You are welcome to print these sample alphabet letter pages to use as a research help only, please do not use for any other purpose without permission. Thank you!
Showing posts with label Archives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Archives. Show all posts
01 June 2024
Sample Alphabet Letters
When trying to puzzle out a particularly tricky word, sometimes it helps to see several different examples of how certain Gothic letters were written. I decided to compile a list of sample letters -- most of these samples came from online matriky books (vital records) on the Czech archive websites, and a few of them came from some of our old family letters. I placed each letter in relationship to the line as it was written in the original source.
30 December 2021
Using the Litoměřice & Plzeň Regional Archive Websites
I wanted to share the videos that Amy & I made when we taught classes on how to use the Litoměřice & Plzeň Regional Archive websites for FamilySearch.org's virtual Czech Research Seminar in October:
Using Online Czech Records: Litoměřice Regional Archives
Using Online Czech Records: Litoměřice Regional Archives
Table of Contents:
0:00 Navigating the Litoměřice Regional Archives website 0:23 Map of areas covered by each Czech Regional Archive 0:35 Use www.genteam.at to find which Archive to search in 1:00 Select Website Language 1:43 How to view all records, or just those with digitized images 1:54 Where to view collections of different types of records (in addition to vital records) 2:23 Narrow your search by entering a time range 2:36 Narrow your search to just the 'Matriky' or vital records (birth, marriage, & death records) 3:00 Searching for records from a specific town 3:34 What do "N, O, Z, & I" mean? (Birth, marriage, death, & index) 5:19 Further narrow your search within the Parish Register books 6:53 Detail page for each Parish Register book 8:23 Navigating through the pages of a Parish Register book 10:11 Different ways to view a page in a Parish Register book 13:21 Saving a link or an image
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Using Online Czech Records: Plzeň Regional Archives
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If you're interested in viewing the rest of the video lessons from FamilySearch's Czech Research Seminar, they can be found at the following links. These classes would be a great place to start for any researchers who would like an introduction & helpful tips for using the websites for each of the Czech Regional Archives, the GenTeam gazetteer, online maps, or finding Jewish records using the Czech National Archives.
Beginning Czech Research
13 Lessons
Presenter: Gina Palmer, MS
An introduction to the GenTeam website and how to register to use the free website. This class focuses on how to use the Gazetteer of the Austrian, Czech, Slovak, and Slovenian Republic. This gazetteer can help identify parishes and archives where records are held.Presenter: Gina Palmer, MS
This class will introduce the maps and available tools found at mapy.cz and maps.arcanum.com. Learn how to view and use historical maps of Czechia and other parts of Europe.
Presenter: Mckenna Cooper, AG
Learn how to use the website of the Czech National Archives to find Czech Jewish records.
Presenter: Amy Spohr Chidester
Learn how to navigate the website of the Plzeň Regional Archives to find your ancestors' birth, marriage, and death records.
[Pilsen]
Presenter: Stephanie Bradshaw
Learn how to navigate the website of the Litoměřice Regional Archives to find your ancestors' birth, marriage, and death records.
[Litomerice]
Presenter: Camille Andrus, AG
Learn how to navigate the website of the Prague Regional Archives to find your ancestor's birth, marriage, and death records.
[Praha]
Presenter: Daniel Jones, AG
This class explains how jurisdictions within Prague work in relation to research, as well as showing how to navigate the Prague City Archives website online to find records.
[Praha]
Presenter: Ellie Vance
Learn how to use the Zámrsk Regional Archives website to access church records.
[Zámrsku]
Presenter: Charlotte Noelle Champenois, AG
Learn how to navigate the website of the Brno Moravian Provincial Archives to find your ancestors' birth, marriage, and death records.
[Brně]
Presenter: Ellie Vance
Learn how to locate church records using the Opava Regional Archives website.
[Opavě]
Presenter: Mckenna Cooper, AG
Learn how to read Czech parish baptism registers.
Presenter: Mckenna Cooper, AG
Learn how to read Czech marriage parish registers.
Presenter: Mckenna Cooper, AG
Learn how to read Czech death parish registers.]
26 October 2021
Announcement: Czech Research Seminar in one week!
I wanted to announce that FamilySearch is hosting a Czech Seminar in one week on November 3rd. It's a free virtual event which will focus on teaching how to use the gazetteer at GenTeam.at to find out which Czech archive holds the records of the town where you are researching, followed by instruction about how to use each of the Czech Regional Archive websites, and then three classes about reading the birth, marriage, and death parish register books. I will be leading the instruction about how to use the Litoměřice Regional Archive, and Amy will be leading the instruction on the Plzeň Regional Archive. And after the seminar the recordings for each of these lessons will be posted on familysearch.org for anyone to view. Use the link below to register for the seminar.
