The Bukovina Society of the Americas NEWSLETTER P.O. Box 81, Ellis, KS 67637 USA Vol. 14 No. 2 June 2004 Editor: Dr. Sophie A. Welisch Board of Directors Werner Zoglauer Larry Jensen e-mail: [email protected] Oren Windholz, President Martha Louise McClelland Dr. Ortfried Kotzian Web Site: www.bukovinasociety.org [email protected] Betty Younger Edward Al Lang Raymond Haneke, Vice President Paul Massier Joe Erbert, Secretary International Board Van Massirer Bernie Zerfas, Treasurer Michael Augustin Steve Parke Shirley Kroeger Dr. Ayrton Gonçalves Celestino Doug Reckmann Ralph Honas Irmgard Ellingson Dr. Kurt Rein Ray Schoenthaler Aura Lee Furgason Wilfred Uhren Dennis Massier Rebecca Hageman Dr. Sophie A. Welisch Ralph Burns Laura Hanowski BUKOVINA PEOPLE AND EVENTS · . The annual business meeting of The Bukovina Society of the Americas, a non-profit Kansas corporation will be held on Monday, July 12, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. at the headquarters in Ellis, Kansas. At this time we will conduct the normal business of the corporation, review financial reports, and elect members to replace those whose terms have expired. · . The Bukovina Society was represented at the annual German Heritage Days sponsored by the Ellis County Historical Society. Oren Windholz gave a presentation on the Bukovina Germans who settled in the Ellis area. Joe Erbert and Ralph Honas participated in one of the Roundtable Discussion groups. · . A misprint occurred in the last Newsletter for new life member Andrea Kozan Phan. The middle name was originally printed as Kosah. · . The Society received a notice of the death of Dr. Rudolf Geimer (Mainz/Rhein, Germany) on March 5th, 2004. Dr. Geimer attended the Fourth Annual Bukovinafest, July 16-19, 1992 as a special guest and gave a presentation. He also spent time with distant cousins in the area, particularly the Schoenthaler family. He was a lifetime member of the Society and stayed in contact with Society members. · . The Society was saddened to learn of the passing on January 14, 2004 of Dr. Claudius von Teutul, an internationally recognized specialist in Bukovina genealogy and heraldry. Born on August 26, 1930 in Neu-Itzkany the scion of one of the oldest Moldavian Bukovinian noble families, he participated in the 1940 resettlement of the Bukovina Germans to Germany. .After the war he pursued his academic studies at the University of Marburg/Lahn and in 1958 earned a doctorate in financial economics at the (West)Berlin University. Beginning in the 1960s Dr. von Teutul turned to genealogy and heraldry as hobbies, honing his skills through course work at the University of Saarbrücken and eventually establishing a database over 30,000 names. A frequent contributor to Bukovinian publications (Kaindl Hefte, Der Südostdeutsche), Dr. von Teutul generously assisted other researchers and sometimes provided entire genealogical charts for individuals free of charge. After the fall of the Ceauºescu regime in Romania, he became the most significant foreign financial supporter of the Genealogy and Heraldry Commission for Moldavia in Jassy, to which he donated modern technology and computer programs. To Dr. von Teutul’s widow, sons and grandchildren, the Society extends its heartfelt sympathy. The Odyssey of Phillip Putz (c. 1832-1914) by Fay Schmahl Jordaens (Netcong, NJ) I read with great pleasure and delight the article “Bukovina German Immigration to Canada” by Laura Hanowski [March 2004] where she notesthat Philipp Putz, born in Fratautz, was an early Bukovinian settler in Edenwold, Saskatchewan, Canada. Philipp Putz had married Theresia Mang of Deutsch-Satulmare and settled in her village. Her younger brothers Franz and Philipp were as interested in relocating abroad as was Philipp Putz. In fact, in the early 1880’s Philipp Putz led a group of Bukovinians to explore [and reject] land in Palestine in an effort to leave Satulmare. Several of the young men in the Mang and Putz families had been conscripted into the Imperial Austrian Army. According to the Mang written history [1975] their reasons for relocation were threefold: they wanted “political, religious and personal freedom.” This was especially important to them since Philipp Mang had been wounded during the Austrian military occupation of Bosnia-Herzogovina (1878), and he was now an invalid at home in Satulmare. 