The History of the Evangelical Church
Community
by Dr. Viktor Pratscher, 1936
Translated by Brad Schwebler
The life
of this church community can be separated into the following periods:
1)
From the year 1818 to 1827 as the Diaspora (dispersed) community; 2) from
1827-1859 as the organized branch community; 3) from 1860-1910 with Ferdinand
Hamel as the pastor; 4) from 1910 to today, the time of the present generation.
The
beginning of the Diaspora was in the year 1818. This period can be derived
with certainty from the Sekitsch baptismal register. The number of
Evangelists was the result of steady growth through migration. Soon they
took the necessary contributions and had such a relief when their common
expenses were paid in the very first year. They needed to rent a room
where the children would be instructed and where religious meetings could take
place because the Hungarian language was still too foreign for them to attend
the Hungarian Reformed church service. But the way to the church in
Sekitsch was often very bad. They paid a teacher to instruct the children
in reading and writing. Soon they needed a bier, etc. In the year
1827, with the new pastor, Josef Skultethy, assuming office the first orderly
"ledger" was introduced in which the expenses and income are recorded. In
this ledger are noticed accounts in arrears from years past. There was
therefore no doubt what the local contributions would have achieved in the first
years of 1818-1826. The notebook related to this matter is not to be found
in neither Feketitsch nor Sekitsch.
The
first income which is to be found entered was in 1827 at the wedding reception
given by Frederick Mueller and Jakob Klos at which 1 Florin, 34 Kreuzer were
collected in Viennese currency. About the 6th of January, 1828 at the
child's baptismal reception for Andreas Mayer 30 Kreuzer in Viennese currency
was received. The first expense is 4 Florins, 30 Kreuzer in Viennese
currency for two windows at the school received by Nik. Reitenbach.
The
following index of names was collected from the Sekitsch register (until the
year 1827) and from the "ledger" of the Evangelists of Feketitsch.
The
index of names contains the names of the heads of family next to the date in
which the name concerned first occurs and next to that is the village name where
the family came from.
No.
Name: Date From:
No. Name: Date From:
*) Are settler-ancestors from
the Empire
No. Name:
Date From: No. Name: Date
From:
In
the following continuation of this index of names are only more such names
recorded which were noticed to have paid an "entrance fee" in the year
concerned. The entrance fee must be paid because the church community
already had a sizeable separate fortune which earlier residential members
already purchased such things as a school, synagogue, etc. with their
contributions. This already existing fortune was of immediate benefit to
the later immigrants.
So
it seemed fair that a separate tax, the entrance fee, would be charged. This was
not received too well.
Few
Reformers are found in the index of names until the year 1846. Their names
came from the ledger because they had to pay the school fee for their children
to visit the Evangelist school. The German Reformed children visited the
Hungarian school. The parents also wanted their children to learn to read
and write in German so they must also send their children to the German
Evangelist school for one or two years. Joh. Ludmann recalls that during
his school years from 1846 to 1852 the Reformed children filled two separate
benches in the Evangelist school. It is to be noted that in the complete
index of names that more families now and then also had other places of
residence before they settled in Feketitsch. They went to those
communities at first although they would not be settled there. For
example, only those families whose place of residence had changed since the
founding of the settlement could come. That is why no settlement of
Germans could be found in Kucura and Old Vrbas in the years 1784 to 1787.
The following is a list of
names of members of the Evangelist branch community who through payment of the
entrance fee starting in the year 1846 would later be accepted in the parent
community.
No. Name:
Date From: No. Name:
Date From:
It is likely that one or the
other had already made residence one or two earlier, as is noted on this list.
But the entrance fee was always submitted in the year quoted. Tardy
payments were still always given.
The number of
Evangelist families who settled in Feketitsch in each decade are listed below:
until 1819 . .
. . . . . .
. .
6
from 1850-1859 . . . . . . 44
from 1820-1829 . . . .
. .
82
from 1860-1869 . . . . . . 32
from 1830-1839
. . . . . .
36
from 1870-1873
. . . . .
.
8
from 1840-1849
. . . . . .
60
Most of the Evangelist
families settled in the 20's, 40's, and 50's. Starting in 1870 they slowly
started to cease flowing in.
According to the
tax documents of the political community from the year 1861, besides the ones
mentioned above, the following Evangelist families still settled in Feketitsch.
No.
Name:
From: No. Name:
From:
The number of migrating
families from each community are as follows:
|
Sekitsch 16 |
Buljkes 4 |
|
Crvenka 5 |
Jarek 4 |
|
N. Vrbas 1 |
Slavic villages 3 |
|
Torscha |
Hungarian villages 5 |
|
Kucura |
Germany 2 |
|
B. Dobropolje (Kisker) 5 |
Other villages 6 |
[Published at
DVHH.org 2003 by Jody McKim Pharr
