Rosenberg (Hungarian-Rosahegy), for many years considered part of Güssing(,,Äussere Stadt") lies to the southwest of the old city walls, across the ,,Fischteich", on a small ridge facing east. Here, on a road leading to Steingraben and Sulz lived some German speaking families of craftsmen (,,Söllner") who were also small land holders. One such family, living at number 225 Rosenberg for many years were the Sorgers, who for at least three generations were potters (,,Töpfer" oder Latinisch ,,figula"). They also had a vineyard in Langzeil. With deeper roots in Langzeil, Großmürbisch and perhaps Inzenhof, the first Sorger to settle in Rosenberg may have been Georgius Sorger (born 1770, died 225 Rosenberg, 15 April, 1852) and wife Ursula Artinger (born in Inzenhof). The Sorger name is also mentioned in earlier Güssing records. In 1727, Herr Michael Sorger is shown as a ,,Richter" (p75, ,,Stadterhebung Güssing, 1972", Festschrift). In 1750 (p100), Paul Sorger is ,,ein Bürger um den Schlossberg" and Stephan Sorger is shown as an inhabitant of Langzeil. One Georg Sorger, is listed as a ,,Weinzödl". It is believed Georg may be the father of Georgius. The Sorger name is also found in the Hungarian Census of 1828 (Ungarisches Landeskonskription 1828, Comitatus Castriferrei) and in church records (Kirche Maria Heimsuchung, Güssing, Kirche St. Nicholas (Szt. Miklos), Kirche Felso-Rönök (Ober-Radling). Sorgers are also buried in St. Jakob cemetery.
Georgius, born 1770 and Ursula Artinger had seven children, including Mathyas (born 1810, died Rosenberg 16 Mar., 1883); whose wife was Magdalena Horvath (1805-1883). Mathyas and Magdalena in turn had seven children, including Aloysius, born 17 May 1838. Aloysius' first wife was Seraphina Schleder, born in Langzeil 29 Oct., 1847, with whom he fathered five children. When Seraphina died in childbirth in 1877, Aloysius married Julianna Tarafas, born 18 Feb., 1846 in Pinka Mindszent (Allerheiligen). Aloysius and Juliana had four children, Alois, born 1879, Celia, born 1881, Joseph, born 1884 and Richard, born 1886.

Alois Sorger, born 1879, my grandfather, worked in his father's pottery until he was apprenticed to a bricklayer (,,Maurer"). After working in the Hungarian building trades, he was one of the first from Güssing to emigrate to America. He arrived in New York, 17 August 1901 aboard the SS Phoenicia, Hamburg - American Line. He had $ 17 in his pocket and a promise of help from a Mankos family in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A life long friend and neighbor, one Stephen Mankos accompanied him on the trip. Together, they passed through Ellis Island, took ferry boat to Newark, NJ and train to Bethlehem / PA. Alois later moved to Allentown, PA, where he had a room at 348 N. Second Street. He worked in the building trades and soon married Maria Pöltl, another Rosenberg emigrant, the daughter of Franciscus Pöltl and Julia Wukitsch from 217 Rosenberg. Maria died in childbirth in 1905. They had one surviving child, Maria Theresa, who married Alvin, a son of John Zwickl (1872-1956), an early Heiligenkreuz emigrant to Allentown (1890). Their descendants now live in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Alois then married Hedwig Mühl (born 1885 in Kleinmürbisch). She had emigrated in 1905 from Güssing with her twin sister Francisca (1885-1944) and mother Johanna Pöltl Mühl (1845-1931). Her father, Josephus Mühl, (born 1834), a cabinet maker (,,Tischler") had died in 1885. Hedwig's brother Joseph (1875-1971), a tailor (,,Schneider"), had preceded them to Allentown in 1903. Alois and Hedwig first lived at 217 Grand Street and later 527 N. 4 th Street, Allentown / Pa. In 1909, Alois, his friend Steve Mankos and brother Louis Mankos built four brick houses in the six hundred block of N.Jordan Street. They sold one house and took the remaining three for their homes, (Alois had number 62I). They lived there as friends and neighbors, working in the building trades and as bricklayers at the Bethlehem Steel Plant. Alois was a member of the
Sacred Heart Parish and the Allentown Turner Liederkranz and was eventually a foreman (,,Vorarbeiter") at the Bethlehem Steel. He was a good husband and father and was well established. He died of stroke 22 June, 1940, and is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Allentown.
Alois and Hedwig had two children who survived childhood. Frida, born 1907 and William, born 1910. William never married, worked in the Allentown textile mills and died in Winchester, VA in 1987. Frida married Julius Berghold, born Allentown, 1906, son of immigrants Janos Berghold, born Poppendorf 1879 and Francis Langash, born Inzenhof, 1871.

Frida Sorger and Julius Berghold had two sons, Robert, 1926 and Gerald, (myself) born 1930 in Allentown. Our descendants (four children and eight grandchildren now live in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. Hedwig died in Allentown in 1978 at age 93, the last of ,,our" immigrant ancestors, still speaking of her early day in ,,das schöne Burgenland". The Allentown homestead is now owned by strangers and very few of our Burgenland families remain.
Alois' sister Celia Sorger married first a Frank Taseovitz, then a Louis Hadle (another Burgenland emigrant). She came to Allentown in 1913, had 4 surviving children and died in 1956. There are descendants. Brother Richard Sorger ("1886-1918), also came to America, but died unmarried in Troy, N.Y., Brother Joseph Sorger (born 1884), remained in the Burgenland and nothing further is known of him or any descendants.

Alois' mother Juliana Tarafas Sorger died in 1889 and his father Aloysius married the third time to Maria Nikischer, born 1860 in Neustift. They had a daughter Emila Sorger, born 1892, who married an Adolf Weber, The Webers had at least four children, Ferencz, Margit, Emilia and Justina and the Sorger name then disappears from Rosenberg. I don't know when Aloysius died, but I believe I found his unmarked and broken tombstone in St. Jakob cemetery in 1993 in a Sorger plot.

During a visit in 1993, I drove to where 225 Rosenberg was located, but I could find nothing of the old Sorger residence. I was told it had been torn down. I did buy four pieces of old pottery from an ,,Antikat" on the road to Heiligenkreuz. I look at them and like to think perhaps they were made by Sorger's pottery! A small piece of the history of my ancestors. 

I'd be happy to correspond with any other Sorger descendants. 
I can be reached by mail at 
Gerald J. Berghold, 327 Walker Street, Winchester /VA.226ol, USA 
or by email Gberghold@AOL.com


Sorger-Mühl Hochzeit im Jahre 1905, 
(v.l.n.r.) Joseph Mühl, Hedwig Mühl, Alois Sorger, Stefan Mankos

Alois Sorger family im Jahre 1915 
(v.l.n.r.) Frieda, Alois, Maria, Hedwig (Mühl) und William