Just Another Immigrant
1725 | The first Zimmermanns emmigrate to Austria-Hungary. |
30 March 1867 | The Austro-Hungarian Empire is founded. Both countries have their own government but are united through one monarch. (Dual monarchy) |
1868 | The Nationality Act, that declared "all citizens of Hungary form, politically, one nation, the indivisible unitary Hungarian nation (nemzet), of which every citizen of the country, whatever his personal nationality (nemzetiség), is a member equal in rights." |
19. Oct 1872 | Barbara Zimmermann born in Városlöd. |
1879 | Beginning with the 1879 Primary Education Act and the 1883 Secondary Education Act, the Hungarian state made more efforts to reduce the use of non-Magyar languages, in strong violation of the 1868 Nationalities Law. |
1881 | Hungarian authorities put constant pressure upon all non-Hungarians to Magyarize their names and the ease with which this could be done gave rise to the nickname of Crown Magyars (the price of registration being one korona). |
1885 | Barbara's mother becomes ill. Barbara takes over the houshold. |
Barbara meets Vendel Kundermann, an apprentice tailor from Akja. | |
1893 | Vendel is finished with his vocational training and opens his own tailor shop in Urkút. |
Vendel courts Barbara and is threatened by the Városlöd village boys. | |
March 1894 | intented wedding |
19 March 1894 | Barbara's mother, Suzanne Alich, dies. |
14 Sept 1894 | Barbara marries Vendel Kundermann. |
Nov. 1894 | Vendel is called to military duty. |
5 August 1895 | * Wendell Peter Kundermann |
April 1896 | Vendel is released from the military. |
14 June 1896 | György Zimmermann, Barbara's father, dies. |
Plans are made for going to South America. In Rio Grande Do Sul there are relatives. | |
5 August 1897 | * Johnann (John) Kundermann |
Vendel is often called back to the military. | |
25 Sept 1897 | Family Kundermann travels to South America. They took the train to Fiume (Rijeka) and then an Italien freighter to Brazil. Wendell is 2 years old, John is 6 weeks old. |
Nov. 1897 | The ship stops at Santos (São Paulo), 600 miles north of Rio Grande Do Sul. The captain refuses to go farther. |
There is hardly any work for a tailor in the coffee-city Santos. | |
Family Kundermann moves to São Paulo. | |
Vendel gets sick and is taken to the Hospital de Isolamento by the police. | |
19 Feb. 1898 | Vendel dies on typhoid fever. |
10 Sept. 1898 | Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) is assissanated in Geneva. |
Barbara looks for work. The children were almost kidnapped. | |
Barbara starts working for the museum director Dr. Hermann von Ihering. They live in a small basement room. | |
Wendell is almost bit by a venomous snake. | |
July 1901 | The trip back to Hungary begins. Both boys have the measels. |
Sept. 1901 | Barbara and the boys are back in Hungary. |
October 1901 | Barbara works in Budapest. The boys stay at Uncle Kungl. Barbara pays for their board. Wendell works as a shepherd. |
October 1905 | John go to an orphanage in Balaton Füred. Wendell stays with Uncle Kungl. |
Barbara loans money from Uncle Kungl and leaves a trunk full of embroidered scarfs and handkerchiefs as deposit. Although she paid the money back, she never saw the trunk again. | |
Nov. 1905 | Barbara travels to America. Wendell was not allowed to go to the train station to say good by to his mother. |
4 Dec.1905 | Barbara is admitted through Ellis Island and continues on to relatives in Akron, Ohio. |
Barbara works for B.F.Goodrich making rubber shoes. | |
Barbara starts up a boarding house. | |
August 1906 | Barbara sends Uncle Kungl money to pay the fare for Wendell. |
Barbara marries Anton Bischoff. | |
1 Oct. 1906 | Wendell and Uncle Anton (Barbara's brother) travel to America on the SS. Gascogne in the steerage class. Wendell sees an electric light bulb for the first time. |
1 Nov. 1906 | Wendell and Anton are detained for several days at Ellis Island but are finally admitted. |
Wendell goes to school in Akron. The principal gives him additional instruction. | |
1907 | Family Kundermann/Bischoff moves to St. Louis, Mo. |
20 Aug 1908 | Anton's parents travel from Hungary to America bringing John with them. |
1909 | Wendell gets a working permit and does not go to school anymore. |
8 Nov. 1909 | Wendell works for Ely and Walker in St. Louis. |
Aug. 1911 | Wendell buys a house (Blow Street, South St. Louis) for his family. |
Dec. 1911 | Anton Bischoff abandons the family. |
March 1912 | The Kundermanns lose the house because they could not meet the monthly payments. |
28 July 1914 | The Great War (World War I) starts in Europe. |
1917 | Wendell gains American Citizenship. |
1917 | John joins the army |
April 1917 | The United States enter the war. |
1918 | Wendell buys a house South St. Louis (Gertrude Ave). The neighborhood is German. |
4/11 Nov 1918 | Armistice in Europe. The Great War is over. |
Wendell, John and Ella (future wife of John) sing in the choir of the German Theater. | |
1920 | John and Ella kessler are wed. |
June 1921 | Wendell works for Schwarz Sample Co. and falls in love with the company's secretary. |
12 Nov 1921 | Wendell Peter Kundermann and Irene Schwarz are wed. |
1922 | Barbara works for Fred Bentz caring for the houshold. |
1 July 1922 | Barbara is divorced. |
14 Nov. 1923 | Barbara marries Fred Bentz. |
9 Oct. 1922 | Gene Elva Kundermann is born. |
1923 | The house in the Gertrude Ave. is sold. The family moves to 706 Yeatman, Webster Groves. Barbara lives for a short time there. |
29 Oct 1929 | The stock market crashes. The Great Depression begins. |
1935 | Congress passed the Social Security Act. |
20 June 1936 | Barbara's husband, Fred Bentz, dies. |
1 Sept 1939 | World War II starts in Europe. |
21 Mar 1940 | Irene's father, Hermann Schwarz, dies. Wendell buys Schwarz Sample Co. |
7 Dec 1941 | Pearl Harbor - The United States enter World war II. |
15 August 1945 | Atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders. |
1948 | Barbara's face nerves are operated on. |
5 Nov 1949 | Wendell and Irene Kundermann move to 873 W. Greeley, Webster Groves. |
12 Nov 1949 | Gene Kundermann and George Speckert are wed. The reception is in 873 W. Greeley. |
1950 | Barbara has breast cancer. Both are removed. She said: "Let them have them! I don't need them anymore." |
1950 | Barbara moves into the Good Samaritan Home in St. Louis. She contracts skin cancer. |
1958 | Barbara moves into the new Good Samaritan Home in St. Louis County overlooking the Missippi River. |
Barbara breaks her hip and is bed-ridden. | |
6 April 1960 | Barbara dies. |
1 Jan 1963 | Schwarz Sample Co. is sold. |
2 July 1964 | The Civil Rights Act is signed by President Johnson. |