The Rampitsch - Rambitz - Randolph Story

Records presently held indicate the family originated in Graben, Karnten, Austria and were Roman Catholics.  

The RAMPITSCH surname was bastardized in a variety of ways in various documents but the most common misspelling was RAMBITZ used frequently by Ludwig's family.  Some of the misspellings found on deeds, death certificates, US Census, Social Security and City Directory records are:  RAMBITSCH, RAMBITCH, RAMOBITZ, RAMBITZS, RAMBRITZ, ROMBITSCH, RAMBERTZ and RAMPITZ.  Similarly, Marie's maiden name is spelled:  LIEBOLD, LUBOLD and LEFOLD.

First names were also frequently misspelled and various family members were identified with different given names on different documents.

  Ludwig Sr. was also known as Louie and Louis

  Marie (nee Liebold) was sometimes identified as Mary, Marie or Maria

  Ludwig Jr. was also known as Louie, Louis and Lewis

  Valentine was also known as Val

  Marie (nee Rampitsch) was also known as Mary

  Harry was also known as Henry

To further complicate the name issue, Harry legally changed his name to RANDOLPH in 1944.  Valentine's obituary (1956) uses the name Randolph but I am unsure whether this was a legal name change or not.

It appears Adolph was the first Rampitsch to emigrate.  His Naturalization Intent document is dated 1900 and filed in Sangamon County, Illinois.  Other than this, I could find no records in Springfield for Adolph or any other Rampitsch.  It is probable that Adolph returned to Austria sometime after 1910.

Ludwig was next to emigrate in 1904 and went to live, at least initially, with his brother Adolph.  His wife, Marie and two of their children, Valentine and Marie, came over in 1907.  Stephen and Henry (Harry) were born in Decatur, IL.  To date I have not found any emigration records for Ludwig, Jr. (Louis) though he obviously emigrated as he worked,died and is buried in Decatur.  Christine came over by herself at age 17 in 1912.

The Rampitsch daughters that emigrated were Mary MIENEKE and Barbara WEISENBACHER.  Mary died in 1919 at age 39 in Peoria, IL.  Barbara was widowed and still living in Austria at the time.  Barbara and her children emigrated to Springfield, IL to marry Mary's widower, Adolph Meineke in 1921.  After divorcing Meineke, Barbara married Frank TIEMEYER (also in Springfield, IL.) 

There is evidence of other Rampitsch's lived with Ludwig and Marie in Decatur but their relationship is unknown at this time so they are not connected to the family tree.  They are:

  Fertine shows up at the same address in several Decatur City Directories beginning in 1923.

Augusta arrives on the scene in 1916

  William V. (possibly Valentine?) is listed only once - 1930

  Fred is listed in 1919

Other RAMPITSCHs found in research but not yet identified as family members are Frederick and Johanna who were undoubtedly married and died in Los Angeles in the early 1990s.  The California Death Index indicates they both emigrated to US, but does not indicate from where.