The Heidenfelds

Years ago, when I was collecting names but not really doing genealogy, my paternal grandmother mentioned that her mother, Regina Bauer, had some cousins. First cousins, second cousins, it wasn't clear. Nana knew four names - Johanna Imber, Ethel Orkin, Stephanie Juhasz and Markus Pogany. She thought the four may have been siblings but wasn't really sure.

She knew that Mrs. Imber and Mrs. Orkin had lived in Pittsburgh (where we lived) and that Stephanie Juhasz and her daughters Vilma, Anna and Olga had lived in Paris. She wasn't sure about Markus Pogany, but perhaps he had remained in Hungary.

Eventually I began to work on the genealogy of the Bauers and one of my first steps was finding the Imber and Orkin death notices in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. Ethel Orkin, who died in 1963, was survived by her husband Harry and her sister Johanna Imber - so we know they are sisters. No children. The Orkins are buried in the same Poale Zedeck cemetery where Regina Bauer, and indeed my grandparents, is.

Johanna Imber died in 1980 and is described as "aunt of Olga and Edward Szabo, Rego Park, NY." I assumed that Olga is the daughter of Stephanie Juhasz, so Stephanie and Johanna are sisters, making three. No children mentioned for Johanna and no place of burial either.

Later when Ancestry made Pennsylvania death certificates available into the 1960s, I was able to see from Ethel's that her parents are Joseph Hydenfeld and Lina Leavy. That should be correct since her sister Johanna was the informant.

By this time, I had the names of Regina Bauer's four grandparents and I saw that neither Hydenfeld not Leavy was among them, so I began to suspect that she may have been further than a second cousin to these other women.

What I knew was that Regina's maternal grandparents were Salomon (Yehoshua Zelig) Stern from Paks and Bluma Grunwald from Perkata. They lived in Kalocsa. Regina's paternal grandfather was Lasar (Eliezer) Bauer, who lived in Kunszentmiklos.

I had a record showing a Lasar Bauer about the right age, married to Rosa Lowinger, but I had nothing to prove that this was the same Lasar. This Lasar lived in Kunszentmiklos but had been born in Apostag, about halfway from Kunszentmiklos and Kalocsa. (Many of the Bauers in Kunszentmiklos had been born in Apostag.) In the meantime, I was comfortable with Lowinger as a probable surname for Regina's grandmother.

I revisited all of this about eighteen months ago as part of my preparation for a cemetery trip to Hungary, where I founds ancestors and siblings of Regina in Kunszentmiklos, Kalocsa and Paks. I knew I would need some assistance and received it from my friend and colleague Beth Long, who is quite the expert in Hungarian Jewish genealogy, records and geography. Our joint efforts gave us the following.

1. Jozsef Heidenfeld of Osweicim Poland and his wife Magdolna (Lina) Lowy of Szecseny Hungary had six children. Stephania (1883), Eszter (1886), Johanna (1887), Markus (1888), Samuel (1890) and Hermina (1893). All the children were born in Budapest.

2. Magdolna/Lina's parents were Herman Lowi and Zilli Steinberg. But her 1912 death record calls her "Karolina" and her parents Armin Lowi and Czeczilia Brodi (I think).

3. Eszter became Ethel (Orkin), Markus changed his surname to Pogany, Samuel changed his name to Harmat.

4. Hermina married Iszak Rosenfeld of Munkacz. Samuel married Celia Braun of Arad (Rumania). Markus married Sara Sebok of Kalocsa. They certainly did not seem to be restricted to the Budapest area!

5. Markus died in 1969. We found neither death information nor children for Samuel and Hermina, which my be why my grandmother had never heard of them.

None of this helps me identify a connection with my great-grandmother. Unless perhaps Lowi is a variation of Lowinger. Lina Lowi was from Szecseny, which is north of Budapest and about 160 km on today's roads from Kunszentmiklos where Rosa Lowinger lived.

