Welcome in 2016

Our youngest (fourth) daughter was born few days ago, on the feast of Three Wise Men. Her name is Salome and we are back home from hospital now. Anyway, getting back to shape will take a bit longer, so I don't suppose I'll be able to write much in upcoming weeks. I'll try to answer comments and questions, but the rest has to wait. Thanks for understanding. :)

Loss of ancestors - pedigree collapse

This post is not only Czech genealogy, but common basics - but I had a need to write it. It's focused on loss of ancestors, ie. the ancestors paradox or pedigree collapse. That's situation when you "loose" number of ancestors due to fact that related people marry. An excellent article about how everyone on Earth is related brought this topic to my attention.

2015

There were 20 new posts this year. 

15 new registered readers.

221 new comments (wow). 

Thanks to all of you who read this blog and use it for your research. We are happy we can help you trace your Czech ancestors, help you find answers to your questions. 

Special thanks belong to our supporters - there were 4 donations done this year and we really appreciate them. These donations help us find some more time to write new blog posts so we can provide you more interesting information from Czech past. 

And what can you expect next year? I'd like to finish third part of "Houses of our ancestors" - town houses. I'd also like to show you how the localization research is done (that's the type of research when we don't know where exactly the family came from). Another post I plan will be about craftmen and their work. 

I would also like to ask you - what would you appreciate reading in this blog? What topics are interesting for you? 

I think there is much from Czech history and family research covered, that's why I'm asking - to be sure I'm not missing bits important for the research. 

Thanks and good luck in your research in 2016!

Political districts, court districts, district offices...

All (well, almost) you always wanted to know about districts in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Or at least those important bits which could make your research a bit easier. Not much, but at least a bit. The districts as we know them were created in the middle of 19th century, during huge administrative reform initiated by the Emperor František Josef I. Czech lands were divided into several regions and number of domains before this reform. 

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.

One family, two families, few more adults...

Curious what the heading is about? I hope so. How many people live in your house? You, your partner or husband or wife, your kids? Maybe parents or one of the kids with his or her family? Most houses/flats hold just one family today. But was it the same in the past? You probably already know the answer: No, it wasn't. I have here one excellent example from 19th and beginning of 20th century which will provide you an idea how our ancestors lived.