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T A T R A A R E A
R E S E A R C H
G R O U P
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© TARG All rights reserved.
Newsletter for April 2007
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Ahojte (welcome) TARG members! Happy
April to you and a happy Easter as well. The article about the
Tatra Highlanders for Volume 19 (the Spring issue) of the CGSI's
quarterly publication Nase rodina, has now mailed. I just received
my copy in the mail Friday. I hope all readers of the publication
enjoy it! I'm pleased with the photographs they did use and the
final editing as well. Again, a color version of the map that
appears in the article is on the TARG homepage at www.e-TARG.org.
To get a copy of the Nase rodina article you will have to purchase
the quarterly directly from the CGSI. Visit their website at:
www.CGSI.org for more details.
I've been contacted by several folks wanting
to pass the word to you of important upcoming events. First is
Helene Cincebeaux who's tours to the old country have helped
many TARG members unlock doors to their long-lost family. She
is, as always, very flexible. You can travel with her on one
of her Summer tours - and when you are near your ancestral villages
- she allows you to stay behind a day or two, then meet up again
with the group later. She even has local guides and genealogists
she can put you together with both in Slovakia and Poland. I
recommend her tours, especially to anyone who has never
gone to this part of the world before. The website with her tour
information is: www.Our-Slovakia.com.
Her quarterly publication Slovakia is also one of my favorites.
For some time, researchers digging for their
roots in the village of Osturna (the western-most Rusyn village
in Slovakia) have been conducting DNA research to augment their
study of written records. This tiny village is within our TARG
sphere and we have reported on their outstanding activities from
time to time. Now, one of the charter members of TARG, Karen
Melis from Pennsylvania, has launched a much larger DNA project
which greatly widens the area of DNA research. Called the "Zamagurie
Region DNA Project", it covers the Slovak villages lost
to Poland on the eastern side of the Tatras as well as many villages
in old Spis county, Slovakia. She would like anyone with family
from these areas to participate. Please visit and read the new
page on the TARG website about this exciting project at: www.e-targ.org/ZamReg%20DNA.html
or by visiting the main TARG homepage and following the new "DNA
Project" link.
Speaking of Osturna, the prominent author
and genealogy researcher, Lisa Alzo, who's books include Pittsburgh's
Immigrants, Three Slovak Women, Baba's Kitchen, and Finding
Your Slovak Ancestors has roots there. Lisa will be lecturing
at a Pan-Slavic genealogy seminar at Housatonic College in Bridgeport,
CT on Saturday, April 14, 2007. The seminar is free, but pre-registration
is advised. She will also be teaching an online genealogy course.
(For more on that, see our letters section below.)
And now let me share with you a special Bingham family announcement,
just as I sent it to our family in Jurgow last week. "Nasa
najstarsia dcera ma VELKE oznamenie. Ona a jej manzel cakaju
dvojicky! Budeme stari rodicia!" (This was very good
practice for my Slovak, and perhaps will be for yours. For those
who can't decipher it and need to cheat a little, there's an
English translation at the end of the newsletter!)
-- Paul K. Bingham
TARG Founder
WEBSITES____________
1. TARG's official website: http://www.e-TARG.org!
2. Helene B. Cincebeaux's new 2007 Treasure Tours
Schedule is out! Go to her website at: www.Our-Slovakia.com
3. CGSI "Nase rodina" newsletter copies
can be purchased for $3.50 each. Here's the link to ordering
those: http://www.cgsi.org/research.asp?i=7
4. The new website for the Zamagurie Region DNA Project
is: www.familytreedna.com/public/ZamagurieRegionDNAProject.
5. For info on Lisa Alzo's new online genealogy class
specializing in East European research, visit: www.genclass.com.
6. Link to Ute Schoenwetter's Podhale family website:
www.utesfamilyalbum.de.
7. For a very helpful (and free) immigrant ancestor
research guide, visit: www.familysearch.org.
YOUR LETTERS___________
---Hi Paul, I read with interest
your last newsletter on the derivation of Slovak names. I'm not
sure you were looking for more of them but I offer the following
two that are key to my family research. One of our two family
names is Garbiar which in Slovak means 'a tanner' or someone
who prepares animal hides. The second is Lieskovsky that comes
from the name of my family's village Liesek. Now if I could only
find some basis for our first family name Petrica and how my
ancestors ended up also adopting the Garbiar name in the 1700's.
Keep up the informative and interesting articles on the website.
