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.

Stabile cadaster maps (updated in Nov 2017)

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Which archives to search? vol. 2

This question appears repeatingly in Czech Genealogy group on Facebook. I have village xy and I don't know in which archives to search for the parish books. I have already written a post about how to search for the proper parish in GenTeam.at, but what if you don't have GenTeam access? 

Check in which district the village is.

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!

The oldest log house in Bohemia? In Rtyně!

We found an interesting article on website of Czech Radio and I decided to translate it for you as I think readers of this blog would be interested in such topic.

People in Rtyně didn't know the oldest Czech log house was located there

Folk architecture is responsible for many poetic log houses all over Bohemia and Moravia. These houses are usually 100 to 150 years old. But the oldest log house in Bohemia is more than 400 years old.  Short time ago, even its owners didn't know that. It's a wooden cottage in Rtyně v Podkrkonoší. 

The log house in Rtyně

Houses of our ancestors, part II. - cottages and small houses

I promised another blog post about houses where our ancestors lived - about cottages and small houses. And here it is. So - what were the small houses like? How our ancestors lived there, how much space they had?

Houses of our ancestors, part I. - farm houses

I received some comments mentioning ancestors of those who wrote them didn't live in small houses, they lived in farm houses, so what I presented was quite extreme case. Well, it wasn't. There are two different things - large (farm) house and large area for living. Do you think that if the house was large, the living area was also large? Really? Let's take a look on some examples.

Open-air museum in Pohleď

Open-air museums are very popular part of Czech heritage. There is one called Michalův statek (Michal's farm) in Pohleď in Vysočina region, not far away from our home. They are presenting life as it was in 19th century, including local traditions. We visited it today and I made some photos there which I want to share with you.

Fotohistorie.cz, old postcards and photos source

We have gone through parish books, censuses, school registers or maps, but there are many more online sources for Czech history. One of these sources is website Fotohistorie.cz which offers old postcards and photos from all around the Czech Republic. It's not a source covering every village and every town but it can provide very nice postcards for many Czech towns and villages.

House numbers

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Rural settlement types

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Karel Šafránek, gossipy priest

It's Sunday afternoon here in CZ and I was thinking what I should write about next. And as it is Sunday and it should be a day off, I decided to write a post about - a death. Ah. No, not a usual one. About two interesting deaths from a parish where my own ancestors were from.

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?

Farmhands, grooms, day labourers - rural occupations

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History of villages: Křesetice, Bohemia

Křesetice is located in Kutná Hora district in the Central Bohemia region, about four kilometers south from Kutná Hora. It's placed in the valley of Křenovka creek surrounded by fields. Its name comes from the name of laird Křesata - it meant his village, village of his serfs.
 

One hide, half hide - farmers in Czech past

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Dolní Bojanovice - Feast of Corpus Christi

I was in Southern Moravia region three weeks ago, during the Feast of Corpus Christi weekend. And we were accomodated in Dolní Bojanovice by coincidence - village where the celebration is probably the largest and most traditional. Many people are wearing traditional clothes and costumes. I couldn't help myself and took few photos of those who were wearing it. These photos were taken in front of the church (open the article to see more photos).

 

9th grade class of local primary school

History of villages: Nemějice, Bohemia

There are many small villages which has long history, but there are is just a little information published online about them. Writing a history of such village is quite complicated task and I'm trying to do my best in such tasks. One of those villages is Nemějice in Písek district - it was problem to find detailed information about this village online, but I have tried to compile at least those few notes I have found. 

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.

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.