Text size

Page 1 of 63 min read

From the Banat Villages

Nicholas Reitter, Sr. and his first wife, Elizabeth Krauser, grew up in two neighboring villages of Torontál County (Torontál vármegye), in the part of the Banat that belonged to Hungary until 1920. The Reitters came from Nagyszentpéter, which its German settlers called Groß-Sankt-Peter (today Sânpetru Mare, Romania), or from its daughter village. The Krausers came from Sárafalva (today Saravale, Romania), which was part of the commune of Sânpetru Mare until 2004. The immigration records give the villages in Hungarian, “N. Szt. Péter” for the Reitters and “Sarafalva” or “Saravaleva” for the Krausers. The family’s own records write them “San Pitru Mare, Romania” and “Sarafala, Hungary,” and these are probably the same two places.

Germans first settled at Nagyszentpéter in 1752, and about 1796 thirty families came from Perjamosch to join them. In 1796 the village’s Germans bought part of its land and founded a second village, Neu-Sankt-Peter (Újszentpéter, today Sânpetru Nou), which became a commune of its own in 1861 and took the name Újszentpéter in 1899. The county history of 1911 names a József Reitter among the larger landholders of Nagyszentpéter; nothing links him to this family.

The Reitters’ village appears under several names, and they do not all point to the same place. “N. Szt. Péter,” “Szt. Péter” and “St. Peter, Torontál” are forms of Groß-Sankt-Peter, which the county history says was called Ráczszentpéter from 1690. The Perjamosch family book likewise calls Nicholas “Nik. Reiter” of Rácz-Szentpéter. His brother Anton, though, gave his home in 1908 as Szerbszentpéter. Rác and Szerb both mean “Serbian” in Hungarian, so the name can be read as Groß-Sankt-Peter. But Szerbszentpéter was also the official name of Neu-Sankt-Peter from 1861 to 1899, and the church counted the two villages together as a single daughter congregation (Filiale) of the parish of Perjamosch. The Reitters probably lived in one of the two St. Peters; the records do not say which.

The Reitters and the Krausers were German-speaking Catholics. The censuses of 1910, 1920 and 1930 give Hungary as the birthplace of Nicholas, Elizabeth and Margaret, his second wife, and of their parents, and German as the mother tongue of every one of them. The manifests of 1903 call both Nicholas and Elizabeth’s brother, Miklos, Hungarian subjects of the German people. In 1940 and 1950 the census takers wrote Austria instead, the usual later way of naming Austria-Hungary.

These German villagers are known as Banat Swabians. Austria won the Banat from the Ottoman Empire in 1718, and its rulers brought in colonists from the Rhineland, Lorraine and Luxembourg. The region was attached to Hungary for most of the years from 1779 to 1920. The Treaty of Trianon, signed on 4 June 1920, divided it among Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary, and so villages that were Hungarian in every record before 1920 are Romanian today. The county history of 1911 describes Torontál’s Germans as willing to leave home to better themselves: “If they do not prosper here, they sail across to America”.

The Reitter and Krauser baptisms of the 1880s fall in what genealogists call the FamilySearch and earlier than civil registration, which began on 1 October 1895.">Romanian gap. The Banat’s Catholic church books that were filmed for FamilySearch stop about 1852, and the registers from then until civil registration began on 1 October 1895 remain in the Romanian National Archives at Timișoara and in the parishes. The parish family book (Familienbuch) of Perjamosch, compiled from the registers for the years 1755 to 1991, is the only published work that reaches Groß-Sankt-Peter after 1852.

George Reitter and His Sons

When Nicholas’s brother Anton sailed for America in 1908, he named his father, György Reiter of Szerbszentpéter, as his nearest relative at home. Their brother Michael’s New York marriage index of 1913 gives his parents as George Reitter and Katharine Baum, and Nicholas’s death certificate names George Reitter and a Katherina whose surname the informant did not know. Baum was a common name among the families of Perjamosch and Groß-Sankt-Peter. Nicholas was probably the son of George Reitter and Katharina Baum, though a half-brother relationship to Michael cannot be ruled out. Michael and Anton followed Nicholas to America, each joining a brother already there.

