Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Ron's Relatives (part 2)

Refreshed after our night in the 479 year-old hotel, we set out to find Ron's mother's grandparents.  Our first stop was Třeboň (Wittingau) which still retains its old world charm with city gates.



Just look at the town square!

But we came to see where Ron's great-grandfather attended church - the Church of St. Giles and the Virgin Mary the Queen.

He traveled there from nearby Stará Hlína (Alt Lahm) and Ron even had his address.  This is what the house looks like today.
 

There was a nice lady walking her dogs who, although she spoke no English, managed to understand Ron when he said his great-grandfather lived there.  She responded with the ancestor's name.  She invited us into her lovely home which is under extensive renovation.


Here's the 'before' picture.
As you can see, it was two separate buildings - a house and the remains of a barn.  We couldn't believe all the work they had done on it!


And here's Ron with Marie.  We don't know if she's a distant relative, but if she isn't why would she know the name of the person who owned the house so long ago?


Next we found Ron's great-grandmother's hometown of Lomnice nad Lužnicí (Lomnitz an der Lainsitz).
A lovely town and big enough that she didn't have to travel to another town for church.


We think this was her church.


Well, this completes Ron's genealogical tour.  It's a shame we didn't have an interpreter with us.  Imagine how much fun that would be.  Maybe Ron could have stumbled along in German, but the Czech language is just a mystery.

3 comments:

  1. Really cool that Ron was able to see the places where his GGF and GGM lived. Much better than just researching on a computer.

    These were really interesting posts, thank you so much for doing them, I enjoyed them a lot. :c)

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  2. Cool - I love the two churches.

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  3. It has been great to learn about your European trip. Now, where are you and where have your been since June 7?

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