Mazourek-Moravec/Morawetz

Tony,

Belatedly a comment about the abovementioned subject.  Jos' newspaper obit was about 3 short lines saying he had committed suicide using "Rough on Rats" and had been ill and unemployed. There was no genealogical information. My Dad says he likely was addicted to alcohol which was quite common to the Czechs. He and his predecessors lived in Veseli #16 (Bystrice) for well over 100 years. 

In regard to where Jos was born it was in Korovec #18,Moravia just west of the "border" from Bohemia and south of Polica perhaps 60 miles.  I feel a bit of kinship with Mark B. At the 1722 brick wall (calculated from his age and year of death) I cannot find a birth for this oldest ancestor THomas Mazourek or his 2 sisters in Veseli and suspect sometime prior his family moved there from another village or town. Jos b. 1860 was unehelich but eventually his birth parents got married in 1863 and moved west to Vrist.  Three of his younger sibs died young; one brother Frank, died after 1907.  His descendants would be my only hope for DNA testing as there are no other living males surviving from this line that we know of.

This is an update (I was the inquiree) on the original query regarding these 2 families who were my paternal gr grandparents.  Using the Brno Archives website (actapublica.eu) and going hit and miss through the CZ language options (English was/is not available on home computers) I finally found record search options based on religion rather than region.  Since I suspected this family to be Protestant instead of Catholic I tried that option.  Then more choices to make regarding record keeping churches.  I chose Veseli because the village name "rang a bell" in my head.  Within 10 minutes, using the birthdate I had from family info, I found Jos Mazourek's birth registration.  The information answered many questions.  I was able to work back to 1722 (figured from age at death) on that paternal line. At this early time all records are Catholic due to government regulations. I have found this man to have two sisters, but I have no further records on them either.  The ironic part of this story is that Joseph's wife,Josie Moravec, whom he married in Milwaukee, WI in 1907 (this is another unsolved family mystery as all 5 kids were born before that date) lived only about 7 miles from gr grandpa Jos M's residence before his immigration, So now I wonder if they actually did know one another before their separate immigrations to Milwaukee in the mid 1880s??  I have not pinned down immigration records for either of them.  So why did Veseli ring that abovementioned bell?  Because earlier I had found a military service record for a Frank Mazourek listing Veseli as his place of birth.  A bit more digging revealed that Frank and Jos were brothers!!  Back to Josie--her birthdate does not coincide (3 weeks disparity) with the birthdate in Milwaukee records.  Discussions with CGSI personal have indicated that this was quite often the case in those days.  All other info about her from Frysava records seems legitimate.  Questions or comments to cleonard40@gmail.com or go through CGSI.

Tony,

Thanks for your response of 12/9/2011. My gr grandfather, Jos Mazourek committed suicide. I found a notice at the (Milwaukee) Wis Historical Soc and also in the newspaper. The entries were brief and no mention of origins. We don’t know if he was naturalized, but suspect not as no papers have been found in Milwaukee Co. A Leo Baca listing was off by 2 years and did not mention a home or birth town. No leads on the WHS site. I am preparing to submit a query to genteam this week and also plan to attend the CGSI Symposium in Salt Lake City in mid March. Maybe by some miracle I can get some more concrete leads.

Appreciatively,
Carol Leonard

Carol:

Have you been able to locate the obituary for Josef from any of the Milwaukee papers from 1911? His birthplace might be mentioned in the obituary. If he came to the USA in the 1860-1880’s, then his home village is unfortunately/probably not recorded on his passenger arrival record. You can also check out the Wisconsin Historical Society website for any leads:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/index.asp

Good luck!
Tony Kadlec
CGSI Corresponding Secretary/Research Coordinator

Carol:

Have you been able to locate the obituary for Josef from any of the Milwaukee papers from 1911? His birthplace might be mentioned in the obituary. If he came to the USA in the 1860-1880’s, then his home village is unfortunately/probably not recorded on his passenger arrival record. You can also check out the Wisconsin Historical Society website for any leads:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/index.asp

Good luck!
Tony Kadlec
CGSI Corresponding Secretary/Research Coordinator