There is a Czechia Research Seminar Day on Wednesday, 3 November 2021 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM MDT. The classes will be 20 minutes with a 10-minute question and answer. All times are Mountain Daylight Time (MDT). Here is a list of the classes:
9:00 AM - GenTeam Gazetteer and Maps
9:30 AM - Finding Jewish Records at the National Archives
10:00 AM - Plzeň Regional Archives
10:30 AM - Litoměřice Regional Archives
11:00 AM - Prague Regional Archives
11:30 AM - Prague City Archives
12:30 PM - Třeboň Regional Archives
1:00 PM - Zamrsk Regional Archives
1:30 PM - Brno Regional Archives
2:00 PM - Opava Regional Archives
2:30 PM - Reading Czech Parish Registers – Births
3:00 PM - Reading Czech Parish Registers – Marriages
3:30 PM - Reading Czech Parish Registers – Deaths
Click here to learn more, register, and attend: https://churchofjesuschrist.zoom.us/webinar/register/4616074459401/WN_coqRxxuFRbeF-je8rQ2kRA
11 March 2021
Litoměřice Archive Website Guide
A user on the Czech FamilySearch Communities recently expressed interest in learning to search for her ancestors using the website for the Litoměřice State Regional Archive (Státní oblastní archiv v Litoměřicích). After searching online for a good guide to the archive website for English speakers I found that there are some really good resources, but unfortunately they were made a few years ago, and since then the archive website has been changed and those guides are no longer current.
So I decided to make my own guide. I ended up making a screen & voice recording -- this is my first time creating something like this (please excuse my pronunciations). I'm hopeful that this recording will be helpful to those learning to navigate the Litoměřice Archive website. It also contains examples & tips for those who may be new to searching for their Bohemian and Czech ancestors, regardless of which archives their ancestors' records are found in.
The the Litoměřice State Regional Archive website: http://vademecum.soalitomerice.cz/vademecum/index4Clear.jsp
Here is a break-down of the contents of this recording:
Table of Contents: 0:00 Navigating the Archive website 1:00 Searching for a Town 1:51 Selecting a Book 5:22 Details about a specific Book 6:44 Looking at a Book: Website Tools 8:59 Note: Saving a Direct Link to Scan 9:47 I Found the Book, Now where is my Ancestor? 12:35 Example: Searching for a Birth Record 14:37 Column Headings for Birth Records 19:45 Words Continued on the Next Line 22:55 Getting Back to your List of Books 24:54 Using Books with Indexes 32:33 Page Numbers vs. Folio Numbers 35:25 Example: Searching for a Marriage Record 35:41 Column Headings for Marriage Records 42:25 Meanings of "cross" or "X" Symbols 44:36 Remember, Indexes Aren’t Perfect 46:12 Example: Searching in a Longer Book with Many Towns 55:42 Symbol for the Latinized name ending “us” 57:35 Sources 58:32 Example: Searching for a Death Record 58:47 You CAN do This! (Even if you don’t know the Language) 59:27 Recognizing Patterns 1:00:56 Using Resources such as FamilySearch Communities 1:02:06 Symbol indicating Abbreviations 1:03:29 German Female Surname ending “in” 1:08:00 How to quickly Find the Same Book Again
01 March 2021
Index of Třebíč - St. Martin Parish Register book number 10972
We'd like to share the following searchable Index of the death records in the Parish of Třebíč, Czechia in the Roman Catholic parish register book, "10972 Třebíč - město (Sv. Martin)" from the Moravském zemském archivu v Brně (Moravian Provincial Archive in Brno), covering the years 1663 through 1701. This book includes records from the following towns: Čechtín, Červená Lhota, Čihalín, Horka, Nová Ves, Okřešice, Slavičky, Okrašovice, Smrk, Kracovice, Třebíč, Budíkovice, Nové Dvory, Pocoucov, Ptáčov, Račerovice, Řípov, Sokolí, Stařečka, Týn, Vnitřní Město, Trnava, Valdíkov, Vladislav, & Hostákov. These indexes were compiled by Joanna Sedgwick. In an effort to make these parish records more widely available to those who may be researching their ancestors from this part of Czechia, Joanna has offered to make her Index available to the public here. Thank you! If you have any questions or comments for Joanna about this index, you are welcome to contact her directly at jjjhks4@yahoo.com.
