PF 2013

"Sestavte si rodokmen" on Amazon

If you are able to read Czech, you would be probably interested in fact that it's possible to buy my book Sestavte si rodokmen (Create your family tree) on Amazon.com. It's sent by me and I've chosen this as the easiest way how to make this book available in U.S. right now. Hopefully there will be English translation available next year.

Occupation dictionary (updated)

There are tens of occupations mentioned in Czech registries. I have prepared a list of those most common occupations in four languages, Czech, German, Latin and English.

Months in the past

There were three different languages used in Czech registries in the past - Czech, Latin and German. This means you'll find there at least three different names used for months. Why I used "at least"? Because there are quite many other variations. Latin and German versions are similar to English, Czech name are different. And what about names as Hornung, 9ber etc.? I have prepared a table with these names to help you orientate in these names.

Surnames "after the roof"

You can find this post on my Patreon website: https://www.patreon.com/posts/back-to-basics-89987098

I'll be happy if you decide to become my Patron on Patreon. You'll get access to tens of Patrons only blog posts with interesting information about Czech genealogy and history - and if you become a Sponsor or a Benefactor, you'll get one parish record professionally read every month. Benefactors also get a research help when they hit a brickwall. See more on https://www.patreon.com/czechgenealogy

Czech book about genealogy

I haven't posted here for quite a long time and I owe you explanation. Well - I have spent last couple of weeks on finishing a book about Czech genealogy called "Let's create your family tree" (Sestavte si rodokmen in Czech. It was published in one of the largest publishing houses in the Czech Republic and I hope it will sell well. :)

This book doesn't have English translation - I would like to add "yet" but first of all I need to find a publisher in U.S. And I hope to find one - but I'll start the search in 2013 as there are way too many projects to be finished till Christmas.

Immigrants from Zděchov, Moravia

Small parish Zděchov (in fact covering just one village, Zděchov itself) is located on Czech-Slovak border in Vsetín district. It's located in the middle of Beskydy mountains, region which was left by many people because it was quite tough to live there. There are some notes about people who left to America in the registries - and here is the list.

Structure of Czech Catholic church

Catholic church is the most "common" church in the Czech Republic today. What its structure looks like? What are the smallest units and what are the largest ones? And what are the "ranks" of priests?

Immigrants from Drahenice and Draheničky, Bohemia

It is not too common to find notes about emigration in registries from Central Bohemia. But I happened to run into several families from Drahenice, Příbram district, which have a small note written in the birth records of their children. And you can find a list of those children in this blog post.

Americam migravit - migrated to America

History of villages: Veselí nad Moravou, Moravia

Veselí nad Moravou, since 1950 consolidated with village Milokošť and 1954 with Zarazice, is a town with 11 748 inhabitants. You can find it in South Moravian Region, in Hodonín district. "Nad Moravou" means upon a river Morava, that flows on the western side of town, accompanied with Baťa Canal. The altitude of Veselí is 176 meters.

Czech surnames - origins

This blog post was already moved to Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/back-to-basics-103552974

I'll be more than happy if you decide to become one of my Patron and support me in writing the Czech Genealogy blog. It allows me to spend more time writing and searching for interesting stories to share.

That family should be there...

...but it isn't!

Michael wrote me an e-mail asking about quite strange situation. He had some records from the seigniorial registers which indicated Mach family lived in Borkovice village between 1750 and 1790. But - there were no parish records for the family. No marriages, no baptisms, no deaths - nothing at all. How could this happen? One source shows the family, other not? Well, it can happen and I'd like to explain why.

Immigrants from Velká nad Veličkou, Moravia

Even the fact that Velká nad Veličkou is quite large, there are just few notes about immigrants in the registry from 1875 to 1885. But even these few notes can lead us to other families which were somehow connected to those mentioned below. There are, for example, many more Slováks in the Ellis Island database...

Seigniorial Registers

Many of you have already noticed them - seigniorial registers which were published in the Třeboň digital archives. What are these registers? How can be used for the research? How to search them and what can be found there?

Immigrants from Hroznová Lhota, Moravia

Another village on Czech-Slovak borders, area, which was often left by young people looking for better future. There are just few notes in the registries between 1880 and 1900, but these notes will one day probably help someone in his search for ancestors...

Female surnames

You can find this post on my Patreon website: https://www.patreon.com/posts/back-to-basics-88593771

I'll be happy if you decide to become my Patron on Patreon. You'll get access to tens of Patrons only blog posts with interesting information about Czech genealogy and history - and if you become a Sponsor or a Benefactor, you'll get one parish record professionally read every month. Benefactors also get a research help when they hit a brickwall. See more on https://www.patreon.com/czechgenealogy

New member of our family

Well, the time has come and new member of our family was born two days ago. Sára is our third daughter and as we are staying in the hospital for a bit longer than is usual, I have almost no time for the blog. Let's hope both of us are ok in few days.

