The Fernbachs were a large and influential family in the Batschka and in Apatin whose origins can be traced to Marlen and Goldscheuer in Baden-Wurttemberg.
 
The patriarch of the Batschka Fernbachs was Johann Georg Fernbach born about 1733 in Marlen.  He and his wife, Magdalena Endt, had ten children seven of whom were born in Apatin.  They were the great-great-grandparents of Balint (Valentin) Janos Fernbach born in 1871.
 
Valentin Fernbach was called the “Deichgraf” or “dike count” because he drained swampland between Apatin and Sonta.  He created 10,000 Joch (one Joch is a little less than half a Hectare) of farmland by building dikes and pumps so that in case of flood the water could be drained out of the farmland.  In this way he created his large fortune.

Written by Boris Masic
Translated by Annette Schwindt

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