Hi Don, The Neudorf you are interested in appears to be the correct one , as mentioned by Gerhard Reichl. The Dietz family fits well into the picture as I had some correspondence in the past with a Dietz family member in the U.S.A. who had connections to Neudorf. I was born in Pfraumberg/Primda a town close to Neudorf and I visited Neudorf as a small boy with my father the local Doctor.The area is part of the lower Bohemian Forest at an elevation of about 2000 ft.and is surrounded by large forests.Close to Neudorf is Dianaberg which was the seat of the local Count with a Manor House and a large commercial Sawmill. I have also been in touch with Gerhard Reichl and his e-mail address is gerhard@reichl-page.de , Herb Schwarz, Ontario,Canada. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald Feldbruegge" <dhfeldbr@chorus.net> To: <GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 5:58 PM Subject: [GERMAN-BOHEMIAN] First Message > Hi, > > I understand that I should post a list of names/place I'm researching in > this, my first post. > > The names I'm interested in are Reichl/Reichel, Bauer/Bauers & Dietz/Ditz. > The places are Neudorf, Bohemia and Chicago/vicinity, Illinois. > > Let me give you a small bit of background. We are retired. Although I'm > somewhat familiar with computers, I'm definitely not expert at web things. > This is the first genealogy message list I've joined. I probably wouldn't > have even done this if it wasn't for a recent bit of news in the most > recent > issue of "The Heimatbrief" regarding the Bauer family in Chicago. I > decided > to take a look at the GBHS web page and discovered familiar names and > localities. > > What I'm doing is letting everyone know that I'm not very proficient at > the > new computer-based genealogy searches. My background is digging around in > court houses, libraries, cemeteries, going to the local LDS, etc. > > It was about 18 years ago, that my wife commented that she knew almost > nothing about her family, especially on her father's side. Her grandfather > had died 3 years before she was born, and her grandmother had already > remarried and removed everything relating to him from the house. Grandma > and > my wife's 2 aunts shortly moved to California, and communication became a > birthday and christmas card. My wife's father had died young of a heart > attack. I never even had met him. My wife basically didn't know anything > about her father's side of the family. I decided to undertake a search. > Boy, > did I ever have a lot to learn. > > After about 6 years or so (1994, IIRC) I seemed to have run out of leads, > and I also had located interesting information about her Mother's side of > the family. So I wrote up the information I had, and abandoned her > father's > side of the family. In about 2001, I'd pretty much finished what I could > about her Mother's side of the family and found the grandchildren and > gardening were more interesting than genealogy. In other words, I haven't > been doing any research in about 5 years. I've still been interested > enough > to continue reading and seeing what was going on. Toi summarize, not only > am > I unfamiliar with the internet-genealogy, my skills are very rusty. > > --------------------- > > On to my wife's paternal side. The Wenzl Reichl family arrived in > Baltimore, > MD, on May 8, 1878, on board the the SS Gener'l Werder. They were listed > as > coming from Bohemia. Wenzl (56) was accompanied by his wife Katharina (42) > and children Theresia (15), Wenzl (11), Johann (9), Maria (7) and Anna > (2). > (My wife's father, Joseph, was born in Chicago on June 25, 1879.) Wenzl > Sr. > died on July 15th, 1879. I got very lucky on this one, the death was > listed > in the census death index. It even led me to the coronor's report and > newspaper articles (he died of sunstroke on the hottest day in several > years). > > I followed the (fatherless) family through the following years with the > city > directories, and the census. The 1880 census had one surprise for, a son > named George (age 21) was living with the family. Where did he come from? > Had he come earlier, as often was the case? In a few years, he disappeared > from the directory listings and I was unable to find him again. > > I was able to follow Katherina with the city directories until the last > listing in the 1905 directory, likely listing residents as of 1904. Until > this time she had been living with her youngest child, Joseph, who married > in 1904. At that point, nothing. No death certificate, not in a subsequent > census/directory, just a dead end. > > Meanwhile, Theresa married George Bauers 17 DEC, 1879. He died 12 JUL 1889 > & > is buried next to Wenzl Reichl in Waldheim cemetery. His death certificate > states he had been born in Neudorf/Bohemia, and was 34 years and 1 month > old. George and Theresia had 3 children. Theresa remarried, to a man named > George Kastner. They had no children. In 1992 we located and visted one of > Theresia's granddaughters. She was living in Carol Stream, IL. We saw > photos > (and made copies) of my wife's grandfather. The first time she had ever > seen > his likeness. There were also photos of Wenzl, junior. This granddaughter > was able to provide a great deal of other details. I'll mention it later. > > Wenzl Reichl (junior) never married -- he died in 1931, in