. Our first destination was Velykyj Kucuriv (Kuczurmare) where my paternal grandfather came from. Of course, Zoya insisted that we should first have a short tour of Chernivtsi, which is a beautiful old city along the Prut river, and was not destroyed during the war. We were most impressed with the University, which we were told is proud to be twinned with our University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, and exchange students come and go between the two.

When we arrived in Velyky Kucuriv, a distance of a about 10 km, south of Chernivtsi, we found the town hall and met the young assistant mayor. However, the former assistant mayor was also there, and since he is now retired, he offered to accompany us in our quest for information about my family. There are no Polish people living in the area any longer. We were told they all left in 1940, along with the German and Jewish people. Also, the records were not there either. It was thought they may be in Suceava, Romania. We were also told that Kuczurmare was a large area made up of many smaller villages. We were not sure which of these villages was the one where my grandparents had lived. Apparently Polish people had lived in Godiliv, but when we asked in a couple of places no one remembered the name. This was not surprising, since they left there in 1902.

The next day we set out for Sniatyn, which I had always assumed to be the place my paternal grandmother came from This was a distance of about 30 km northwest of Chernivtsi. Our first stop was the town office. Since it was Saturday, it was open to accommodate weddings. At first the two young ladies in the office were a bit annoyed to be asked to find records dating back to 1900. However, the records were in the building and were brought out. Apparently these records are not normally shown to anyone, but our translator was able to persuade the clerk to show them to us. I was overjoyed to find the marriage record of my grandparents, and then the birth record of my grandmother. We paid a small fee for the search of each book of records, and were able to hand copy the records. We were also directed to the local cemetery where we hoped to find other information. The place was very large, and we were unable to find any tombstones bearing names we recognized.

In the course of speaking to several people, we were told that there was still someone in the town who had the same surname as my grandmother. We found the lady and she is convinced that we are cousins. This was totally unexpected, and still remains to be proven. However, she invited us into her home and then took us to the Polish Catholic Church where my grandparents wee married. The building is in a sad state and is now slowly being restored. Apparently it had been used as a repair shop for buses during the previous regime.

Our next stop was Rohsa (Rosch), which is a suburb of Chernivtsi. This was formerly a German area where another of my grandparents once lived. We did not find a Catholic Church there. The church we did see was the former Lutheran Church, which is now used by a different denomination. We were sorry we did not have more time to explore this place.

Next day we set out for Molodia, about 10 km southeast of Chernivtsi. My maternal great-grandparents once lived there. The Catholic Church is now being used as a veterinarian clinic, since there are no Catholics left in the village. We located the old German cemetery and were very disappointed to find it in ruins, with most of the large tombstones knocked down and broken. There did not seem to be any smaller ones. We were able to read the names on some, and I recognized names of families that came to Canada.

Back in Chernivtsi we found the Archives, which are located in the former Jesuit Church. Here I was able to ask the clerk to search for some information. I was also able to make an application to have her continue this search , and will be notified in about three months concerning the outcome.

We were very surprised when my new-found cousin and her son met us at the hotel that afternoon, and insisted that we join them for supper in Sniatyn that evening. Since they only speak Ukrainian, we wondered how we would communicate, but they assured us that they had a young friend who would be our interpreter. We spent a very pleasant evening with this family. They made a delicious supper and brought out champagne and other treats that they probably do not normally enjoy. We got back to our hotel very late, and had to be up at 5 a.m. next morning to meet Vasyly, who made sure we got to the train station at Lviv in good time to get our train back to Prague.

During the four days we were in Ukraine we enjoyed beautiful summer weather. In fact, it was sunny and very hot the first few days. Sunday afternoon a rain storm went through the area, and that cooled things down. We were able to go for an evening walk down to the river. We did learn that winters are usually mild, with temperatures around minus 8 degrees and very little snow. However, last winter was unusually cold, with temperatures down to minus 30. Most of their walnut trees were killed.

Our visit to Ukraine was certainly memorable. It was incredible to see the places where my grandparents once lived. The people were all most hospitable and helpful to us in our quest. They are all struggling to make a life for themselves under new and difficult circumstances.

We hope we can go back again at some time in the future. Our biggest difficulties were the language barrier and the use of the Cyrillic alphabet. We could certainly have been better prepared to deal with these things, but the young people there are learning English, and as tourism increases in the area, things will change. We also have some friends there now. The next trip will be so much better.

