It has taken me a long time to piece together this family tree. I know from my grandmother's patronymic that her father's name was Joseph, as it was written on Elizabeth's Russian passport in 1924. I know her mother's name from the Ship's record at the time of immigration, and and from the signature on the back of a photo.

The Russian Cyrillic, translated reads, "Ivan Josephovitch Tichy, Elizabetha, wife, Karolina, Magdalena, Alexander." See photo below. I cannot de-cipher what is written above Magdalena's signature.

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 the Franz Tichy was not a colonist, his citizenship would have been determined by his country of birth. I am assuming he was born in the old province of Galicia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Many such people called themselves Austrians. 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 appears to be 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)

Children of Elizabeth Tichy: see Philip Schafer, under Schafer Tree

A photo of my grandmother Elisabeth Schafer, as a young woman, taken in Russia.

A photo of my grandfather Philip Schafer, in a Russian uniform, 1912-1918.

I am guessing that this is a portrait of my great grandmother, Magdalena Tichy, daugther of Johann Dorn and Katharina Meinier (Meinert). Andrew, my oldest Schafer cousin, has this photo.

See "The Tichy Family of South Russia" printed in GRHS Heritage Review, March 2010. Click here for complete version.