Between Příbor and Hukvaldy castle is a beautiful abandoned ruin. It looked really interesting, so we decided to take a look. It turns out that it is, or was, a place called Hájovský Dvůr, and the history of this property is older than he history of the tiny village of Hájov. It was founded on…
Church Record Sunday: Merklín 1700
Here is a link to this record. Just three questions today: 1. What kind of record is it?2. What language is it in?3. What is the name(s) of the main person (or people) of interest on this record?
to tykání, or not to tykání…that is the question (for Czechs)
At this, the close of my first week of actually making a real and concerted effort to study Czech the language (though I have made several other really casual attempts before), I have to take a minute to write about a huge cultural difference that I have noticed: vykání vs. tykání. Of course, this concept…
Secondary information on an original document
Sometimes genealogists get into the habit of believing that because something was an “original source” or handwritten, it is therefore always correct.While there is some truth in the idea that the more a document is transcribed, the more likely it is to contain errors (since at every stage of the transcription and/or translation process, there…
Church Record Sunday: Staříč 1745 Marriage
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The Case of Both Barbara’s Births
My Grandpa Vasicek said that his mother (Elizabeth “Betty” Michna) never got along with her mother in law, Agnes Steffek. “They tolerated each other and were civil, but argued nevertheless.” Betty’s parents, Anna Šumbera and Bedrich Michna, were not social equals. In fact, Bedrich was the hired hand on Anna’s father Ludvig Šumbera’s farm in…
Workday Wednesday: Pasekář, Farmer
This is one of those untranslatable words that means a specific kind of farmer in Czech. You cannot simply translate it to, “a farmer on a clearing” without losing the nuanced, rich meaning of this word. When my husband and I went to Trojanovice, we were told point blank, “this is a paseka.” Well, actually,…
Tomáš G. Masaryk Papers, 1887-1955
Randomly, today at lunch in Salt Lake City, we sat down next to this guy at a cafe whose wife’s father, Stephen Taggart, was a significant contributor to Czech history. Later, I also met his wife. They are a lovely senior missionary couple from Idaho serving a mission in the FamilySearch record preservation (or something…
Church Record Sunday: Měchnov 1809
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Rustic Baroque by Jiří Hájíček
Rustic Baroque by Jiří Hájíček [While reading:] “Wait until you work your way through to the old handwritten script they call Kurrent.” This had me laughing out loud. This is very fun to read. I feel like I am there. I’m glad I am reading this after having been there. It’s validating to watch another…