NEWSLETTER

FEEFHS has created an electronic newsletter to be sent three times a year. The Bukovina Society was asked to contribute and appeared in the first issue. See at www.feefhs.org

THE PEKAR/BAKER/BECKAR
FAMILY REUNIONS
MANY NAMES - BUT ONE FAMILY

About this time of the year - every five years - the descendants of Josef Bekar (Pekar) and Ludwina Maierhoffer Bekar, formerly of Paltinossa, Bukovina, come together for a big family reunion in Canada. Last year the family met in Edmonton, Alberta.

Three daughters - Anna Lang, Rose Bekar, S.P., and Josephine Ludwar - were honored as they are the last of the original sixteen children of Josef and Ludwina. Rose and Josephine reside in Edmonton; Anna, unable to make the trip, lives in a nursing home in Creston, British Columbia.

Also at the Edmonton Bekar/Pekar gathering were several non-descendants - cousins from the United States - descendants of Josef's sister Katherine, Pekar Kostiuk, and of his aunts, Veronika Pekar Sturdza and Karolina Pekar Jockel. One was from Connecticut and the rest from Washington State. Congratulatory messages were sent from Indiana by William Carr, a descendant of an uncle, Mathias Pekar, and from Washington State by a granddaughter of his uncle, Josef (Pekar) Baker who had migrated with his family to Washington before it became a state. In early 1900, however, when conversations speculated on conscription in an upcoming war, Josef and Ludwina determined they would move out of Austria. A dozen Pekars boarded The Royal George in Germany and landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Upon entry to Canada, some confusion resulted in the name being spelled Bekar. (Pekar in, Czech and Hungarian translates to "baker"). Current other spellings of the name are Baker and Beckar and Pekar. (When the name Pekar was Anglicized, it resulted in "Pee-car," which many family members deemed unflattering.)

Anna Lang was the six-month-old baby when the Bekars traveled across Canada in 1912 to their new home. The train journey took about eight days after a week on the ocean crossing. There was also the time spent getting from home to the ship in Germany. From Paltinossa - to Germany - to Halifax - to Saskatchewan with ten restless children is not a trip "whereof dreams are made."

Twelve people, who spoke little or no English, traveling in the limited space of a train most likely suffered severe physical as well as mental strain. One wonders how they managed everything without disposable diapers, takeout food or a boom box for diversion. Josef was to manage the boys who "inspected" every inch of the train. Inevitably one, this time fourteen-year-old Michael, found and pulled the emergency cord that stopped the train. Immediately knowing they had done something wrong, the children sat trying to look innocent, while train officials investigated the unauthorized and, therefore illegal, stop. When the "culprit" was identified, Josef, the parent, paid a $14.00 fine for the childish enthusiasm. Translated to today's money, that was over $400.

After arriving safely in Regina, Saskatchewan, they were met by Josef's brother-in-law, Anton Kostiuk (Kostick), from the United States. Arrangements were made to ride fourteen miles by horse and sleigh to an area near Pilot Butte where they rented a farm in time for spring planting. Two children were born there.

Though the children attended English schools and learned Canadian English, the parents were uncomfortable with the language and searched for a German-speaking community. In 1915 the Bekars moved to Bayard, Saskatchewan where four more children were born: three during World War I and the last one, Josefa (Josephine), in August 1920.

The Bekar Family has been celebrating reunions since 1965. At the 1995 meeting in Creston, BC, a specially designed family coat-of-arms was accepted by family vote and registered with the Canadian government. In the year 2000, Sister Rose presented the family with a banner with its "shield" which includes the maple leaf of Canada and wheat stalks representing their first settlement on the Canadian prairies.

In 2005, the Bekar/Pekar Family plans to again "celebrate family" in the Vancouver, British Columbia area. Some think 2005 may be the last "full" family gathering. In the future, reunions are expected to be divided into separate sections, each representing one of the children of Josef and Ludwina.

So far, Michael, "the train stopper," lived the longest - a full 100 years. The Bekar daughters who married carried the names of Rieberger, Kwasnicki, Lang, Ludwar, and Thiele; one son spells the name as Beckar. In total, Josef and Ludwina had 107 grandchildren. The computerized genealogy records contain 223 names but records of great-grandchildren are incomplete. The family tree on a 1510 kilobyte computer printout extends forty feet sometimes as many as three-names deep. The printout includes Josef s antecedents starting with his parents, Michael Pekar and Anna Kelsch whose great- grandfather, Gabriel Koelsch, migrated from Kreuznach, Baden, Germany in about 1784 stopping in Galicia before settling in Illischestie in Bukowina.

The Pekar family's roots were firmly and socially established in Paltinossa in the 1800s. Josef s mother, Anna Pekar, had provided medical assistance by her knowledge of herbs and also contributed toward Paltinossa's Lutheran and Catholic church bells. She died in 1922, followed by her daughter-in-law Ludwina in 1946 and her son Josef in 1954. The latter two are buried in Creston, British Columbia.

