One northern Burgenland immigrant story follows
(Courtesy Dale Knebel-BB Corresponding editor):

A BURGENLAND TO US ITINERARY FROM THE EDEN, SD GROUP (extracted from History of Marshall County, South Dakota, items in parenthesis are editor’s notes)“Math and Theresa Zeniel and their three year old son, Joseph, were among the last (Eden) immigrants to arrive in the United States. They were part of a large group of young people who left Austria for America. They came from St. Andrew (St. Andra“ am Zicksee, in the See Winkel), Austria in 1927.

Boarding a train about 5 o’clock they arrived in Vienna about 8 o’clock that night. Boarding another train they proceeded on their way through France,where there was an overnight layover.
All were bedded down on straw in one large building. However they arrived in this place too late in the evening to have supper served to them. Luckily they had saved some food from their sack lunch which they had bought for one dollar...For the rest of their journey they were fed well. Their next stop was Charbukes (Cherbourg?). About two days later they were put aboard the English ship, Ocivedonia (?), on which they enjoyed good food and entertainment during the five days it took to cross the ocean. After landing on Ellis Island, they were searched, vaccinated and allowed to clean up.
Then they were taken by smaller boats to the mainland, but...their son, Joe, came down with a bad case of whooping cough and they were detained ten days on the island....they were told that they would have to have $20...before they could board a train going west. They contacted their uncle Mike Zeniel in Eden and he made arrangements...to send money....after changes at Chicago and St. Paul they arrived at Fairmont, MN. After a a few hours there they were on a train again headed for Eden....they reached Lake City about 8 in the evening. The whole trip cost about $500 plus a hat (head?) tax of sixty dollars.... Mr. Skola took them out to their uncle’s farm....they lived with Mike Zeniels for the first year.“
(end of story)

The 1910-20 US Census shows when recent immigrants came to the US. Given this date, the US Immigration Lists (via Soundex) or Steamship Lists will provide an immigration card (if there is one). The card will identify the ship, steamship line, exit port and Burgenland point of origin. With this information and a good atlas (or better yet an old 1900-1920 Baedeker travel guide), plus some hints given here, you should be able to assemble an itinerary for your ancestor. Ellis Island records available from the Internet are also a good source of travel information, but spelling can be a problem.

If anyone has a documented itinerary for one of their Burgenland immigrants, please send me the details!

by G. Berghold <GBerghold@aol.com>