If someone is born out of wedlock, they are illegitimate. But what does this mean? What is the process of legitimizing the child? And why would it be important to do so? What I have learned mostly comes from the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia on their pages about legitimation and illegitimacy. Basically, if a child is born out…
Czech Cursive Handwriting Examples from 1600-1935
My cousin in Řepiště shared two extremely useful PDF documents with me. They have handwriting examples in Czech script and how it has changed through the years. These are especially useful in Czech research when dealing with letters with hačeks. There are many German current script examples floating around the internet, but far fewer Czech…
Maps of Boundary Changes in the Czech Lands
Today I had an associate ask me: “Yesterday we had a man come into the FHC helping a friend on his research. I’m not sure if Ron will be coming back for further research on this family or not. Anyway, on the 1940 census, the family’s country of origin was Czechoslovakia, earlier censuses Austria…
Why I like Czech research
Genealogical research is really fun. It’s the closest I will probably ever get to time travel. It’s interesting, because I always hated my history classes in High School and college. But, as it turns out, I actually really love history as it pertains to individual people. Local history is fascinating. Studying the lives and events of…
Patrick McQueen Research
I haven’t posted for a little while. It is not for a lack of genealogy related pursuits; just a lack of Czech related genealogy pursuits! For the past two months I have been working as hard as I can to solve the mystery of my husband’s 5th great grandfather’s village of origin in Ireland. Patrick McQueen….
How do you distinguish genealogy from family history?
I wanted to share what I wrote in answer to this question. It was part of an assignment for the ProGen study group I’m in. We are studying Tom Jone’s new textbook Mastering Genealogical Proof. I think that it’s good to emphasize Family History. Everybody can participate, and their participation is helpful both to current and future…
Czech out this house!
This is a picture of me with my daughter (then 2) and my son (then 1) at the Hluchanek House located in the Czech Village at the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange, Texas. My husband took the picture and was holding our other son (then 0 years old). I really feel a…
Why should you look for village of origin records in the country of arrival?
So, you have a vague clue about a village of origin, say in the village “Hradiště.” You look up Hradiště on the Czech Parish finder and discover that there are over 20 different places with this name. But you don’t know which Hradiště is your Hradiště. Since so many of the Czech parish records are available online now, should…
Search for records in the bride’s home village
I have recently been doing research on some Klečka ancestors. I solved a problem using some basic knowledge about Czech customs in family migration. Here are two general pieces of knowledge that I have discovered in my experience researching my Catholic Czech ancestors. 1. Marriages often took place in the village of the bride. 2….
Can Catholics be Odd Fellows?
Yeah, I know some Catholics who are odd fellows, but can they be Odd Fellows? 😉I tried to research this online, but was not coming up with very many conclusive answers, so I decided to post my question on the Transitional Genealogists Forum. This forum is a place where professional genealogists and those en route to becoming…