SEASONS GREETINGS
I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years holiday. Time to get back to work on your genealogy!
MEMBERSHIP REMINDER
Just a reminder that ZVA annual dues of $10 are based on the calendar year. Please check your dues status on the web site. Go to Your Profile in the user menu and look at the last item in the column on the right side of the page where it says “Dues paid to the end of: ____” If you have not paid for 2011, please remit your dues using one of the options described on the Membership page. From September on, I will credit new members for the following year. I will downgrade unrenewed members on the web site in April of each year to give you plenty of grace. We are continually adding new content to the Members Only parts of the site. If you are not connected to the Internet, just drop me a line at the address below and I will update you. Thanks for contributing to our common cause.
WEB SITE NEWS
I have updated the Banat cemetery observations page to reflect our 2010 visit.
I have added links to the pages for Setschanfeld and Drei Dörfer im Banat (Georgshausen, Setschanfeld, Alt Letz)
Miles Dormuth finished compiling an index of all the gravestone pictures from our 2008 Banat tour. To find it, click on Banat in the main menu, then Genealogy, and look for 2008 Banat Gravestones. Please read the explanation and download it from the site. Search the index for names that interest you, then find the pictures on our site. To find the pictures, click on Photos in the main menu, go to the second Gallery page and click on Gravestones. Search the villages from there.
Mary Ann Hueser translated two items that she photographed on the walls of the church in Kozma (Verteskozma), Hungary. One is a history of the village. The other is the story of the naming of the church. This is found in a new section of the main menu called Schildgebirge, dedicated to that area of Hungary just west of Budapest.
Henry Fischer has translated an 1859-60 report on the village of Zichydorf. Unfortunately, he ran into a few words and phrases that are no longer in use. I have appealed to a few other sources for help. I will post the completed translation in a couple of weeks after the results from the helpers are in.
NEW IN THE SGS LIBRARY
The following books and resources have been placed in our section of the SGS library since the last newsletter. These listings are posted on the web page under SGS Library Resources. Some are books and some are CDs. Sometimes it takes a while for the SGS to catalogue these items. If you can’t find them on the shelves, be sure to ask the librarian.
Title: Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Stephansfeld/Banat 1796-1945
Review/Description: This is typical of other familienbuchs in that it is a compilation of families, created from the original church books. As usual, it contains a history of the village and several indices. There is also an add-on section about Stephansfelders that moved to other villages. I suspect that this was not part of the original book.
Title: Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Heufeld-Massdorf im Banat 1895-1944
Review/Description: As per usual, this familienbuch is a compilation of families, created from the original church books. This volume supplements an earlier work by Josef Kühn that covers the period up to about 1850, unfortunately leaving a gap of 45 years. The book also contains several indices and some town maps. What makes this book unusual is that the authors are English, making it somewhat easier to decipher for novice researchers. Also, author Dave Dreyer, the compiler of the Banater Passenger Ship List, has linked this information to the church book data to provide a more complete story for those who immigrated through the USA.
Title: Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Heufeld/Mastort im Banat 1770-1852/1851/1852
Review/Description: This is a CD version of Kühn’s 2004 Familienbuch. It includes new research since the original publication.
At the Mt. Angel Donauschwaben Treffen in Oregon, I was able to acquire several new resources in the silent auction. Here is what I brought back.
Title: Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Sackelhausen im Banat und Ihrer Filialen 1766-1844
Review/Description: This is another compilation of families based on church records. It also includes a fairly extensive village history in English. What makes this volume interesting is that Sackelhausen was one of the main and early towns of the second wave of Banat immigration.
Title: Sackelhausen Heimatbuch
Review/Description: This is a German language book about the town of Sackelhausen. It is a fairly detailed description of the history and culture, but is not intended as a genealogy book. There are some lists of names, including a 1944 householder list, and some tables of facts. There is an extensive lis t of mailing addresses of former residents living in Germany at the time of publication. And there are two maps, one of the town and one of the surrounding area.
Title: Warjasch: ein Heimatbuch
Review/Description: This is a German language description of the history and culture of the village. It does contain a map and several lists that could be useful in genealogy, including a list of the original settlers.
Title: Familienbuch der katholische Pfarrgemeinde der Stadt Lugosch im Banat 1721-1791
Review/Description: This CD contains family groups compiled from the church books of one of the older villages in Banat. There are also many other lists and indices.
Title: Homeland in a Suitcase
Review/Description: This is a follow-up to the author’s previous work A People on the Danube in which he interviewed several survivors of the post war ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia and added several articles by historians. The previous book was first published in Serbian. When the author came to the USA to coordinate the translation and publication in English, he conducted more interviews there. This book tells the stories of the people in these interviews, from their experiences after the war to their immigration and the rebuilding of their lives in a new world.
YOUR GENEALOGICAL LEGACY
Too often, we genealogists are kind of lonely within our families – no one else shares our passion for the family history. When we pass on, the uninterested family members are left with a pile of papers that they do not understand nor care about. In these circumstances, a lifetime of work can end up in the garbage. What have you done to ensure that this does not happen to your precious work? At the very least, you should discuss the disposition of your papers with your family. Even better yet, leave written instructions. Best of all, add a codicil to your will. This is simply a short addendum that does not require changing the will itself. The DVHH web site has an excellent example that you can adapt to your own needs at http://www.dvhh.org/research/gene_aid/codicil.htm.
If no one in your family has the passion to care for your collection as you did, please consider leaving it to the ZVA. Hopefully, our organization will survive longer than an individual. When your great grandchildren go looking for their family history, they will find it here waiting for them.
NEW CHURCH RECORDS
We have acquired copies of the church records for Pantschowa.To recover our costs, we will resell these records for $15 per DVD including postage. Pantschowa is two DVDs. Contact me for details on what else we have. We are also working with Amy Nichols to obtain some Ernsthausen records and we are considering obtaining Glogon records. If you are interested and are not already participating, drop me a line and I will put you in the loop.
CAN YOU IDENTIFY THESE PEOPLE?
Elisabeth Hugel has a couple of pictures from Toni Mai in Germany with some people who are “unbekannt” (unidentified). Can you help her? Check out the attachment at the end of the newsletter. Maybe one of your ancestors is in one of them too! Contact her at bhugel@accesscomm.ca.
Zichydorf Village Association News
edited by: Glenn Schwartz
2274 Baldwin Bay, Regina, SK, S4V 1H2
Internet: http://zichydorfonline.org
&
http://www.feefhs.org/members/zichydorf/frg-zva.html
email: gschwartz@accesscomm.ca