THE BAUCER FAMILY

The exact roots of the Baucer family cannot be determined. However, the Family name is present in Istria, mainly in Slovenia, Croatia and, of course, Trieste. As a matter of fact, today the Baucers can be referred to as a typically Triestine family. The most common spelling is Baucer; variations such as Bauzher or Bauzhar are also used. In some records Bauer was mistakenly used instead. During the 1920‘s and 1930‘s, when an extremely Ialian nationalistic movement emerged, the family was forced to italianize their name to Balzi

Our Baucer heritage goes back to my great great grandmother, Anna Baucer.  Anna Baucer was the daughter of Valentinus Baucer and Anna Lun. Valenitinus most probably was a farmer.

Anna had twin brothers, Andreas and Giuseppe, who were four years her senior. If other siblings existed is not known. Anna was a seamstress and lived in Scorcolo, a part of Trieste. Carl Engelhardt and Anna had three children born out of wedlock before they got married. Another four girls were born after the marriage took place. The reason for this may have been, that Anna was catholic and Carl was protestant. Or that she came from a social background, that was not acceptable to the Engelhardt family.

Eugenia, my great grandmother, was the firstborn, and like her two brothers was legally recognized by her father after the marrage. She married my great grandfather Hermann Wechsler in Vienna, where their first and second children were born. In the late 1800 the family relocated to Alexandria, the native town of Hermann Wechsler.

Eugenia kept close contact to her family, and visited them regularly in the siummer in Gorizia, where they were living in the meantime, when Hermann travelled to Europe for business purposes. It was one of these visits, when Eugenia contracted a gastrointestinal disease and died. Her mother, Anna Baucer, survived her by four years.