Small Towns

This is the home of a structure which is an attempt to recreate data from the Small Towns website that Judy Nelson had kept up for research in Southern Bohemia (Czech Republic). It may not follow the full structure she had but I hope to get all the relevant parts back. It is a work in progress.

Researchers for Hire

The following firms and individuals can be hired for research of Czech records. (Caveat: this is potentially old data. I will update, add or remove as I receive word from each.) Some will also photograph houses, churches, etc. for you. Their rates vary as well as their expertise. The SMALL TOWNS website does not recommend nor endorse any researcher, nor do we bear any responsibility for your satisfaction with search results. We will appreciate learning of your experience with Czech researchers, and will accept additions to this list. Contact via the TAG email.

Postage rates change, In the USA you can checkthe USPS website for current postage rates from USA to Europe.

Things to know before you start.

You must know the town or county or parish of your ancestor before you order from archives or hire a researcher. There are methods of determining unknown origins.

The main Czech Archives in Prague will not do genealogical research, nor will any of the state archives. You must hire a research firm or use the online archives, or go to the archive yourself. The June ’02 issue of Nase rodina gives good instructions for preparing to go if you must:

  • Archivni Sprava, Horakove 133, 166 21 Praha 6, (verify address before you go) Czech Republic
  • The regional archive at Trebon (includes Suchdol area), has records from year 1602, and oldest land deed, 1134. Do not order directly as they no longer research for us. See Archivni Sprava (main Cz.Archives in Prague) above. Trebon Archiv: Statni Oblastni Archiv V Treboni , Zamek , 379 11 Trebon, CzechRep. archive web page (click on EN for English), then usually Parish Registers on the left, then usually Roman Catholic Church, then the parish you want.
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Research Aids

This group of information is posted to assist with interpretations of what you might find in various records.

Vulgo Surnames

A common problem for researchers of Czech lineage is finding double surnames in records or in results received from a Czech researcher. Men, women, and children can be found to have had two surnames in church and civil records, particularly in South Bohemia although vulgo surnames also occurred in western and central Bohemia and in some regions of Moravia (Czech Republic). The naming practice continued into the 20th century.

Thanks to Judy Nelson for this writeup

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History

Some articles about history in both Europe and United States.

Rulers of Bohemia

This photgraph of a page from a table in the book The Slavs of European History and Civilization by Francis Dvornik, 1962 lists Rulers of Bohemia

The Thirty Years War

This event had major impact on Bohemia and most of the European countries. The History website has a very good review of the details of the war.
I did not see an end result map on that site so am including a link to a map on Wikimedia showing the distribution of countries in 1648.