Person:Magdolna Maas (1)

Magdolna (Magdalena) Maasz was born 8 October 1841 and died 10 November 1923. Her birth is recorded in the State Archives in Arad, Register 5, No. 51. She was delivered by midwife Magdolna Schubkegl and her Godfather was Mihaly Stefan.

She married Andreas Bartolf on 14 November 1857 when she was just 16 years old. He was 20. In the Marriage Register, she is recorded as Magdolna (Hungarian for Magdalena) and her occupation was listed as "servant."

She was a weaver and there are several pieces still in the family. In 1998, Katherine (Magdalena's granddaughter) sent a "scarf" to her niece Rose Mary. She explained that the piece was actually a towel. It has a red "stripe" and the ends have crocheted edges. Katherine explained that her grandmother who died in 1924 at the age of 82 wove the cloth when she was young. She had 16 children, 9 of whom lived. She bore children for 27 years from the age of 17 to 44. She gave birth to three sets of twins who were born in 1864, 1880, 1883 (the first set when she was 23 and the last when she was 42!).

In another letter 12 March 1998, Katherine said the following about her grandmother (Rose Mary's great grandmother): "She was a very good Grandma. I knew her about four years. She came to live with us. There was a little room in the house that they fixed up for her. My dad had to put a window in it. This way she had a room for herself. And, you know what, I slept with her. Most of the time when she went to some place she took me along. She went to her other kids and sometimes she came home with some hubbert [sic] squash. I loved it and she loved it. They had a stove built into her room. My mother gave her the food. When she cooked she took the food to her. When she brought home the squash she put it in the oven on her stove. When I got to know her she was 78 years old. She had all of her hair. It was snow white. I asked her once about Grandpa. I never knew any grandpa. She had that far away look. She said 'he was a very good man. He took care of his family. He died young. He was only about sixty [actually, he was 70].' She said, 'I don't remember, whether he took some grain or whether he went to buy some. He went, and on the way back he got caught in a cold rain storm. He didn't have an umbrella. And not dressed for it. Probably didn't expect any rain. But he got very sick from it and died.' So she was alone many years. She did a lot of knitting at that age. It was socks she made. Probably for her sons. That's about all I know about my grandma. But she was a very nice person. When we left to come back [to America], I don't forget that good bye. She said to us, 'When you get home, I'll be home too.' I still have to cry now after all these years. When we arrived in New York, she died. It was November 11 if I remember right." She was almost right--the death certificate gives the date as November 10, 1923.

Buried in Lutheran cemetery in Semlak. Tall stone as described by her granddaughter, Katherine Wagner Keller. The stone also records the death of the daughter of Magdalena and Andreas. Young Magdalena died of tuberculosis when she was 33--10 years before her mother died and six years after her father died.

Magdalena's death is recorded in the Lutheran Church Records in Vol. V, No. 31/1923, page 37. Authorized statement was Issued by Walther Sinn, Pastor/Pfarrer in 2001.

1. ↑ Adam Bartolf Researched the Semlak Records. Documented in Semlak Evangelische Church Records
   Copy of Birth Record.

   State Archives Arad, Reg. 5, No. 51

   Documented in Semlak Evangelische Church Records,

2. ↑ Gravestone in Evangelische Church Cemetery..
3. ↑ Copy of Church Death Register.
4. ↑ Ladislau Gyémánt, Researcher
   Page 37.

   Lutheran Church Register, Vol. V, No.31/1923. Death certificate copy issued by Walther Sinn, Pastor, on 25 Jan 1999.

5.   Georg Schmidt. Semlak Lutheran (Evangelische) Church Birth Records.