There are two interesting dates to note this month. First, the 27th marks the 100th anniversary of Karl Hanifl's death. Karl was Grandma Sophie's father and, along with his wife, Theresia [Laschitz] Hanifl, was responsible for emigrating the family from Austria-Hungary to the United States.
The other significant date also relates to the Hanifl side of the family. May 11th marks the 125th anniversary, 1891, of the Hanifl family arriving in the United States. Karl and Theresia emigrated from Oggau, Austria-Hungary (now Oggau, Austria,) with their four surviving children. (Three other children died prior to their emigration.) At the time the family arrived, Sophie was 11, Frank was 9, John was 7 and Mary was 5.
I’m not sure WHY the family emigrated to the U.S. or HOW they ended up in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I’m assuming the reason they emigrated was because they thought life would be better in the U.S. I also think they may have chosen La Crosse because there were a number of other emigres from Oggau who ended up in La Crosse. It could have just been that La Crosse had a large Germanic population – who knows for sure? All that really matters is that Sophie and Roy met and were married on Feb 7, 1906 and here we all are! J
As long as we’re on the topic of Oggau, about 18 months ago, I received an E-Mail from a Johann and Maria Hanifl who currently live in Oggau. Johann, who was 82 at the time, is a 3rd cousin of mine which means that Karl Hanifl (MY great-grandfather) and Johann’s great-grandfather were brothers. It’s interesting to know that we all still have cousins in “the old world.”
Since I started this blog in 2008, I have heard from cousins in Canada, Scotland, England, Austria and several states in the U.S.
Finally, I have done several posts on this blog regarding Oggau in the past. Check out the “Quiz” link (on the left side of this page) or use the
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