Research
Family (or genealogical) research is mostly focused on the vital records (births, marriages, deaths) - so are we. The vital records are the main part of our services, however not the only part. We are providing a wide range of other services, as research in cadastral books, maps, census, marriage banns, official documents, lists of serfs and so on. Our services also include translations and help with reading old documents.
As a result of any of the research types mentioned below you will receive detailed information about the resources and/or used methods and also proposal of the next steps to be taken in the research.
- Vital Records
- Other archival resources
- Place of origin localization
- Localization of living relatives
- Ancestral villages
- Reading of parish records
Vital Records
The cardinal part of the family research is definitely the research in vital records, which can be found in parish registries (books) of births, marriages and deaths. These books are stored in seven main archives which are located in different parts of the Czech Republic. The parish registries were mandatory for every parish since 1784, but there exist also older registries for almost every village and town in both Bohemia and Moravia. The family research can go back to the middle of 17th century quite often.
Most of the emmigrants left Bohemia and Moravia during 2nd half of 19th century. It is quite often possible to estimate their birth date and locate their place of origin from the passenger records. Based on this the research can start - since we have a year span and the place, we are able to search for the records.
The extent of the research depends only on how deep in the history you want to go, and what do you want to know about your family. Do you want to trace just your direct ancestors? Or do you want to know their brothers and sisters too? And maybe also descendants of these brothers and sisters?
We have prepared several examples of the vital records from the Czech archives:
Birth from 1836 | Marriage from 1781 | Death from 1844
Here you can find the translations:
Birth from 1836 | Marriage from 1781 | Death from 1844
What will you receive after the research is finished:
Detailed report about the used resources.
Transcription of the record(s).
Translation of the record(s).
Digital copy (photo) of the record(s).
Explanation of any terms or words which are not common.
Family chart in gedcom format.
In case of a large research also the family history based on the records found.
If you are interested in more details about the vital records, don't hesitate to contact us.
For details about the price of the research see the Fees section.
Other archival resources
One of the possibilities to extend your knowledge of the family is to make a research in cadastral books. These books include farms and their owners from the 16th to 19th century. It is possible to find there information about the property, about family members, about regular taxes etc. Cadastral books are great resource of learning about the conditions which your ancestors lived in.
The archives can provide a huge number of resources which are not commonly known, for example census, marriage banns, information about inheritance, documents about quarrels between people and so on. Not all the resources are available for all villages and towns, but there is a great number of interesting records available for most of them.
What will you receive after the research is finished:
Detailed report about used resources.
Transcription of the record(s).
Translation of the record(s).
Digital copy (photo) of the record(s).
Explanation of any terms or words which are not common.
If you are interested in more details about other archival records, don't hesitate to contact us.
For details about the price of the research see the Fees section.
Place of origin localization
Finding where did your ancestors exactly come from is sometimes very hard. We are assisting in localization of the place of origin in case you are not able to find it by yourselves. There are several ways to find out this information, sometimes very time consuming, so we ask you for your patience in case of this research.
The best way to narrow the search is to collect family stories inside your family about the possible place of origin. Often the only known place is "Bohemia" or "Moravia" and in case of common surnames as Dvorak, Novak, Kovar and so on it is almost impossible to localize the correct place without any additional information.
What will you receive after the research is finished:
Detailed report about used methods.
Report about places investigated together with details on why and how.
For details about the price of the research see the Fees section.
Localization of living relatives
Finding the living relatives is very tempting for most of the people - even in case that the relatives are really distant. Knowing that someone related to you is still living in the area where your ancestors lived is a very pleasant fact, which we ourselves know very well.
Such people are not only "extension" of your family tree, they are also quite often witnesses of "good old times" and they are able to tell you things that you would never dreamt of. Stories about the houses, families, whole villages. Stories, which would be forgotten if no one would be interested in them.
What will you receive after the living relatives are found:
Detailed report about the used methods.
Report about the people contacted during the search and information gathered from them.
Contact details of the people who were found.
For details about the price of the research see the Fees section.
Ancestral villages
Most of us are interested not only in name of the village our ancestors came from, but also in the pictures of the village, its surroundings, houses, church, cemetery and so on. If you are the one who is interested in this part too, we will provide you the photos of the current state of the village and (if possible and if the photos are available) also the old photos of the village.
We can also provide you short history of the village with information about the current statistics.
What will you receive after the living relatives are found:
Minimum of 20 photos from the village including houses, church, chapel and other important buildings.
Description of what can be seen on the photos.
For details about the price of the photos see the Fees section.
Reading of parish records
As there are some of the Czech archival records already placed online, we offer you not only the research, but also help with reading of parish records.
In case you are doing an online research by yourself and you got into the time period where you are not able to read the letters and/or don't understand the words, we are also here at your service. We will check the records found by you and your transcription/translation for its correctness and we will send you the corrected version of the record.