In the Heart of the Balkans

As anyone with Eastern European ethnicity appreciates, genealogy research about my husband's ancestors has been difficult.

My husband's ethnicity estimate based on DNA; image courtesy of
Ancestry.com

Pete's mother gave me the names of her Adametz grandparents and great grandparents not long after we were married 28 years ago. I was able to add the parents of Pete's great grandfather, Leopold Fishtahler, when SeekingMichigan.org added death certificates a few years ago. I also learned the maiden name of Leopold's wife, which was Elizabeth Grotohville. We photographed their headstones in September during our last trip to Michigan. I knew Elizabeth died in 1922 but could not find her death certificate. Just last week I was able to discover the names of Elizabeth's parents and complete the list of Pete's maternal great great grandparents on his pedigree chart.

Pete's pedigree chart; image courtesy of Ancestry.com

Sometime recently, Ancestry.com added or updated their database of Michigan death certificates and I was able to find the certificate for Elizabeth (Grotohville) Fishtahler. She died on 2 January 1922 at home of cancer of the uterus and was buried three days later at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit. She and her husband lived at 6115 Cadillac Avenue.

Elizabeth's husband immigrated to the United States in 1899. He boarded the S/S Willehad on 7 September in Bremen, Germany, and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on 20 September. His destination was the home of a daughter and son-in-law in Philadelphia. He left his wife, a son and four daughters in Banaiste, Serbia.

A daughter, who I believe to be theirs, immigrated about 1903 to Pittsburgh where an uncle lived. In August 1905 the rest of the family booked passage on the S/S Noordland, which left for the United States from Liverpool, England. However, they were not on the ship when it sailed. Son, Jacob, and my husband's maternal grandfather, left Europe a few months later on 14 December 1905 aboard the S/S Cassel. He and his mother and sisters lived in Novi Sad, Serbia, when he left home.

Elizabeth and her three youngest daughters did not leave Europe until 25 July 1907. They arrived in Baltimore aboard the S/S Breslau and made their way to Detroit where her husband and son lived. Leopold and Elizabeth were enumerated in two census before their deaths. According to the 1910 record, they married about 1876, had 6 children who were still living, and considered their nationality and that of their parents to be German even though they were not born in Germany. Leopold's death certificate simply listed Hungary as his place of birth. Elizabeth's death certificate listed Kobien, Jugo Slavia, as her place of birth. Trying to find Kobien on a map took hours but I believe it to be Kovin, Serbia, which is about 55 kilometers east of Belgrade on the north side of the Danube.

Kovin, Vojvodina, Serbia; image courtesy of Google Maps

It was an eventful time in Serbian history. The country had attained its independence in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin, which ended the Russo-Turkish War. In 1903 there was a coup d'etat and the King Alexander I and Queen Draga were assassinated. Peter I was declared king by the coup leaders and elected by the Serbian Parliament. His reign was known as the "Golden Age of Serbia," due to unprecedented political and press freedoms. Luckily for the Fishtahler family, they had all emigrated before the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and World War I.

As mentioned previously, Leopold and Elizabeth had six children who lived to adulthood. I believe they are:

• Daughter Fishtahler, married Franz Dreaker and immigrated to Philadelphia before 1899. (The only reference I have found to this daughter is her father's passenger record, which listed his son-in-law as his contact in the United States.)
• Julia Fishtahler born about 1881; immigrated about 1903; married Milan Dragomirovich
• Jacob Karl Fishtahler, born 29 October 1883; immigrated 1905; married Elise "Elsie" Adametz; died 29 November 1933
• Rosa Marie Fishtahler, born 4 April 1890; immigrated 1907; married Rade D Majstorovich; divorced 1949; died 30 May 1981
• Johanna "Joan" M Fishtahler, born about 1895; immigrated 1907; married Phillip Thomas Brode 1919
• Theresia M Fishtahler, born about 1897; immigrated 1907; married Elmer Edward Marvin 1916

As you will note there are still several mysteries regarding this family group. One that is especially bothersome is where Elizabeth (Grotohville) lived when she immigrated in 1907. I have not yet been able to decipher the passenger ship record.

Passenger manifest for Elizabeth (Grotohville) Fishtahler which listed her
last residence before immigrating to the United States; image courtesy of
Ancestry.com

Passenger manifest for Jacob Fishtahler which lists last residence before
immigrating to the United States; image courtesy of Ancestry.com

I believe mother and son listed the same last place of residence on their respective passenger ship manifests. Any thoughts on what it could be?

Knowing the spelling of the place names in this area of Europe is only half the battle. For example. At the time Elizabeth emigrated, her mother lived in Berzaszka, Hungary. That is now Berzasca, Romania, about 120 kilometers further east of Kovin along the Danube.

