Filling Out The Picture of Our Kurta Burgenland Immigrants

I began my research on my Kapple/Kappel line in 1998 when few documents were available online. The cost of requesting documents by mail was often expensive so I concentrated on my direct line only. Now that many documents are online and can be found free of charge at Familysearch.org I'm able to gather information on my ancestor Mary/Maria Kurta-Kappel's siblings. Ancestry.com also has copies of original documents which you can access more economically, often, than requesting it from an archive or government agency.

My Austrian cousins/ DNA matches have provided me with more information, which along with affordable copies of documents, has allowed me to fill in the story of my Burgenland immigrant ancestors.

I knew my own ancestors came to American, but didn't know how many of their siblings did. My great-grandparents Frank Kappel and Maria Kurta immigrated to America in the 1890's. I collected up all the information I could find about them.

When the Ellis Island records came online I was able to find my great-grandparent's and two great-great-grandfathers Christian Koppel and Johann Kurta. According an obituary from the early 1930's all but one Kurta sibling was living in America in 1932.

"Allentown Morning Call" 1932

With this information and that provided by my Austrian cousins I have found more documentation for the family.

Johann Kurta father of this family was born 1 March 1852 in Inzenhof now Burgenland, Austria

The father of the family listed above Johann Kurta visited his daughter and son-in-law in 1900. It appears he stayed at least a couple of years. He probably had the photo below taken during his visit?

On the passenger list he appears on he is said to be a smith by occupation and he names his son-in-law Frank Kepel (Kappel) as a relative living in Egypt, Pennsylvania, which was also his final destination. He sailed aboard the ship S.S. Westernland which sailed out of Antwerp, Belgium.

Julia Kurta-Deutsch born 27 September 1882 in Inzenhof now Burgeland Austria

She came to America in 1899, a year after her sister and my great-grandmother immigrated to America.

She gave the address of my great-grandparents and named Frank Kappel as her brother-in-law. She arrived at the Port of New York where she would have taken a train to Allentown, Pennsylvania where she would join her sister and brother-in-law.

She married in 1902. She was a minor and her father Johann gave her his permission to marry. Julia's occupation was Cigar Marker and her husband Andrew Deutsch was a wire worker.

Rosina/Rose/Rozalia Kurta- Nüsslein was born 8 February 1885 in Inzenhof now Burgenland, Austria.

My aunt Loretta and I match the Kurta/Nüsslein  family of Austria at FamilyTree DNA and MyHeritage. Rose (Rosina) Kurta/Nüsslein was the sister of my ancestor Maria Kurta/Kappel. 

Filling in Rosina's story begins with her immigration to America through the port of New York in 1902. Maybe she came to attend her sister Julia's wedding?

Instead of naming her sister or brother-in-law as relatives she named her father Johann Kurta who she said was living in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania (I had a great deal of difficulty deciphering the name of that place) . The woman listed above her gave my great-grandmother's name as a relative. Maria's address was the same as her father Johann.

She stayed on in Pennsylvania where she apparently met her husband George Nüsslein who she married in 1904 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Rosina's occupation was said to be housekeeper and her husband George was a baker.

I didn't know the marriage photos her descendant shared with me were taken in Pennsylvania. I had assumed she married in Austria.

Another photo of Rosina should have been a clue that she married in America because she is wearing light colored modern clothing which wouldn't have been worn in Inzenhof where adult women wore dark colors. The photo below is part of the set taken for her wedding in 1904.

The Nüsslein decided to return to Europe around 1907 when they purchased a farm in Hart, Pischelsdorf, Austria where they remained for the rest of their lives.

Anna Barbara Nüsslein was born 6 July 1909 in Hart, Austria (my grandfather Rudolph Christian Kapple was born in April 1909, also in Hart, Austria). Anna married into the Jandl family. A Jandl cousin, Anna's son is a 2nd cousin match for my aunt Loretta on the atDNA at Family Tree DNA and MyHeritage.

The sons came later

The Kurta daughters came to America first. Possibly they came to find a husband, because all 3 of them married in America. With so much out migration from what is today Burgenland it was likely to be difficult to find young men to marry as they were coming to America to work.

The sons of Johann Kurta and Anna Jost were younger than their daughters (with the exception of Stephen who probably stayed in Austria). These boys didn't come to America until they were thought to be old enough to travel alone. They remained in Inzenhof with their mother Anna Kurta nee Jost when their father spent time in America.