History of villages: Čeladná, Moravia

Čeladná belongs to the Moravian-Silesian Region, district Frýdek-Místek. You can find it ca. 3 kilometers south from Frýdlant nad Ostravicí. Čeladná is quite a long village, it has more than 10 kilometers as it lies along the stream bank of Čeladenka from the north to the south. The part of the village closer to the spring is called Horní (Upper) Čeladná, the more distant part is called Dolní (Lower) Čeladná.

Immigrants from Vlčnov, Moravia, 1890-1900

Vlčnov in Moravia - small town well know thanks to the local folklore traditions. Local "Ride of Kings" is great event visited by many people not only from Vlčnov surroundings, but from whole Czech Republic. But life here wasn't easy - and many young people emigrated. Here is another extract from parish books concerning notes about people who left Moravia and went overseas.

Immigrants from Kněždub

I was just browsing the Ellis Island records today, checking for people from Moravia who immigrated to the U.S. And I noticed four young gentlemen age 18 to 22 years immigrating from village Kněždub in Hodonín district, Moravia. I decided to check the birth parish book for further details on them (just for fun) - and I discovered people below also left Moravia.

History of villages: Dehtáře, Bohemia

Small village Dehtáře is located in Pelhřimov district in the Vysočina region, near the main road connecting towns Humpolec and Pelhřimov. Its name comes from the word dehet, which means tar. Dehtář was a tar maker, ie. this village was originally place where tar makers lived and worked. 

ActaPublica.eu - Pilsen archives guide

This information is out-of-date. Check new blog post about Pilsen archives system.

I have noticed that some people are having problems accessing Pilsen archival records published on ActaPublica.eu website. The reason is simple - search is totally different from the other two archives on ActaPublica (Brno and Prague). Therefor I created this short guide to Pilsen archives.

Tips for reading in parish books

I have gathered some tips how to handle the reading in old parish books. It's not easy - the writing is totally different from our writing, we are not used to it. That's why we need quite much of practice to handle it. Here are some tips how to handle it faster.

Death and burial in Czech past

Two out of three most important events of human life were already described - birth (and baptism) and marriage. It left the third one, death and burial. So - what we know about it? What can be read from the registries? And how our ancestors saw death and burial?

Why there hasn't been a post?!

Maternity leave and work of professional genealogist. How does it work together? Well, it works. Usually. This is going to be personal post. So you know me a bit better and you can imagine who is in the background of this blog. I have decided to write it after several weeks when I was overloaded with work and everything and got few questions when (and if) there is going to be a new post...

The Fall of the House of Amler

Few weeks ago, during an ordinary research in parish registers in the State Regional Archives of Litomerice, Blanka found quite disturbing records...  (press F5 for loading of the records).

We almost immediately started a research to know more about this family and background of such disaster. The sources available are just two - a contemporary article in Národní politika from 14th January 1903 (issue 14, page 5) and a very thorough article by Gerhard Kutnar in a Krkonoše 2003 journal (copy 3, page 30/31).

The newest registries in archives, part II - marriage records

This post is the first one about the structure of the records - which information they contain, how the information is structured, why this information is included and so on. Let's start with the marriage records as those are quite often the starting points for the research.

History of villages: Vnorovy, Moravia

Vnorovy, since 1960 consolidated with Lidéřovice, is a small town with 3045 inhabitants. You can find it in South Moravian Region, in Hodonín district, about 2,5km South-West from Veselí nad Moravou. Vnorovy is surrounded by water courses, especially on the North-West (river Morava, Baťa Canal, irrigation canals) and South (river Velička). Its altitude is 167-226 meters.

Czech Surnames Statistics

There are hundreds of thousands of them. Really. According to the newest statistics published by the Ministry of Interior, there are 370 878 unique surnames in use in the Czech Republic. Not all of them are of Czech origin, many of them were brought to Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia in last few decades as people from other countries were moving in (yes, also these surnames are covered by those statistics).

History of villages: Lnáře, Bohemia

Lnáře lies in Southern Bohemia in the Strakonice district. It is surrounded by wonderful landscape - the village itself is located on river Lomnice, where system of ponds was created in the past. There are two dominants of the village, a castle (chateau) and a fortress. Both are opened to public and if you plan a visit there, I recommend to find some time for these two dominants.

Migration in Bohemia and Moravia

You can find this blog post on my Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/posts/back-to-basics-92071690

I'm slowly moving whole Czech Genealogy blog for beginners to the Patreon site. If you want to stay in touch, consider becoming one of my Patrons. I'll be more than happy if you decide to support me in writing the blog (and you'll get access to tens of Patrons-only posts, research help and much more). See more here: https://www.patreon.com/czechgenealogy/membership

Happy New Year 2012

I wish you a good start in the new year. Let's hope that this one will be at least a bit better than the previous one.