Distance between Kovin, Serbia, birthplace of Elizabeth (Grotohville)
Fishtahler and Berzasca, Romania, where her mother lived in 1907;
image courtesy of Google Maps

Pure Coincidence

Pete and I are playing tourist today. This past weekend we were in Detroit, Michigan, where my husband was born and raised. We were there to visit one of his sisters and to photograph the headstones of several ancestors buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery. In preparation, I ran a report from my database of all the people buried in that cemetery. I used the cemetery's website to identify each person's burial location and entered those locations into my report.

When Pete saw the report, he asked how he was related to several people with the surname Chutorash. He thought he recognized two of them, Richard and Ronald, and said they were twins. We looked in my database and, sure enough, Richard and Ronald were twins born on 14 June 1953. Their parents were Gustave Joseph and Margaret (Remington) Chutorash, Jr. It turns out Pete went to Aquinas High School with the Chutorash boys. He brought his 1971 yearbook out and showed me their photographs.

Richard (1953-2014) and Ronald (1953-1999) Chutorash; source personal
collection

So how are my husband and Richard and Ronald Chutorash related? Elmer and Theresia (Fishtahler) Marvin are the grand aunt and uncle of all three classmates though they share no blood relationship.

How my husband and the Chutorash twins are related

What a coincidence!

Family Memories Meets DNA

My sister-in-law was convinced her maternal great grandfather was a mean old man, who left his wife and children in Germany when he came to the U.S. She thought her grandfather Fishtahler had to pay his own way over and that his mother and sisters never make the trip. She remembered stories her mother used to tell of the old man swatting the family cat, which proved all manner of bad things. I found records that shot holes in those memories, but she wasn't convinced until the DNA proved those records must be correct. It's funny how often that happens.

Her great grandfather, Leopold Fishtahler was born about 1854 in Hungary, which was part of the Austrian Empire ruled by the Hapsburg dynasty. (Another issue for my sister-in-law was her mother always said the Fishtahler family descended from Bavarian royalty.) Not long after Leopold's birth Austria was forced to sign the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and a dual monarchy came into existence. While the two countries were ruled by one monarch, the Austrian Emperor, Hungary was allowed its own parliament.

1854 Mitchell Map of Austria; courtesy of Geographicus

Leopold married Elizabeth Grotohville and they had at least four children, though likely there was also an older daughter, who had married a man named Dreaker and already immigrated to the United States before 1899.

Leopold boarded the S/S Willehad on 7 September 1899 in Bremen, Germany, he told immigration officials his destination was his son-in-law, Franz Dreaker, who lived in Philadelphia. Leopold worked as a joiner, or carpenter, and his last permanent address before immigrating was Bavaniste, Serbia.

Wife, Elizabeth, three daughters, and their only son Jacob, had planned to sail aboard the S/S Noordland on 2 August 1905 from Liverpool. Their destination once in the United States was Butler, Pennsylvania, where Leopold lived. Elizabeth and children had last lived in Novi Sad, Serbia, and Elizabeth had $15. For some reason, though, they did not sail on the Noordland.

Novi Sad, Serbia, c1890; purchased from 123rf.com

Jacob successfully made the trip alone, leaving Bremen, Germany, aboard the S/S Cassel on 14 December 1905. He landed in Baltimore on 28 December and was headed to his uncle, Jacob Hammer's, home in Pittsburgh.

Elizabeth and three daughters finally immigrated in 1907 sailing from Bremen to Baltimore aboard the S/S Breslau.

Jacob Fishtahler had moved to Detroit by 1907 and he and his father were painters. When the 1910 census was enumerated Leopold, Elizabeth, Jacob and their daughter, Theresa, lived at 375 Lansing Avenue and Jacob worked as a carpenter in a furniture factory.

The last record I have for their daughter, Rosa, is a 1908 Detroit city directory. She lived at 304 Frederick Avenue and worked as a domestic. The last record I have for their daughter, Johanna, is the 1918 Detroit city directory. She lived with her father at 361 Lansing Avenue and was a seamstress.

Jacob met Elise (who went by Elsie after immigration officials mangled the spelling of her given name) Adametz, an Austrian woman who immigrated in 1906. They married some time before 1912 when their first son was born.

Theresa Fishtahler married Elmer Edward Marvin on 23 November 1916 in Detroit and they were the grandparents of my husband's DNA match -- one only only DNA match with a known shared ancestor:

AncestryDNA match

Elizabeth (Grotohville) Fishtahler was buried on 5 Jun 1922 at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit according to the cemetery database but no Michigan death certificate has been located even though she died in a period covered by the death certificates available on SeekingMichigan.org. Her husband, Leopold; son, Jacob; and Jacob's wife, Elsie, are buried beside her.