Joanna also collected sample images of capital letters from this book as a learning tool:
Třebíč - město (Sv. Martin) book 10972: Death Records 1663 - 1701
*Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom - this index includes the death records of all 5104 individuals recorded in this parish register book.
Having trouble viewing the chart? Click here to go directly to this chart on Google Sheets.
Thank you so much to Joanna Sedgwick, who took the time to index this parish book and share her work with other Třebíč researchers!
*Note: You may have noticed that the Třebíč Parish is not located within Bohemia. While our main focus is Bohemian research, we feel that it is important to make any genealogical resources available to help researchers not only in Bohemia, but also in all parts of former Czechoslovakia & in the areas of Germany which border the Sudetenland. If you have compiled an index of a parish book or another genealogical record in any of these areas, please feel free to reach out to us and we would be happy to help you make your index available to others online by publishing it here on our blog.
12 October 2020
Index of Merzlitz Parish Register book 120/5
We'd like to share the following searchable Indexes of the birth, marriage, and death records in the town of Merzlitz, Böhmen, Österreich (now Mrzlice, Czechia) in the Catholic parish register book, "Mrzlice 120/5" from the Litomerice Archive, covering the years 1784 through 1828. These indexes were compiled by Steven Chidester. In an effort to make these parish records more widely available to those who may be researching their ancestors from this part of Bohemia, Steve has offered to make his Index available to the public here. You are welcome to contact us if you come across any errors so we can make any necessary corrections to the index. Thank you!
Merzlitz book 120/5: 1784 - 1828
View the digitized parish register book here.
| Digital Page # | Handwritten Page # | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth Records | N; 1784-1828 | Pages | 2 - 35 | 1 - 33 |
| Birth Index | I-N; 1784-1828 | Pages | 36 - 39 | 34 - 37 |
| Confirmation Records | Confirmations | Pages | 40 - 41 | 39 - 40 |
| Marriage Records | O; 1784-1828 | Pages | 42 - 51 | 42 - 51 |
| Marriage Index | I-O; 1784-1828 | Pages | 53 - 54 | 56 - 57 |
| Death Records | Z; 1784-1828 | Pages | 55 - 69 | 60 - 74 |
| Death Index | I-Z; 1784-1828 | Pages | 71 - 73 | 88 - 90 |
Birth Records for Merzlitz: 13 Jul 1784 - 5 Oct 1828
*Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom - this index includes the birth records of all 206 children recorded in this parish register book. And scroll all the way to the right of the spreadsheet to view the columns with information about the children's parents & grandparents.
Having trouble viewing the charts? Click here to go directly to these charts on Google Sheets.
Marriage Records in Merzlitz: 26 Oct 1784 - 6 Nov 1828
*This index includes the marriage records of all 45 couples recorded in this parish register book. Make sure to scroll all the way to the right of the spreadsheet to view the columns with information about the brides and any notes about the entries.
Having trouble viewing the charts? Click here to go directly to these charts on Google Sheets.
Death Records in Merzlitz: 15 Jul 1784 - 12 Oct 1828
*Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom - this index includes the death records of all 176 deceased individuals recorded in this parish register book. And scroll all the way to the right of the spreadsheet to view the columns with information about the deceased person's mothers, their ages, and any notes about the entries.
Having trouble viewing the charts? Click here to go directly to these charts on Google Sheets.
House Number/Surname Chart from the Birth & Death Records in Merzlitz: 1784 - 1828
*Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom - this index includes the house numbers & surnames from each of the birth & death records in this parish register book. And scroll all the way to the right of the spreadsheet to view the columns for each of the 27 houses recorded in this town.
Having trouble viewing the charts? Click here to go directly to these charts on Google Sheets.
Thank you so much to Steven Chidester, who took the time to index this parish book and share his work with other Merzlitz researchers!
10 May 2017
Sample Town Names & Family Names
Several years ago my parents called me and told me they were going to the Czech Republic and they wanted to visit some archives to see if they could find any records about our ancestors. That was back before my parents learned to transcribe the old gothic script, and at that time they didn't have much experience finding the peoples' names & town names in the records. So I prepared a quick list with sample handwritten names from some of the records that we had for them to reference on their genealogy trip. It helped them to find the records of our ancestors which they photographed, and we were able to transcribe & later translate them after they returned home.
So if you are just starting out with trying to find the names of places and people in records with Gothic script, it's a good idea to keep copies of sample handwritten names that you have found so far and use them as a reference while you are becoming more comfortable with reading the script.
So if you are just starting out with trying to find the names of places and people in records with Gothic script, it's a good idea to keep copies of sample handwritten names that you have found so far and use them as a reference while you are becoming more comfortable with reading the script.
