When I started this blog, one of the principles I tried to follow was the acknowledgement of my imperfect knowledge.
I want to be an expert in Czech Genealogy. While I have researched for years, amassing thousands and thousands of hours of painstaking transcription of old documents, I am the first to admit that I don’t know nearly as much as I wish I knew.
However, I feel confident that I do know something, and I because I also know that I am not alone in my interest in Czech genealogy research, it is valuable to share my limited knowledge.
When land records first became available online in 2013, I was extremely daunted by the task of trying to transcribe, let alone translate, even a single record. There are so many unique challenges with these documents. They are really hard.
I spent a lot of time searching for help with this transcription process online, and was sadly very limited in what I found. That is why I want to share tonight’s work with the world, even though I am fully and acutely aware that there are mistakes. This is a work in progress.
So, here’s the research problem:
My direct line ancestor, Anna Krczmarska (I’m going to spell it the way it was written on most of her records, even though it is a Germanified Czech orthography) was the daughter of Joseph Krczmarsky. I want to find out more about him: who did he marry, where did he live, who are his children.
Anna Krczmarska eventually married Joseph Schumbera on 4 October 1842 at Nová Bělá. She was the daughter of Joseph Krčmarský, bauer in Nová Bělá, and Marianna daughter of Johann Tomanek of Gross Kunzendorf. She was 26 years old when she was married, giving her an estimated birth of 1816.
The big problem is that the parish records for Gross Kunzendorf, aka Kunčice nad Ostravicí, are all missing between the years 1785-1835! A fifty year gap! Ask me how many of my Czech ancestors are affected by this gap. Go ahead. Ask.
About half of them. Vratimov aka Rattimau and Gross Kunzendorf seem to have been villages in the same parish. What a bummer.
The silver lining is that the land records do exist, at least for Gross Kunzendorf.
But what does Gross Kunzendorf have to do with anything anyway? Well, it seems like this family moved from Gross Kunzendorf to Nová Bělá aka Neu Biela. That is what we can see from the land records.
It seems like Joseph Krzmarsky inherited #73 Gross Kunzendorf from Michel Krzmarsky (who I don’t think is his father) in 1807, and then he sold it and moved to Neu Bela by 1827. This was information that I found from skimming the land records for names and dates. More on that later.
I went back to the earlier Gross Kunzendorf records and found something about Michel. Here is my transcription. Analysis to come soon.
stramu sinovi Michalově Kuntzcizek polozeny zahradnicie grund pod numbero 73 za smluvnem kupni cenu pr šedesat reiskich.
K tomu prinalezi zahradka při chalupe na jednu měrku, jak kůs pole na třirast stěrtni dva virtele vrastaska miri Mýsnou, a hranici s panskim beskem sihržinak nazeranim a s waclawem lateckem, pak s Waclawem čerikem, a Bartulovsku hranzi.
Tito grunty pak hranici, a sice 0
Na přidatku kůp iteloví přitem to grunto oddan jest jedna metika, jedna lopata, jedna sekira, a jedna kosa.
co dřitel toho grunto svoje vrchnosti na roslisnich podat konih odnadeli a na robotach od prac rarati parinin jest, a ce na proti temu k uzivani ma, to urbarium ukazuje, na ktere se tuto odnolane
Termino Georgi ěé kr
Termion Michaeli ěé kr
jednu kůrů
a tři mařa
a jednů stuků čenke přinse
a natůratne roboti 139 dni do roku
Na driracan skladizu k obzi, jak mnoho na neho podle jen dětě mětěne výpadne co se jak ale zdano neho na připad prodaje dotiče, vtom seděžitel podle svym ozasem pradan niceho nejvyššího miniženi zachovat mit bude.
ostatne ma o s svini potomkani, a nastůpnikami tu moc tento grunt bes překaský jedneho kasdeho co možne na nejlepší užívat, jakož í podle sve prospěšnosti a za dobre uznaný dále od peodatí, neb, však ale s panským Vedonim, a povoláním, zastavit, a pře najmuti.
K Tomu na svedomi jest tato kupni smlouvy, na odobanich strom jodepsane, a spetnena jenz se stalo v stanomě den a leto, jak na hire.
dieser kauf ist schon völlig ausgezahlt mit 60 fr
Gegenwärtiger kauf grund wird von seiten deren obliged grund obrigkeit amit ratificiet syl Gross Kunzendorf den 10 April 1795