Greetings!
I am looking for suggestions and comments about what I should do and how maybe to proceed with the information I have listed below.
I am researching my ancestors from the Trebon district of what was once the Austro-Hungarian Empire of Bohemia. I have been able to gather information from different sources that indicate where my ancestor Jan (John) Lapic and his family would have immigrated from in Bohemia.
The first source I have is from a book called “Then and Now A History of Rice County. Faribault and Communities†this is referring to Rice County in Minnesota. My ancestor was reported to have immigrated “from the area around…the Veseli on the Luznice River and was famous for its Holy Cross Church built in 1363â€. Jan Lapic, his wife and children arrived in Wheatland Township of Rice County in 1863. He and other Bohemian immigrants eventually plotted and incorporated their own village of Veseli in Wheatland Township.
(They had left out of the port of Bremhaven in 1861, port of entry was Baltimore Maryland, 22 July, 1861 and the ticket’s final destination was for Newark (I am going to guess that that was in New Jersey)).
My second source for the location of my family from Bohemia was Jan Lapics Civil War pension file. In his file his widow states that their marriage had taken place in “Kardasova Ricice, Bohemia, Europeâ€. I was able to identify her maiden name as being either Sindler or Shindler (German names if I am not mistaken). Her death certificate has her maiden name as Zach.
My third source is Jan Habenicht’s “History of Czechs in Americaâ€. Mr. Habenicht wrote: “J. Lapic was born in 1826 in a lonely house called “U Lapicu†(I am not sure what that means), near Novosedly in the Trebon districtâ€.
With this information of districts, towns, villages and rivers I have gone online and found all of these locations except “U Lapicuâ€. Veseli is located north of Trebon and Kardasova is located just south and east of Veseli. Novosedly is north and east of Trebon. I would then guess that my ancestors lived somewhere within this area.
I have also made a phone book search for some of the many names in my tree and I did find two listed that looked very promising. They are living in Ceske Budejovice which is south from Trebon. But how do you write to someone living in the Czech Repulic?
What does one suggest I do to proceed with searching these people from Bohemia?
The Bohemian surnames from my family tree are: Lapic or Lapice, Sindelr or Shindler, Nohava (some say Jenata), Trenda, Chlan, Knourek, Valesh, Pivec, Jirik, Drozda, Vanek, Pelant, Sefcik, Janousek, Wosejpka (Vasejpka), Pichota or Picha, Ziska, Fisher, Dvorak, and Bastyr.
Thanks for your time,
Michael Lundholm