John Kurta was born 27th June 1889 in Inzenhof now Burgenland, Austria

John Kurta came to America in 1907. He gives the address of his brother-in-law Frank Kappel and misidentifies him as his uncle.

Johann Kurta Jr. filed his declaration of intention to become a United States Citizen in 1909. The ship he arrived on seems to be misidentified as Vaterland, the ship his sister and bother took in 1910. The actual passenger list appears to say Zeeland.

We learn more about Johann/John from his Declaration of Intention for naturalization. His hair is said to have been blond his eyes brown, and he is 5'6 in height. He worked as a brewer. A profession that would end when prohibition was instituted in 1920. 

According to Johann's WWI Draft registration he was working as a brewer at the Northampton Brewing Company. He says he has a wife and two children to support when he registers for the draft in 1917. He was married to a Justina Oswald. I have not been able to find a marriage record of this couple. 

In 1920 John Kurta and family appear on the 1920 Census for Northampton, Pennsylvania. His former employment at the brewery likely ended with prohibition he now worked at a cement mill. I would suspect that a cement mill job was less desirable than a brewery job.   

It appears John Kurta worked his way out of the cement mill, or the depression eliminated his job?   According to the US 1930 Census John Kurta now owned his own farm. This sounds like wonderful progress but the depression lowered the prices of farm produce and farmers struggled. 

We see below that John Kurter/Kurta is listed in the 1930 Census with sons but not his wife Justina?

Justina/Gustina was an inmate in the Allentown State Insane Asylum in 1930. Some immigrants to the United States from different cultures had difficulty adjusting to life here. Cultural differences, coupled with financial uncertainly, drove some to insanity. 

The stress of upended careers, a wife in an asylum, and left to raise his children alone appears to have caused John's health to suffer. He died on 21 August 1932 at the young age of 43. He died of TB which was often caused by poverty, and a weak immune system. 

Allentown "Morning Call" 22 August 1932

Frank Kurta was born 1 May 1884 in Inzenhof now Burgenland, Austria

Frank Kurta came to America in 1910 on the same ship, Vaterland, as his sister who was returning to America from a visit to Austria. This passenger list states Frank was blind in one eye. He came with an MD's Certificate which stated his disability.

I have not found a marriage record for Frank Kurta. He was still single when he registered for the WWI draft in 1917. Here we find his birth information confirmed. He is living in Chicago and working for McAvoy Brewery as a bottler. He is described as medium height and complexion, with light brown eyes and hair.

One reason why I can't find much about Frank could be that he fell on hard times after the McAvoy brewery closed down in 1920 when prohibition was enforced.

Joseph Kurta was born 7 March 1887 in Inzenhof now Burgenland, Austria

Joseph Kurta came to America in 1905 with his sister Maria. He gave the address and named his brother-in-law Frank Kappel as the person he was joining in America, and of course Maria named Frank as her husband.

I haven't been able to find much out about Joseph Kurta.

He married a Cecilia Brunner on 6 Feb 1915 in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.  Cecilia like her sister-in-law Julia Kurta-Deutsch worked as a cigar marker which may be how her brother met Cecilia?  The marriage record also confirms that Joseph's father was a blacksmith.

I also found Joseph living in Sayre, Pennsylvania on the 1930 Census the same place he was said to be living in the obituary of his brother John Kurta. He was a laborer on the steam railroad. He said he was still married but he was not living with his wife, instead he was living in a boarding house.

When Joseph Kurta registers for the draft during WWII he does not mention his wife but instead gives the name of his sister Julia Kurta-Deutsch. A description of him states he is 5'5" in height and weighs 180 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He no longer works for the steam railroad. He has scars on his left thumb which perhaps he got while working for the railroad?

Joseph Kurta died 23 August 1954. The prayer card for Joseph Kurta is still in the possession of the descendants of Rosina Kurta-Nuesslein's family in Austria. 

Herman Kurta was born 24th of July in 1891 in Inzenhof now in Burgenland, Austria

He came to America 1910 through the port of New York. 

Herman was naturalized in 1915.

Herman Kurta married Anna Zatler 15th of May 1915 in Cook County, Illinois.

Herman Kurta registered for the draft during WWI and named his wife and child Arthur as dependants. His occupation was driving a milk wagon.

