Rosie Schafer, 1923 - 1990, born
Anakoj- Eli, Crimea -- mother
It has taken me a long time to piece
together this family tree. To start all I knew was that Grandmother Elisabeth’s father was Joseph, as it was written on her 1924 Russian passport. I knew her mother’s name from the Ship’s record at the time of immigration, and from the signature on the back of a photo. Since then, I have obtained Archive copies of Catholic Church records which provide precise information about her birth, her marriage to my Grandfather, as well as the birth and marriage records of her parents.
My uncle Jack Schafer's recollection
was that his grandfather, ie. his mother's father, was
born in Austria. But I know now that Joseph Tichy was
born in South Russia, because his father Anton Tichy
was born in Glückstal, Odessa district. I know
that Anton's father, Franz Tichy, was a village secretary
and property manager, rather than a farmer or land-owner.
If Franz Tichy was not a colonist, his citizenship
would have been determined by his country of birth.
I am assuming he was born in what is today known as Slovakia,
part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
A search of family surnames
in Austria today indicates that "Tichy" was,
and is, a common family name.
Records obtained from the Simferopol
and Kherson Archives refer to my Tichy family as Austrians.
Because they were never land-owners, they never became
Russian citizens. Franz Tichy was a village secretary,
and moved around South Russia, spending time in Bessarabia,
Glückstal, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson and Crimea.
At one point, Franz Tichy worked for the Falz estate,
which later became known as the very famous Falz-Fein
estate.
This is a photo of my grandmother's
brother, Ivan, and his family, which may have been sent
from Russia to my grandmother in Canada, or my grandmother
may have brought it with her in 1925. (Ivan is the Slavic
variant of Johann.)
Children of Joseph Tichy and Magdalena Dorn: (married
in Kherson Catholic Church Parish 1881)
Nikolai - 1898, baptism record
Children of Elizabeth Tichy: see
Philip Schafer, under Schafer
Tree
A photo of my grandmother
Elisabeth Schafer, as a young woman, taken in Russia.
Baptism record of Grandmother Tichy