The Grantner / Grandtner Family Genealogy Home Page

The primary purpose of this web site is to facilitate the creation of a world-wide Grantner/Grandtner family tree! Other purposes are to foster an appreciation for genealogy within the family; to collect data to increase knowledge of GrantnerGrandtner family history, relationships and current activities; to document those findings; to aid in the distribution of that data to family members; and to help members of the Grantner/Grandtner family, from all over the world, communicate with each other. Forms are provided to assist in the input of new and updated genealogy data.

The creation of a world-wide family tree, linking all of the Grantners/Grandtners around the world together, is certainly a formidable task. However, the Grantner and Grandtner surnames are quite unique and I think it can be done. The approach I am taking is described in the next section.

Why should we want to do this? Primarily because it is interesting and fun. I doubt that knowledge of our family "roots" will make us better people, but it can help satisfy a natural curiosity regarding "where we came from." It also helps shrink this big world of ours with knowledge that we have "cousins" around the globe (it is a small world after all!).

Approach

I use a software program called "Reunion" (by Leister Productions) to record genealogy data (a Macintosh application that I highly recommend). I think the application "Family Tree" (which is available for PCs) has the same, or very similar, look and feel. Using Reunion, I have been able to link together a lot of the descendants of two brothers (Augustinus/Gustov and Béla/Albert) who immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. A third brother (Bertalan/Bartolomej) also immigrated in the early 1900s but seems to have disappeared right after entry into the country. I have extended the links for four more generations (to about 1760) in Slovakia. Family members can see more detail in our family tree (online).

The approach I use is to create a separate family tree (more precisely, a "branch") for each identified Grantner/Grandtner family or related group of families. These branches then become pieces in the overall "puzzle" - the overall Grantner/Grandtner family tree. As I get enough of these pieces, I should be able to identify the common ancestors and then link them together.

Tibor Grandtner, who was a professor in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (but born and raised in Pozsony/Bratislava, Slovakia), traced the Grandtner family back to the 1500s, which he provided to me. It was impressive work, especially considering that he did it without the benefit of the internet. I have since both validated (with source notations) Tibor's work and expanded upon it. Both Tibor and I found variations of spelling for the family surname, primarily the interchageability of Grantner and Grandtner in all branches in Slovakia.

History of the Grantner Family in the U.S.

All of the Grantners in the U.S., that I have linked, have descended from 2 brothers, Augustinus/Gus and Béla/Albert, who immigrated to the U.S. (specifically to Manistique, Michigan) in the early 1900s. They were sons of István Grantner (baptized 8 August 1841) and Emma Lányi. That family seems to have been comprised of 6 boys (Agustinus, Antal/Tony, Janos, Bertalan/Bert, István (who died as an infant) and Béla) and 4 girls (Margit (who died as an infant), Margit/Margaret, Jozefa/Josephine and Emelia/Emma). Emma Lányi was Isván's 2nd wife. His 1st wife was Elizabetha Pavlik with whom he had 4 children (3 girls and a boy). Only the 2nd born (Elizabeth) survived past infancy. It is interesting to note that István married his 2nd wife 17 days after his 1st wife was buried. I suspect this was because he needed someone to take care of his 4-year old daughter Elizabeth. Family members can see other interesting details like this in our online Grantner/Grandtner Family tree.

The brothers immigrated from Kocise, Slovakia (which, prior to World War I, was Kassa, Hungary). By the mid-1900s, the families of Albert and Gus were concentrated in the Flint, Michigan area and the Chicago, Illinois area respectively. A 3rd brother, Bertalan, also immigrated to the U.S., but he almost immediately disappeared from the records. Rumor has it that he had 4 sons. There is more about him in the Grantner/Grandtner Family tree records. Now, of course, the Grantner "clan" is spread across the U.S.

It needs to be mentioned that there are other Grantners in the U.S. who are not yet known to be related to the ones in our tree. Many of them arrived in the U.S. much earlier than the two brothers. There is also one famiy of "Grantners" that definitely are not related. There original surname was Grüntner and they changed it to Grantner their name to Grantner in the late 1900s. That branch is clearly identified in the family tree but it may cause confusion in the future.

History of the Grantner/Grandtner Family in Europe

Tibor Grandtner believed that the Alsac region, between France and Germany, was the original home of the Grantners/Grandtners. I do not know what his basis for believing that was, but there is some DNA evidence that supports it, and "Grantner" or "Grandtner" sound like German names. (He also thought the original surname was "Grandner") However, the Slovak Republic seems to be the place where our early ancestors lived, at least after 1600. I have identified three Slovakia branches in our family tree. The three patriarchs of the branches were all born in the mid 1700s, but there are Grantners/Grandtners in the same locales that were born in the early 1600s. There is more information and analysis in the Family Tree page (Yes, that is a shameless attempt to entice you to check out the Family Tree).

Genealogy

I am very interested in obtaining new and updated information regarding all Grantner/Grandtner descendants. The Family Update Genealogy Form is formatted similar to the way the data is presented in the above mentioned genealogy applications (Reunion and Family Tree). An area for entering information for a married couple is in the middle of the form. Unmarried persons use either the left (male) or right (female) half of this section. The information that can be entered for each individual is: the name, birth date and place; baptism date and place; and death date and place, along with the date and place of a marriage. Information for the parents of the couple can be added in the upper portion of the form and information for children can be entered in the lower portion.

Several different versions of genealogy update forms can be found on the update page.

The data requested by the family form is the minimum required to reliably construct a tree. The genealogy programs permit the inclusion of much more information, and that information provides a more interesting family tree. Other types of information that I try to include are education; occupation; religious affiliation; previous marriages/divorces (with dates and places); and classification of children (e.g., twins, adopted, step, foster, still-born, etc.). Some of this data is simply interesting and some provides markers or starting points for future genealogical research. This information can be sent by email or by the webmail form included in this site. The softeare also permit the inclusion of photographs and substantial text. Stories and pictures provide for a much more interesting family history, so feel free to send these as well by separate email to webmaster@grantner.com. Particularly useful items are the basis or documentation for facts. Scanned documents such as birth, marriage, death, and naturalization are examples. References for facts (e.g., a specific census record, a book, or whatever source) should also be included. For those interested, I've provided a page to show the structure of the data in the Reunion application.

I realize that the data requested is personal. But then, that is what genealogy is all about. The whole idea is to link you into a family tree and provide a bit of biographical data. You, of course, have the option of providing as much, or as little, information as you wish. Though the data is certainly personal, it is really harmless. Detailed information in the family tree is available only to family members. However, if you don't want to provide certain information (such as religion, previous spouses, education or occupation), then simply don't supply that particular data.

I would appreciate suggestions (and help)!

I would appreciate constructive criticism regarding both content and format of these web pages. My name is Richard (Dick). Please contact me at webmaster@grantner.com

I certainly don't expect this site to be a widely visited one. By design, I am trying to reach a very specific group of people.

Besides updated genealogy, I would appreciate names and addresses (E-mail and/or postal) of family members that you know.

Link to a web-mail form