I recently joined the Facebook group Hungarian Jewish Genealogy and perhaps someone there will know something about this family.

The Bauers of Kunszentmiklos

Regina Bauer Rosenzweig

Five years ago, my cousin Linda and I visited the cemetery in Kunszentmiklos Hungary. Our great-grandmother, Regina (Rivka) Bauer was born there. Her father too.

I remember my great-grandmother, who died when I was nearly three. She lived with our grandparents and used to give me M&Ms. She and her husband are buried at the Poale Zedeck cemetery in the Sheraden neighborhood of Pittsburgh. My grandparents and other family members are buried there as well.

There are dozens of Bauers buried in Kunszentmiklos including the parents of my great-grandmother and her brother, who is my father's namesake. But when Linda and I were there five years ago, it was badly overgrown and we could not see anything of use, although many of the stones themselves were in very good condition. I wrote about that visit as part of an eight blog series describing that trip.

So here we were, Wednesday morning headed from our Airbnb in Dunaujvaros to Kunszentmiklos thirty-six km away, to meet Imre, the keeper of the key to the cemetery. They truly did an excellent job cleaning up the cemetery and making the existing 189 tombstones accessible to visitors, though it is not easy walking around. 

By the way, all the Bauers are written בויער in Hebrew, pronounced Boyer.

The state of the cemetery - five years ago (above) and now (below).

The whole foreground area and to both sides has signs of graves, but there are no tombstones.

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I had come with four goals in mind for this visit.

1. Visiting and photographing the graves of my known relatives.

2. Clarifying the source for my father's name.

3. Clarifying the name of my second-great-grandfather's mother.

4. Gathering whatever information I could about the many members of my great -grandmother's Bauer family.

 

My known relatives

I knew from cemetery records that my great-grandmother's parents and brother were buried in Kunszentmiklos. This would be Simon (Shemaya) Bauer (died 1902), Fani (Feige) Stern Bauer (died 1911) and Lajos (Eliezer) Bauer (died 1917).

I expected that my great-grandmother's older sister Ilona (Dobrisch) Bauer Wiesel (died 1893 at age 30) was also there because I have seen her death record. This even though I have not seen her in cemetery records.

Simon and Fanny are side-by-side, with Hungarian on one side and Hebrew on the other. The Hebrew sides did not photograph well, because of both the quality of the work and the direction of the sun. But I bring it all here.

 

 

I find it interesting that Simon is called Shemayahu on his stone and his wife's, but the simpler Shemaya everywhere else, including my father's cousin Simon who is named for him. 

And Fani is called Feigele rather than the more formal Feige on all the stones.

 

Their son Lajos is right behind them in the next row. (You can see his stone between theirs.) He is called a young man (bachur) at age 42 because he never married. My grandmother always said that my father was named for him. Lajos' epitaph is all on one side, with both Hebrew and Hungarian.

A bit later, as we were looking at some of the older, more difficult stones, I saw this, which Rona enhanced with a bit of water.

 

Wiesel Lipotne (Mrs. Lipot Wiesel)

Bauer Ilona

Age 30

Died 20 August 1893

The other side is in Hebrew. Here is a partial photograph.

The educated woman, crown of her husband

Pride of her family and beloved of her acquaintances

Plucked away in her youth, age 30

Mrs. Dobrisch 

Dear to her husband Lipman Wiesel

From the Bauer family

Died 5 Elul 5653

Her mother's name is Feigele.

This is the eldest of Simon and Fani's children and Regina named her daughter Helen after her in 1896.

I shall address more of my Kunszentmiklos goals probably tomorrow.

Developments in Chromosome 21

Some months ago, Jessica Feinstein, the editor of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain quarterly Shemot, asked me to write a brief piece for their winter DNA issue. That publication came out recently and my article is reproduced below.

There is, however, something new which came in after Shemot was already closed. I have added that here in red.

