The Roethel Family Home Page
Hello, and welcome to the Roethel Family Home Page.The Roethel Family traces its roots back to Gottschee, Austria which in itself is an interesting story.With thanks to John Turney the following is a brief history of where the Roethel Family began. In the early 1300s, this region, the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations, was owned by the Count of Ortenburg. In 1350, 300 Franconian and Thurlugian families were asked by the Count to settle this virgin and barren land. When the families arrived, they saw a beautiful lake which they called "God's Sea" or in German, "Gottcheer." While these Germanic people cultivated the land and paid taxes to the Count, they also served as a buffer from the invading Turks in the East, who had burnt their villages three previous times. They farmed and hunted midway between the Sava River and the Adriatic Sea. Though they lived among several Balkan nationalities, mostly Slavs, they maintained their Germanic traditions. Gottschee became a small Austrian duchy in 1791 and was later owned by Adolph Wilhelm (1821-1885), the Prince of Auersperg, and later his sons. There were approximately 184 villages, and about 30,000 people. In the mid-1880s, the land became overcrowded and the people, who remained relatively poor,began emigrating. Those who came to the United States settled in Ridgewood, New York, to be near Brooklyn's factories and knitting mills, and in Cleveland, Ohio. Before World War I,thousands of Gottscheers had left. After the war, their land, part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, became part of the newly-created Yugoslavia. But a pact between Adolph Hitler and Italy, during World War II, gave the land to Italy and many more of the people, their homes plundered by war, became refugees, fleeing to the U.S., Austria and Canada. At the wars end, the land fell to the Communists, and more Gottscheers fled their native land. In recent times, as Soviet Communism fell and nationalists movements within the former Soviet bloc nations created new nations, it has become known as Kocevje, Slovenia. I am presently researching the following families:Roethel, Hutter, Blenk and Haverly.Any information would be greatly appreciated.Thanks for stopping by! | The Roethel Family Home Page Updated September 5, 2000 |
Frank J. Roethel 27 Spruceton Street Selden,New York 11784 United States 516-698-2780 [email protected] | |
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