I asked my grandparents why the Barbie's left Hungary and I was told that my great-great grandfather was concerned about war and didn't want his children to have to go to war or be forced to join the military. My family left Hungary in the 1890's and mandatory service of 2 years was implemented in 1903. I heard that either my great grandfather or great-great grandfather had been called to serve in the military after they had moved to the United States. I was told that the request had been thrown away. I'm also not sure if that request came as a result of the mandatory 2 years of service or if it was for WWI. I'm not sure if there is any information to back up the reason I was given but I would be interested to hear if anyone knows anything more on the subject. Does anyone know if it is possible to locate a copy of the letter sent by the military? Valerie Barbie Bismarck, North Dakota From: Denise Sproed <denisesproed@onlinenw.com> Subject: [BANAT-L] Motivation for emigration & The Kaiser's Band To: BANAT-L@rootsweb.com Date: Friday, January 1, 2010, 2:38 PM My father was asking me if I knew what had motivated his ancestors to emigrate from the Banat to America.???I do not know the economic conditions or if there was something specific.? My families emigrated from Pankota and Ujpanat (Neupanat) in 1903-1908? (Pfau, Plennert, Schmidt, Freisinger, Hauptman, Reznicsek, Doran, Engel, et al).? What were the reasons others have found that their ancestors left for America. I also have another question - my ancestor came to America in 1903 at the age of 24.? I am told he started playing the cornet at age 9 and played in the Kaiser's band.? How would a man living in the Banat come to play in the Kaiser's band?? Does anyone know of a resource where I could find information on this fact? Thank you, Denise in Oregon My genealogy related pages are at: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~merritt/ and http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~merritt/ The latter created using John Cardinal's Second Site