In 1920, according to the US Census, he was working in the car shop for a railroad car manufacturer, and living with Anna his wife and Arthur his son. My great-uncle Steve Kappel was also living in his Uncle's household also working for the same railroad car manufacturer; likely the company his father worked for Pullman.

Herman Kurta had a family photo taken with himself, his wife Anna, and an unknown man who could be Steve Kappel or his brother Frank Kurta?

The changing economic climate during the Depression also resulted in a career change for Herman who was listed as working as a cook in a Diner along with his wife Anna (nicknamed Daisy) according to the 1940 Census. I'm not sure if they were owners of the Diner or they were employees there?

Herman P. Kurta/Curta died 10 December 1959 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.

Ferdinand/Nandor Kurta born 7 January 1899 in Inzenhof now Burgenland, Austria

According to his brother John's obituary Ferdinand came to America and lived in Chicago, Illinois. 

I first learned about Ferdinand from a couple of photos of him sent to me by our Austrian cousins..I didn't have any information about Ferdinand until I paged through the Rabafuzes Civil Registration records at FamilySearch.org and found his birth information. 

I have found no record of him in the United States so the obituary might be in error?

The fact that Ferdinand sent a  postcard from the Rose Hotel in Kormend with his photo on it to his sister, likely when he was in his teens, means he was still living in the Burgenland area during WWI. It was more difficult to immigrate to the United States during the 1920's and later.

A photo of him with a woman and child (maybe his wife and child?) was likely taken in the 1920's. The little boy has an Austrian style hat so I'm thinking this photo was taken in Austria? It's possible Ferdinand came to the United States but didn't stay? 

Brother named Brothers not named in obituary?

Another brother named Frederick was said to be living in Europe? I haven't found a brother named Frederick in the church or Civil Registration records? I have a Vincze not named in the obituary and a Stephen. I initially found Stephen when I first began research in the church records 20 years ago. The church records on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT, and the digitized records at Familysearch.org, end with the 1895 church records. However the Civil Registration records, which are also digitized, pickup where those leave off.

Because the Civil records begin in 1895 I was able to find Vincze's birth record. I first learned about him because my great-uncle Joseph Kappel mentioned him on a passenger list when he returned to America in 1922 after being raised by family in Austria (which is another story, for another time). Joseph stated he had an uncle named Vincze Kurta living in Inzenhof.

 I thought he may have been wrong about the name but Johann Kurta's death record has a Vince as the person who reported Johann's death.

Vincze Kurta was born 21 January 1896 in Borosgodor which is now Inzenhof, Burgenland, Austria. I didn't find him earlier because he was born after the available church records.

Mysteries remain

I haven't been able to find Ferdinand in any American records, his brothers in America are missing from some of the censuses they should appear on. There should be a marriage record for John Kurta. 

I also have an unidentified brother whose photo is below? I believe he isn't Herman or Ferdinand. He may be John, Joseph, Frank, or Vince? 

The Story of the Kurta Immigrants

The story of the Kurta Immigrants is a story familiar to many families who immigrated from Burgenland, Austria. They followed the same migration paths as their neighbors, and worked for the same companies. They fell victim to economic downturns, and some decided to return to the old country. Other prospered and stayed. 

I didn't know anyone in my family worked in breweries, but now I know Frank and John Kurta both worked in breweries, and both likely lost their jobs due to prohibition. I'm sure other Burgenland immigrants fell victim to prohibition layoffs in bars and breweries. 

These families had to weather the Great Depression. We know John Kurta didn't make it to see the end of the Depression, but other family members did and worked there way up into the middle class. It took a lot of courage for them to come to a country where they didn't speak the language, and where they faced some discrimination. They toughed it out and made it anyway, and I salute them for that. 

Using Facial Recognition to ID Photo & Finally Success After Twenty Years!

This photo only says Koppel on the back. The family matches Mary Kurta-Kappel and the 5 children she left Belgium with in 1910. Likely taken in what is now Inzenhof, Burgenland, Austria

I've been searching of for photos of my Kappel great-grandparents, and their children, for a little over 20 years. I've been asking my family, and distant cousins online, if they had any such photos? For many years I've done frequent Google searches, and searched through the photos at Ancestry hoping to find photos of my great-grandparents and 10 of their 11 children. I was given a photo of my grandfather by an Aunt when I was a child. My grandparents divorced when my father was a child, and my grandmother moved with her children to Los Angeles. My grandfather remained in Chicago. The family knew very little about the Kappel side of the family and had no photos of them. My father didn't look like my grandmother's side of the family, and neither do I. I've been dying to see what the side of the family we took after looked like? The family was from what is today Inzenhof, Burgenland, Austria.

