Stabile cadaster maps, part II

As I mentioned in my previous blog post about stabile cadaster, stabile cadaster maps contain many information useful for anyone interested in family history research. So - what exactly is shown on the maps? What information can you find there? And how to use it in your research?

I already described that two types of maps are available - imperial maps and indicator sketches. I'll focus on indicator sketches as they contain more information than imperial maps. And I'll use village Třešně in Písek district as an example because my ancestors lived there and I know quite much about it.

This is a view of the village - cut from large map. There were not too many houses in the village during the mapping which took place in 1837. Houses are drawn in pink or yellow color - pink are those built from stone, yellow are those built from wood. Roads are drawn in brown, gardens in darker green, grassfields in lighter green, pond in light blue, fields in beige. 

There are also local names shown in the map - na Wrssich (na Vrších, on hills) in this case. This helps us to compare the map to the cadastral books where fields are often described according to their location (má kousek pole na Vrších - he has one piece of field on hills).

Detail of houses. Pink houses are built from stone, yellow from wood. Wooden were maily outbuildings in case of Třešně, main buildings were stony. Each house has two numbers - black one is a plot number, red one is a house number - this is valid for the numbers directly on houses. But on the plots (fields, gardens, grassfield, forests...) it's reversed - house no. is in black and plot no. in red. Don't ask me who came with this confusing solution. :)

You can see house no. 1 on plot no. 4 on the picture above, with gardens on plots no. 54 (behind the house) and 55 (in front of the house) and field on plot no. 53 (behind the house). Another house is no. 23 on plot no. 5 with garden on plot no. 48 (next to the house) and field on plot no. 49 (behind the house).

Owners' names are also visible on this map. You can read that house no. 23 was owned by Witug Simon (Vítůj Šimon), house no. 21 by Kapl Mathias (Kápl Matěj), house no. 3 by Habart Johann (Habart Jan) - surname is on first place, name is written second. There is also a wayside cross drawn in the top left corner of this map - the cross is still there today. 

Detail of fields with plot numbers listed together with information to which house (and owner) the fields belong. You see that field plot no. 70 belonged to house no. 1 owned by Franz Hrubez (František Hrubec). Browsing through the fields can give us an overview which fields were owned by our ancestors as every field has at least a house number to which it belonged. 

Grassfields around the creek - again, divided among several plots and owners, with plot and house number written together with owner name. 

Forests (grey with picture of a tree) and grassfields - there were more grassfields types, that's why one has lighter and another darker green color. H.W. abbreviation means herrschaftliche Wald, domain forest - it was owned directly by the domain owner. These pieces of forest have just plot numbers. Those parts of forests which were rented by the farmers have also house numbers on them.

So, what you can map from those maps? Property your ancestors held - if they held some. If your ancestors were farmers, this is the best way how to find out more. You can use these cadastral maps together with aerial maps of the Czech Republic to see how the property looks like today from air. You can also use these maps to plan a trip around the village if you are going to visit CZ. 

You can also compare current normal and aerial maps with these old cadastral maps. It will give you an insight into the changes of places where your ancestors lived.