People in the parish books: Priests

There is quite a lot of data that can be found in parish books and are often ignored and/or might confuse the researcher - most common is a situation when the word after mother's first name is thought to be her surname but it is not, because surnames of mothers were not that important and the record simply proceeds to further information.

Michaela made a list of those data and also suggested how to use them, if possible. Here is the first blog post about priests.

Estates I - What's an estate?

I have mentioned the estates number of times in the past. But I think I never explained what they are. I know it's not easy to understand estate system in the Czech past, so I decided to write several blog posts concerning this issue. 

Úsov estate map from about 1700. Source: Land Archives Opava.

Recipe: Fruit dumplings

Last week I had a tour with Jolene whose ancestors were from Písařov, Šumperk district. She mentioned one of her favorite meals were fruit dumplings and I promised her to publish a recipe for these dumplings. So this is how I make them. :)

Immigrants from Nový Hrozenkov, 1881-1885

I already published a post about people from Nový Hrozenkov born between 1875 and 1880 who have a note by their birth record about immigration to the U.S. As the Nový Hrozenkov birth book contains similar information for the following years, I have decided to publish another post. :)

Nový Hrozenkov on a map from 3rd Military Survey.

Wilber Czech Cemetery

The last place we visited in Wilber, Nebraska, was the Czech Cemetery. It's located about 1.5 mile to the west from the town centre. 

One of the surprises for me was the fact that you drive into the cemetery. :) In the Czech Republic, cemeteries are small and usually surrounded by a wall, so it's impossible to drive in. Another surprise was that there is a list of all people buried in the cemetery available.

Wilber Czech Museum

As visiting Wilber, NE, we had a chance to visit the Wilber Czech Museum - Karen who took us to Wilber, was able to setup a meeting with one of the administrators of the Museum so they opened it for us.

Serfs register according to their faith from 1651 (updated)

One of the oldest sources which covers most of Bohemia is the Serfs register according to their faith (soupis poddaných podle víry) which was created in 1651. It covers just Bohemia, not Moravia or Silesia. If your ancestors were from Bohemia, it is a wonderful source of information.