A 2nd cousin match of one of my aunt's contacted me to tell me he had some photos. That was last May when I was in Ireland and not checking my email. Fortunately I got in contact with him again in September. Coincidentally another relative got in contact with me at Ancestry around the same time. She also had family photos. After all this time two people came forward with photos!

My aunt's 2nd cousin match, who lives in Austria, has dozens of family photos the problem is many aren't marked. How does one identify people in photos, many taken over 100 years old? I thought about that for a while and remembered facial recognition software could match up the faces. The FamilySearch Discovery site Compare-A-Face's feature was the only once I was familiar with; so I began comparing the marked photos with the unmarked photos.

The FamilySearch Compare-A-Face feature gives you a percentage which represents your likeness to the person you're comparing with. The site is designed to allow you to compare yourself with your ancestors and relatives. I found that it's actually even more helpful when it comes to comparing the same people in different photos at different ages.

What I needed to do after beginning my comparison was to decide what percentage would indicate the a person in two different photos was the same person? I haven't found a relative that I matched that was more than 60% similar to me, my father who looked much like his father had a 70% likeness to him. I've also found that even unrelated people can get a 60% likeness, which would lead me to believe that any match in that range isn't really significant. It appears to me that a likeness over 70% indicates a relationship between those compared. A likeness over 90% is a strong indication the people in the two photos are the same person (although siblings can match in that range).

The marked photos I have are mainly of people over 50 years of age. The unmarked ones are of people under 40. Here is an example using a comparison of my great-grandmother Mary Kurta-Kappel's photos. It gives a 97% likeness which I would take as a confirmation they are of same woman. If both photos were taken at around the same ages I would expect a 99% likeness. Below we see Mary on the left under 30 years of age, and Mary, on the right, in her 70's. There are still enough similarities too make an accurate identification. I've found this isn't always the case. Some people change quite substantially with age and their comparisons fall below 90%. Also the quality of the photos makes a difference. Poor quality images may not produce accurate results.

I had wondered how high a percentage would be possible among family members who look very much alike? I was saying that 90% scores generally confirm two people are the same, but actually siblings can also match in the 90% range at FamilySearch. That is because this feature at FamilySearch isn't designed for the purpose of identifying the same person in different photos. I think it is very helpful for doing that in most cases because most people aren't carbon copies of other people. Siblings can be an exception, however. 

I decided to try the Amazon AWS site to see if it would help me differentiate people that look very much alike such as these siblings below. The FamilySearch Compare-A-Face feature says they are 92% similar and we might conclude they are the same person? No they are not. They are Kurta family sisters Mary and Rosalia.

The facial comparison feature at Amazon is called Rekognition. It's used by law enforcement agencies to identify criminals. Doing a comparison of the same photos with the same people above Rekognition isn't giving a percentage score in the 90's or 80's, for that matter, because the strike mark through the equals signs means they are unlikely to be the same person at all. A close look at their facial features confirms to me this is a correct prediction.

Amazon's facial Rekognition isn't very good when it comes to low quality images or people compared at different ages. I'm still using both sites for my comparisons. I feel very confident when both sites agree with nearly the same high percentages.

The comparisons are especially difficult when it comes to children. Apple suggests children under 13 avoid using facial recognition on their phones because children, especially siblings, can look too much alike. Apparently children don't develop an appearance with enough distinctiveness until puberty for facial recognition to be a secure lock for devices.

Here you can see how 2 siblings of different sexes are so similar looking they are both given high percentages of likeness by Amazon Rekognition. The photo of the family group is marked Koppel on the back with no first names. The mother in the photo matches Mary Kurta-Kappel at a high percentage so I would say this is Mary and her children. Mary and 5 of her children sailed from a port in Belgium to New York in 1910. These children seem to match those children age wise (maybe a goodbye photo?). The eldest boy was Stephen. I would guess the boy in both photos is likely Stephen at different ages.

We also see faces that aren't as similar with the = sign struck through. 

