Journey to Rosshaupt. Chapter One

Transcription

1 1 Journey to Rosshaupt Rosshaupt about On September 30, 2016, my cousin, Jim Hummer, and I (Mary (Deglman) Struffert) boarded a plane and took an overnight flight from New York to Prague, Czech Republic. From Prague, we picked up a rental car, drove to the western border of the Czech Republic, and before entering Germany, where we would meet our two cousins at our rental apartment, made a stop at Rosshaupt (now Rozvadov, Czech Republic). This is the first time we know of that descendants of Michael and Theresia Hummer, and Johann and Anna Deglmann have set foot on the soil of their Bohemian homeland since they left almost 150 years ago, in the spring of 1867 and Even though this was our official journey the preparation for this journey to the home land of our ancestors started a few years ago, and probably a long time before that. My mother, Amelia (Reibestein) Deglman, had for many years before her death in 2014 researched the family s history and collected many stories and pictures. She loved it and would attend as many family gatherings and reunions as she could. Often, she had her camera, photo album, and a note book to record everyone s names and birthdates. She would ask for a picture or take a new one for her family tree. Initially she recorded the family trees by hand on a preprinted sheet. Later in 1 This picture was included in some digitized images we received at the reunion in Waidhaus Oct It is also included in the book the Rosshaupt Chronic by Franz Voit and may have originated from there.

2 2 Return to Rosshaupt life she learned how to use the computer and with the help of some of her children put the family tree on the Family Tree Maker 2 program. She took whatever she could get, good or bad copies of a picture, and would attach it to its owner in the tree. She collected hundreds of pictures. She would also go to the Family History Library 3 operated by the Mormon Church and order the microfilms. She would search these records for ancestors of people she knew came from places in Europe. She had some of the names of the towns she believed they had emigrated from but wanted to find out more. She kept notes of her searches which included the films and areas of Europe that were searched. For Michael Hummer and Theresia Wagner, and Johann and Anna (Humer) Deglmann, she had written that they came from Rosshaupt, Austria but was never able to find any records prior to their immigration to this country. Amelia Reibestein and George Deglman - Engagement Family Tree Maker available at 3 Family History Library a service of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

3 3 At some point in her travels she acquired prints of both the Michael and Theresia (Wagner) Hummer, and Johann and Anna (Humer) Deglmann. After her death in I took over her mission to search for my ancestors, to get all her information and pictures in the online tree, and verify and source as much of her collection as I could. When I picked up her boxes of files I found, in one of her folders, a nicely photographed 5x7 inch black and white copy of Michael and Theresia Hummer. Theresia (born Wagner) and Michael Hummer circa 1870s I posted it in the online family tree on Ancestry.com. I had seen the picture many years ago, and became familiar with it as I helped work on the family tree. There was a haunting similarity between the picture of Theresia and my mother. I am not the only one that noticed it. Many others have commented on it as well. The eyes, the dark hair, and the general shape of the face were all very similar. It is a strange coincidence that this photo would prompt a response from a person over half way across the country that would lead to the discovery of the people she had been

4 4 Return to Rosshaupt looking for all those years. On March 1, 2015 I got this message from Jim Hummer on my Ancestry Hi, I see you posted a picture of Michael Hummer. He was my Great Grand Father. I would suspect you are one of my Princeton cousins. We communicated back and forth and on March 11, 2015 this response came back that changed everything. I also got a response back on Rozvadov and (the) church records are online but I didn't find anything. The records for Rozvadov are found online in the Plzen archives: I did go online and check it out, and yes, they were almost impossible for me to read, and I too thought it was a dead end. But as I scrolled through several pages the name Degelmann leaped off the page. 4 This was my first encounter with the Deglman s in the Rosshaupt books. This Degelman that was so clearly visible helped open the door for the research that came after. I was also able to find the Hummers and Wagners as well. I felt like I had won the lottery. I felt certain that my mother was, in her own way, behind this from her spot in Heaven. Over the next few months I searched the Rosshaupt books for more ancestors, learned to read (somewhat) the old German Current script, and tried to &y=-122&w=1315&h=534

5 5 get at least the names, birthdates, and house numbers sorted out. Jim Hummer was my best source of helpful information and links. In the Spring of 2015 Jim s uncle Elmer (Rudolph Hummer) passed away leaving behind a collection of pictures, and Jim began posting great pictures of the farm in Lime Township, north of Mankato, Minnesota were the Hummer s lived. I would study these pictures and wonder what life was like in the late 1800 s and early 1900 s. I would research this era to find out more. We continued to share things back and forth and in July of 2015 some of the Mankato Hummer s came to Princeton for a visit. We had great time at our reunion as we shared photos and stories and began to consider plans to visit Rosshaupt. That day Hummer s brought with them the portrait of Michael and Theresia they had received from the Elmer Hummer estate and it became the center piece for a new photo. Also in the Spring of 2015 I called Sandy (Volker) Bronson for some questions about members of the family and found out she had just completed a family history book on a branch of her family tree and once done would plan to work on the Hummer / Reibestein branch. In the months between July 2015 and September 2016 Sandy Bronson, Jim Hummer, and I continued to work on the Family Tree adding to our online trees and preparing for the publication of a family history book. We also planned our trip to Germany and Czech Republic. In genealogy research, it is common to hit roadblocks, but it seemed that with every step in the preparation process we were continually blessed with open doors. We met people with close ties to Rosshaupt who possessed excellent knowledge of both genealogy and history of the area. There were a great number of people who helped us along the way but one person needs to be acknowledged for helping bring the Rosshaupt

