Monday, July 4, 2016

History of villages: Lelekovice, Moravia

Haven't done a history of villages post for a while - and as there are quite many villages still waiting on the list, I decided I should write such blog post. Anyway - if you are interested in history of some village from Bohemia, Moravia or Silesia, let me know in comments!
 
Lelekovice belongs to South Moravian region, Brno-venkov district. You can find it about 10 kilometers north from Brno center and it's one of the villages which are quite rapidly growing as it's in small distance from Brno which provides many jobs and other opportunities. It lies in valley of Ponávka river and it's surrounded by small hills (usually abt 360 to 390 meters above sea level, highest is Babí Lom with 562 meters).

Location of Lelekovice in the Czech Republic. Source: Wikipedia.org

Its coat of arms contains quite many references to the history of village: bull's head refers to the noble family of Lelekovice to which the village belonged in 14th century. Hook refers to family Válecký from Mírov which later owned the village, fortification reminds people there once was a castle in Lelekovice.

History
The oldest known source which mentions Lelekovice village comes from 1288 when Heřman of Lelekovice is named as a witness in a document by Hartman of Holštejn. The village itself had to be founded before this year, most probably in the first half of 13th century. Local yeomans with title "of Lelekovice" were know during the 14th century, they also built a castle. Unfortunately the castle was destroyed in 15th century and there is just a little of it preserved. 

Projection of Lelekovice castle - how it most probably looked like. Source: Castles.cz

There were many changes in ownership of Lelekovice domain in 15th and 16th century until it became property of Válecký of Mírov family in 1543. They stabilized the domain, incorporated it to Kuřim estate, ensured its income and also made first "census" of local farmers. It comes from 1570 and hopefully it will be available on Moravian Land Archives website soon. 

The village Lelekovice was sold to the town Brno in 1557 and it belonged to its property till 1848 when large administrative reform was done. The village was lucky one during the 30 years war as it wasn't so heavily impacted by it as other villages in Brno administration. Only few farmhouses were abandoned, most of them were still maintained by their previous owners.

Lelekovice on the map of 1st military mapping. Source: Oldmaps.geolab.cz

Lelekovice grew over the time as more and more farmhouses were built and many craftsmen came to the village. As it was located near Brno and near business route from Brno to Svitavy and to Poland it was a good place to live and work in. But there were of course also not-so-good events during the time - large fire in 1856 which destroyed quite many houses, Prussian army settling in the village in 1866 which meant the people of Lelekovice had to feed them, another large fire in 1893...

Church of St. Filip and Jakub
The oldest building in the village is the church of Saint Filip and Jakub. It was built in 13th century in Roman style, then rebuilt in Gothic style during 15th century. The church originally had wooden tower, which was replaced by stone one in 1873.

Church in Lelekovice. Source: Fotodoma.cz

Genealogical information
Lelekovice belong under administration of Moravian Land Archives in Brno (which is not far away from the village). It belongs under Vranov parish from 1784, records before this year could be found in Lipůvka, Kuřim or Brno - St. Jacob parishes. Parish books are available online on ActaPublica website.

Information from the oldest Moravian census of farmers ("lánový rejstřík") is available online: Lelekovice
Map of stabile cadaster from 1826 is available online: Stabile cadaster website of Brno archives

Lelekovice on historical postcard. Source: Fotohistorie.cz

Oldest surnames (excerpt from the Moravian farm census, abt 1670): Babák, Balák, Bednář, Buchta, Cibulka, Čada, Čeloud, Čumera, Doležal, Fleischhacker, Hnilička, Holcíř, Holík, Horák, Hořínka, Hromádka, Hudec, Hulín, Jebáček, Kohoutek, Komárek, Kot, Kouřil, Králíček, Krbůšek, Kroutný, Lakota, Mucha, Paříček (Pařízek), Pekárek, Procházka, Proušánek, Řezáč, Šmerovský, Švec, Tschova, Valů, Vejrosta, Weber

Surnames from 1784 to 1800: Albrecht, Antonín, Balák, Beran, Böhm, Brodecký, Buchta, Charvát, Činčara, Čížek, Čumera, Draža, Drescher, Fiala, Filka, Franta, Holešovský, Hrdlička, Hruška, Hudeček, Kaša, Kratochvíla, Kropáček, Leicher, Lipenský, Macháček, Majda, Malík, Mátal, Merta, Mikola, Milion, Nechmač, Perníkář, Pichmann, Piták, Pokorný, Procházka, Sedláček, Schlesinger, Schmid, Souš, Stejskal, Suchý, Škarohlíd, Šrámek, Štětina, Toufar, Váňa, Vermosek, Veselý, Vlček, Závodník

31 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Would love to see a post like this on Velke Karlovice, Moravia. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for this wonderful website. My family comes from Zebnice and later Obora in Plzen North. Both villages belonged to the Monastery at Plasy at one time. I found a comment that only 7 houses remained in Obora after the 30 Years War. I would love to know more about these villages and how the 30 Years War affected the area. It seems that the church records only begin after that war.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice write up and photos. The village of Dolni Bojanovice in Moravia is where I would love to hear some history as my Mom was born there. Thanks for sharing such wonderful information! Judy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have photos from Dolní Bojanovice here: http://czechgenealogy.nase-koreny.cz/2014/07/dolni-bojanovice-feast-of-corpus-christi.html

      I'll add the village to the list of "to-do" villages.

