BIEBER FAMILY IN HUNGARY AND RUSSIA

Overview

Biebers emigrating from Alsace in the 18th and early 19th centuries sought their fortunes not only in the New World, but also in distant parts of the Old World. Some settled in Bulkes, Tscherwenka, and nearby villages in the Batschka region of Hungary. Bulkes today lies in Serbia and goes by the name of Maglic. It is near the town of Novi Sad.

The "Big House" in 19th Century Glückstal, Russia, home of Jacob Bieber and later his son-in-law Christian Eisenbeisz. Photo courtesy Werner Bieber. Enlarge

A few members of the Bieber family subsequently pushed further east, to the German settlements near the Black Sea. Most settled in the village of Glückstal. The "Germans from Russia" researchers have done a superb job of putting useful historical and genealogical information on the Web, including detailed compilations of the Glückstal church records.

Alsace, Bulkes, Glückstal: What binds these places together is the Danube River (see map). The Danube rises in the Black Forest of Germany, just a stone's throw from the Alsace border. It then flows more than 1,700 miles eastward across Europe, passing within 10 miles of Bulkes on the way. Finally, it empties into the Black Sea just south of the German Black Sea settlements in Russia. One cannot know for certain, but it seems logical that some of the Bieber emigrants to Hungary and Russia travelled by floating down the Danube, passing through famous capitals of eastern Europe -- Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade -- on the way.

Towards the end of the 19th Century, the Russian government revoked many of the religious and cultural freedoms that had attracted Germans to settle in Russia. This stimulated another wave of migration. The American Midwest received a large number of "Germans from Russia," including members of the Bieber family who settled mostly in the Dakotas.

Today, Bulkes, Hungary is the Serb town of Maglic. Most (if not all) of the ethnic German population is gone. Some were killed in World War II and its aftermath, and the rest dispersed. The Black Sea settlement that was Glückstal today lies within the Trans-Dniester Republic, a breakaway region of Moldova, one of the nations formed from the former Soviet Union. I've not been there, but it appears to be a grim, dangerous place.

Acknowledgments. I thank Werner Bieber and Ardella Bennett for sharing their knowledge of the Bieber family in Russia and subsequent emigration of this family to America. Several Internet contacts have been most generous in helping with research in the Hungarian Batschka and in the Saarland of Germany: Herbert Hoffman, Bob Lang, Warren Zahler, and Robert Zink. The German town of Kirchheim-unter-Teck has "adopted" the extinct Hungarian German community of Bulkes, in the sense of remembering and conserving its heritage, and officials of this town have been generous in their response to my research queries.

Bieber family in Hungary

Towards the end of the 18th Century, a number of Bieber families emigrated from Alsace to the Batschka region of Hungary. This was part of a policy of the Austro-Hungarian empire designed to populate areas won from the Ottoman empire. The Batschka region today lies mostly within Serbia.

In many cases the new emigrants' arrival was chronicled by officials of the Austro-Hungarian empire. As time permits, I will try to add to this site specific information about Bieber families who emigrated to the Batschka.

The German settlements in Hungary flourished for more than a century, but they were essentially eradicated during World War II and its aftermath. Many members of the Hungarian Bieber family, young and old, perished in internment camps established in the new state of Yugoslavia after World War II.

Other members of the Hungarian Bieber family dispersed to Germany and other parts of the world. If any of these, or their descendants, have a story of the Batschka they would like to share, please contact me, your very distant cousin.

Bieber family in Russia: Peter Bieber and Christina Werkhäuser

Based upon research of Ardella Bennet and John W Bieber

From the Glückstal death records, we learn that Peter Bieber died 1836 Oct 26, age 62, and that he was born in "Eiweiler." This implies that Peter was born between 1774 Oct 26 and 1775 Oct 25.

We learn further that Peter's wife Christina Werkhäuser died 1863 Oct 4, age 82 years, 11 months, and 28 days, and that she was born in "Elweiler, Baden." This implies that her birthdate is 1780 Oct 7.