6 6 Return to Rosshaupt Reunion to life and that is Dr. Gunter Zeidler. We felt so very lucky and couldn t have asked for anything better. In this picture with the portrait out front, left to right, are Bonnie (Reibestein) Strombeck, Emma (Reibestein) Volker, 2 nd row: Mary (Deglman) Struffert, Brian Deglman, Cathy (Deglman) Garbacz, Sandy (Volker) Bronson, 3 rd row: Laura (Deglman) Orton, Amy (Hummer) Grosse, Barbara (Steck) Hummer, and Jim Hummer.

7 7 ***September 30, 2016*** The plane from Minneapolis to New York was delayed due to problems with wind there. I was supposed to have about a 2- hour layover but was 15 minutes late. Fortunately for me Delta waited until the twelve of us arriving from Minneapolis could get to the connecting Prague flight and I was very happy to see Jim waiting for me when I boarded the plane. If I slept at all on the 8-hour flight to Prague I don t remember and it was mid-morning when we touched down, gathered our luggage, and headed across the street to the rental car building. After finding the almost hidden kiosk the rental process went smoothly and before we knew it we were cruising out in our highly fuel efficient diesel, grey, 4-door, Peugeot sedan. After a few scenic detours, we found our way to E50 heading west for the remaining 158 km to Rozvadov 5 (Rosshaupt), Czech Republic. We were supposed to meet Sandy and Sharon at our rental apartment, the Ferienwohnung Zetzl 6, in the town of Pfrentsch just south of Waidhaus, Germany but didn t know if they we there yet and couldn t help but stop and have a look at the town of Rosshaupt and the old church in Neuhausel. It was easy finding my way around since I had studied Google Maps so many times I knew it by heart. Traveling today is, of course, much easier than when our ancestors traveled to America back in the 1860 s. In less than a day we can make a journey that would have taken them several months. Another great advantage we have today is easy access to books and other forms of media, and the internet. Within this story, I will provide you with internet links and suggestions so you can do a little traveling without having to leave your home. Using the World Atlas Travel Calculator 7 I got an estimate of the distance from my home in Princeton,

8 8 Return to Rosshaupt Minnesota, USA to Rozvadov, Czech Republic and find out that the total distance is roughly 5000 miles. Using Google Maps 8 I planned the quickest route from Prague to Rozvadov. As we approached Rozvadov we exited the autobahn at a travel plaza marked Rozvadov and 605, drove around the travel plaza, past the Asian Market and finally turned right, going west on 605 and completing the final 3 km of our mile journey to Rosshaupt. We took a quick look around the town viewing the renovated Rosshaupt church from the outside and the location of our ancestor s home sites. It was surreal to be there. Our first official stop was the Cemetery at Neuhausel (Nove Domky) 9 to view an old church that would have been the church of our ancestors prior to the consecration of the church in Rosshaupt in If I would have known where the cemetery of Rosshaupt was I would have probably gone there first but despite all my searching in advance was unable to locate it. Plus, we were promised a tour the very next day. So, after finding the very small, almost hidden road to Neuhausel we made our way on what appeared to be a tarred footpath. We drove north just a few miles on this very narrow road. There was barely enough space for two cars to pass and several times we passed some hikers making us wonder if this was really a road for vehicles but as previously mentioned I knew this road and what lay ahead from my almost yearlong preparation and research. We continued over this narrow road in a very rural area with fields and vegetation all feeling familiar; like rural Minnesota. This was not only a physical journey for me but a spiritual one as well and as we approached the ruins of the church I was overwhelmed with emotion. I had found my way back to the place of my ancestors, all who are with me; part of neuhausl-nove-domky/

9 9 my DNA and contributors to my entire physical and spiritual makeup. We were home. Church at Neuhausel (now Nove Domky, Czech Republic) I took out a small picture of my parents and placed in on a window ledge looking out over the grounds and cemetery. I knew they would have loved to have made this journey if they had known the specific location of this place. On the back of the photo, within the frame I wrote a small story about their link to this place, both parents having roots in this area. We wandered around the cemetery looking for familiar names like Hummer, Deglman, Wagner and many other names I had become familiar with during my research of the birth, marriage, and death records of the churches of this area. There were many familiar names and thanks to the keen eye of my travel companion, we located a Deglmann grave. One more thing to scratch off my list of things to find in Rosshaupt.