Newbie looking for information - Franz Joseph

[linneu]

I just discovered this forum while searching for info on the illegitimate children of Emperor Franz Joseph. The story circulating through my family is we are the descendants of a child born from an affair Franz Joseph had with a ballerina and he paid the mother a large sum of money. This info was found in a book many years ago by my mother, now deceased. For obvious reasons my family and I would like to confirm our lineage to Franz Joseph. I have come across a number of women he had affairs and or children with. Katharina Abel, I believe was a ballerina. Anna Nahowsky had a child and was was paid a large sum of money. Other possibilities are Rosa Moskowitch who was a laundress. Her daughter Margaret and was paid regularly by the Royal Office. Lastly there was a Polish countess Isabella Potocka?. I believe one of these women is my ancestor. If anyone is able to help me discover who she is I'd me very grateful. Thanks in advance. Linda

[dazzling]

Hi &

[marine2109]

Hello linneu

[Rudolf]

Originally Posted by linneu

I just discovered this forum while searching for info on the illegitimate children of Emperor Franz Joseph. The story circulating through my family is we are the descendants of a child born from an affair Franz Joseph had with a ballerina and he paid the mother a large sum of money. This info was found in a book many years ago by my mother, now deceased. For obvious reasons my family and I would like to confirm our lineage to Franz Joseph. I have come across a number of women he had affairs and or children with. Katharina Abel, I believe was a ballerina. Anna Nahowsky had a child and was was paid a large sum of money. Other possibilities are Rosa Moskowitch who was a laundress. Her daughter Margaret and was paid regularly by the Royal Office. Lastly there was a Polish countess Isabella Potocka?. I believe one of these women is my ancestor. If anyone is able to help me discover who she is I'd me very grateful. Thanks in advance. Linda

In my family is the convinced meaning, that my Grandmother is a decent from Emperor Franz Joseph. She is born in 1895 in Bruck an der Laitha (Kaisersteinbruch) in Austria nearby the hungarian border. Her father was a railway-man. Her familyname first was hungarian named Darway. I know, that relatives of my grandmother emigrated to the united states.I also try to find out the real story.
Rudolf

[Rudolf]

I gave answer to your Question -- I hear nothing from you.

Rudolf

[Alexey 1904]

Rudolf: If your grandmother was a descendant of Emperor Franz Josef, how can her 'father' have been a railway-man? What was your grandmother's first name? It was______ Darway. I think you should try and find out the "real story' before you will hear from Linneu. Just a suggestion. No harm intended.

[FLDee]

We have a similar story in my family. We were told my great, great grandmother had two children by Franz Joseph (a girl and then a boy who look just like him).

She fled to the U.S. in 1896 with her children and a butler from the palace named Albert Kitto, who she later married. My great, great grandmother's name was Franciska Knopaska. Can anyone tell me how I can find more information?

[AdmirerUS]

Originally Posted by linneu

I just discovered this forum while searching for info on the illegitimate children of Emperor Franz Joseph. The story circulating through my family is we are the descendants of a child born from an affair Franz Joseph had with a ballerina and he paid the mother a large sum of money. This info was found in a book many years ago by my mother, now deceased. For obvious reasons my family and I would like to confirm our lineage to Franz Joseph. I have come across a number of women he had affairs and or children with. Katharina Abel, I believe was a ballerina. Anna Nahowsky had a child and was was paid a large sum of money. Other possibilities are Rosa Moskowitch who was a laundress. Her daughter Margaret and was paid regularly by the Royal Office. Lastly there was a Polish countess Isabella Potocka?. I believe one of these women is my ancestor. If anyone is able to help me discover who she is I'd me very grateful. Thanks in advance. Linda

I'd approach this by doing a genealogical search for your family, and alternately any/all of these women. That to me, is the best way to discover if you have a potential connection. An ancestry search site might be helpful - although they charge fees.

If you find a connection - then there will be a lot of Franz Joseph study and may necessitate going through private family/friend letters to see if there was a relationship.

Don't be surprised at the amount of research you may have to do to build evidence of the connection. Happy hunting.

[FLDee]

I now beleive the spelling of the Valet who married my great-great grandmother, Franciszka Knopaska, after she had two children by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1895 and 1896 is Alese Kita.

I am assuming he worked as a valet at Schonbrunn Palace. Any ideas how I can search the names of Valets at Schonbrunn Palace in 1895?