AUSTRIAN EMPIRE RESEARCH

by: Karen Hobbs

An article on the history of recruiting says there was no real national system of civil records in the Austrian Empire until after 1900 and most before that were kept by local authorities and the church. For the parts of Bukovina that were Austrian, this may apply. The local authorities in Bohemia were the nobility before 1848 and some city administrations. For example, a friend has found marriage and death records in the Rathaus at Mies (Stribro) which was 1. A Royal City and 2. A County Seat. The city records start about 1860 in Mies and before that it is possible that the church was the only institution that recorded marriages, births, baptisms and deaths. During the 1760s when Joseph II declared religious toleration there were some Catholic churches that were taken over by Protestants. There is speculation that the Catholic records maintained there prior to that time are still included in the Protestant parish records. If you want information that you cannot find in church records you may have to have some idea of which noble family, monastery, or royal city was landlord to your ancestral town or village and then try to find out where the pre-emancipation-of-serfs records are archived.

Monastic records for Benedictine monasteries are kept at St. John's University in Collegeville, MN. I don't know if the records include any of the civil records the monasteries would have kept when they acted as landlords to tenant farmers and serfs. The Archivist at St. John's will at least help you to locate a given monastery and tell you if your village was on monastic land at any time. Premonstratenian monks were also in parts of the Austrian Empire as teachers. You can find out where their monasteries were in older (1906) editions of the Catholic Encyclopedia. New er editions should give you the location of their motherhouse in the US if you wish to write to them directly. You can find information on other monastic orders like the Jesuits and Franciscans in the same encyclopedia. One Austrian page on the internet says that the records maintained by noble families before 1848 are called Seigniorial records. Many were destroyed during the Second World War but there are many still out there. They can be found in monasteries once owned by nobility, in family archives s till maintained by descendants of nobility and in provincial and state archives if the families have seen fit to put them there. The LDS lists those they have filmed in their general library catalog (CD at FHCs). Enter the word "Austria" and you get 96 subjects. The Seigniorial records are under Court Records (Item 22) and may also be found under item 58, Manors. The court records include such things as marriage contracts, land ownership and inheritance records before 1848.

The LDS files under Emigration and Immigration in their catalog (Items 26 and 28 in the catalog list) have a heading "Konscriptionsamt" which has passport records. When using any of the LDS files you should not get too excited about what you find until you note the years included to see if they match your years of interest. It is also a good idea to start with an index rather than trying to plow thorough individual records. But the indexes are not complete and you should not give up if you don't find your surname there. Church records include military Kirchenbücher, the records that the state had on hand, and not the records of civil parishes. But they give the hometown of all persons mentioned and can give a clue to an ancestral birthplace when all else fails.

There are histories of parishes and parish communities written by pastors. Many of these are unpublished manuscripts held in local Rathauses or libraries in the community where they were written. In most cases a photocopy can by purchased on site. They mention some members of the community by names as teachers, leaders of some sort, donors, parish committees, etc. One that I have seen documents disastrous fir es, occupation by various military forces over time, years of terrible weather (frost in July!) epidemics and plague, the parish business and finances, and parish festivals, including the way the church was decorated. The overall picture gives a good impression of what it was like to live in that parish community.

A census was taken in the Austrian Empire every ten years. Unfortunately for us, they compiled the census results into summary statistics, and then apparently didn't consider the detailed records for individual households to be worth preserving. These pages, which prove so valuable when searching for ancestors using the census of the United States and other countries, were either destroyed or lost in Austria, long ago. Perhaps some partial fragments of this data still exist, stored and forgotten in some unknown archives, and there are still some researchers looking for these. A set of volumes "Gemeindelixikon der im Reichstrate Vertretenen Koenigreiche und Laender" contain summary statistics. They list all the towns and  villages (Ortsgemeinden) in the province, as well as surrounding rural areas (Gutsgebiete). There are population totals, which are also broken down by religion (Konfession) and by the native language (Umgangssprache der einheimlischen Bevoelkerung). If someone knows their ancestral village but is unsure of their ancestor's religion or ethnic group, this book can at least indicate the numbers of each group in that village. The other details about each town may also be interesting as background material. This includes the number of houses in the town, the area (in hectares) - which is further broken down by usage - fields, forest, gardens, etc. - and a census of all the livestock in town: horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. There are also footnotes indicating many miscellaneous buildings or resources in each town, churches, railroad stations, post offices, doctors, veterinarians, etc. The volume for Bukovina is available on FHL Microfilm #1187401 (item 3) which can be ordered from Salt Lake City for review at any local Family History Center.

BUKOVINAFEST 98 - August 13-16 - Ellis/Hays, Kansas

The final program and a registration form will be mailed with the June newsletter. Airline service to Hays is available from Kansas City through US Air. The convention motel has complimentary service to and from the airport. Hosts available for local transportation to events. A reunion of the 1996 Bukovina Tour Group will be held during the convention. Nearly half already have sent notice of plans to attend.

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