Glogowatz Shield

Glogowatz in Banat

 

 

The Why's of Genealogy
 by Susan Williams nee Sander, born and raised in College Point, New York.
 


I’ve been at this mad study of  “where did my family come from” for over three years now.    As a genealogist, I’d be considered a definite “newbie” although I feel as if I have been studying and searching my whole life.    

It all started when I discovered some documents tucked away in the basement. I knew we were Hungarian – the likes of the Gabor sisters, I guess – the only other Hungarians I knew of.    I knew we were also Czechoslovakian – Bohemian to be exact.  Or as grandma would playfully say “Bohunk”.   As for the Hungarian side, there was a ghoulish twist too – we were from Transylvania, the land of the vampires.   I remember seeing the word Transylvania on one of the documents but have lost track of that document.    

My first clue was the town of Glogovat, stamped on the document -- the town where my father’s birth and baptism took place and were registered.   The scotch tape holding the fragile paper together had turned brown but the black script written over 90 years ago was still as beautiful as the day it was written.  I wonder sometimes if the priest or deacon who had such beautiful handwriting ever dreamed I would be gazing at this document dreaming of what life was like so many years ago.    As he carefully kept the records at the church, did he ever dream of who might be reading these books.  Probably not – he was doing his job, fulfilling his obligation to keep the records for his parishioners the same way we sit at our word processors today.  If we publish a book we hope that people will read it for years to come;  but our ordinary day-to-day activities – no, we never  expect anyone else to be interested, once the job is over.    

Sometime in 1999 I trekked off to the library determined to discover exactly where this little town was on a map of Hungary.  I quickly discovered my local library did not have any books old enough – through the years, through the wars, little towns in Hungary seemed to skip from map to map - while the town stayed anchored in the same place, it was the country’s borders that changed as it shifted from Hungarian to Rumanian rule.    The little town of Glogovat was known as Glogovat – Glogowatz – Othalom – Octfhaloni – and is now known as Vladimirescu, Romania.   More changes have occurred than just the name – but the little town of Glogowatz is remembered tenderly by thousands of people living in Germany,  South America,  Canada, the United States to name a few.    

I put my quest aside for awhile.   Months later I was learning how “to surf the internet” – and to my surprise I found I was not the only one interested in this little town of Glogowatz.   The Google search engine quickly found Peter Schmidt’s Village of Glogowatz website.  Skipping around the site, I found references to church records, baptisms, christenings, voting records.  Then I found a link to Dave Dreyer’s website of Master Ship Extraction Database of the Banat  – I clicked onto the town of Glogowatz – a page opened up and to my amazement the first name on the list was someone who had traveled to College Point, New York – my home town!   Scrolling through the list I decided I had to print my own copy of this wonderful list!  Click on File:  Double click on Print:  One copy please –  I was on my way to possessing this list!    My printer started buzzing – clicking and clattering – about fifteen minutes later my printer came to a halt – I had run out of ink long before this list was completely printed!  I still have that printout – in fact, I have not gone back to attempt the printout again.   I refer to the website  several times a month as I learn more about the people of Glogowatz.    I will print the list someday – when I’m sure the list is as complete as it can be.   

Since that day I have read church records magnifying glass in hand, passenger lists, census records, microfilms of birth, death and marriage records, and history books in an attempt to put together my own story.  I’ve collected pictures of my ancestors – yes, now they are no longer just names and dates – they have faces – I know their occupations and I know a little of there day-to-day lives and something of their struggles.     I want to know what life was like in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.  What brought my family to America – what gave them the drive to make that important yet possibly dangerous decision.  

This brings me to the title of this piece – Why? – Why am I doing this?  I know I’m not alone.   Thousands of people like me are searching for their roots.   There are days when I can hardly contain my excitement when I find a name or an address that has been eluding me.    And there are days when I ask myself why is the past so important to me.   Am I forgetting that I live in the present – and have a future to reach?  Am I in danger of slipping through the portals of time – and seeing for myself exactly what life was like.   I admit I have entertained that intriguing thought.     Could I be like one of the characters in the book by Jack Finney Time and Again who possess that curious ability of being able to walk back and forth in time.    A young man steps into an apartment in the famed apartment building, The Dakota,  in New York City in 1970 - and days later steps out of the apartment, down the stairs and walks onto the streets of New York City --- in the year 1868.   He is free to search out his great grandfather, meet him face-to-face ….yet he has the explicit directions that he cannot under any circumstances interfere with or change the events of the past.  Interference could alter his very existence, his own future.     

What if I stepped back in time and met my great grandmother Antoinette?   What if I contracted the malaria that took the life of my baby great aunt?   If my family was strong enough to live through these times, would I be strong enough to make it back to my own future? 

We know that we cannot change the past.  But thoughts of times long ago can alter the future.   I started my quest because it was entertaining just to see how far back I could trace my family.   I never expected to locate anyone connected to me today.   But I did just that and much more.    When family members came to the United States and Canada, they managed as well as they could to maintain contact with friends and family left behind.   They set up new communities mimicking their towns of origin.  They encouraged others to follow in their foot steps sometimes paying their transportation expenses and opening their homes to them.     But they also wanted their children to be citizens of their adopted countries .   In many cases, German language skills were lost and with that old connections were broken.   

I am happy to say that my genealogy research has helped to mend a number of those broken connections.   

About two years ago I surfed onto a website where people were researching some of my family names – Schlee, Reichert and  Weisenburger.    I had recently learned about my Schlee and Weisenburger cousins.  After corresponding through the surname list a few times, my friend and I decided to e-mail directly.

