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Hometown of Frank
Busch Sr.
When we started asking about Busch family history in the 1970s, we got conflicting information. Aunt Helen said her father was from Triebendorf, Austria, but Aunt Clary said he was from Threbaugh or Frebaugh, Austria. Freddie thought he was from Bavaria, and so on. When I started trying to research it on line, I discovered there is more than one Triebendorf in Europe, and I couldn't find a Frebaugh, Frebau, Threbaugh, Threbau, etc. My best clue came from searching for "Trebau" and "Austria" in Google and finding another genealogist whose ancestors came from there and were--interestingly!--"German-speaking Catholics who settled in Odin and Redwing, Kansas." (I didn't recognize any of the names, though.) That person had figured out the place was now in the Czech Republic, which made research even more confusing and challenging because the names of all the places had been changed. During our 2010 trip to Kansas, Phil's cousin Jerry gave us a copy of a letter from Frank's wife saying he was from Treebau, Austria. Someone else had written at the bottom "Freebaugh" and "Tribendaurph." I spent some time on line, and I think I have tracked down the correct information now. Märisch Trübau is a district in northern Moravia (a region formerly part of Austria, now part of the Czech Republic). The district contains the villages of Triebendorf and Porstendorf. Frank’s first wife, Josephine Friedel, was from Porstendorf! Märisch Trübau was the largest German linguistic enclave within Bohemia and Moravia, which probably explains why Frank is listed as German in all the U.S. censuses. Germans were expelled from the country by the Czechs after World War II, so at this point we don't have any way of knowing where any living Busch relatives might be now. I have not been able to find any church records for that area on line so far, either. And so far I haven't found any connection with Bavaria.
Updated 7/15/11 |