the Cook County > institution. It appears he had become a charity case. The death > certificate > was unhelpful. He was buried in Elmwood cemetery, in the "charities" are. > > John (Johann) Reichl married Katherina Dietz 04 May, 1889. Thanks to the > genealogy, we were able to locate descendants of the John Reichl family, > icluding an elderly daughter. The family members have stated that John > knew > Katherina back in Bohemia, and that he paid her ship passage to this > country > to get married. Catherina Ditz (19) arrived in Baltimore on the > Hohenzollern > on May 19, 1886, accompanied by Fransisca Ditz, age 27. Both listed their > destination as Illinois. John Reichl died 01 JUL, 1927. According to the > death certificate he had been born 27 FEB 1868, in Neudorf, Bohemia. > Katherine Dietz died 27 MAY, 1955. For some reason, I haven't gotten a > death > certificate. > > Maria Reichl married Peter Weiss on 09 MAY 1891. The moved to Aurora (Kane > County), IL. We had the honor of meeting/talking to their eldest daughter, > Elizabeth in a nursing home, in Aurora, IL. She was 100 years old, but her > mind was sharp. She clearly remembered that her mother had died on her > wedding day, 26 NOV 1913. The death certificate stated she was born in > Neudorf, Austria, on Sept 7, 1870 to Wensel Reichel and Caty Bauer. What a > sad day for the daughter to be married. She said her wedding anniversaries > were always so sad. She was able to provide many family details. > > Anna Reichl married Charles Braun (or Brown) in 1894. I don't have an > exact > date for the marriage -- I suspect they may have been married outside of > the > city of Chicago. I have no marriage record. They did subsequently live in > Chicago. I'm afraid I've neglected this branch of the family. > > Several things learned along the way. All of the records indicated that > the > Bohemian locality they came from was Neudorf. Two death records state the > mother, Katherina, had a maiden name of Bauer. The elderly descendants > have > all confirmed this. The elderly descendents informed me that Katherine > (Dietz) Reichl, had died at the Peter & Marie Weiss home in Aurora, IL, > and > was taken to Chicago by train for burial. Nobody could provide an exact > date > as it was so long ago, but it appeared likely to have been sometime > between > 1904 and 1910. I have searched very hard for a death certificate, and can > find none. > > ---------------- > > What am I "specifically" interested in: > 1. Most important is the tie to Neudorf, Bohemia. When I first attempted > to > make this connection I was horrified to discover dozens of Neudorf > villages. > It was a hopeless task trying to discover which Neudorf they were from. > The > first clue I've ever discovered is from Gerhard Reichl, inquiring about a > Ditz (Dietz) and a Bauer. This leads me to think there is a high > likelihood > that the Neudorf he refers to is the Neudorf I'm interested in. I can > locate > it on the map (well actually, that old map also shows another Neudorf a > few > miles further north), and it sounds promising. If Gerhard is monitoring > this > mailing list, I would definitely appreciate it if he could reply regarding > any of the names and dates I've listed for our immigrant ancestors. > Second, > does he know of any reputable genealogist living near him who could do a > search of the district and church records -- obviously, I'd pay them. It > appears possible that the village may have been destroyed during the > Russian > era, but if you have any old or new photos I and my wife would dearly like > to see them. Again, we are very willing to pay for copies. Please describe > to us what the countryside is like. Anything about Neudorf is welcome. > > 2. On the United States/Chicago side, my most important desire would be to > locate any death record of Katherina Reichl. I have searched in vain. Do > any of you have any suggestions? There must be some way of finding the > date > and place of her death, and perhaps this internet age has revealed it. I'm > reasonably sure it is in the 1904-1910 time period, and her descendants > were > very sure she died in Aurora, Kane County IL, and taken by train to > Chicago. > > 3. I'd also like to find the death certificate for Katherine (Dietz) > Reichel > but I don't think that should be a problem, as I have a definite date and > have even seen the headstone. > > 4. I obviously need to locate some more information regarding Anna's > marriage, death, etc. Do any of you have any suggestions for "easy" > internet > type searches? > > 5. I suppose I should try to investigate this George Reichl who appeared > so > mysteriously as a son, and then disappeared again. Again, any ideas are > welcome. > > I apologize for the length of this, perhaps one reason it has become so > long > is because I'm trying hard to reorient my own thoughts, having been away > from it for over 10 years. The posting by Gerhard Reichl this last > December > rekindled my interest. I don't believe the names Reichl and Ditz (Dietz) > are > very common, and the association of the two names is very interesting, > especially when from Neudorf, Bohemia > > Regards, > Don Feldbruegge > > > ==== GERMAN-BOHEMIAN Mailing List ==== > Forgotten how to UNSUBSCRIBE? > Visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/mailinglist/mailinglist.html > >