 BUILDING BLOCKS FOR THE HISTORY OF OUR GERMAN SETTLEMENTS  

By Alfred Klug, "Bausteine zur Geschichte unserer deutschen Siedlungen"
in Deutscher Kalender für die Bukowina für das Jahr 1935,
 trans. Sophie A. Welisch (Czernowitz:  Deutscher Kulturverein für die Bukovina, 1935), pp. 51-63.

Diese Seite auf Deutsch

       Under this title I wish to publish old documents, excerpts from parish books, letters, etc., relating to German settlements in Bukovina as I come across them either through research or by chance. They are intended to be an elaboration, possibly a correction, of the published colonization histories of which those of Raimund Friedrich Kaindl are the most significant.

I.

       I shall begin with a document put at my disposal by Mr. Mathias Lang. His grandfather, Johann Lang, immigrated to Bukovina from German Bohemia with his son Johann Lang, four years later bought the land and house for his son as discussed in the document in question, and thereby made it possible for him on October 31, 1842 to marry Katharina Schaffhauser, the daughter of a colonist.

       The document, interesting in many respects, provides a good perspective on various aspects of living conditions almost a century ago. Written on good quality paper with the stamp "30 Kreuzer" as on a bill of sale, it contains in the bureaucratic German of the period, all stipulations demanded by the authorities at that time. The writing is unusually clear and neat; at the end of the document a certain Anton Schreiner identifies himself as the scribe.

           II.

       Aside from the above document Mr. Mathias Lang gave me a copy of a report card of his father, who had been born in Bohemia in 1820. The report card states the following:

   Under the teacher's name the initials JZ are very well preserved in sealing wax.

          III.

       I will now publish three petitions which in the years 1847 and 1848 the community of Pojana Mikuli (Poiana Mikului, Buchenhain), in collaboration with the German-Bohemian colonists of Bori and Schwarztal (Vadul Negrilesei), submitted to His Majesty, Emperor Ferdinand I. Aside from the historic significance of these documents, which I found while doing research in the Czernowitz State Archives, they represent for us a second meaning. It is often maintained that the German colonists enjoyed advantages denied the autochthonous population. However, upon reading these moving entreaties, it will not be so easy readily to reach such a false conclusion.

       In addition, these documents should be a comfort and an incentive to our German settlers. A comfort: one complains today about the desperate lot of the farmers. But if we examine these petitions, we shall see that at that time they had a harder life than we have today, yet with steadfast frugality they overcame all their difficulties and passed on substantial farmsteads to their grandchildren. And furthermore, despite all their distress, they respected education. They paid the teachers out of their own pockets and built a schoolhouse in order to give their children a basic education. Such examples of sacrifice for cultural purposes should be valued and imitated which, unfortunately, is not the case in many communities today.

       The first petition is written in particularly poor German in which idiomatic expressions have an unintended comical effect.

       On August 23, 1848 almost all the same twelve Slovaks, who had signed the above petition, forwarded a petition to the Emperor through their representative Miron Czuperkowicz, in which they declared that "their life here exists for the pity of humanity.

"And further, despite the promises of the praiseworthy Solka Office of Economic Affairs to issue us a formal contract for the past six years, to our greatest sorrow and to our frequent inquiries we have to hear from the mouth of our praiseworthy administration that we are only considered private settlers"¹⁰ [private as opposed to government-sponsored colonists not entitled to an endowment--SW].  

       Our village of Pojana Mikuli consists of seventy-eight house numbers of which thirty-six numbers belong to the so-called Slovaks,¹¹ whose parents came from Hungary almost sixty years ago and settled in Bukovina. . . .

       The petition is significant for us because we can tell there from that in 1848 there were forty-two German colonial farmsteads in Pojana Mikuli.

       The last petition in this series, dated Gurahumora September 19, 1848 and addressed to the Austrian Ministry, expressed similar themes as the foregoing.  This time, however, three communities authored it, specifically Bori, Pojana Mikuli and Schwarztal (Negrileasa; more accurately, Vadul Negrilesei). In the document the latter is referred to as "Vatra Negrilassa." The following settlers signed the petition: Andreas Jung, mayor of Vatra Negrilassa; Wenzel Schaffhauser; Josef Baar (perhaps Beer); Wenzel Hilgarth, mayor of Bori; Christoph Maidl; Johann Haas; Johann Lang; Stephan Schuster, mayor of Pojana Mikuli; ┼ Anton Iwaschko (?); Anton Tischler; Nikolaus Kuschamik (?).

     IV.

