Opava Provincial Archives, Czechia Church Records

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Overview
Opava Land Archive is in the process of digitizing parish (church) registers and making them available through the digital archive. In addition, FamilySearch Historical Records has digitized images of the church records in this archive. To use these archives you need these skills:
 * 1. An understanding of the important information in parish registers.
 * 2. Knowledge of the steps to navigate the archives to find the records of the parish you want, both from the archive website and the FamilySearch Historical website.
 * 3. The ability to read a few Czech, German, or Latin words that are found in the records.  You do not have to be fluent in any of these languages!
 * 4. A planned strategy for finding all the members of a family.

Parish Records and the Information They Contain
'''Church books contain baptism (birth), marriage, and burial (death) information and are definitely the best source for identifying one’s relatives in the Czech Republic. '''

Entries are usually arranged in chronological order and, after 1784, in a columnar format. Sometimes, baptisms, marriages, and burials are kept for all villages in a parish, for each year. Other times, each village has its own section of baptisms, marriages, and burials, listed chronologically. Some records are in preprinted forms. Most records include indexes. While the books have been kept to the present, they are only available for research through about 1910 because of privacy laws. The church books cover a majority of the population. Important details that will help identify your ancestors:

Baptismal entries usually contain the following:


 * names of the child, parents, godparents, and sometimes grandparents
 * date and place of birth and baptism
 * residence and religion of the parents
 * whether the child was legitimate or illegitimate

Marriage entries usually contain the following:


 * names of the bride, groom, their parents, witnesses, and sometimes grandparents
 * date and place of marriage
 * residence and religion of the bride and groom
 * age, previous marital status, and occupation of bride and groom

Burial entries usually contain the following:


 * names of the deceased and spouse/parents
 * date and place of death and burial
 * residence and religion of the deceased
 * age and cause of death of the deceased

See also, Czech Republic Church Records and Using Online Czech Records: Introduction].

Tutorial
Using Online Czech Records: Land Archives in Opava

Step-by-Step Instructions for the Opava Land Archive Website

 * 1. Click on the website Zemský archiv v Opavě
 * 2. Click on "Choose Database".
 * 3. In the pop-up menu, check the "Parish registers" box.
 * 4. In the new pop-up menu on the right, select your parish from the drop-down menu labeled "Originator".
 * 5. Click the "Search" button.
 * 6. A list of available records will appear.  Each Item in the list looks like this:


 * 7. How to read the listing:
 * The top line tells the events covered:
 * N = Narození or Geborene--baptisms
 * O = Oddaní or Vertrauene--marriages
 * Z = Zemřelí or Gestorbene--deaths
 * The box to the right of the events list gives the year range.
 * The bottom line gives the name of the parish.
 * 8.  Click on the symbol [[File:Opava2.png]], just to the right of the year range, to begin viewing the scanned records.

Step-by-Step Instructions for the FamilySearch Historical Website
To search this collection using the index:
 * 1. Click on this link: Czech Republic Church Books, 1552-1963


 * 2. Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. <br.


 * 3. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.


 * 4. Be aware there may be inaccuracies such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

To browse the images in this collection, you will need to follow this series of links:


 * 1. Begin at the same page that shows the index: Czech Republic Church Books, 1552-1963


 * 2. Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page.  This is towards the bottom of the page and reads: "Browse through 4,668,489 images".


 * 3. Select the "Religion"


 * 4. Select the "District"


 * 5. Select the "Place: Subordinate Places"


 * 6. Select the "Event, Years, vol." which takes you to the images


 * 7. Search the collection by image, comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.


 * 8. If indexes are available in the images, check these for the name first. Indexes are usually located at the beginning of a group of images or at the end. They can also be found in individual folders. Find your ancestor's name and look for the locator information next to the name (such as page, entry, or certificate number). This will help you find the record you are looking for in the collection.

Reading the Records
Reading the records will be easier than you might think! Church records use only a few basic terms in any language, such as: father, mother, son, daughter, born, baptized, married, died. Personal and place names don't need to be translated, and dates often look very similar to English. More recent records are in columns, and by translating the column title, one can then easily read the pages. The basic vocabulary can be memorized for easy recognition, and other terms, such as occupations and relationships can be quickly translated, by consulting a genealogical word list.


 * Czech Republic Genealogical Word Listt
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List

Czech was not recognized as an official language until 1877 in Bohemia and 1905 in Moravia. Except for modern records of the 1900s, records in the Czech Republic were written mostly in Latin and German. These materials for learning to read German, Latin, and old Gothic script will be helpful in preparing you to read Czech church records.
 * German Handwriting (article)
 * Online interactive slideshow lessons:
 * Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 1: Kurrent Letters
 * Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Making Words in Kurrent
 * Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading Kurrent Documents. In this lesson, you will explore several types of German genealogical records, including birth, baptismal, marriage, and death records.
 * German Script Tutorial
 * Key Words and Phrases in Latin Records

Building a Family Record with a Search Strategy
Many articles on strategy are available on the Wiki, but here is a simple set of steps to guide you See also:
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth/baptism/christening record, then search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents, and even the names of their parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.
 * Czech Republic Getting Started
 * How to Find Birth Information
 * How to Find Marriage Information
 * How to Find Death Information
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Czech Republic Beginning Research
 * Czech Republic Beginners Corner What's the Next Step?