Revisiting Bohemia

I'm home sick today (can't be helpful if the nose drips and the voice doesn't work), so I figured I'd search the church books for Martin's birth.  We know he arrived in America in January 1883, claiming Neuhaus, Bohemia as his place of origin.  He must have gone fairly directly to Pierz, where we found him in the 1885 census in Little Falls township (later Agram).  I found him in the Pierz St Joseph church book marrying Mathilda Nelles in 1887.

Evidently, he was born in October, 1859.  I've checked the Jindrichuv Hradec parish books from 1854 thru 1862, with no luck so far, but he could have been born in any village nearby, right?
However, I found the Wanek entries, below......and then tried the Schamers book.

Oh, sure, I got sidetracked, but that only proves that the journey can be as 

useful and interesting as the destination ☺

Once we discover a name to be looked for--like Wanek--well, I can't just pass by without doing a screen capture.  This is 24/25 January, 1856.  Anton Wanek (son of Josef Wanek of #1 Platz Mueller (the mill)) and his wife Marie Schindler had a baby named Josef who, sadly, only lived to February 2, 1856.  I don't recognize Anton's occupation, but they lived at #81.

April 7, 2012 :  Su wrote to say " I've had a lot more practice at reading weird handwriting now and I think [his occupation] is probably 'Greißler'."  

See the word right under ANTON, below?  A Greissler was a general store proprietor.  Schamers was a market town, so there were businesses that would never have been in a village like Oberschlagles.  Anton Wanek lived at the mill and owned a general store. Wow!

THANKS, SU!

 Below is another entry, from September 1859.  Looks like Maria Wanek lived.  But see the tiny numbers written at the bottom?  That may be her death date, 77 years later, in 1936.  There are still mysteries in these pages.  Any idea, Su?

I was enjoying the Schamers books cuz there are twice as many entries on each page as there were in the JH books.  I started earlier (one record book covers 1842 to 1874, so I started near the beginning.  It was a time of less babies born per year, it seemed, and suddenly, I noticed all the little death crosses among the entries.  Oh my, this was 1846, 1847 and the first entries in the revolution year of 1848.  I remember reading that the revolution was preceded by crop failure years and famine, but this illustrates it really graphically.

 

I was struck by the other names I recognize in those books, too.  Some are familiar from the many times we've perused them, but others are familiar from here in central Minnesota.  And, some married a Hesch there in Bohemia, so their names are picked out specifically too.

I found Mathias, Johann and Josef MARZINI and Anton, Josef, Franz and Prokog BINDER, Franz and Martin BLASCHKO;  Johann, Josef and Bartel FIEDLER (so far) and lots of NOVOTNYs.  Kind of amazing that some our families have known each other for centuries!

 Now here's a treat from 1847--see the middle entry there?  The child was Josef BINDER, born to Anton and Anna Binder at #42.  See the notation there on his birth record?    THIS child eventually  became the new Patron Saint of Obsessed South Bohemian Genealogists.  Funny to come back around and re-discover his birth record when we originally found it in 2009.  That's when he became a saint, too ☺