Months

In most cases you will be able to determine the names of the months in old German & Latin records, as most of the names will be familiar to English speakers, with some minor spelling variations.  You will also sometimes encounter specific abbreviations for the last four months of the year: '7ber' meaning September, '8ber' meaning October, '9ber' meaning November, and '10ber' meaning December.  Alternately, December is also sometimes abbreviated using the Roman Numeral as 'Xber.'  (I have never personally come across an instance of the first eight months of the year being abbreviated with similar numeric abbreviations, or of the use of a Roman Numeral in an abbreviation for any month other than December).

This list includes of many of the spelling variations & abbreviations for months that we have come across in our research:

January: 

Januar, Jannar, Janner, Jänner, Jaenner, Jeanner, Jäner, Jenner, January, Januarÿ, Januarius, Janearius, Jän, Jan

February:  

Februar, Febrüar, Februarius, Febrearius, Februarÿ, Feber, Febr, Feb

March:  

Marz, März, Martÿ, Martii, Martius, Martio, Märr, Maerz, Marcÿ

April:  

April, Aprillis, Apprilis, Apprillis, Aprill, Aprillis, Apr

May:  

May, Maÿ, Mai, Maj, Majus, Majo, Maius, Maji

June:  

Juni, Junii, Junius, Junio, Juny, Junÿ

July:  

Juli, Julii, Julius, Julio, July, Julÿ

August:  

August, Augusti, Augustus, Augusto, Augst, Augu, Agst, Aug

September:  

September, Septembris, Septembri, Septemb, Septmbr, Septber, Septbr, Septb, Sept, 7ber, 7bris, 7br

October:  

October, Oktober, Octobris, Octobri, Oktobr, Octob, Oktob, Octbr, 8ber, 8bris, 8br, 

8ctrobris

November:  

November, Novembri, Novembr, Novemb, Novbr, Novb, Nove, Nov, Nvbr, Nbr, No, 9ber, 9bris, 9br

December:  

December, Dezember, Decembris, Decembri, Decemb, Dezemb, Decem, Dezbr, Decb, Dezb, Dec, Dez, 10ber, 10bris, Xber, Xbris, Xbr

Examples of each month written in the old script:

*Make sure to scroll all the way to the right of the chart to view all of the images.

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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