|
My mother’s parents came to Detroit,
Michigan, from Hungary in the early
1900s. They were Germans and (now I
realize) Donauschwaben. The father
came first - Lorneck Tischot from Uj
Szt. Peter, Hungary, in 1907. (27
years old) Three years later (1910),
his wife and two daughters came from
Fibisch, Hungary. That would be Eva
Tischot (26) and Ersebeth (5) and
Maria (3). Eva was born in Szt.
Peter and the children were born in
Fibisch.
Some time afterward Eva Tischot came
to Detroit to join her husband, my
mother was born in July of 1912.
After that, her father died (we
don’t know how), and her mother
remarried - a man named Miller, and
she had a son by him. Then the
stepfather was killed by a trolley
car in downtown Detroit. Then the
mother died of TB. All this occurred
before my mother turned 5. So - all
four children were scattered and my
mother went from orphanage to foster
home to orphanage, till a brother
and sister took her in at the age of
8 or 9.
She never said much about her
natural parents except that the name
was Tischot and that they all died
when she was little. Instead she
concentrated on the good folks who
took her in.
She did have contact with the
siblings - but now - the oldest died
of TB at 53, the second sister died
10 years ago in new Jersey, my
mother died at the age of 59 from
lung complications, having suffered
from TB herself. Perhaps still
living is a half uncle who is out of
touch completely now, last known he
was in Michigan somewhere.
With my parents deceased and all the
relatives on my mother’s side gone,
I had a real puzzle to solve in
tracing the Tischot history.
Looking at the few photos we have
from my parents and inscriptions on
the back, I did manage to find a
cousin (daughter of my mother’s
sister, Elizabeth) in Toronto. Oh
what a great phone conversation that
was for both of us!
Her mother married a Ternes and she,
the daughter) married a Becker. She
said that the folks who took her
orphaned mother in, took them all
back to Hungary where she lived till
1944, then they came to Toronto,
Canada. She did not know her
grandmother Tichot’s maiden name,
but she knew they came from
Fibisch. She remembered an Uncle
Pinel in New Jersey, who she thought
was my grandmother Tischots brother
and I did find his immigration
records. He was from Uz St.
Peter. But the Ellis Island records
say my grandmother had a brother or
BIL named Franz Weber. So I am
still not certain if Eva Tischot’s
maiden name was Pinel or Weber or
neither.
What makes this story even more
interesting, is that my father (now
deceased - John Wetzel) used to tell
the story late in life about how he
met my mother in a penmanship class
at Cass Technical High School in
Detroit and fell instantly in love
with her. He said that it wasn’t
till decades later that he learned
that she came from a town across the
river not far from his ancestors.
They (the Johann Wetzels) came from
the Franztal area of Semlin, by the
Danube, across from Belgrade.
I always thought he didn’t really
know the truth and was just
romanticizing. Now, I see
that, although Fibisch is about 120
miles away, it is in the Banat area
and you have to cross the Danube to
get there from Semlin!
And - for the first time in my life,
I have learned that I am pure
“Donauschwaben,” a term I didn’t
even know existed until this year!
Did my parents fall in love (not
knowing their somewhat common
ancestry) because they saw something
in each other that was familiar and
good? Did I, as a through and through
American, fall for my very American
husband because of the man he is or
did the fact that he had German
roots make me more comfortable in a
subliminal way. This is all
interesting to think about.
My main brick wall is trying to
discover more about the Tischot
family in Fibisch. I would
also like to learn grandmother’s
maiden name, was it Weber or Pinel?
Do I have any Tischot relatives in
Romania today? Is my
half-uncle Karl Miller still alive
and who are his descendants? I
heard a long time ago that he was
researching the family’s ancestry.
Charlene Kull |
|
Eva & daughters:
Elizabeth, the
oldest & Mary
|
|
In this photo, it's
pretty obvious it's Eva Tischot
& her two
daughters. I bet this was taken
just before they departed for
America. The girls have
matching dresses. The bottom of
the photo says "Lippa" (place taken?)
and the photographer was Heimann Fs. (Is FS.
"brothers"?) |
|
|
|
My Grandmother Eva with her four children,
my mother is the little girl standing on the
right lower side.
My poor grandmother around the
age of 29 - so she would never
have been called "grossmutter."
Young thing that she was, she'd
be shocked that a granddaughter
was researching her. Old as I
am. ;-)
Her oldest daughter,
Elizabeth married & lived in
Toronto Canada & died of TB. She had two
daughters. My
mother & her surviving sister,
Mary, used to call them "the girls." Their names were
Elizabeth (Lisl) & Marie.
(Yes, named after their mother
and her sister - confusing). |
|
|
|
Here is a photo of a wedding party standing by a tombstone,
evidently they went
from the wedding to the cemetery.
WOW! I looked at the tombstone with a
magnifying glass & it reads "Ternes"
(my mother's sister Elizabeth married a Ternes)
& also says "Heir Ruht Elizabeth
Ternes GED Tischott (Two ts on the end)
wuerdigethefrau und mudder am 26 July 1885
Fibisch Banat Gebople (?) NOV 1937 GESTOR
(The day of her death is blocked by flowers
at the grave site. By the wedding
bouquets! She was 53 & my
mother died at 59. |
|
|
|
The tombstone is located somewhere in
Toronto & inscripted on it is "Fibisch." I
have a photo from the same
wedding that leads me to believe Marie
married a man named Alex Becker. Also in
the photo are Marie Tsolitz & Gloria & Mr. Konig. Another photo from the
wedding says Ein biebes kleines Andengen von
euhrer Marie and Alex.
|
|
