And so we embarked on our voyage along the coasts of Bohemia, inspired by pan Lva z Rožmitálu. A rather difficult task, as this is a completely landlocked country. Those ponds you see everywhere? Man-made creations devised for irrigation and keeping carp fresh until Christmas. My friend lent me his time machine, and we could…
Category: matriky
Czech Birth Matrika Templates
A request was made on the Czech Genealogy Facebook group for a some templates for Czech matriky records. Here is my work in progress, which you may freely use. It is not complete. I welcome any additions and corrections. To add: anything from the 15th*-17th centuries, early 18th century, 20th century *It is not common…
The History of Czech Matriky
I was confused about why the matriky in use today are stored in matriční úřady (registrar’s office), not in the farnost (parish). This did not make sense to me. Catholics who get baptized want to still keep matriky books today, because they are a record of a religious ordinance/rites. How can the government justify itself…
The mystery of the page+ long marriage entry: 4th degree consanguinity and Incest
Someone on the facebook genealogy group posted a link to an incredibly long (1+ pages!) marriage entry in the matriky for Lomnice nad Lužnicí. She wanted to know what it meant, and I was curious too. Here is an abstract of the record: On 5 September 1762 Wenceslaus Wondruschka of Záblatí, legitimate son of Laurentis…
How to trace Czechs before House Numbers
House numbers in the Czech lands are great. But they were not a thing until the 1770s/1780’s. And not all of our ancestors were the “knedlíky” kind. If you have ever eaten dumplings before, you know exactly what I’m talking about. They sit in your stomach forever, like bricks. Well, it’s nice when ancestors are…
Johann Černoch and his two wives named Petrová
My brother found a discrepancy in a Texas death record and wanted for us to research it further. So we spent the afternoon together researching this ancillary Czech line of ours. How are they related to us? Anton Černoch married Filomena Kobersky. Filomena Kobersky is the daughter of Anton Koberský and Marianna Vašíčková. Notice that…
Watch out for that final a!
I was doing some research for my own Frenštát ancestors. Here is a link to this 26 April 1784 birth. A very quick glance with my tired eyes, and at first I saw, “Johann Chodurin.” I should have noticed three things: 1. There is a third little nožičky – what looks like a final “n” is…
Church Record Sunday: Časlav, 1835: “I must confess…”
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We CAN Remember!
Last month I posted the death certificate of Anton Smihal, which said, “Can Not Remember” when listing the name of his mother. I was very happy to be able to connect the living descendant of this family to their Czechs in the old country a few days later, and of course I started writing a…
Czechs never use the same given name for their children…except when they do.
Indexes are awesome, but they are always a crutch, and as such, are only as good as the stuff they are made out of. If you were to use a crutch made out of glass, it might very easily break. Ouch. All I’m saying is just be careful to also use your brain when you…