Žimutice
The main thing that happened in Žimutice was getting to photograph the inside of the church. A representative of the mayor’s office was with us and also showed us #16, which had been the rectory and likely also the poorhouse, as they had no record of where #15 had been or what became of it.
kostel sv. Martina
Memorial to one of the village soldiers from WWI
Here rests Corporal Jan Ambrose from Dobšice, 30 May 1917, aged 32 years. Rest in peace, dear father.
No. 16 - the old rectory, not No. 15 - the Hrach(Rocha) home
Part of the complex of buildings near the church available for renovation
Part of the complex
Part of the complex
One of many houses and buildings described to me as "40 years of communism"Hrušov
In Hrušov I got to see #4 and meet Stanislav Kubicek, who gave us a full tour of his house and outbuildings.
Dolní Kněžeklady
Aerial view of Dolní KněžekladyIn Dolní Kněžeklady, the mayor and his wife accompanied us. They also gave me a copy of a DVD the neighboring villages had produced for a celebration inviting all the people who had once lived in the villages to come back for a visit. The DVD is a tour of all the homes, with house numbers and names attached. #3 had been torn down and only a bus stop is on the site now. They were not sure why it had been torn down. We also went to the site of the current #3 to see if that owner there knew any history about the older site, but there was no further information available there.
Site of old #3
New #3
New #3We then went to #7 which had been the site of a Hanzla-Vesele wedding in 1773. It is the custom in South Bohemia for houses to carry a family name even after a different family has moved into the property. The Šimon family was living there now and had records showing the property had been in the Šimon family since the early 1700s. They had no idea how a Vesele wedding had happened there and assumed it was a mistake in the archival records. I did notice when I got back to the US and watched the village DVD that #7 was „U Veselků“, meaning that at some time it had been in the Vesele family, but the specifics remain a mystery to me.
#7 Šimonů, U Veselků
>#7 Šimonů, U Veselků
Praised be Jesus Christ
Paní Šimon
The Mayor, me, Mrs. Šimon, her son, and the Mayor's wife
Blata Farmstead Layout From Komárov: A Czech Farming Village, by Salzmann and Scheufler, 1974, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, page 29.We also went to No. 19, as this farmstead was „U Trnků“, even though I didn’t have information on any Trnka relatives who had lived here. The woman of the couple who live there currently was a Barto before marriage, and the house was also associated with that name, but she talked about when she was a girl people called her Trnkova, not Bartova, and she was confused by that, not realizing that was her „house name“.
No. 19
NO. 19From Komárov: A Czech Farming Village, by Salzmann and Scheufler, 1974, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, page 69:
To identify individual villagers, it was the custom to give the family name and the house number, or a distinguishing nickname derived from the person’s residence if there were several people of the same name in the community. Thus, one might speak of “Honsa from (number) twenty-nine,” or one might make reference to his house, which is known as u Kundrátů (at the Kundrats),” even though the Honsa family has lived there for several generations. Besides his or her given name, every villager thus had two names – the official family name as well as a name po chalupĕ, that is, “after (his, her) cottage.” To refer to a farmhouse, one used the house number or the family name frequently with a specific topographical designation such as “across from the smithy,” “at the end of the village toward the forester's house,” “(number) fifteen, on the road to Klečaty,” and so on.
Dubové Mlýny
I assumed Hrušov was going to be the smallest village we visited, but Dubové Mlýny turned out to be only 3 houses and the access to it involved turning down a road that entered a field and went on through the woods. – very remote. #3 here had been the Toman home. The owner of the neighboring place took us all through the current #3, as he was caretaking the place for the current owner who is Swiss. He also told us that the #3 of the 1800s was no longer standing.
New #3
The original 3 farmsteads had been wood and were gone. He showed us where they had been located.
Open area, site of old wooden farmsteads, including No. 3
He also had information that in 1713 Lukaš Toman and 2 other families moved into the abandoned wooden houses here, so that would likely be the start of Toman relatives living there. He also had a placque from the Toman family from 1915 (see photo).
Praised be the Lord Jesus Christ. Honor and praise to God are given by the Toman family of Dubové in 1915He knew the location of a Toman gravesite, but said the marker only had the Toman name and no additional names or information, so it seemed at the time a good choice in a very full day to leave that unvisited. Now that I’m back here, I’m wishing I’d gone to see it, but the 8 hour guide day ended up being 10 hours long as it was, so there really wasn’t time. I do wonder though, the next time someone goes to look for it, if there will be anyone around who knows where it is?
The pond at Dubové Mlýny
An aerial view of Dubové Mlýny showing part of "new #3" on the left and a good view of an enclosed farmstead in the bottom rightThe highlight of this day was the Žimutice church where the wedding of Jan Hanzl and Anna Rocha (my great-great-great-grandparents) likely had taken place in 1799, as well as the marriages and baptisms of the generations on either side of them.
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