Certificate File or C-File
When I began my research on my Kappel family line I didn't even know where the family came from? My grandmother Dorothy Mason-Kapple did some research and found out her late husband's family was from Austria. The family told her they were from Graz, Styria, Austria. I continued the research on the family beginning in 1998. I didn't order naturalization documents until the year 2000.When I researched what I might find in the naturalization documents I was excited to discover that my great-grandmother Mary Kurta-Kappel's 1939 petition for naturalization would likely include a photo. Sadly when I received a copy of the petition from National Archives Great Lakes Region, Chicago there was no photo on it. It said no photo required. Since our family had no photo of her I was disappointed by the lack of one. These records did contain valuable information so I wasn't completely disappointed.
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| An Example of a Naturalization Petition with a photo |
I assumed this was the end of the trail for photos from this governmental source. I was wrong. Interestingly in the year 2019 when two people came forward with long awaited photos I would discover there was a government record with my ancestor's photo. The certificate for naturalization contains a photo of the immigrant. It's contained in a certificate file (C-File) kept by US Citizenship and Naturalization Services. The National Archives office I originally wrote to for information didn't have a copy of the certificate in their files.
Doing some research in 2019 I discovered I could get a copy of USCIS file. I was able to order a copy of the certificate file online, which I did in October. I didn't get copies from the file until January. The agency making the copies has to go through the documents and make redactions which I assume can result in a longer than expected wait time. Oddly you can get unredacted documents from the courts and National Archives. Many Naturalization records are unredacted and available online now at Familysearch.org.
When I received a copy of my ancestor Mary Kurta-Kappel's naturalization certificate it was nearly exactly 80 years to the day that my great-grandmother became US Citizen. I was able to celebrate her naturalization anniversary with another photo and a copy of her certificate. So happy to get this copy!
I received a copy of my great-grandmother's petition, and certificate for naturalization, January 2, 2020. My understanding was I would only get a digital copy by logging into the website when my documents were ready. I found the website complicated to use. I did figure out how to sign up and receive the digital copies, which is the way I originally retrieved them. A few days later I also received copies in the mail.
In 2000 I paid the National Archives $10 for a copy of my great-grandmother's petition and certificate of arrival. In 2019 I paid $65 for her naturalization petition and certificate of naturalization. Each file had different documents. To get all information about an ancestor I would look for information held by each government organization. The certificate file can contain even more information than my ancestor's did if you're lucky. An Enemy Alien Exception might be contained in the C-File, for instance. Below a record for someone naturalizing and stating they are a conscientious objectors.
There has been talk about raising the cost of a C-File from $65 to $385. I would probably not order the file at that price.
Burgenland, Austria Catholic Church Records
Burgeland, Austria Church records belonging to the Catholic Church diocese in Eisenstadt, Austria and Gyor, Hungary have now been digitized and uploaded to the internet. You can view them for free until March 31, 2020. The fee schedule after that is as follows: the following fees will apply: EUR 10/15 days, EUR 20/3 months and EUR 50/1 year."
These books are being restored by the Institute for Paper Restoration in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria. I was at the palace not long ago and had no idea they were restoring these books. My ancestors never dreamed they would end up in Schonbrunn Palace, or at least their personal records.
I'm finding going through the books and getting back to the place I left off is very difficult based on the way this site is set up. Each page doesn't have an individual web page address. I love the way Familysearch.org is set up. At that site I can copy a link to each image.
There are already Burgenland church records online at Familysearch.org, but they only go back to 1789 for my family area. The records for my family village of Inzenhof/Borosgodor are now available back to 1710 in the parish books for Heiligenkreuz. The parish changed over to Felosronok in 1789 and those church books are at Familysearch.org.
The problem tracing the family back to 1710 is that in the early 1800's the marriage entries don't list the parents names. Without parents names or house numbers families are hard to trace. There are a few first names consistently used over and over again. Joanne, Stephen, and Michael were common names for boys. Maria, Veronica, Barbara, and Catharina were favorites for girls. Every family used these names so there would often be more than one Maria Kurta, for instance, born around the same time in the same village.
What I've decided to do is imitate the PRDH that has been put together for Quebec, Canada for my family names. So basically what I'm doing is reconstructing all families carrying my names in hopes that there is a naming pattern or common godparents that might lead me to make a connection with specific families?
This is how I'm reconstructing the families:
First I snip records with the snipping tool.
I try to decipher names the best I can. Some are impossible to read.
What I'm finding doesn't seem to make sense? I'm finding couples with very few or no children? Either they don't baptize all of their children, or they live in another area part of the year?
Another interesting discovery is mixed Lutheran and Catholic marriages.
I also found a Marx who likely converted from the Lutheran religion to Catholicism based on the previous record. When I first found the record saying convertita (below) I didn't know what it meant until I found the record above.
The Gussing Catholic Church records go back to 1666. The Kopls were in the area as early as 1690.
Even if I cannot make any definite connections with my own family all of the people in Inzenhof were closely related (which is why they all looked so much alike). I'm enjoying reviewing the old records even if some of them are very hard to read. Looking at the records has added to my appreciation of my Kappel/Kurta ancestors.