      Delete
    2. I checked the post and even commented on it. Now the page is bookmarked. I'm looking forward to your post. Thanks so much Blanka! Judy

      Delete
  4. Policka, Borova, Oldris. Old maps and town photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some of these were nicely described in the latest issue of Nase rodina, magazine by Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International. :)

      Delete
  5. Interesting information, It is said that my GGGGG grandfather was actually born in Austria in1729, as an infant his parents moved to Bohemia, in the town or village of Cöhnon/Cohman, Bohemia, has anyone heard of this place and if so where in Bohemia might this be.. thank you for answering me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Carol. I am using a gazetteer at http://www.genteam.at/index.php?option=com_ortsdb to try to locate this town. Such a wonderful site. It is free but you must use a sign-on. Nothing comes up at all with either Coh... or Koh... There is a Comano in northern Italy, just SOUTH of Austria. A place called Komania is also in northern Italy. There is a Mlyn Komankuv in Moravia. I am not finding anything like what you mention in Bohemia.

      Delete
  6. Fantastic information, as usual.

    My families came from Privetice, Radnice; Vejvanov, Hlohovice; Podluhy, Horovice among other places near Plzeň

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello, Blanka! I will add to your list. My grandfather's family originated in the parishes of Lasovice, Kovarov,and Milevsko in Jihocesky kraj. So I would love to read any history on their villages of Zahorany, Zebrakov,Vesec, Chlumek or Kostelec nad Vltavou. But I know they are very very tiny villages with likely very little history. Thanks for your work and keep the cute photos coming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Technice has had some interesting history, though.

      Delete
  9. Hi

    My Gggrandfather Jakub Fickerle or Fikerle now Figerle emigrated from the Zemetice/merklin area (south of Plzen)according to my records in 1867. He married my Gggrandmother Anna in NYC. He came over according to the ship manifest as a tailor, but became a cigar maker along with his wife in NYC. He came over with his brother Josef who was a few years older. His brother Jan stayed in the area I mentioned above...According to Genealogy.com. How do I go about getting more history or if any of my ancestors are still alive...Thx for any info or help...

    ReplyDelete
  10. looking for the villages of my grandfather & his sister Bester,CZ. or austria,hungry Also looking for Ruskay they came to the US in 1900 any help please

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello, My soninlaw was born in 1980 in Nowy Sacy (sp) outside Pilzen. His maternal family name is Kucera from this area. His paternal name is Stanek, they lived in Pilzen and Prague. We do not know much about the Stanek/ Stanekova original location. It is interesting that you were born near and in the same year as my soninlaw. Thank you for any information.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The village is Nova Hut, near Pilzen for Kucera. Sorry, the village Nowy Sacy is my husbands family.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Would love to see the history of Semikovice

    ReplyDelete
  14. Am interested in the Village of Kralovstvi (German sp Konigreich) north of Prague almost on the German Border. I can find the location but nothing on the history, etc. Are you able to help by naming sources besides Wikipedia, Google etc.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Looking for some info on if there was a village: Horni Lhoti
    Trying to find where my grandfather, Peter Joseph ZACEK b.1894 Czechoslavkia or Austria came to US in 1914, believe TX.
    I'm on several group sites for some guidance. Tried checking CZ. records, but don't know village (search for name right now).
    Thank You,
    Janet

    ReplyDelete
  16. My grandmother was born in Lacnov with Parish being Valasske Klobouky (Wallachain Hat)in southeastern Moravia. (Forgive lack of accents). We still have family in both towns. Would be interested in any history of that area if you have not already published. My ancestors were serfs so any info relating to who the lord of estate was would be interesting, My second cousin said their town was established as a royal city, perhaps in the 13th century.
    My grandfather was born in Sehradice though his family records are mainly from Vrbetice, parish Vlachovice. His mother is from Stita nad Vlari.
    Enjoyed you at Pittsburg conference and look forward to hearing you again in Lincoln! Thank you for all the information and knowledge you share

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thus, Queen Elizabeth I conceded city status as a Royal Charter in 1590; 'The Royal Crescent', which was initially named 'The Crescent', had the descriptive word 'Regal' included towards the finish of the eighteenth century. click here

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm really impressed about the info you provide in your articles. If you want to invest in suits and be stress-free, then you should shake hands with us. We are providing great clothing in the most reasonable price range that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. Put your trust in us as your supplier since we are the prominent printed stickers uk You can rely on us for the clothing problems we assure you we will never let our customers down.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Attractive information on your blog, thank you for taking the time and share with us.custom window cake boxes

    ReplyDelete
  20. Amazing insight you have on this, it’s nice to find a website the details so much information about different artists.
    custom toy boxes

    ReplyDelete
  21. Nice post, keep up with this interesting work. It really is good to know that this topic is being covered also on this web site so cheers for taking time to discuss this! Healthy lunch Ideas

    ReplyDelete
  22. Would you share some history or resources for Borotice, LIbice, Svate Pole, Dusniki or Slovan[ská Lhota], now called Miliia I believe. My Sramek/Stoulil great great grandparents came from there after there last child born there in 1865. They came to Tama, Iowa but I don't find ships lists or anything about their trip.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hello, Do you happen to know the location of the village, Mzizovic in Bohemia? I would like to locate the area my great grandmother is from. Thank you!
    Paila

    ReplyDelete