This was one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read in my life. Literally. It’s the story about a shy, unexciting man in his thirties (he is unnamed in the book but in the miniseries his name is Jiří Oulický) who hires a “Gentleman’s Gentleman” named Saturnin, whose personality is a hilarious combination…
Weekly Project Updates: 21 April 2018
Well, I skipped last week’s update because I really didn’t do that much except… I SOLVED MY FIRST EVER GENETIC GENEALOGY CASE!!! YAY!!! It was very exciting, and I hope to write lots about it. I was able to find the birth father of my second cousin once removed. It was an extremely satisfying experience….
Weekly Update: 17 March 2018
It was spring break this week and I did a lot of childcare and comparatively little genealogy research. I did write up the Krčmarský stuff I found, which was extremely helpful for several reasons: Now I know which questions to ask next. Writing helped me to organize my research. I was able to share it…
Czech Handwritten Text Recognition: A Real Possibility
The main thing that I got out of RootsTech 2018 is the permission to think about Czech Handwritten Text Recognition as a real possibility. I have always been a little bit prone to being overly ambitious and having ridiculously huge dreams. A lot of people have derisively laughed at my vision in the past, and…
Using [Square] Brackets (and parenthesis) in Transcriptions (and Translations[!])
I’ve been working on a transcription project with my friend, and today while trying to find an objective explanation for why I was choosing square brackets [ ] in some places and parenthesis ( ) in others, I ran into a genealogy standard that goes completely against all my reasoning and logic having to do…
Silesian Nobles: the Czaderski Family
As part of a new series for the Moravian and Silesian Genealogy Facebook Group, I will be writing periodically about noble families. Even though all my known ancestors were peasants (or Burghers), still we can learn a lot by studying the noble families who owned – and especially who oversaw the record keeping practices of…
Matriky Monday: A Dear Employee
A shout out to Gabriela Vcislo for her help with the transcription of this record. She has been buying and selling new/used books since 1999 and if you need anything rare or out of print in Czech, definitely contact her. Special thanks also to Michaela Hornáková and Anicka Krestyn for their help on this record…
Guest Post: Review of Barefoot (Po strništi bos)
Let Tracy Burns take you on dazzling journeys throughout the Czech Republic, Italy and other countries in Europe. Her blog, Tracy’s Travels, is at www.taburns25.com. A resident of Prague for more than 20 years, she also has authored travel pieces at www.kissfromtheworld.com. She has been writing about Czech and Slovak literature for the academic journal Kosmas since 2002….
Matriky Monday: A boy named Maria?
We are rebooting a fun series and calling it “Matriky Monday”! This will be a weekly quiz which you can take to test your Czech genealogy skills. Got a suggestion for a record for this series? Send me a message! A special shout out to Michaela Horňáková whose excellent work inspired this post. You can…
Guest Review: Pub in the Glade, performed by the Cimrman English Studio at Žižkov Theatre of Jára Cimrman, Štítného 5, Prague 3.
By Tracy A. Burns. English speakers in Prague can get acquainted with the highly praised plays about the fictional character Jára Cimrman, who was chosen the Greatest Czech in a survey in 2005 and who has greatly influenced Czech culture. The Cimrman English Theatre performs three of the Cimrman works in English – The Stand-In (Záskok), Conquest of the…