|
|
ZEISLER FAMILY
Two old photographs of well-dressed women had
always intrigued me. The first, a portrait taken by
Professor Kroly Koller circa 1885, owner of one of
the most prestigious portrait-studios of the time in
Budapest, presents a lovely woman in her early 30s,
obviously wealthy, wearing a beautifully sculpted fur coat
and dark flowing gown. Her hair is worn up and braided and
topped with a feathery white hat. She is standing in a
position such that the viewer is made well aware of the
rings adorning her left hand, while her right hand, ringed
as well, is holding a pair of white satin gloves.
The second
photograph was taken by the same studio several years later, of
another young woman wearing a dark handmade gown cut in a
slight V shape just hugging her shoulders. A frill draped
across the top of the gown falls to just below the bust
line, and a double-stranded pearl necklace lays close around
her neck. A ring adorns her left ring finger and a watch and
bracelets wrap around her wrist and arms. Highlighting her
gown is a sunburst broach centered at the bottom of the V
cut on her dress. If you look more closely at the picture,
you will notice that it has been touched-up around the waist
as if to make her into the perfect hourglass shape.
My sister,
Bonnie, told me that the older woman was a Baroness who was
related to the family, but no one was sure how, and the
other woman was her daughter. All that we knew was that the
two women traveled the US sometime in the early 1900s to
visit with my great-aunts in Brooklyn, Florence and Polly
Zeisler. So our
questions were; who were these women and why did we have
their pictures?
That family story
(although we later found that information was somewhat
incorrect) stuck in my mind over the years as well as
several others;
The Chicago Zeislers were rumrunners, was a primary story;
We were related somehow to Hungarian royalty; There were
three brothers that came to the US from Budapest, one of
them being my great-grandfather, Joseph Zeisler, and no one
knew who the others were. Other intriguing snippets of
family lore abounded as well in my early years but nothing
with enough details to give them life.
Since 1999 we have searched the
records, and piece by piece resurrected a family history
that for all practical purposes was as dead as those who
lived it. Now that the people and their stories have been
revealed, we can bring them back to life - those we did not
know.
Our History
The ZEISLER family of these
pages immigrated to the US from Budapest after years of
moving from town to town throughout the central portion of
Hungary. Generally speaking, the migration of Jews into
today's north-central Hungary originated from both Moravia
and Galicia. The Jewish population, an extremely mobile
bunch, had been moving about for centuries, and the Zeisler
clan was no different.
The name ZEISLER in German
means bird-trapper or bird-dealer. The name is derived from
Zeisel, and the earliest known uses of the names are:
Michael Czeissel, Prague 1405, Hensel Czeiselmeister, Prague
1364, and Cunrad der Zeysler, Regensburg, 1348.
Farkas (Wolf) Czeisler, our
earliest known ancestor, was born in Diosgyor in about 1781.
He and his wife Fani moved to Kacincz where at least one
son, Eduard, was born in 1826. The family later moved to
Eger where Eduard married Josephine (Pepi) Ungar, who was
born in Gyongyos in 1827. After Eduard and Josephine married in
1850, they continued on with their wandering ways. An
approximate timeline of the family movements within Hungary
is listed below:
-
Diosgyor (mid-late 1700s -
abt. 1820)
-
Kacincz (abt. 1826 - late
1840s)
-
Eger (bef. 1850 - 1853)
-
Szolnok (1853 - 1854)
-
Szentes (abt. 1855 - abt.
1858)
-
Vacz (abt. 1859 - abt.
1864)
-
Budapest (abt. 1865 -
1881/1882/1884)
Looking at a map of the region
finds that the family traveled in a southerly direction
until they reached Szentes, and then turned to the NW
towards Budapest to Vacz, eventually ending up in the Pest
side of the Danube in Budapest, primarily in the Jewish
Triangle.
In Budapest the family had
several businesses: grain merchant, stationary store owner,
financial agent, and others.
As the family migrated to the
US beginning in 1881 - 1884, they settled in several
locations, selecting the New York City area and Chicago as
their principal destinations. One family member, Joseph,
became a rabbi (one of several occupations during his tenure
here) and traveled extensively throughout the US prior to
landing in Brooklyn, NY, his "final" destination. We've
found Rabbi Zeisler preaching in reform congregations in Ft.
Wayne, Indiana, Danville, Pennsylvania, Lafayette, Indiana,
Peoria, Illinois, Denver, Colorado, Hartford, Connecticut,
Atlanta, Georgia, Marshall, Texas, Newburgh, New York,
McKeesport, Pennsylvania and Lawrence, Kansas. He
interspersed those movements with years in New York City,
both in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Even within the bounds of New
York, the bulk of the family moved frequently, staying in
one place for no longer than two years on average. None of
the family members that immigrated owned their own home -
they always rented. Why be tied down when there is so much
to see and do?
After the initial few years in
Manhattan, some members moved to the Bronx and some moved to
Chicago. The Chicago branch eventually died out completely
in 1979 as you will read, while the New York branch
continues - although now scattered throughout the US.
Both in Hungary and America,
the ZEISLER family and their relations led interesting
lives, although not necessarily always on the right side of
the law, were financially stable, most seem to have been well
educated and bold in their business acumen, and left us with
some interesting tales told by the available records - which
are many.
Eduard Zeisler
Eduard Zeisler and his wife
Josephine arrived in New York City from Budapest, Hungary on
May 19, 1884 subsequent to several of their sons having
arrived during the preceding 3 years. Eduard, son of Farkas
Czeisler and Fani, was the Patriarch of the family that
immigrated to the US. Together, he and Josephine sired 9
children (in order of birth):
Children of Eduard & Josephine:
Last of the Line
Of the first two generations
sired by Eduard, there were eleven girls and eleven boys for
a total of 22 children and grandchildren. Of those, ten
girls and six boys (16) survived beyond age 20. Of the ten
girls, only one married and had two children, and as
history would have it, those children did not survive the
Holocaust. Of the six surviving adult males in the two
generations, only one line, Josef/Eugene/Joseph was able to
continue the bloodline to this author. Another line,
Josef/Cornelius adopted both a son and daughter. There are
no other surviving children from all those that came before
us.
Each of Eduard and Josephines
three sons that came to the US, Alexander Zalay, Joseph and
Ignatz, had two surviving daughters. Each sister pair lived
together for most, if not all of their adult lives, and
none of the six women ever married or had children.
In Chicago, where Ignatz three
surviving children lived (Irene, Bianca and Edward), all
three lived together for the greater part of their lives,
unmarried and without children until the last one died in
1979. Additionally, two of Eduard and Josephines daughters,
Regina and Sidonia eventually married the same man, but both
remained childless. But the third sister, Charlotte, who
stayed behind in Budapest married Dr. Mor Ernst and is said
to have had two children. An unconfirmed statement in
Sidonias will tells that the Nazis murdered the children in
the Holocaust during WWII. This is currently under
investigation.
|
Regina LOWY WEINER ca.1885
Baroness
Caroline Melanie WEINER GROEDEL
ca. 1885 |