       The colonists who had migrated from Bohemia, despite the fact that they were relocating within the same country, had to have their own travel permit; they had to report to local authorities at certain stations, at which they received information about the next station. Through the mediation of Headmaster Horn, I found one such a travel permit in the possession of one of the older inhabitants of Bori. The extant number of these travel permits is extremely rare. Since the text in the photograph is not legible, I am publishing it in unabridged form as follows:

     The back of the permit is also interesting because it reveals detailed information about the route the colonists had to take as well as about the time needed for the journey. With the exception of the signature of the mayor of Czernowitz (Lihotzky), I did not indicate their names because I could not decipher them accurately. Their route was as follows:

       Budweis on May 8, Iglau on May 11, Brünn on May 14, Olmütz on 17 (month is missing), Teschen on May 19, Wadowitz on May 20, Bochnia on May 23, Iarnow (confirmation missing), Przemysl on May 29, Sambor (confirmation missing), Kolomia on June 7. Czernowitz No. 1199. Reviewed by Royal State Magistrate's Office of Czernowitz on June 10, 1835. Lihotzky.

       Josef Günthner settled in Bori, first on farmstead No. 132 in Gurahumora, then, after all colonists were settled on thirty parcels,¹³ on No. 8 in Bori.  Based on the Gurahumora church registries, I can relate the following about his children. Regina Günther (both Günther and Günthner are used) died as a child of eight years on December 24, 1841. On February 14, 1850 Barbara Günthner, twenty years old, married Johann Hoffmann, son of the colonists Josef and Barbara Mirwald but died shortly thereafter; Johann Hoffmann settled on farmstead No. 125, later on No. 1. The entry in the marriage registry also reveals the maiden name of Josef Günthner's mother: Katharina Wiesenbauer.

       Josef Günthner's son married Theresia Szafaczyk (Schafaczek) and had several children with her. The first was Maria, born on May 8, 1850, who married the colonist Peter Wellisch, followed on October 12, 1851 by Josef, who died in Bori as a colonist; on October 2, 1853 Johann Nepomuk came into the world but died the same day. The next child, born March 17, 1855, was also named Johann Nepomuk, after the patron saint of Bohemia. December 26, 1856 witnessed the birth of Stefan, who migrated to Bosnia, where he later died.¹⁴ Peter, born on February 24, 1859, died while in military service; and Franz Salesius, born on October 3, 1860, settled in Gurahumora and died some time ago. Of all the children, only Johann, born in 1855, still resides in Bori as a colonist; it is he who is the custodian of the above travel permit.

       That is the fate of the Günthner (Günther) family based on said travel permit.      

            V.

       The parish of Gurahumora is among the oldest in the land; it also possesses a detailed chronicle, kept by Father Clemens Swoboda, who was later transferred to Czernowitz. I will publish this chronicle at a later date. Here I wish to review a notebook that can be viewed as the basis of a chronicle. It is entitled "Historia Rerum Memorabilium Anno 1819 Incepta" (History of Memorable Events Beginning in 1819). The first page begins with the words, "Historia. De origine Capellaniae Gura Homorensis" (History: About the Origin of the Parish of Gurahumora).

       The first ten pages are in Latin. The first five pages were written by Father Theodor Lazar, who was at first assistant pastor in Suczawa and from 1803 repeatedly traveled to Gurahumora in order to serve the temporarily vacant parish, until he was named pastor on January 1, 1815. It appears he was a fine modest man. And we gladly overlook his poor Latin when we read the shattering words which he wrote about himself: "qui ditior et beatior esset mortuus, quam vivus est" (one who will hopefully be richer and happier in death than he is in life). How much tragedy is revealed in these words! With how much difficulty did father Theodor Lazar have to struggle until cool earth embraced him!

NOTES

       1The colonists had not yet received their full endowment. This contract stipulates that if and when the endowment is granted retroactively, it will pass to Lang instead of to its first claimant, Binder.

       2Where the community of Bori stands today, there existed virgin forests before the settlement of the German Bohemians.

       3Florin = gulden, the old Austrian unit of currency.

       4One Viennese klafter = 189.65 cm.

       5Incorrect; to the south lay the farmstead opposite that of Johann Haas, which was later No. 16 (Johann Haas's house was No. 17); the village thoroughfare was to the west; to the north lay the farmstead of Christoph Maidl (No. 18); the Humora Stream flows toward the east. 

       6The village seal is not on the document.

       7From this document we learn that this community had already submitted two petitions, which, however, I did not find.

              8Military outposts which the local communities had to maintain.

       9The colonists were obliged annually to cut a specified amount of wood for the administration, i.e., in this case for the Office of Economic Affairs in Solka. More on this topic below.

       10When the colonists of Pojana Mikuli, Bori and Schwarztal turned to the administrator of the Solka Office with the petition to transfer the properties to their permanent possession as His Majesty, the Emperor had promised and called upon heaven to witness the veracity of their words, he apparently answered as follows: "The Emperor is far off, the sky is high, and here I am the Emperor!"  These words have remained in the memory of the colonists to this day and were recounted to me by several sources.

       11Interestingly the non-German inhabitants of Pojana Mikuli felt insulted to be called Slovaks; they wanted only to be Polish.

       12At that time it often happened that a young man deliberately amputated his right index finger in order to avoid military conscription, since this made it impossible for him to press the trigger of a gun! However, this does not imply that in this case self mutilation had taken place.

       13Some preferred to remain in Gurahumora, in particular the craftsmen.

       14According to Mathias Lang.

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