At first it seemed that both "Eiweiler" and "Elweiler" might be misspellings or misinterpretations of Eyweiler, Alsace, because this village is in a region where many Biebers lived in the 18th Century. This idea was discarded in Christina's case, because a search of the church records in Eyweiler and several nearby villages found no occurrence of the name Werkhäuser (or likely variants). Further research (aided by MapQuest) determined that a village named Ellweiler exists in the Saarland, and it is only 7 miles distant from another Saar village named Eiweiler.

Christina's Birthplace: Saarland

Saarland research is simplified by a series of family books by Rudi Jung. These books list family groups derived from Saarland church records. They are currently available on CD-ROM.

In Rudi Jung's book for Baumholder, Saarland, we find the following entry (RJB-244): Wilhelm Werkhäuser and his wife Maria Sara (maiden name not given) had two daughters baptized at Baumholder: Maria Katharina, 1778 Dec 23, and Christiana Magdalena, 1780 Oct 14. The dates are stated as birth dates, though I think the original records should be examined to see whether they are really baptism dates. The family record also indicates that Wilhelm was a miller in Berschweiler, and that his father was also named Wilhelm.

Baumholder is about 8 miles east of Ellweiler. From this and the excellent consistency of the baptism date with the birth date inferred from Glückstal, it is safe to conclude that Christina's birthplace has indeed been found.

Up till this time, I have not found records of this family in Hungary. We know for certain that Christina was there, however, because the Glückstal records show that several of Christina's children were born in Bulkes. A Wilhelm Werkhäuser family is recorded as having gone to Tscherwenka, but this does not seem to be a good match with Christina's family. Rather, this appears to be a different Wilhelm Werkhäuser family which is recorded in the Reichenbach, Saarland church book (RJR-239).

Peter's Birthplace: Still Unknown

With Christina found in the Saarland, it seemed natural to guess that Peter's birthplace might indeed be Eiweiler, Saarland rather than Eyweiler, Alsace. A search of the CD-ROM of Rudi Jung's books, however, reveals that the Bieber name is not common in 18th Century Saarland. No evidence of Peter's birth in Saarland has been found.

The search for Peter's birth record thus returned to Alsace. Here we find abundant Peter Biebers in the church records of Eyweiler and nearby villages, but none exactly match the birthdate implied by the Glückstal records. In the Lutheran church book of Eyweiler itself, the nearest match is Johann Peter Bieber, son of Nichol Biber and Catharina Baur, born 1773 April 19. This could be the Peter we seek, but there is a discrepancy of more than a year with the birthdate implied by the Glückstal records. More data are required to solve this puzzle.

Family of Peter Bieber and Christina Werkhäuser

The following is based on Glückstal records:

The Glückstal death records also list a Johann Bieber, born 1800 Mar 11 in Bulkes, died 1844 Jan 4 in Glückstal. This may be another child of Peter and Christina, but the current evidence is not decisive.

Rev Martin Bieber's Research

Pioneering research into the emigration of the Bieber family from Glückstal to America was performed by Rev Martin Bieber. He derived his information principally from interviews and correspondence with Bieber family members. Thus, his work is an invaluable complement to the documentary evidence recorded in Glückstal.

Rev Martin Bieber's work was self-published and is not widely available. Fortunately, this lack is being remedied by Jeffrey Allen, who is scanning Rev Bieber's family group sheets and posting them on the Web. This new resource can be accessed at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bieber/. Don't miss the wonderful photo of the Jacob Bieber farm in Glückstal.

One aspect of Rev Martin Bieber's book warrants special comment. Rev Bieber concluded that the original Bieber emigrant to Russia was Jacob Bieber, a son of Heinrich. His conclusion is based on oral traditions passed through several individuals and spanning a time period of a century and a half. In contrast, the evidence favoring Peter Bieber is primary documentary evidence. It was recorded at that time by pastors and officials who knew Peter Bieber and his children, who actually spoke to them. To our great fortune, the records have been preserved unchanged since that time.

Weighing this conflicting evidence, we believe the evidence shows decisively that Peter Bieber is the progenitor of the Bieber family in Russia.