References

  • Borovszky, Samu, ed. Magyarország vármegyéi és városai: Torontál vármegye. Budapest: Országos Monografia Társaság, [c. 1911]. Chapter “Torontál vármegye községei,” by Ede Reiszig, completed by Aladár Vende: entries “Nagyszentpéter” (pp. 92–93; formerly Szentpéter and Ráczszentpéter; Germans from 1752 and about 1796; Reitter József among the larger landholders), “Sárafalva” (pp. 111–112), and “Ujszentpéter” (pp. 134–135; founded 1796 by the Germans of Szentpéter, a commune as Szerbszentpéter from 1861, renamed Ujszentpéter in 1899). Read in the Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár edition, mek.oszk.hu/09500/09536/html/0024/6.html. Accessed 30 September 2026. Secondary (county monograph). With: Legea nr. 84 din 5 aprilie 2004 pentru înființarea unor comune, Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, nr. 310, 7 April 2004, annex 1 (Timiș: commune Saravale, formed from Sânpetru Mare) and annex 2 (Sânpetru Mare reorganized as the villages Sânpetru Mare and Igriș), text read at legex.ro; Primăria comunei Saravale, “Scurt istoric,” saravale.ro (earlier names Zarafola, Szarafalu and Sarafola; the name Saravale adopted 11 September 1926); and GOV, the Historic Gazetteer, gov.genealogy.net, entries SNPAREKN06IB (Sânpetru Mare, Nagyszentpéter, Großsanktpeter, Ratzsanktpeter), SARFOLKN06IB (Saravale, Sárafalva) and SNPNOUKN06KB (Sânpetru Nou, Neusanktpeter, Ujszentpeter). All accessed 30 September 2026.
  • Passenger manifest, S.S. Graf Waldersee, Hamburg to New York, sailed 13 March 1903, line 12, Miklos Reiter. “New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924,” FamilySearch, 1:1:JFPT-5ZW (arrival indexed 29 March 1903); image 3:1:33S7-8165-89P. Transcript: Read the record
  • Baltimore arrival card, Elisabeth Krauser, S.S. Cassel, 5 November 1903, list 18, book 180. “Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists Index, 1897-1952,” FamilySearch, 1:1:4YZ7-9W6Z; image 3:1:3Q9M-C9BY-BPBK. Transcript: Read the record
  • Passenger manifest, S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II, Bremen to New York, arrived 18 August 1903, line 18, Miklos Krauser, joining his uncle Johann Bortscher, Philadelphia. Same collection, 1:1:JFT8-3MS; image 3:1:33SQ-G16R-39B. Transcript: Read the record
  • Genealogy-software descendant report, Nicholas Reitter, Sr., page 1, supplied to the archive 8 August 2026, family archive scan.
  • Genealogy-software descendant report, Nicholas Reitter, Sr., page 2, supplied to the archive 8 August 2026, family archive scan.
  • Genealogy-software descendant report, Nicholas Reitter, Sr., page 3, supplied to the archive 8 August 2026, family archive scan.
  • Passenger manifest, S.S. Pennsylvania, Hamburg to New York, sailed 16 February 1906, arrived 2 March 1906, line 23, Michael Reiter. Same collection, 1:1:JFF4-RP5; image 3:1:3Q9M-C9PY-D3CY. Transcript: Read the record
  • Michael Reitter: World War I draft registration index, New York City, born 20 November 1889 at St Peter, Torontal, Hungary, 1:1:WX13-GCN2; Social Security Death Index, born 20 November 1889, died September 1971, Hellertown, 1:1:JTYR-FZJ; Find a Grave index, burial Hellertown, 1:1:QVGG-18VL. Index only.
  • Krämer, Anton. Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinden Perjamosch und Perjamosch-Haulik im Banat und ihrer Filialen Großdorf (Nagyfalu, Satu Mare) und Neu- und Groß-St. Peter (Rácz-Sz. Péter), (1724)/1755–1991. 2 vols. [Sindelfingen]: Arbeitskreis donauschwäbischer Familienforscher, 2000. Schriftenreihe zur donauschwäbischen Herkunftsforschung 83–84; Deutsche Ortssippenbücher, Reihe B, 189. FamilySearch Library 943 B4do ser. B v. 189 (catalog koha:984724; not online). Read in the archived online edition formerly at banaterheide.de: web.archive.org, pages Fb-J1 (families J4, J6, J11), Fb-SCH1 and Fb-SCH2 (S396), and Fb-R5 (Perjamosch Reiter families). Accessed 30 September 2026. Compiled from the parish registers, cited in braces by volume and page. Transcripts:
