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Semlac, Arad, Romania

Hello All.

My grandfather, Petru Teau (pronounced tee-ow') emigrated with his parents, Petru Teau and Maria Stroea Teau, in 1911. My grandfather was born 16 Oct 1899 or 1900 in Semlac, Arad, Romania. The family was listed as Hungarian with Romanian as their native tongue. They settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

My grandfather also used the name "Peter Carr", apparently in an attempt to "fit in" to the American culture and probably thought it would be easier to find work with an American-sounding name. Unfortunately, he was killed in a horse-streetcar collision on 17 Sep 1920. His fiancee, Laura Haines, was 4 months pregnant at the time. Her son, Pete Haines, was born 22 Feb 1921 and died 9 May 1982.

My great-grandmother, Maria Stroea Haines, suffered a heart attack while crossing a street in Harrisburg on 8 Apr 1924. Family legend is that her husband Petru was so devastated by the loss of his wife and son that he returned to Romania, remarried, and had more children there, and died in 1943.

Is anyone familiar with Semlac, Arad or does anyone have knowledge of this family? The village is on the Hungarian border, and borders in that region changed at various times in history. I do know that they spoke Romanian and were members of the Romanian Orthodox Church. There is no longer a Romanian Church in Harrisburg and I do not know where the records would be archved.

Thanks very much for any info or suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Emily on February 19, 2018 at 7:28pm

Hi Kathleen!

I know this post is years old, but I was wondering if you found any information about your Semlac relatives in Harrisburg or if you found where the church records went. My relatives were from Semlac also and I know that they spent a good deal of time in Harrisburg right around the time your Semlac relatives were in Harrisburg. Semlac is a pretty small village and I'm wondering if there wasn't a little community of Semlac Romanians in Harrisburg.

My great great uncle, Pete Kruczig, immigrated from Semlac in 1906. According to the passenger manifest, he said he was headed for Harrisburg and would be staying with his brother-in-law (so another Semlac person). Pete left Harrisburg shortly after to work in Tyler, Texas.

However, even after Pete left Harrisburg, my other great great uncle, Josef Kruczig, from Semlac visited Harrisburg twice. Once in 1908 and once in 1911.

As I said, I'd be curious if you were ever able to track down any Romanian records in Harrisburg. I'd love to know if there was, indeed, a small community of Semlac Romanians living in Harrisburg in 1911.

Permalink Reply by Henry Richard Keller on September 14, 2018 at 8:36am

You may find George Schmidts Familienbuch helpful it lists all Semlac families as they arrived.

Hank Keller

Attachments:

Familienbuch InternetII.doc, 4.5 MB

Permalink Reply by Steve Anthony Courtney (Puspoki) on April 26, 2020 at 4:41am

I'm also trying to trace relatives in Semlac Romania of my father, Antal Puspoki YOB 1943. He moved to Australia in about 1949.

Semlac, Arad, Romania

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