Gottscheer information
This whole page is dedicated to the late great "Pappy"... the 'real thing' and his(our) history.
3/21/10
This page has become much bigger than it originally started. There are a lot of pictures and explanations here, and many items pulled from various other websites. Keep scrolling down to see and read it all.
The family blessing (aka Pappy's blessing)
I remember Pappy once said, that the blessing he said, was his father's blessing.
It oriiginated from Ludwig or possibly Andrew. So I'm putting it here in English, and I simply 'babelfished' it in German.
What little Deustch I know... it seems pretty close. Though for Ludwig's old stomping grounds, the accent
and or dialect may have been completely different from this.
"We thank thee, for all this and the many other blessings we have received. Amen."
(German - strictly translated)
"Wir danken Ihnen fuer alles dieses undt dem vielen anderen Segen, die wir empfangen haben. Amen."
I have since learned that the Gottscheer dialect is pretty much an extinct language. So while I believe Ludwig was from the Drandul area in the Gottscheer Hochlands, the above Duestch might have been slightly different. I can easily say that Pappy did learn a "4 letter word" from his father, unbeknownst to himself! So when I told Pappy what it meant (when taking German in high school) he quickly stopped saying it ( despite he was using it in the correct context! :P ) But he said this particular word in German (must have been a word used by Ludwig fairly often for Pappy to have remembered it!) it doesn't sound like the way everyone has TOLD me how to pronounce it! So if I EVER happen to say the germanic version of this 4 letter English word in German...I always end it with th 'T' sound (Shy-ssT) not with the 'zuh' sound as I'm told it's 'properly' pronounced (Shy-zuh)...so could it have been part of the Gottscheer dialect for the vulgar German word!? :P Something to think about despite the vulgarity in question!
I've found a few interesting sites concerning some family history, albiet not completely non-relevant. I even got permission from Helmuth to use some great pictures from their web site, and will provide a link to their family site as well! Doing a little research on the internet immediately give us the impression of the opressive area prior to World War II in Gottschee and how most of the people left and moved to about 4 main areas. Canada, New York, Pennsylvania and (Ohio or Illinois, maybe both). They didn't mention OUR state, shame on them. We have tons of older "Germanic" settlements in my State, but when it comes to Gottscheers, apparently they were early country "settlers" who kept to themselves in the moutains with a good many collective of Parishes. Maybe those who traveled this far as prior to World War I wanted to truly put the past behind them when they came to North America. Great Grandfather Louie/Ludwig was from Drandul, but his school is within the parish of Tschermoschnitz, the same name as the school. I don't want to be too...general, but looking at many pictures online, as a rule, when there are more than about 3 people in a picture you're going to see someone, anyone with an accordian in their hands! No kidding! So Great Grandfather Louie playing an accordian would be more truth than humor! (I didn't take Pappy too seriously when it came to that for some reason... :P ) I do now! Pappy also used to mention his dad was known for yodeling. Pappy seemed a little mixed, he highly respected his father with his rich and simple history, yet he seemed to have no need or want to try to go over there like August did. I can NOT imagine my dad yodeling or playing an accordian, though the accordian in those parts in the "Old Country" would be akin to a family having a guitar to sit around playing music to sing folk songs now-a-days. This is just from my perspective looking at all the pictures I've seen attempting to research what used to be Gottschee, an accordian player in every picture!
Unfortunately our family last name is somewhat common, it is hard to find anyone truly of any real relation OR any with our same last name without going to New York and gaining an appointment at St. Johns! Thanks to Helmuth's permission for letting me use many of his pictures! (I tried to stray away from his family pictures though). Here's a list of sites for anyone interested on that side of the world and the area Gottscheers came from.
1 Helmuth's Kump/Staudacher's Site
2 Daily News Article (Jan 1999)
3 A Gottscheers Picturebook -Translation
4 I emailed Arnold Rom a few years ago. He pushed the book he wrote, though his story doesn't go back far enough for when our realtives were there, but his web site does have some interesting info and some nice pictures as well! Clicking on his "Countryside" link brings up a familiar-looking map! Now where have I seen this!??? Hmm...
5 This site is in German, but clicking on the map and on any tab will give city names in both German and the Slovene!
So the Friedrichstein is 902 meter tall, was Pappy named after the mountain? Possible, probably not.
6. The G.R.A. Gottscheer Relief Association in New York
7. Gottscheer Heritage and Genealogy Association
This site has a lot of neat information. it's well organized, but I just couldn't find hardly anything in the way anything concrete relating to our family name...
8. St John's University
Just keeping looking online for anything GOTTSCHEE or Gottscheer! That's the trick, you might even see the picture of the Gottscheer Hall in New York! Helmuth's site has that picture along with what looks like a parade for the Gottscheer's celebration! Wow! We're missing out on some fun times! Viel Spaess!
Tschermoschnitz (Crmosnjice) prior to 1941
Tschermoschnitz, also known as Moschnitz, had 22 houses in 1770. The school was established in 1822.
The village was in the parish of Tschermoschnitz, one of the larger villages within the parish, and the
catholic church served families from other villages within the parish. The town, located in the eastern
part of the former Gottschee was not destroyed during World War II. In 2009, the town will celebrate
its 500th anniversary. - From the GHGA web site.