Researcher, translator, and tour guide recommendation

My wife and I recently retired and booked a Viking River Cruise down the Danube River as a way of celebrating a new phase of our lives. Bookended on both ends of the river cruise were several days of genealogical touring. Three days in and about Prague, Czech Republic, visiting villages of my Czech ancestors before the cruise and three days around Timisoara, Romania, after following my wife’s German roots.

For the Czech genealogical tour, our genealogical researcher and tour guide/translator was Reverend Jan Dus. He  came highly recommended by members of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI), members of the Czech and Slovak Genealogy Society of Illinois (CSGSI), and Rick Steves in his Central (formerly Eastern) Europe Guidebook.

Reverend Jan was thorough in his pre-trip research that I had contracted with him to perform on my paternal side. He performed the research at the state Archives in Pilsen and provide us with written summaries and translations. At the beginning of our on-site tour, he stated that “He would provide suggestions, but we would make decisions as to where to go.” We were able to go to my ancestor’s village of Kozojedy, view my great-grandfathers house, the local Catholic Church and surrounding cemetery, several other villages/towns that other ancestors had lived in. His translation abilities and knowledge of local customs was invaluable to my understanding of my ancestor’s life prior to his emigration from the Austrian Empire.

I would fully recommend the Rev. Jan Dus to anyone contemplating visiting the Czech Republic to seek out their genealogical history.

Ken Volin

The contact info for the Rev Dus is as follows:

Rev. Jan’s Genealogical and Travel Services
c/o Jan & Anna Dus
E. Vencovského 1141
Polička – 572 01, Czech Republic

phone: 011-420 739-244-860
rev.jan.services@gmail.com
www.revjan.com