Thanks. - Stan Petrica
***Hi Stan. Thanks for the nice note and addition
of two more names to our list. I'm no expert, but having taken
Slovak lessons for a year, I will tell you that Slovak is considered
a "flexible" language. By that they mean there are
lots of little core words. Depending on how they are used, or
what meaning you want to give them, they can be altered in many,
many ways with prefixes, suffuxes, and even something called
infixes. Take the word for bread: chlieb. When you want to say
"a slice of bread" you say krajec chleba. Note the
"ie" in the middle of chlieb changes to "e"
and it gets an "-a" ending. Here's another example.
The words for "father" and "brother" are
otec and brat. To say "father's brother" you say, otcov
brat. Note otec drops the "e" and picks up the suffix
"-ov." The suffix "-ica" is a known Slovak
suffix, often making a feminine noun out of a masculine word.
Your name may well come from the root word "Peter,"
but of the exact meaning, I'm not sure. Anyone want to help Stan
out with this one? - Paul
---Hi Paul, I just finished catching up on your great newsletters
and have a few questions and a bit of info.
1. Did you ever received any requests to translate the Czarny
Dunajec history book?
2. Can I still purchase the Bialka Tatrzanska Parish Records
CDs? I didn't see them on the e-TARG site.
3. Do you have any church records for any of these towns: Jablonka,
Podczenwone, Szaflary, Rogcznik, Lesnica, Obidowa, Klikuszowa,
Lopuszna, or Male Kasinka?
4. In January 2006, Paul Valasek wrote that he has Stopka ancestors
in Czarny Dunajec. I also have a Stopka connection there.
5. Do you have names of reputable researchers in that area?
My surnames from the towns (see 3. above) are: Stopka, Senary,
Chlebowski, Wilczek, Ozaistowicz, Pabisiewicz, Kois/Kjos, and
Wydra. Thanks for any help. - Margaret, NY
***Hi Margaret. Here's some quick answers to your
questions:
1. No other requests but yours on the Czarny Dunajec book.
2. Yes. The Bialka, Tatrzanska parish records cost $39 from
TARG. (It's a 4-CD set.)
3. Sorry, no. Most will be found only in the Roman Catholic
archives in Krakow or by visiting the village church. Since Jablonka
was a Slovak village lost to Poland in 1920, the village church
or archives in Spisska Kapitula, Slovakia will be your likely
record sources.
4. I sent your address to Mr. Valasek for him to contact you.
5. Vlado Flak is a Slovak genealogist who has also done work
on the Polish side and members have been very happy with him.
See the February 2002 issue of the e-TARG newsletter for more.
- Paul
---Hi Paul, I created a family website on my Podhale ancestors.
Maybe the website will be interesting for other TARG members
with ancestors in the respective villages. The link to my website
is: www.utesfamilyalbum.de.
(Note: Javascript must be activated in your browser to view it.)
Best regards, Ute Schoenwetter, Germany
***Nice work, Ute! I'll post it for other members
to visit. Thanks! - Paul
---Hi Paul, I appreciate all your help over the years and especially
the encouragement you gave me many years ago when you first started
your research and the TARG website. Thanks again. Peggy Cingle
***You are most welcome, Peggy. Thank you! - Paul
---Dear Paul, Hope this message finds you well! I've got an announcement
I was hoping you might be able to include in one of your newsletters.
A group of former myfamily.com instructors have joined together
to form "GenClass," a new online genealogy class venture.
I teach five classes, including a beginning genealogy course
and Eastern European genealogy courses. Each course is just $29.95.
See www.genclass.com for
details. I would be grateful if you could spread the word! Many
thanks and best regards, Lisa Alzo
***Hi Lisa, I'll be happy to pass the word. Good
luck to you! - Paul
SLOVAK SURNAME MEANINGS (Part 3)_________
Concluding what we started two issues ago, here
are more Tatra family surnames and their meanings. As mentioned
before, surnames are derived from a physical characteristic of
the early ancestor, their profession, their place of origin or
perhaps something from their natural surroundings. Here are more
Tatra Highlander surnames and their Slovak meanings. Once again,
many are colorful!
SEDLAK = a saddler
SERAFIN = a seraph
SLOBODA = freedom
SMOLEN - 'smol' is a word for pitch
SOCHA = statue
SOJKA = a jaybird
SOVA = owl
STOPKA = a stalk
STROJNIK = a mechanic
TALAR = a robe or gown
TKAC = a weaver
TOPOR = an adze
TRIBSKY - from the village of Tribs
USTUPSKY - 'ustup' is to retreat or withdrawl
VAVREK - 'vavrin' is a laurel
VOJENSKY = military
ZAJAC = hare
ZAPALA - zeal
A VERY HELPFUL RESEARCH GUIDE_______
There is a very helpful research guide written
by the LDS (Mormon) church for those trying to trace their Slovak,
Polish (or any immigrant) ancestors. It is available free online.
