Anna Thieler

Anna spent her whole life thinking she was from Germany.

It made sense. She knew that she was born in Europe, that her family moved to the U.S. soon after she was born (1885), and that her parents spoke German at home.

Besides, there wasn't really anyone to correct her. Her mother died in childbirth when she was six, and her father didn't speak much about the days before he married his second wife.

In the 1900 census, Father listed Germany as his place of birth, as well as Anna's step-mother's.

By 1910, Anna married, and lived with her five year-old son and her native-born husband from Illinois. Trivialities like where her parents came from 25 years before didn't really matter anymore. She was American now, much like her siblings who'd started Anglicizing their last name: "Tyler."

In 1917, her father passed away, putting more distance from her past. Through 1920 and 1930 censuses, Anna repeated her mistake.

Although the 1940 census didn't ask about parents' countries of origin, Anna didn't have the chance to answer.

Anna's son married in1930 and her daughter-in-law moved in. A year later, Anna passed away at the age of 46, never understanding where she was really came from, much less why her parents wanted to leave.

Anna was not from Germany. Nor was she from Austria, as her brother John Paul and older sister Gisela thought. Gisela was on the right track, though – she'd at least guessed that *Magyar* was her parent's "native tongue."

And therein lies a clue as to why the Thieler family left Szentjanos ("Sant John"), Hungary in 1887. The newly autonomous Kingdom of Hungary – still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – had recently begun a policy of "Magyarization." They wanted Hungary for Hungarians. And as ethnic Germans on the western side of the country, the Thieler family apparently felt that better opportunities lay elsewhere.

It is a strange thing that we can learn such details about a person who lived a hundred years ago, and yet to have never once thought to ask those who would have known them best.

As a ten year-old, I certainly would have never thought to ask Anna's son, whom I'd met, about his mother. I just didn't know what I didn't know.

Anna's son is pictured here – he's the gentleman on the left. And in the center there – that's my brother.

This picture was taken in 1985. Grandpa Roy passed away in 1988.
I looked up the address that the family lived at when they first arrived. This house was built in 1888, which means that Anna Thieler was among its first occupants.