Romania Research List Archive
RORL Archive 97-2

Webmaster's Note: Nagyszentmiklos, Torontal, is about 65 Kilometers NW of Temesvar, capital of the Banat of Hungary. The location was Hungarian until 1919 when it became Romanian. It is now called Sinnicolau Mare, Romania. This area had ethnic Hungarians, Germans and Romanians living side by side. Given his statements and linguistics, the assumption he was ethnic Romanian seems reasonable. Romanians are known to have relocated to Hungary at various times due to conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. You might contact a professional genealogist like Gordon McDaniel of Hoover Institution for an authoritative answer to your name question.

As far birth records for Nagyszentmiklos, they are found under its German name: Gross Sanktnickolas. Catholic church records (1753-1818) are on 2 FHL microfilms. The 1828 Land Census of Hungary also has land records for that location. Both of these predate your grandfather's life (1875-). To date the FHL has been unable to establish microfilming in Romania. It might be possible to find the birth records for 1875 at the Sinnicolau Mare Catholic church. However research in Romania is known to be difficult. We know of no reliable professionals in country.

Webmaster's Note: There is a Romania Yellow Pages on a colelction of Internet telephone books found on the FEEFHS Genealogy Toolkit. Have you tried the various Look-ups on the FEEFHS Genealogy Toolkit? Are you aware of the existence of an Iraq Kurdish legend about a 10th century ruler named Zahuk? That might call for a visit to a research library with a good Balkins and middle east historical section.

As for microfilming in Romania, we are always hopeful, but have heard nothing to change our opinion that Romania is not yet interested or ready to accept a microfilming aggreement. The fact that the end result would eventually greatly increase the tourism business and their foriegn exchange postion by encouraging visits from descendants of Romanian and Banat ancestors apparently has not been recognized by Romanian authoritiies/

Webmaster's Note: Your Resita location, formerly called Resicabanya, Hungary, has one microfilm reel of Roman Catholic churchbook records (1826-1848 - film #1271580) available at your nearest Family History Center (on loan from the FHL at Salt Lake City).

Webmaster's Note: You might check the World War I Draft Records (on FHL microfilm) for confirmation of David's place of birth. The absence of items you may know - such as religion, wife's maiden name, children's first names and death location, if known - might help other record searchers contact you and give us the basis for other possible suggestions.

Webmaster's Note: If your date is correct, your father was actually born in Timesvar, the capital of the Banat region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - now called Timisoara, Romania. This was the Romanian part of a Germanic region of Hungary that also had ethnic Hungarians and Romanians living there. The FHL microfilm of Catholic church records only cover from 1717 to 1852.

I suspect Boubal is a Hungarian name. Kniep and Kiritzer are both Germanic. There are 4 Kniep genealogies in the FHL Catalog under "Surname Search", although none references Schwabia in the summary. Bogdan is listed on the FEEFHS Website index appearing in Banat (Zichydorf and liebling villiages), Slovenian, Polish and Romanian surname lists on the FEEFHS website.

Considerable information about the Banat is on the Banat FAQ's on this website. Go through it first to come up to speed on the history and background of this region. Then you will be prepared to subscribe and better understand the Banat Online Discussion Group.

Webmaster's Note: Czarna, Galicia was in the Austrian district of Pilzno before 1919. The FHL has 2 reels of Roman Catholic churchbooks (1784-1960) from this location. Are they worth checking? These records were microfilmed at the Archiwum Diecezjalne w Tarnowie = Tarnowa (Debica), Rzeszow, Poland - I preume this was the church diocese archives there. Other Czarna town records are probably located at a nearby civil archive established by Poland - perhaps in Debica. In any case, check your various surnames in the LDS Ancestral File.

Webmaster's Note: Your surname is Germanic. There were German speaking persons living in all parts of Hungary. There was a Sackelhaus in the Banat - a heavily Germanic region of southeast Hungary prior to World War I - also known as Szakalnaza, Temes, Hungary and now called Sacalaz, Timis, Romania. The Roman Catholic churchbook (1766-1844) in the German language is on 3 reels of FHL microfilm.

Webmaster's Note: For anyone to be able to help you, you will need to share more of what you know about where and when Mack arrived in Canada, when/where they were married and when he came to America. You also need to contact the Canadian Genealogy Society for the province he emigrated to. Seek their assistance in using Canadian records to determine his Romainian place of origin in Romania and his wife's maiden name.

Webmaster's Note: For Iasi, there are Hebrew inscriptions from old Jewish cemeteries in Iasi and Bucharest (1610-1864) on microfiche #6312317. Also Austrian Army death records (1854-1857) for the Iasi Field Hospital are on microfilm and there is a 1939 guide to the holdings of the Iasi Regional Archives. There are three collections of Dudeldorf Catholic Church records (1743-1883) on microfilm at the FHL in Salt Lake City. In addition with a rare name like yours, the Ahnenstammkartei de Deutschen Volkes collection should be checked. You might also consider having IGS search of German Telephone Book on CD-ROM for other Crames who might have the genealogy answers you are searching for.

Webmaster's Note: Ther is no Werbern in my gazetteers but there are several Werben locations in Saxony, Brandenberg and Pomerania. In particular the Werben in Kreis Pyritz and the Werben in Kreis Cottbus Brandenberg are possibilities. You might check the microfilms of the Lutheran church records for each of them stareting in the early 1800's. Perhaps they were not gypsies after all and maybe they attended church!.

This website is publishing the only extractions of the San Francisco vital records after their loss in the earthquake/great fire of 1906. However Jim Faulkinberry is only up to 1884 as of the date of your submission, so it may take a little longer to find them in California. Pinning down some approximate years on a timeline for them including an approximate birth date will be important to your research.