Mary told me her main interest was the Schlee family but she had a friend, Erika, who was very interested in the Weisenburger family.  Erika’s grandmother was a Weisenburger from Glogowatz.   Two siblings traveled to America, raising their families, keeping in contact with Glogowatz and then later with the family after they moved to Germany.  Mary’s family was one of those families although Mary had no knowledge of it.     Erika’s family was very poor – her American cousins frequently sent packages to Germany – Erika remembered just how important these packages were to the family.   As an adult she had moved to the United States; her desire to reconnect with this family was strong.  She wanted to let them know how important their help was – she wanted to thank them herself but she had no idea where to start.   Mary connected me to Erika.    I read her story but nothing sounded familiar.   I forwarded the story to my cousin, Roberta, because she and her mother kept in contact with the Weisenburger’s in our family.  My grandmother’s half-sister, Catherine married Franz Weisenburger in Glogowatz and moved to College Point, NY in 1910.  Descendants of this family lived in New York and Florida.        Roberta forwarded the story to Catherine’s granddaughter, Arlene.    Well, the story found a home.  Arlene read that forwarded e-mail and realized – it was her family who sent those packages –  and she remembered helping her grandmother prepare the packages, washing and carefully folding the clothing and fabric that would be shipped to Germany.   Erika was her cousin!  Hoorah for both of them!  A broken link was mended.  Hoorah for genealogy!   A beautiful friendship was started and Erika continues to help me communicate with relatives I have found in Germany.  

As I read Dave Dreyer’s Manifest Records, I made the realization that a childhood friend of mine was actually my third cousin.    I read where George Reichert’s grandfather, Paul Reichert  had come to College Point as a 16 year old  boy, accompanied by his father, Ferencs Reichert in 1914.  They were sponsored by his cousin, my grandfather, Michael Szander.   A letter and many e-mails re-introduced me to my newly-found cousin.

About a year later, I was reading the HOG Glogowatz page and scanning through their photographs.  I found a family photograph labeled Reichert Family 1910.   I left a message in the guest book asking if anyone knew the name of the individuals in the Reichert.   The next morning I received an e-mail from Erwin Kilzheimer giving me the names of the people.    Because I had already spent hours compiling family records from the Glogowatz church records,  I recognized the names as those of my grandmother’s aunt and uncle, Franz Reichert and Magdalena Dumelle  and their children.   Another connection! – I quickly e-mailed George – he had never seen a picture of his great grandparents.    Another picture for my collection and I was a step closer to having an idea of what my great grandfather looked like.  I had a picture of his brother! 

The story doesn’t end here.   In the next few weeks, Erwin connected with the owner of the picture and I exchanged information with them.    Unfortunately, they didn’t speak English and I speak no German.   It was going to be up to the grandchildren of the family to continue any contact.      A week or so later, I heard from another member of the family.  Happily for me, she speaks and writes English fluently.   Her name is Birgit and her grandmother Elisabeth was delighted to be hearing from family in the United States.   We exchanged pictures and family information and learned that a good friend of Elisabeth’s lives in College Point today.   But the happiest news is yet to come.   Elisabeth wrote me a letter in German (Erika had helped me write to Elisabeth in German; now she translated Elisabeth’s letter to me).    Elisabeth agreed with me if our ancestors could know of our contact –  “they would be dancing in heaven”.

Elisabeth went on to tell me how her father, Franz, suffered because he had lost contact with his brother, Paul.   His older brother was sixteen years old when he left for the United States.    They wrote to each other until the late 1970’s and then that contact was broken.  Unbeknownst to him, his brother, Paul, had died.  All he knew was that the mail stopped coming.     The mending of that broken link was starting with me – when Elisabeth  hears from Paul’s grandson, the link that was broken so long ago will be complete once more. 

One more link to Glogowatz.   I recently discovered that the brother of my great grandfather Paul Reichert also traveled across the ocean; his first stop was  Kentucky but later moved to College Point with the help of my grandmother Sophie Sander nee Reichert.   His name was Johann Reichert.  Johann and Anna Reichert settled in College Point and raised ten children.  One of his grandsons is Deacon Jack Reichert of St. Fidelis Church, College Point, NY.   

The Bohemian side of my family tree is beginning to sprout branches too.

One branch grew out to Ohio years ago when Jedlicka cousins ( Herb and Catherine Smith) followed their children.  A branch of the Hala’s settled in Miami, FL (Barbara Seykora nee Schoen, granddaughter of Anton Hala) following various moved around the country.     The Jindela’s related through a marriage into the Jedlicka line now live in various parts of New Jersey.   So filling out the branches is bound to take a few more years.

Now I know why I study my genealogy.  I want the reality of capturing the history of  my own family and I can dream about traveling back into time.  But genealogy is not just about the past.   It is a way of connecting the past, the present and the future.  Our lives here are the fulfillment of the dreams of our grandparents and great grandparents.   We are who we are today because of our past.  Who we will be in the future may depend on what we learn today and how it influences us.   I know I am connected to many people I have not even learned about yet.   As I have heard stories of them, perhaps they have heard stories about me and my grandparents.   They may be dreaming and wondering about their cousins too.     Genealogy and the internet has made me realize just how small the world is – it’s only a matter of time before we complete the circle of past, present and future – it may seem like a straight line but it’s not.  I have a past and eventually my present and future will become my past.   And maybe someday, someone will be reading this story and wondering just what my life and my family was like.

 

                

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Last Updated
March 04, 2012