  • Passenger manifest, S.S. Caledonia, Glasgow to New York, sailed 28 November 1908, line 27, Anton Reiter; lines 26–27 on both sheets. “New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1925,” FamilySearch, 1:1:JXR9-KZV (arrival indexed 8 December 1908); images 3:1:3Q9M-C95R-JS5T-P and 3:1:3Q9M-C95R-JSR7-S (roll 1175, vols. 2582–2584, labeled 5 December 1908). Transcripts: Read the record Read the record
  • 1910 U.S. census, Philadelphia Ward 42, ED 1067, sheet 6A, lines 36-39, Mervine Street, enumerated 19 April 1910, Nicholas Reitter household. “United States, Census, 1910,” FamilySearch, 1:1:MGHW-41H; image 3:1:33S7-9RN1-PKD (NARA T624). Transcript: Read the record
  • 1920 U.S. census, Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, SD 3, ED 42, sheet 4A, dwelling 77, family 84, enumerated January 1920, “Nicklos Ritter” household. “United States, Census, 1920,” FamilySearch, 1:1:MFBF-ZD3; image 3:1:33S7-9RTB-B8H. Transcript: Read the record
  • 1930 U.S. census, Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, ED 9-48, dwellings 44-45 (Hupfl, Reiter), enumerated April 1930. “United States, Census, 1930,” FamilySearch, 1:1:XH8Z-6G6 and 1:1:XH8Z-6G8; image 3:1:33SQ-GRZC-49J. Transcript: Read the record
  • 1940 U.S. census, Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, ED 9-60, sheet 1B, lines 53-54 (Hupfl) and 74-77 (Reitter, with Wessermann boarders), enumerated 24-25 April 1940. “United States, Census, 1940,” FamilySearch, 1:1:KQXR-XV5; image 3:1:3QS7-L9MT-23N5. Transcript:
  • 1950 U.S. census, Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, ED 9-107, sheet 4, lines 22-23, enumerated 12 April 1950, Nicholas and Eva “Ritter.” “United States, Census, 1950,” FamilySearch, 1:1:6XBL-77ZW; image 3:1:3QHN-PQHW-X95C-3. Transcript:
  • “Banat.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, britannica.com/place/Banat (Austrian acquisition in 1718; colonists from the Rhineland, Lorraine and Luxembourg; attached to Hungary for most of 1779–1920; divided by the Treaty of Trianon, 4 June 1920, among Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary). Accessed 30 September 2026. Borovszky, Samu, ed. Magyarország vármegyéi és városai: Torontál vármegye ([c. 1911]), chapter “Torontál vármegye népe,” section on the Germans by István Kaufmann, p. 155 (“Ha itt nem boldogulnak, Amerikába is áthajóznak”), mek.oszk.hu/09500/09536/html/0024/7.html. Accessed 30 September 2026. Anderson, Bruce L., and Brian M. Henehan. “Bankruptcy of a Supply Cooperative: The Case of Agway, Inc.” Paper presented at the AAEA meetings, Montreal, 28 July 2003, p. 3 (Agway formed in 1964 by the merger of the Grange League Federation and the Eastern States Farmers’ Exchange). AgEcon Search, doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.54173. Accessed 30 September 2026. Secondary; context only.
  • “Banat: The Romanian GAP.” Federation of East European Family History Societies, feefhs.org. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  • Lux, Franz. Familienbuch der kath. Pfarrgemeinde Neu- und Groß-St. Peter (Raaz-St. Peter) im Banat bis 1852. FamilySearch Catalog entry. Not consulted.
  • “Perjamosch, OFB.” GenWiki, wiki.genealogy.net. Accessed 30 September 2026. Bibliographic record: 1,780 pages; out of print; CD with additions to 2005 available from the compiler’s circle.
  • New York City marriage index, Michael Reitter and Katie Jakobi, 25 January 1913, Manhattan; parents George Reitter and Katharine Baum; Philip Jakobi and Katie Schannan. FamilySearch, 1:1:243P-2F5. Index only.
  • “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972,” Ancestry, collection 5164: Elizabeth Reiter (file 93544, 1913), Eva Reitter (file 19153, 1924), Margaret Reitter (file 27086, 1940), Eva Reitter (file 41726, 1951) and Nicholas Reitter (file 056578-69, 1969). Read on the images.