"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Lucius Seneca, Ancient Roman Philosopher

Spotlight on John (Jan) Lutovsky (Junior)- The Father of Generation 0

Part 1 of 2

John Lutovsky with his
Granddaughter Carmelle @1931

Side Note: Just for clarity, I am calling John Lutovsky, Father of Generation 0, a Junior because technically he was. His Father was also named Jan, and since neither had a middle name, they are technically Junior and Senior. I'm going to write about his Father Jan's marriage coming up so I wanted to have a way to distinguish between which Jan I am speaking about.

I've been so curious since I started researching family history why John Lutovsky left Bohemia...and how he left Bohemia. Did he know someone here in the US? How did he end up in North Dakota? Unfortunately, these are all questions which no document or certificate will answer. I am having to rely on word of mouth, which so far hasn't been too successful.

Unfortunately, the older generation who might have known some of these answers, have passed on. However, I keep plugging away. I'm also pretty continually stumbling on, or crossing paths with, other relatives who I never knew existed before. So, I'm frequently discovering new information through these new connections.

Fortunately though, the way Czech record keeping worked, is a nice advantage for those of us researching the past. We can get a lot of information that gives us a nice little snap shot into their lives. The handwriting is a beast to try and read, and really seems impossible at times. Plus, I can't read Czech, so that puts me at an extra-disadvantage besides just the crappy handwriting. Luckily, I have been working with a genealogist based in Prague who has been searching for, and finding, all of the old records for me. She translates them as well, and I marvel at how well she can read these old documents. I also marvel at how thorough and organized Czech record keeping was (and probably still is).

At this point, I have records going back to the late 1600's, and so far the genealogist has found 100% of the records that I have asked her to find. This continues to be mind boggling to me, given that North Dakota doesn't have any civil registry records until the 1920's. The US officially became an independent country in 1776, but nobody thought to keep records until the 1920's? What was everyone doing in the US for those 144 years? Not record keeping obviously. It's interesting to me how well European countries kept records, and how bad the handwriting was.

On my Italian side of the family I am also back into the 1600's and so far I have found all the records I have looked for there as well. The nice thing is both countries were, and still are, heavily Catholic. This means there are two sets of records. Every church kept civil records of the Parish, for all the birth/baptism, marriage and funeral services they performed. Then the government also kept another set of civil registry records. It's nice researching in both countries because if you can't find a record at the parish, then you can also go to the government records.

Below is an example of one of the records from a Parish Registry for John Lutovsky. This is his birth and baptism record. You can see how difficult it is to read these old registries and it's unbelievable to me how well the genealogist is able to read them. She has only been stumped by a couple words out of all the many documents that she has translated so far. If you click on the document below a larger version will appear.

Below is the translations of what the above document says.

First Column: Year & Day

    Date of Birth: 20 October 1863

    Date of Baptism: 21 October 1863

Second Column: Place of Birth & House #

    Lom, House #8

Third Column: Baptismal Name

    Jan Lutovský

Fourth Column: Religion

    Catholic is marked

Fifth Column: Gender

    Male is marked

Sixth Column: Status

    Legitimate is marked

Middle Column left side: Father

    Jan's Father was also named Jan Lutovský, and was a Chalupnik (Owner of a cottage with land smaller than one lán,

    45 acres), and he was also from Lom. Jan's Grandfather's name was Vojech Lutovský, who was a Domkář (Owner of a

    small house with no farming land) from Libějice, House #3. Jan's Grandmother was Anna Cimbulková from Želeč

    (Soběslav District). Which means once his Grandparents were married his Grandmother became another Anna

    Lutovsky.

Middle Column right side: Mother

    Jan's Mother was Anna, Daughter of Matej Janousek, Domkář (Owner of a small house with no farming land) from

    Radimovice. So, Jan's Mother also became another Anna Lutovsky after she was married too. Jan's Grandmother was

    Kateřina Černá also from Radimovice.

Ninth Column: Godparents

    Godfather was Jan Šedjwj, Chalupnik (Owner of a cottage with land smaller than one lán) from Radimovice.

    Godmother was Anna Černá, sheperd's wife from Želeč (Soběslav District).

Tenth Column: Baptizing Priest:

    J. Šonka

Eleventh Column: Midwife:

    Marie Pánova

Language of Record:

    Czech