Chromosome 21 – Perhaps My Favorite Brick Wall

Israel Pickholtz

Background  - The Bauers and the Sterns

I manage DNA kits of over 120 people – about two-thirds of them Pikholz descendants and most of the rest known members of my other families. Those include two grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren of my father’s maternal grandmother Regina Bauer Rosenzweig and one grandson (Shabtai) of her brother. Regina Bauer was born in 1870, one of five daughters and two sons of Simon (Shemaya) Bauer (1833-1902) and Fani (Feige) Stern (1842-1911).

The Bauers were a large family in Kunszentmiklos Hungary, about an hour south of Budapest;  in the 1700s they had lived in Apostag, about half an hour further south. We have many Bauer records from both places.  Fani Stern was born in Kalocsa, another half hour further south, and her father Salomon (Selig) Stern (~1805-1862) was from nearby Paks. Fani’s mother was a Grunwald from Perkata, which is across the Danube from Kunszentmiklos.

Regina’s paternal grandmother was probably a Lowinger and Fani Stern’s maternal grandmother was a Hercz, so I have five of Regina’s ancestral surnames to work with. Jewish research being what it is, I have no other great-grandparent with that many ancestral surnames.

When I first learned of DNAPainter.com nearly two years ago, I mapped out twelve segments where Shabtai matches multiple descendants of Regina with at least 18 cM. The largest of these are 61, 57, 47, 38 and 35 cM.  Using the “Segment Search” tool on GEDmatch Tier1 (this was previously known as “Matching Segments Search”), I was able to see other people who match those specific segments. Most of my larger segments of interest had few outside matches, but I wrote to the matches where I could and none of them knew anything helpful.

Robbie

While reviewing my Family Tree DNA match alerts, I found Robbie from Chattanooga Tennessee. Robbie showed matches with my father’s sister, my second cousin Susan, my brother, one of my sisters and me – and Shabtai. The match was 19-21 cM on chromosome 21 (where our segment with Shabtai is only 23 cM) and clearly showed that Robbie had a common ancestor with Regina Bauer. It is his only match with us. I asked Robbie about his ancestry, but he is adopted, so could not tell me anything.

But this is only half the story.  Here is Robbie’s full match with us on chromosome 21.

In addition to the six Bauer descendants, he matches three of my cousins on my father’s paternal side – Pinchas, Rhoda and Roz. Rhoda and Roz are my second cousins, first cousins to one another. Pinchas is our third cousin.  But it’s more complicated than that. Pinchas is a third cousin of Roz and Rhoda on a second path that has nothing to do with the Pikholz family. That second path is almost certainly what is in play here.

The great-grandmothers of Pinchas, Rhoda and Roz are the sisters Beile and Jutte Zwiebel and their mother is Ester Chava Lewinter. The Zwiebels and the Lewinters are from the Tarnopol area of east Galicia and have nothing to do with anything Hungarian, since 1800. Nonetheless, the three of them triangulate with the six Bauers – everyone matches everyone else on this segment.

This is a classic case of Jewish endogamy, where my Hungarian family and my Galician cousins have some sort of common ancestor. Maybe on the Bauer side, maybe on the Stern side. Maybe on the Zwiebel side, maybe on the Lewinter side. Who knows! But a common ancestor there is – recent enough that the match between the groups survives yet far enough in the past that it predates the known geography of the families. The fact that Robbie has only this one segment with us sounds like it is further back than the 20 cM segment might otherwise indicate.

We have no cousins of either Regina Bauer or Beile and Jutte Zwiebel, so we cannot determine whether our segment 21 comes from their fathers’ sides or their mothers’ sides.