1 When in 1885, Philipp Putz forayed into Canada, he carried more than family members, seeds and a little money. He brought with him the hopes [Library] The Library is well stacked with articles about Bukovina and related and dreams of many Bukovinian families that there would be a safe new topics. homeland for them where they could all make a new beginning. His letter back home describing Canada as a safe refuge started a flow of relatives and [Newsletters] The Bukovina Society has issued four Newsletters annually start- neighbors from the old country. ing in 1991. Here you will find all but the last 4 issues. In Canada these hardy people became pioneers, where they cleared the [Map Room] Features several nice maps of Bukovina, some with detailed land, fought off staggeringly freezing winters, planted their crops and finally location of villages and towns. put down roots. Some were not so lucky. The severity of the winters took the life of Theresia Mang Putz in 1888, while her sister-in-law, Ludwiga [Web Museum] This section has just recently been added. Here you will find Gartel Mang, died the following year, one month after her arrival in a collection of pictures of everyday items, which were part of the life experiences Canada. of our Bukovina ancestors. Family documents, coins, stamps, tools, religious customs are just a start of these contents. A severe drought brought poor crops to the settlers in Edenwold and in 1896 Philipp Putz, after eleven years in Canada, thought his family would [Store] At our online store, you are able to order books related to the history be better off in Martin, North Dakota. He moved his family there, where he and genealogy of the Bukovina-Germans as well as pins, T-shirts, polo shirts and prospered, grew old and very happy and where in 1914 he died and was hats imprinted with the logo of the Bukovina Society plus a full color 12” x 16” buried. Philipp Putz was my great grandfather. Bukovina map, suitable for framing. We have recently added secure credit card processing for the convenience of members and visitors who may wish to buy items, pay their membership fees, or make a donation to the Bukovina Society UPDATE ON OUR WEBSITE on line. www.bukovinasociety.org \t “_self” [Other Organizations] Numerous links to other websites with rich by Werner Zoglauer (Naperville, IL) information about Bukovina history can be found on this page. On May 1, 2002, the new website for the Bukovina Society, with its own \t “_self” [Search] This page contains our powerful search function, which will domain name, www.bukovinasociety.org> went live after four months of enable you to find topics of interest, e.g., specific documents, ancestral family developmental work by several volunteers of the Bukovina Society. May 1, names and villages. 2004 marked the second anniversary of our very active new website, which by all accounts has far exceeded our expectations. Given that Bukovina- \t “_self” [Guest Book] Since May 1, 2002, over 160 visitors have left messages Germans are found all over the world, the website has in many ways become in our guest book, some of which are printed below. a focal point for the Bukovina Society. The Bukovina Society of the Americas, founded in Ellis/Hays, Kansas in 1988 when many local Bukovina-Germans Our Visitors wanted to learn more about their heritage, has developed into an organization, Over 14,000 visits have been counted at our homepage during the first two years which enjoys a growing international membership and recognition. of its existence. Other popular pages include the [Search] function with 12,300 visits, [Families/Villages] with 9,500, [Genealogy & Contacts] with over 6,700, For those of us who are very active in the Society, the website has become the the [Map Room] with 5,600, and the [Guest Book] with 4,300. The [Auf focus of many projects with the goal of documenting and sharing the infor- Deutsch] page, which contains the links to the German articles on our site, mation about our heritage with our many “cousins” worldwide. For our nu- reports 3,990 visits, reflecting the large number of German speakers accessing merous visitors, the website has become a learning and resource center, a our site. We also have a Portuguese language page for our sister organization in place to seek information about lost family members and ancestors and to Brazil, the Associação Alemã-Bucovina de Cultura, in Rio Negro/Mafra, Brazil. meet others who share their same interests in heritage. We are currently averaging more than 290 visits per day with over 70 per cent For those of you who have not had a chance to visit the website, key items from from the United States, 6 per cent from Germany/Austria, and 4 percent from our main menu will give you a flavor of what you will find: Canada. The remainder is from numerous countries all over the world. [What’s New] This page keeps frequent visitors informed about changes made to the site. If you check this page first, you will be sure not to miss any impor- Visitors to our guestbook have left some very interesting messages. Many of tant new content added to the website since your last visit. them express gratitude for the contents of our website. Often they will leave information about their own Bukovina family searches, hoping to link up with [Site Map] Provides the best overview of the site, with links to over 220 sepa- a future visitor to the guestbook.