The Fire that Separated Them

"I want to tell you about my husband Joe's and my trip to Peregu Mare, the small (about 1,500 people, I estimate) village from which our great-grandmother and her children immigrated in 1893. My grandfather (Leopold) stayed behind for unknown reasons, married, had four children including my mother, Anna Marie, and then this family came to America in 1902. 

My primary reason for going on this trip was to visit the Leisz family village in Romania to find out what I could about the family's life there, to confirm the family legend that our great-grandfather had died in a fire shortly before the family was set to immigrate and trace the Leisz family back as far as possible. I could never get any details about that fire, but there was no evidence of our great-grandfather ever having come to the United States." 

— Roberta Meyer Lombardino, Christmas 2001

"...a book which was recently published in Germany told the history of this town (Peregu Mare). The book told about the fire in which our great-grandfather and 16 others died. Here is what the book says:  

It happened at midnight on the 13th of February in 1893. It was Shrove Tuesday, the day before the start of the Lenten season. The traditional Mardi Gras festivities were taking place in the tavern of the Czech innkeeper Vratislav. The innkeeper also had a general store, and in one corner of the dance room he stored a barrel of petroleum, several dozen brooms, and 600 packages of matches. 

The tavern was filled beyond capacity, and the atmosphere was unrestrained as the third day of festivities began. 

A young man lost a coin. In order to find it on the half-dark floor, he lit a match and threw it away carelessly.

The match caused a mighty fire that caused the barrel of petroleum to explode.

The fire spread quickly all around. The people broke out in a panic. The people on the inside wanted to leave the burning room, while others tried to get in from the outside to provide assistance. As a result, the narrow door was stopped up. 

Many could not be saved. A few—with their clothes on fire—were able to exit the room through a broken window, and they then were able to roll around in the snow to extinguish the flames. 

A German resident, who had sold all his property to emigrate to America, was burned to death along with his money (This is our ancestor Lipot or Leopold Leisz.)

The innkeeper Vratislav died in the flames, in tremendous pain, because he wanted to save his 3,000 crowns from the burning building. His 3-year-old grandson died in his bed. 

In total, 17 people died—14 Czechs and Slovaks, two Germans (someone had underlined these two words by hand in this book), and a Ruthenian. Some could be identified only by clothing remnants. (Ladislau Motelka, Monografia localitatii Peregu-Mare, manuscript 1980) 

Roberta adds, "It must have been a ghastly experience for such a small town."

Says Robert Leisz, grandson of Leisz Brother Frank: "He had just sold his land to move to the United States and the money from the sale was on him when the fire broke out. The story goes that the mother had the tickets for the ship and the family had planned to leave the following day to travel to the city of Bremen in Norther Germany to board a ship and move to the United States. She had to choose whether to stay in Nemitpereg (Peregu Mare) to bury her husband or leave as planned. She packed up the family and left for Bremen, Germany." 

Robert continues, "The fact that they owned land to sell would have made them part of the middle class, and not the poor. One reason people immigrated to the US was heavy taxation. Another is agents from US factories/companies who would travel to towns to recruit people to work for them in the US. This may have been the reason, since the family had many boys of working age, and it seems they went straight to Chicago after landing in the US. Lastly, all boys were required to serve three years in the military at the age of 21. In 1893, the three oldest (John, Leopold and Joseph) would have finished their three years, and the next group of siblings (Frank, Anton, Michael) would be starting soon. So this would have been a perfect time for everyone to go." 

Gigi Sitaru, who was Roberta Lombardino's tour guide in Peregu Mare, wrote to her in 2002:

After the tragic fire, all the victims (which included 2 children) were buried in a big funeral service all together, one near the other. The funeral service was on Feb. 16, 1893 by the priest called Nemeth Sandor.  Almost all the village was present for this service, as man families had a victim that the fire had claimed. Almost all of them were Catholics, so they were put in the Catholic part of the cemetery near the small church , so they can be near to God, since they had such tragic, painful and unexpected deaths. The crosses disappeared in time, as each death had its small wooden cross. In the meantime, the village went though changes, one a farmers' revolt in 1907, and two world wars.