The Other Matches

Recently I went back to the Segment Search tool on GEDmatch Tier1 to see who else matches on that segment. There are about three dozen who match our chromosome 21 with more than 12 cM. Five of those have a match of 18.0-18.2 cM and another’s match is 16.8 cM. The rest are 12.0-15.1 cM. Robbie’s match of 19.3 cM is still the largest. A few of them are managed by people I know as researchers – or even know personally. A few are related to one another. By and large, these are kits that – like Robbie’s – don’t have significant matches with us outside of chromosome 21.

I wrote to all of them. Fifteen responded.

One – Andrew – has a Bauer grandmother. He writes:

My line of the Bauer family, and most likely yours too, originated from Moravia, and from there Northern Hungary (what is now Slovakia), particularly in Hluboka, Nyitra County. In the early 19^th century, there was a great movement of Jews (and also Slovaks, or Tóts) to south-eastern Hungary, where more opportunities opened up at that time. Your Bauers were not that far there from  my Bauers, they may have visited each other, but how they were related, I don’t know; perhaps you can find out. I have looked at your Kunszentmiklos Bauer database, many names are similar to my list, but they are clearly not the same people.

Regina Bauer spoke German, in addition to Hungarian, so there may be something to this. And if it is real, it may or may not include chromosome 21.

 Andrew has no Bauer candidate for a Y-DNA test, so we cannot compare his line to mine.

Another match is the daughter of a woman named Zendel and suggests a similarity to Zwiebel. I don’t think so.

Another dozen said they did not have any of the seven surnames on my side or any geography of real interest. The rest of the matches never replied.

Nava

Last week, I received a note from a woman named Nava, with whom I had corresponded earlier about chromosome 21. Nava's match to us on chromosome 21 is small, about 10 cM with Robbie and a bit smaller with my six Bauers. It does not match Pinchas, Rhoda and Roz who start a bit further to the right on this segment, but that does not bother me.

Nava writes:

I've built out much more of my family tree since we communicated last, at which point I was just beginning the research. I took a look again at the info you shared in your email and have noticed a possible connection. 

I've followed my mother's line back to my great-great-grandmother. Her name was Szara Hercz, born 1830 in Berczalja, Saros, Kingdom of Hungary (current-day Slovakia). I wonder if that could be the link we share on your Hungarian branch as you mentioned the name Hercz? She married Saja Czigler (born 1829) and their daughter, Anna (b. 1859) emigrated to the states in 1892. One of her daughters was my great-grandmother, Blanche Zuckerman, who died in New York when I was a child.

So perhaps this segment come from a common Hercz family. Or not. Our relevant towns are 156 miles apart which proves nothing one way or another. (Actually, her Hercz family lived quite near my great-grandFATHER's family.)

Nava has no one with an MtDNA line to her second great-grandmother so the fact that I have one to my fourth great-grandmother (H10a1b). 

Nava has no matches with our six Bauers (or Robbie) over 10 cM on any other segment, though she does have a small match with my brother and my cousin Susan on the same segment.Of course, that needn't be from the same ancestor as the one on Chromosome 21.

This brick wall will fall

How, I don’t know. More testers, more patience by me, more DNA analysis tools – for the DNA itself and for the test results – more older records, more traditional genealogy research to find additional descendants of these families, even cleaning up the Kunszentmiklos cemetery.

When, I don’t know that either. I’d like to think it will be in my lifetime.

For now I need to keep shining a light on this corner of my family genome. We never know what will prompt a breakthrough.

But this brick wall will give up its secrets.

Israel Pickholtz is a US-born professional genealogist who has been living in Israel for forty-six years. His flagship work is The Pikholz Project, which means to identify and reconnect all Pikholz descendants. He blogs at http://allmyforeparents.blogspot.com, writes and speaks on genealogy in Israel and abroad as the opportunities arise and is a member of the Israel Genealogical Society, Gesher Galicia, the Guild of One-Name Studies and a number of SIGs and research groups and a two-time alumnus of the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh. In 2015 he published his book "ENDOGAMY: One Family, One People" about his successes with DNA and lessons that are relevant to all genetic research. He has recently relocated from Jerusalem to Ashkelon and can be contacted at IsraelP@pikholz.org .

