Redlschlag, Königsdorf, Henndorf, Weiden/See
continued (6)
The south of Burgenland was the last part to be reached by the wave of emigration, which spilled over to Redlschlag from middle Burgenland and to Henndorf and Königsdorf from Hungary around 1880.
| Year | Village of origin | Name | (Year of birth) | Destination | ~ |
 |
|||||
| 1877 | Redlschlag | Josef u. Elisabeth Puhr | Philadelphia | ||
| 1880 | Königsdorf | ||||
| Henndorf | Ferdinand Hirczy | (1859) | Pittsburgh | ||
| 1881 | Weiden/See | ++ | |||
Redlschlag is the northernmost village of southern Burgenland and, at an altitude of 691m, also the highest built-up area of the whole province. The first emigrants to America from this area came from Bubendorf and Pilgersdorf, neighboring villages of Redlschlag, but these villages in fact belong to middle-Burgenland. By contrast, emigration from Stuben and Rettenbach that border Redlschlag in the south is indeed emigration from southern Burgenland. The very first emigrants from southern Burgenland were Josef and Elisabeth Puhr, Redlschlag, who settled in Philadelphia. Natives of Redlschlag were also among the first emigrants to Chicago. According to the Oberwarther-Sonntags-Zeitung of March 2, 1890, Samuel Geschrey (no. 1) came to Chicago in 1888, followed by a certain Fürst and someone nicknamed Hansaleum in 1889. Some of those first emigrants went further west. The big Burgenländer community in Chicago, incidentally, cannot be traced to immigrants from Redlschlag but to John Wenzel from Grodnau, who came to Chicago in 1890 and subsequently drew fellow Burgenländers into the city in various waves.
As documented by several sources, the first emigrants from Königsdorf in the Laffnitz valley reached America as early as 1880. Then there is an undocumented gap of 10 years. The first emigrant from Königsdorf who can be identified by name was Johann Frantz (born June 13, 1867). He and his wife Theresia, from Zahling, are reported to have sailed from Amsterdam aboard the ship "Rotterdam" on February 9, 1891, and to have arrived in New York on March 2, 1891. Michael and Julie Mirth from Eltendorf took the same ship. Shortely thereafter Josef (born August 4, 1861) and Julianna Lamm ("Lamm-Sattler") left Rotterdam aboard the "Maasdamm" on May 14, 1791, and reached the U.S.A. on May 27, 1891.
The first Burgenlanders to have settled in Allentown, reportedly in 1890, were a man from Königsdorf and the brothers Johann and Matthias Duld from Eltendorf (no. 93). Thus they are the founding fathers of the big Burgenländer community of Allentown; not to be forgotten a girl from Poppendorf, who also arrived in 1890. Among the early emigrants from Königsdorf was the Fischl family. Their son Franz Fischl was mayor of Allentown (Pennsylvania, 107,000 inhabitants) from 1978 to 1982: He was voted into this office not least because of substantial support from his fellow Burgenländers.
The first emigrant from the district of Jennersdorf was Ferdinand Hirczy, born in 1859: He left Henndorf for Pittsburgh in 1880. He is already a "new immigrant," because he is reported to have been the first to have worked in a plant.
All we know about Weiden am See in northern Burgenland, incidentally, is that the first emigrants from this village came to America in 1881, possibly 3 to 5 years earlier or
later.
To be continued.
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