Subject
Searching for relatives of Franz and Klara Swoboda (Svoboda) in Friedek-Mistek area of Czech Republic
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Description
I am searching for information, to include living relatives of family and perhaps researching family before Franz and Klara Swoboda. I have no information on my ancestors of any relatives in the Czech Republic prior to their arrival to the United States in 1906 to the Baltimore area. Their Children who came over were Olga, Leopold, Franz and Walerie. Can someone suggest a starting point for me? I will be highly greatful for your suggestions!!!
Many Thanks in advance!
Barry Siegle
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Comments
Hello Barry:
I would suggest that you start locally in your records search and then try to trace back from there. As you probably realize, Swoboda is a fairly common Czech surname meaning ‘freeman’—I have Swoboda ancestors (East Troy, WI) and have seen spelling variations of ‘Svoboda’ and ‘Schwoboda’ as well (so keep that in mind when using online search engines).
The best first step is to query your oldest living relatives, even if they are in a branch of your family that your branch is not close to—you might get lucky and find that distant relative who is holding the shoebox full of pictures and/or compilation of family info. Have you checked the obituaries of Franz or Clara in the newspapers local to Baltimore (if that is where they lived their whole lives)? You could also check their death certificates or citizenship/naturalization records too, through your the appropriate state historical society. Other options would be to search marriage or death records for Olga, Leopold, Franz, and Walerie to see if you can track down any of their spouses or a listed place of birth.
If you have any follow-up questions or would like to keep me posted with your research, please shoot an email to my attention offline at research@cgsi.org
Best regards,
Tony Kadlec
CGSI Corresponding Secretary