Beeg Problema - Days Six and Seven: Kunszentmiklos

I reported on Days Six and Seven yesterday, but Kalocsa was bracketed by two visits to Kunszentmiklos on those same days. I have mentioned this Hungarian town before - it's where my great-grandmother's father's family lived. The town is full of Bauers, many of whom had lived previously in Apostag, a bit further south.

The plan was to visit the cemetery in Kunszentmiklos Sunday, then get to Kalocsa and perhaps stop in Apostag on the way up to Vienna Monday. I have a whole list of Bauer graves with locations, but the three I want specifically are my second-great-grandparents Simon and Fani (Stern) Bauer and their son Lajos, who is my father's namesake. I need to see those to clarify some things about my father's name.

But I also have a general interest in all the Bauers since they are almost certainly our relatives. I just have no idea how they fit together.

The Kalocsa stop I discussed yesterday and Apostag would be a general fishing expedition for whatever Bauers we could find.

We were told that the cemetery in Kunszentmiklos is a) in very poor condition and b) locked. The person we had spoken to about accompanying us was not able to make it and left us with this bit of advice:

Have never been there, the word for Jewish cemetery is "zsidó temető" print this and show them this and then they will take you there. Don't talk or give money to gypsyes if you don't want to be robbed. People are usually very helpful. The Christian cemetery is on Bocskay utca. Behind it is the JEwish cemetery in trees and bushes. GPS coordinates are 47°01'03.5"N 19°06'25.3"E

I hope with this info in hand you can manage:) If not, call me.

The bit about the gypsies became our running joke whenever we had to interact with anyone. 
 

I also reached out to a few other people, but did not get responses by the time we set out from Budapest Sunday. We arrived at Kunszentmiklos and found the cemetery. Unlike at Rajec, there was no easy climbing over the wall. We decided to go on to Kalocsa and come back to Kunszentmiklos on our way north Monday, perhaps after buyng a ladder.

I emailed all our contacts once again asking who might know how to get a key and this time they all responded with a phone number of Peter Tamas, the the Director of the Countryside Cemetery Office of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Hungary. We asked Nora, the daughter of the Kalocsa hotel owner, to make the call and she came back with the name and address of the man with a key. Of course Janos Fokics speaks no English and is "very old." She sent Linda a note in Hungarian she could show Janos, so he would understand what we need. And we heard once again that the cemetery is quite impossible due to the vegetation.

So we didn't buy a ladder.
  

Monday we made the hour-long drive from Kalocsa to Kunszentmiklos, not stopping at Apostag along the way. With our trusty GPS, we arrived at Janos' house at about 12:30. We reached around the gate and let ourselves in. After trying several doors we found him. He isn't THAT OLD. He started to give us a key and a small crowbar, then we heard his mantra for the day: BEEG PROBLEMA.

He went back into his garage and came out with ........ a ladder. (HE is going to climb over the wall?? Seriously?)
 

The ladder didn't fit into our car due to our bags, so he and his wife unblocked their own car which was in the garage and we set out in two cars for the cemetery. This whole process had taken a good half hour.
 

We got to the cemetery and Janos tried the key. BEEG PROBLEMA! It wouldn't turn. He tried the crowbar. BEEG PROBLEMA.  He climbed up the ladder, straddled the top and pulled up the ladder. From the inside it took him a few minutes to open the door, with the key-crowbar combo. 

As we entered, we saw a monument in front of us with a list of local Holocaust victims. There was much vegetation on both sides but we could see a few tombstones. A very few. Linda and I split up and began looking for Bauer graves among the branches... and thorns... and trees... and the undergrowth that trapped our legs with every move. BEEG PROBLEMA.
 

