TERESA
Compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber November 2019
Stock photo supplied
by dreamstime.com
The
given name Teresa derives from Greek for harvester. I like to think it is an appropriate name for
me because at least one definition of harvest is to “collect or obtain (a
resource) for future use.” Maybe that is why I love Fall so much when we celebrate our harvest.
My
daughter-in-law, from Siberia, let’s my name roll across her tongue as Tereza
which is also the Romanian pronunciation. When I was younger, I asked my
mother if I was named for someone special.
She informed me that while pregnant she had seen the movie The Red
Shoes (1948) and I was named for a character she liked in the movie. Later I looked it up. One of the actresses
played Terry (Jean Short). As a child I
was always called Terry. As a teen I morphed it to Terri. The name Teresa in the list of baby names in
1949/50 was 81st. All my school friends still call me Terri, while
professionally I go by Teresa. Mother
never explained why they chose Teresa instead of Terry. But I love the given name.
It
was an extremely exciting serendipity to discover, during maternal Feiler
research, that Armin Feiler’s wife, the mother of Edward Lee Feyler was named
Terez Pollacsek/Pollaczek.[i].
Terez died in 1878 when Leopold “Lee”
was 18.[ii] She is buried in the Salgótarjáni út.
Salgotarjani Street Jewish Cemetery in Budapest. A birth date is not given, but if a notation
in the family bible is correct, her birth was about 1836. The burial record states she was born in
Jalshovitz.
As
research for Terez expanded, a tree was discovered and shared on a wonderful
web site created by a gentleman in Canada named Peter Rohel.[iii] He cited a handwritten tree created by Leo
Feliz Pollaczek. With Peter’s
information I was able to introduce myself to Pollaczek’s daughter Magda
Pollaczek Tisza, via telephone, in 2009.
Magda is a third cousin (once removed).
Magda’s husband Laslo Tisza was considered a giant of modern physics
having developed a model in 1938 that explained the unusual behavior of liquid
helium.[iv]
Magda’s
father, born in Vienna, later became a French citizen who migrated to the
United States in 1962, a well-known mathematician receiving the John von Neuman
Theory Prize.[v] I
asked where he got his data for the family tree. Magda indicated she knew nothing more than
what was written. The tree indicates
that Terez Pollacsek Feiler’s father Phillip “Feiwel” Pollacsek died in 1839
from the kick of a horse while working as a “margestate[vi]
of Archduke Albrecht of Habsburg”. If
the information is correct Terez was only three years old when her father
died. This information contradicts a
slip of paper here in the United States written by Dessie Clayton Feyler and
tucked in the Feyler bible. It states, her
husband, Lee’s maternal grandfather died age 65 from a paralytic stroke.
It
is possible that one or both are valid or equally invalid. One scenario to consider is Terez may have had
a stepfather that raised her and died from the stroke and both the tree and the
bible notation then would be correct. Another mystery to be solved.
What
I do know is that Terez had at least three siblings, Joseph, Samuel and
Moritz. Samuel was born in January 1834
in Jawiszowice, Oswiecim County, Poland.
He was a general inspector for the Austrian Railroad. Terez husband Armin Feiler was comptroller of
the Hungarian Royal Railroad. The death record for Terez is in Hungarian and Jalshovitz
may well have been Jawiszowice where brother Samuel was born. Jawiszowice is just north of Biala in the
Teschen region where I have confirmed that two of Armin and Terez Feiler’s
children were born.
Archduke
Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius was Duke of Teschen and was succeeded by
his son as Duke of Teschen during the time frame in question. Charles was the third son of Emperor, King
of Hungary, Leopold II.
Feiwal
along with four siblings were children of Samuel Pollaczek. Their grandfather was named Wolf Pollaczek. The
family was from Boskovice, Blansko District, South Moravian Region of Czechoslovakia.
A published account (that loses a bit in
translation) of the Jewish family says Samuel was a canvas handler who
travelled with his wife. During the
Napoleonic Wars[vii]
his wife Rosalie Salie managed to save golden ducats. She apparently used the ducats to receive an
escort (papers) to leave Stecken[viii],
where they traveled, crossing the camp of French, safely returning to
Boskowitz[ix]
where the family resided. Twenty-nine
years later in 1834 a fire stuck the town of Boskovice and again she rescued
her sick husband however the excitement of the fire, killed him, the day before
the Jewish New Year. When the woman saw
Samuel being taken to his grave she also “fell dead.”[x]
[i]
Compiler’s second great grandmother.
[ii] Anyaknoyvek
1836-1895, Register of Jewish Births, marriages and deaths for Pest, LDS
#0720185 Halottak 1876-1878.
[iv] Laszlo
Tisza at 1010; professor at MIT considered a giant of modern physics," Boston
Globe, 21 April 2009
[v] "Obituary:
Felix Pollaczek," Journal of Applied Probability (Vol 18, No 4 Dec
1981), page 959-963
[vi]
Magistrate?
[vii] 1803-1815
[viii]
There was a battle in Stecken in December 1805
[ix]
Boskowitz (German) Boskovice (Czech)