Another match between this photo and an unmarked photo is the one below. It appears the eldest, daughter in the family group photo matches another photo of a woman with her husband and baby. I wouldn't have caught this without facial recognition. Once I saw the high percentage I looked at the two photos very carefully and the look of the eyes, shape the face, and mouth do look very much alike. There is a possibility of error when it comes to using computer generated facial comparisons. You have to examine the photos yourself and decide whether the predictions are correct? As I have read humans are still better than computers at picking up subtle differences in faces. 

One feature which is helpful that FamilySearch Compare-a-Face doesn't have, and Amazon's Rekognition does, is you can find someone using a single photo of them uploaded on the left and a group photo on the right. An example of this is the comparison below. I used a photo of Johann Koeppel at his wedding and a group photo of his sister Juliana's wedding. This feature successfully picked Johann out of the crowd, and eliminated the rest of the group. 

I have a few people in photos I haven't be able to identify. Here is an example of how I'm trying to identify these people. I have a photo of 3 people that is unmarked, below, or it is stuck down with glue so you can't see the back? According to what is written on this photo page 3 siblings may appear in photos on this page. They are named as Julia, Herman, and Maria/Mary (Mary is my ancestor). A photo at the top of the page appears to be of 3 siblings. We know Herman is the man in the photo but the two women are trickier. According to facial recognition their faces are similar to one another with high percentages of similarity. My observation is the woman on the right is Maria/Mary. So is the woman on the left Julia? I have no marked photos of her so I don't know? I would like more verification before I make a judgement. Since the two women look alike I would guess they are very likely Mary and her sister Julia? 

When comparing the unknown person in the photo above with another unknown in another photo there are similarities. The wedding photo, below right, was obviously taken many years before the photo above so there is unlikely to be an exact likeness. According to FamilySearch's Compare-A-Face they are 85% similar. I've verified with other family photos that can be the case as people age they often compare with younger photos in the 80% range. However, Amazon's Rekognition disagrees, and does not identify them as possibly the same person. Like I said before Amazon's feature doesn't do as well with poor quality images or people at different ages. Unlike the FamilySearch feature this product is designed to identify the same person at around the same age. 

Care always has to be taken because even cousins look alike. I have enough identified pictures of Mary/Maria Kurta-Kappel to identify the photo below with a high degree of confidence that this is Mary Kurta-Kappel with her husband Frank Kappel. It better be  Frank or Mary was cheating lol. 

I can further identify Frank by comparing him his cousin who is in marked photos. I thought he looked somewhat like his cousin; so I did the comparison. Compare-A-Face agrees with me. When I compared at Rekognition it did its job by declaring they were not the same person, and clearly they are not. However I now know cousins can have similarities in the 80% range. 

Doing so many comparisons has helped me understand how these features work, and how to best use them for identifying unknown people in photographs, and even people who were wrongly identified in photos. 

Amazon's AWS Rekognition requires that you provide credit card information to use it. This feature is free to use. Other features on this site cost money to use so they want a credit card on file because of that. I think they want to know who is using this also? They'll charge your credit card a $1 fee to verify it is good. They are supposed to refund the dollar but this is so helpful I don't care if they do. It's worth $1. I had a hard time logging in the first time. You have to click the root login then enter your email address which brings up the box for your password. 

The only requirement for using the FamilySearch Compare-A-Face feature is a free account with them. The only draw back with using this site to compare multiple photos is when you want to change the primary person for comparison you have keep clicking menu in the top right hand corner to go back to the upload page (it's helpful to save images when asked although it doesn't always work?). You can compare with the primary person's photo, on the right, continuously by clicking the plus sign in the left corner to upload a photo or compare with saved photos shown across the top of the page. . 

I am able to compare some of the photos using my own eyesight. People at different ages, and people who have gained or lost weight, can be tricky for me to compare using my vision alone. The facial recognition comparisons have been very helpful for me as I sort through dozens of photos. 

Never give up if you are also looking for photos of ancestors. You never know who might have them, or where they might be? Remember in the 20th Century our ancestors attended events where they may have been photographed, such as family weddings? Also my great-grandmother sent photos of herself and her family back to her sister who still lived in Austria. Keep looking and asking if you're looking for family photos. 

Below are some photos I can't identify. They were taken in Allentown, Pennsylvania. They are likely Kurta family relatives. One may be Julia Deutsch nee Kurta?