It turns out most of the tombstones were behind the monument in the thickest part of the vegetation. Linda found what looked like a whole row - several in fact - of very nice legible tombstones, some of them Bauers, though not our three. She called me over and after getting to the first three or four, worked her way out and let me proceed. So long sunlight, hello forest cover.

I had small hedge clippers in my hand, my phone/camera in my one pocket and a plastic bag with my notebook, pen and glasses. It was very tough going but many of the stones were excellent. It was impossible to read the older ones, not necessarily because they were worn, but because I couldn't get at them properly. I decided to wear the glasses.

I pushed my way in deeper and deeper, cutting my arms on the thorns. (Yes, I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt!) At some point the plastic bag had enough and fell apart. The notebook, pen and my glasses case went into my pants pocket. Then I had enough and decided to try to work my way out, taking a slightly different route. My glasses case was no longer in my pocket. I was not going to try to retrace my steps to look for it. 

Eventually I was out. Without my notebook. the notebook with all the inscriptions that I had written down in Kalocsa. I went back in, this time trying to retrace my steps exactly. The broken vegetation showed the way somewhat. I fought my way out again and mentioned to Linda that the notebook was way more important than the glasses case I had lost. She asked if the glasses were inside and I said no they are ... here... on... my... OH NO! 
 

BEEG PROBLEMA!!

Back in once again, stepping very carefully so as not to crush my glasses by mistake.. After about ten minutes I found the case. The scratches on my arms really hurt. Stung mostly. There was blood on my scalp. Then I saw the glasses. they had fallen lenses up. I probably wouldn't have seen them any other way. After all, I wasn't - your know - wearing my glasses.

The whole adventure was about two and a half hours. Janos was very patient. Linda too. We hadn't found what we were looking for. But in the end, we hadn't lost anything either.

We all exited through the door. I gave Janos most of my remaining Hungarian money. He made a sound which meant either "thank you" or "cheap Americans!"
 

But this was not the mess that we had in Slovakian cemeteries or in the back of the cemetery in Budapest. The terrain is flat.The tombstones are by and large quite good.  And they are our family, hidden there under the jungle.

We just need some Agent Orange or a herd of goats. And someone to haul it all out. A few thousand dollars would probably do it. Once it is properly documented, maintenance would be optional. Maybe I should talk to someone in charge. If there is someone in charge.
 

Next stop Vienna. GPS said three and a half hours. GPS lied. I needed a shower and a change of clothes.

Going Where Nana's Recent Ancestors Lived

My father's mother, Margaret/Miriam Rosenzweig, was born in Allegheny Pennsylvania - what is now Pittsburgh's North Side - in 1903. Her father, Moritz/Moshe Rosenzweig, arrived in the US first and her mother, Regina/Rivka, followed in 1902. With her came the five older children: Elvira (Aunt Ella) age 16, Siegfried (Uncle Fred) age 14, Sigmund age 11, Gyula (Uncle Julie) age 9 and Ilona (Aunt Helen) age 6. They were all born in Budapest.

In the 1910 census,  Moritz, Regina and their mothers and fathers are all listed as having been born in "(Hun) Magyar."

The first European document I ever ordered

But they came from two different areas. Moritz' father's Rosenzweigs and his mother's Zelinkas were from Trencin County in what is now northwest Slovakia. Both families were in Trencin County since at least the 1700s, in several towns.

Nana's grandparents are buried in Vag Bestercze. I want to visit them. This is the hundredth year since my great-great-grandfather died at ninety-six, but we do not have a date.

Moritz' wife Regina Bauer was born in Kunszentmiklos, south of Budapest, in 1870. I actually remember her. She used to give me M&Ms. I discussed her family at some length, here and here. There is a large set of Bauers who lived in Kunszentmiklos and who previously lived in Apostag. Regina's mother Feige Stern is from Kalocsa, a bit further south.

Nana's maternal grandparents and at least one uncle are in Kunszentmiklos and visiting them is particularly important. I'll explain why after I've been there.