[LadyTeresa]

There is so much mystery concerning the family of Joseph I. You will read a lot of stories and still... may never know the answers. The family was very good at keeping secrets.
The search is very interesting, fun, and great exercise for the brain.
Don't look for financial gain, that will only spoil the journey.

[FLDee]

Lady Teresa,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, the search is very interesting. I am reading "The Reluctant Empress" by Brigette Hamann and have discovered a fascinating woman and a family with many secrets. I know that Alese Kita was a Valet for Franz Joseph, but I do not know how my great, great Grandmother, Countess Knopaska, came to meet Franz Joseph in 1895 and have 2 children by him and then leave with his valet and the children to the U.S. I would love to search the names of Valets at the Hofburg and Schonbrunn Palace, but do not even know where to begin. The search continues!

[Amused]

Interesting thread. I am yet another supposed descendant of an illegitimate son of the Emperor. I'm a scholar by trade and have always been highly skeptical of the story. My grandmother was great friends with Nina Georgiev (a Romanov) and I suspected they had concocted the story in an attempt to bestow royal blood upon my grandmother. A decade or so ago I began to work on family genealogy and when I finally got to that branch found what I expected, a real family for my ancestor. As time went on, though, I began to find that things did not fit. My great grandfather, for example, was born to a large family but given to a priest to be raised (none of the others were). There are a number of curious things such as that. When he was a teen my great grandfather was taken to Vienna and worked in the palace - there are records of his doing things with the royal family. When he was 25 he took passage to America, not coming through Ellis Island but entering NY directly without apparently going through immigration. He built a business and became very wealthy - NY society wealthy. He is very apparent in the NY Times of his era, including articles about Crown Prince Otto calling upon him when the prince visited the US. It's an interesting story, if nothing else. If anyone finds verifiable info on possible non-legitimate children of the Emperor, please share.

[Curryong]

I can't see any way of tracking possible royal connections than doing genealogical research carefully, step by step. All the details, by profession, trades, of grandparents, great-grandparents etc, where did they reside (if they were nobility or servants to royalty and lived near the palaces concerned, all the better).

Were there censuses conducted in Austria in the 19th century? They are wonderful sources of information. You are better to get the help of a genealogist who is a German speaker, however, if you are going to trawl through files.

I suppose prominent authors/historians on the Hapsburgs might have some ideas about Palace servants and staff. You could write to them care of their publishers. The Alexander Palace Forum has a lot of information on all European royal families.
I wish you luck!

[FLDee]

Thank you for the advice about hiring a German genealogist. Also, If anyone has any idea about finding palace servants from 1895, I would love to see his name, Alese Kita, as a valet and that would confirm that I am looking for the right person. Thanks again.

[Boro]

Originally Posted by linneu

I just discovered this forum while searching for info on the illegitimate children of Emperor Franz Joseph. The story circulating through my family is we are the descendants of a child born from an affair Franz Joseph had with a ballerina and he paid the mother a large sum of money. This info was found in a book many years ago by my mother, now deceased. For obvious reasons my family and I would like to confirm our lineage to Franz Joseph. I have come across a number of women he had affairs and or children with. Katharina Abel, I believe was a ballerina. Anna Nahowsky had a child and was was paid a large sum of money. Other possibilities are Rosa Moskowitch who was a laundress. Her daughter Margaret and was paid regularly by the Royal Office. Lastly there was a Polish countess Isabella Potocka?. I believe one of these women is my ancestor. If anyone is able to help me discover who she is I'd me very grateful. Thanks in advance. Linda

In an extramarital relationship with Countess Isabella Potocka, Franz Joseph also had Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito (his original name was Jozeph von Habsburg und Lorraine)

[SlovenijaSmrdel]

Cyril,
I'm not familiar w/the emperor's affairs. I believe my family has some relevance because my paternal gr-grandfather was the chief valet to FJ until he was retired at age 60 something. He married a woman much younger than him & fathered my Pap at age 63, he was the eldest of 3, Franz, Josef, & Caroline/a. My gr-grandpap was given a large tract of forest in Slovenia at his retirement that supposedly can't be sold. My Pap came to Pgh, PA in 1924-ish, seeking work as an iron worker. No one else immigrated from that family. We know nothing of any cousins from either his brother or sister. No one knows his parent's names.
I visited Ellis Island in 2014 and discovered many curious facts about my Pap from a docent's explanation of the notations in the margins of his immigration survey, causing me to question the hereditary lineage to the Hapsburg family thru my gr-grandpap; I also suspect illegitimacy. FJ and my relative were around same age---so I suspect another member of FJ's siblings or cousins provided the DNA.
Michelle