(It's a little buried on one of their websites, though.) Here's
eight steps how to access it:
1. Go to: www.familysearch.org
2. Click on "Search" Tab along
very top of page
3. Click on "Resource Helps" on
top (blue) toolbar
4. On the left toolbar click on "Sorted
by Title"
5. In the row of alphabetical letters click
on "T"
6. Under T's listing (near bottom), click
on "Tracing Immigrant Origins Research Outline"
7. The following outline will come up:
Tracing Immigrant Origins
(publication #34111)
Research Outline
Introduction
Part 1. Search Strategies
Step
1. Identify What You Know About The Immigrant
Step
2. Decide What You Want To Learn
Step
3: Select The Records To Search
Step
4. Find And Search The Records
Step
5. Use The Information
Part 2. Country-of-arrival
Records
Part 3. Country-of-origin
Records
8. Click on any line of the outline to read
that page or set of pages.
TATRA MOUNTAINS BOOK - PART 12__________
Conclusion of Chapter 5 "Folk Dances":
"The Tatras have exercised a great
influence on Polish art in general and on music in particular.
But most of the earlier works, connected with the Tatras, though
their inspiration was undoubtedly due to experiences of the mountain
scenery and even Goral legends, stood in no direct relation to
the local tunes. 'The Tatra Album' by I. J. Paderewski, supplied
the first notable exception to this rule and was based on the
popular Tatra melodies, played to the famous pianist by the local
bard Bartek Obrochta and his Goral orchestra. Among the outstanding
Polish composers whose names are connected with the Tatras was
Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, a great lover of these mountains where
he found a rich source of musical ideas. He was killed by an
avalanche in 1909 when skiing in the Tatras. But it was left
to Karol Szymanowski to appreciate in full the riches of the
Tatras folklore. He spent many years in Zakopane, where he died
in 1937, studying the old robber songs on which much of his own
music was based. One of his disciples, Maklakiewicz undertook
the tremendous work of writing down all the most important traditional
Goral tunes, transmitted from generation to generation but never
recorded before, and published these under the title 'Muzyka
Podhala' (The Music of Podhale).
(Chapter 6 "Zakopane and Progress"
starts in our next issue.)
GOOD READING__________
This
is the "column" in which I share printed sources of
information about subjects of interest to those researching their
roots in and around the Tatras. This month as we finish the chapter
on folk dance and music in Firsoff's book The Tatra Mountains,
it seems only appropriate to tell you about a new arrival to
my library collection entitled Making Music in the Polish
Tatras by Timothy J, Cooley, an ethnomusicologist currently
teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The book is published by the Indiana University Press. The hard-bound
edition retails for around $45, although I was able to find mine
online for less than $35 including shipping. A paperback version
is supposed to also be available, but I have not been able to
find one. Both come with a 47-track CD which has lots of music
on it collected by Cooley. On it you find everything from music
played at a funeral to fusion between traditional Podhale music
and - of all things - Reggae. The CD is pretty simplistic
in its layout - my player wouldn't list the songs, although the
back of the book does and includes lots of information about
each cut. There are even a few Slovak songs, as Tatra Highlanders
on the Polish side admit they feel more akin to the folks on
the south side of the mountains than their countrymen to the
north. One in particular is about Hel'pa, a Goral village in
Slovakia.
The book is 310 pages long, including the
introduction, and the writing style is very readable. Cooley
has no familial interest in the Tatra region. Instead he was
so struck by the similarities of old-time stringband music from
the Appalachians and Tatra Goral music the first time he heard
it, that he spent the next ten years learning Polish and going
to the Tatras to study the Gorale and their culture. While the
book goes into real depth on all manner of music composition
topics, there is also a great deal about the people behind their
music, the area's history, glimpses into the area's rich culture
and a sense of Gorale and how they think about life. There are
many interviews and photos of locals both past and contemporary
included in this work. I found it fascinating, and believe you
will, too.
CONTACTING TARG_____________________
To contact the TARG Editor, the new e-mail
address is: TatraAreaResearchGroupgmail. Our "snail"
mailing address is still TARG, P.O. Box 3533, Escondido, CA 92033.
use it for sending in orders or photos and anything else you
want to share with the group. (If for some reason you are unable
to contact us at the new address above, go ahead and use the
old address targ_nethotmail.) Announcement translation: "Our
oldest daughter has a BIG announcement. She and her husband are
expecting twins! We are going to be grandparents!"
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