I’m reposting what I wrote on the Czech Heritage Society Yahoo Group page, because I am truly stuck and need help finding out what to do next. I’m frustrated because I used to have high hopes that this would turn into a component in my BCG portfolio application, but it looks like it won’t be turning out that way, especially if I actually do receive some help in solving this problem. Oh well, I have learned a lot from the search, and it’s more important to me to solve the actual genealogy problem at hand.
The Haidušek family seems to completely disappear from Mniší records. The family I’m talking about is the Georg Hajduschek-Barbara Koliba children. This is Georg Hajduschek’s second marriage. The fabled Judge Augustine Haidusek, first Czech lawyer in the US, etc. is his grandson through Valentin Haidusek, who was born from his first marriage. The pages in the Pilgrims for Hope Vol. 1 book are about Valentin, who immigrated on the Anna Elise with that group of immigrants in 1856. They were mostly from Frenštát and the surrounding area. Seven of them stuck together and founded the village of Dubina.
I’m trying to trace the children from his second marriage, and so far I’m just stuck. Several records seem to quote somebody mentioning that Valentin Haidusek’s father George owned substantial lands.
I found George Haiduschek’s land records. They weren’t actually that extensive. If I understand the records correctly, Valentin Haidusek seems to have inherited them all, and then the last entry for #14 Mniší is in 1856, the year that he immigrated. Perhaps he sold them?
Valentin Haidusek had 8 half siblings: Georg, Johann, Franz, Cirill, Ignatz, Anna, Antonia, and Theresia.
Georg Haiduschek married Mariana Žabensky of Rychaltice. He is living at #14 Mniší in the 1869 census with his wife, 4 kids, and single brother Ignatz, a journeyman in “Uhersko, banaty” which I don’t know if that’s a place in Hungary or the Pardubice region of the Czech lands. Hmm.
Johann married twice, first to Johanna Bohač and then to Marianna Pustejovsky. They were both older widows and never had children with him. He is found in #21 Mniší with his first wife and her children on the 1869 census, and #48 Mniší with his second wife and her children on the 1890 census.
Franz died when he was 17. His inheritance was divided between his mother and siblings in 1853 in the land records for #14 Mniší.
Ignatz I have been unable to trace at all beyond the 1869 census. Presumably he married. He was 31 in 1869, and most of his siblings married first in their 30’s (or even 40’s!).
Anna married Thomas Brosch of #9 Mniší. In 1869, she is there with her husband, his parents, and her sister Antonia.
Antonia marries Joseph Klozík of Mniší. In 1890 they are living in #65 with their kids.
Theresia Haidusczek inherited a portion of her brother Franz’s inheritance in 1853, so she did not die young. I have found no record of her after that – I can’t find her residence place in 1869, and I can’t find any marriages or deaths for her.
I have looked through every page of every Mniší matriky record that is available online, and I still can’t find anything else about these peoples’ fates. I also searched in all the surrounding villages including Kopřivnice, Vlčovice, Ticha, Drnholec, Sýkorec, Hukvaldy, Horní Sklenov, Lichnov, and Bordovice. I even searched Frenštát, Trojanovice, Frydlant nad Ostravicí, and Kunčice pod Ondrejníkem records.I went through the entire 1869 census for Mniší.
Maybe all of these people had really long lives?
Or maybe…they immigrated? The group of immigrants that came in 1856 supposedly had 120 people, but only a handful of them are mentioned by name. Of course, finding passenger lists for Galveston arrivals circa 1850-1860 involves crossing your fingers that some copy of a list is available in a newspaper here or in Bremen.
Maybe the men changed their surnames?
Does anybody have an idea of where to look next? My goal is to find out when and where all of these people died, and what became of them.