So a year or so ago, I decided I was going and I asked my first cousin Linda to come with. Our fifth cousin Cyndi - on the Zelinka side - decided to join us and all of a sudden it's time to go. We are meeting Thursday in Prague.

But before that, on the way, I am going to Germany, a country I never expected to set foot in. As I reported here three short months ago, we just found the entire family of my maternal grandmother's older sister. The one who stayed behind in Moscow. ("We found" means my friend and colleague Galit Aviv Sisto in New Jersey, whose first language is Russian.) One of my newfound second cousins lives in Nuremberg, three and a half hours by bus from Prague. So I am starting there, with my second cousin Inna, her daughter and son-in-law Anna and Viktor, and their daughter Julia who is the only English-speaker among them. Julia's brother Ilya may or may not be able to come down from Frankfort, where he is studying. I have a DNA kit with me and of course photographs.

The idea of going to Germany is horrifying. But I have to swallow this frog. 

I hope to report on all of this as we go along. In the meantime, here is the plan.

Wednesday - Nuremberg
Thursday - bus to Prague
We may meet a Zelinka relative who lives in Prague. I am reading the Torah on Shabbat.
Sunday - pick up the rental car and head for Zilina, Slovakia, our headquarters for four days.
Thursday - Budapest. Three family graves in the city with Karesz Vandor, but mostly being tourists.

Kunszentmiklos - The Bauers

I have mentioned my great-grandmother's Bauer family a few times, including here. My

father's maternal grandmother, Regina (Rivka) Bauer (right) was born in Kunszentmiklos Hungary in 1870, the third of seven children of Simon (Shemaya) Bauer and Fani Stern. We know the names of their fathers - Lasar Bauer and Salomon Stern - from their 1862 marriage record and we may have the name of Fani Stern's mother as well. That marriage record gives the ages of Simon and Fani (28 & 21), so we know more or less when they were born.

As I wrote here, we have had a collection of Kunszentmiklos records for the last fifteen years and some time ago I put a summary of them online.

Before Kunszentmiklos, the Bauers lived in Apostag and I have a collection of those records as well, but have not done anything with them.

As many of you know, I work with Facebook open and occasionally something important shows up unannounced.

Regina Bauer's mother Fani Stern was from Kalocsa, so I went to have a look. There is not much there, but I also had a look at Apostag and Kunszentmiklos.

Apostag also has very little, but for Kunszentmiklos there is a list of two hundred thirteen burials.

Nearly forty of those are Bauer or Bauer-related, among them both Simon and Fani, my great-great grandparents. With birth years, death years and grave locations.

Also appearing is their son, Lajos Bauer, 1875-1917.
I know the birth year to be correct, but had no idea about the year of death.

My father was named for him.

Some weeks ago, I was ruminating here on my father's name, Eliezer Yitzhak, and speculated that the Yitzhak might be from someone other than Uncle Lajos. I wondered if we would ever be able to answer that question, but if there is a legible tombstone in Kunszentmiklos, perhaps we can.

The information on the cemetery site includes only name, years of birth and death and grave location, with women identified by their husbands' names. No precise dates, parents' names or cause of death. Nor was it clear if the information came from death records or from the tombstones themselves. (Are the stones even there anymore?)

Ours are numbers 19, 36 and 37 but many others are probably cousins.

I did not succeed in getting a reply from the folks at the website, so I contacted a researcher I know in Budapest. This is a real "I know" as we met on the way to Salt Lake City last summer. He reads Hebrew and is proficient at tombstone photography. We discussed his going to Kunszentmiklos to photograph all the Bauer graves. He told me that the later set of death records - 1896-1939 - which I did not see before, is available at the archives in Budapest. He thinks those records are the source for the cemetery website, but with the additional information I am looking for.

He has given me a quote for the photography in Kunszentmiklos and will give me one for the archives, as well. My family members should be on the lookout for a fundraising letter from me in the next few days.