| Notes |
- JIRI (Georg) and his wife, FRANTISKA, lived in Odranec-house # 6. Odranec is a small village located approximately 6 miles northeast of Nove Mesto na Morave, a district city in Moravia, The Czech Republic. At the end of the 19th Century, Odranec contained approximately 50 houses with about 340 inhabitants.
Most of the villagers were Protestants with a small number of Catholics. They worshiped in Protestant and Catholic churches located in Nemecke, a nearby market town which changed it's name to Snezne in 1945 after World War II. Some TOPINKA families were Catholics while others were Protestants.
The surname TOPINKA was well known in Odranec during the 19th century. In contemporary Czech language, "topinka" (in English) means "toast or toasted bread." In ancient times "topinka" may have had a different meaning since it is derived from " topit" which means "to heat or to make something hot." In a book listing the meaning of Czech surnames, "TOPINKE" also is described as an "unglazed file; a thin board or even a playing card".
The earliest known TOPINKA families in our ancestral line were living in Odranec prior to 1800 and occupied houses # 6 and # 10. Other TOPINKA families lived in houses # 8,13, 25, 26, 30, 34, 37, 38, 40 and 44. They probably were all related to each other -- some closely related while others were further apart. During the 1830s, two distantly related TOPINKA families were joined together by the marriage of JOSEF TOPINKA (the son of JIRI TOPINKA and his wife, FRANTISKA SLAMA who lived in house # 6) to BARBORA TOPINKA (the daughter of JAKUB TOPINKA and his wife, TEREZIE PEKAREK who lived close by in house # 10). It is believed that JOSEF and BARBORA were third or fourth cousins.
Beginning in the 13th century and extending into the end of the 19th century, the rural population of what is now known as The Czech Republic was stratified in several social-economic categories. The area surrounding an established village was divided into basic economic units called, in the Czech language, a "LAN." A "Lan" was 18 hectares (180,000 square meters or approximately 30 - 45 acres).
The owner of one (1) LAN was called, in Bohemia, a "Rolnik" or "Sedlak" (meaning, in English, a "farmer"). In Moravia, a "farmer" was called a "Lanik." The top stratum of the village population was occupied by the "Rychtar" and the "Rolniks," "Sedlaks" and "Laniks." They usually were the village's most wealthy and influential citizens.
Immediately below the "Rolnik/ Sedlak/ Lanik" level, was a second category of owner known as a "Pulnik." This class of farmers came into existence when a portion of a "LAN" had to be distributed to several of a farmer's heirs or was subdivided and sold to village newcomers. A "Pulnik" (pul = one-half, in Czech) was known as a "half-farmer," i.e., one who farmed approximately one-half of a "LAN."
A third category of owners, known as "Zahradnik" (zahrada = in Czech, a garden), were those farmers who owned less than one-fourth (1/4) of a "LAN." Later, in the 18th century these small farmers were called a "Chalupnik."
Immediately above the lowest social-economic level of the rural villages were those called a "Domkar" or "Baracnik" ( in English, "one who lived in a cottage"). These folks may have owned a small cottage with a small yard or garden in front or behind their cottage. In most cases these villagers may have rented agricultural land from other owners.
At the lowest level were those villagers called a "Podruh",i.e., laborers, who owned no property. A "Podruh" worked for farmers for little more than food and a place to sleep, usually in a barn or shed adjacent to the farmer's house.
It is said that in the "old days" the differences between the various village categories listed above, was as distinctive as the gaps between the various classes of nobility.
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The search for his TOPINKA-DRAHOS ancestors was commenced by Thomas (Tom) L. Stafford and his wife, Gayla during a visit in 1990 to their ancestral homeland located in Bohemia and Moravia, Czechoslovakia (now known as the Czech Republic).
Tom, a direct maternal descendant of JIRI TOPINKA and TOMAS DRAHOS, decided to begin the search based on information learned during a TOPINKA-DRAHOS Family reunion which he and Gayla attended in 1987. Subsequent information was provided by Bernice (Easker) Smith, Tom's cousin. The collective evidence strongly suggested that their grandparents, Frank (Frantisek) and Anna (DRAHOS) TOPINKA had lived in Ceske Rybna, a small village located in Bohemia, near the town of Policka, district of Svitavy, prior to immigrating to the USA circa 1887. Based on that evidence, Tom and Gayla decided to visit Policka and commence the search in that area.
Prior to arriving in Policka, Tom wrote to the Mayor of Policka, Mr. Jan Edlman to inform him of the purpose of his visit and to request a meeting. In his letter to the Mayor, Tom stated that he was eager to learn more about his Czech ancestors. A few days later Tom was pleasantly surprised to receive a telephone call from Mayor Edlman (who spoke fluent English -- although the study of that language was not tolerated by the communists who seized power following World War II). The Mayor, upon learning that Tom had helped liberate Czechoslovakia during World War II, expressed his delight that Tom and Gayla planned to visit Policka.
Upon arrival in Policka, Tom and Gayla were warmly received by Mayor Edlman who instructed a member of his staff, Mrs. Marie Klanicova to gather any TOPINKA/DRAHOS family information that may be locally available. During their four day stay in Policka, the Mayor, his staff and the townspeople treated Tom and Gayla like their own long-lost relatives (a story in itself).
Mrs. Klanicova located some information in the local registers on FRANTISEK TOPINKA, his parents and his brother, JOSEF. Mrs. Klanicova was certain that FRANTISEK, who the local records stated had immigrated to the USA circa 1887, was Tom's grandfather, FRANK TOPINKA. Mrs. Klanicova also found that Tom's great grandfather, JAN DRAHOS (b 1800 in Ceske Rybna - d 1878, probably in Ceske Rybna) married KATHERINA VACKOVA about 1862 in Borova,--not far from Ceske Rybna. KATHERINA was born in 1832 and died 1871 in Prosec, also close to Ceske Rybna. KATHERINA and JAN had two daughters:
1] ANNA DRAHOSOVA, b Jan. 26, 1864 in Ceske Rybna and 2) AMELIA DRAHOSOVA, b ?- d ?, in Ceske Rybna. AMELIA married a Mr. PICHEL in Bohemia.
Mayor Edlman and Mrs. Klanicova suggested that in order to find more information on Tom's TOPINKA ancestors, thought to have lived primarily in Moravia, it would be necessary to visit the Moravia archives located in Brno, some distance from Policka. Tom was advised that information on his DRAHOS ancestors, who were known to have lived in Bohemia, probably could be found in the Stayni Oblastni Archive for Bohemia, located in the village of Zamrsk, also some distance from Policka but much closer than Brno.
With time growing short, Tom and Gayla decided to visit the Zamrsk archives in the hope of finding more information on his DRAHOS ancestors thus postponing until later the search for his TOPINKA ancestors. The archives were located in an old monastery and had survived the devastation inflicted on much of Europe by World War II. Unable to speak, read or write Czech, Tom nevertheless was awed and overwhelmed by what he saw in the Zamrsk archives: Ledgers after ledgers, all handwritten, many apparently recording births, marriages, deaths, etc., going back well beyond 1600. Tom, using a hand drawn chart based on information provided by Mrs. Klanicova, was able to convey to the archivists -- who spoke practically no English or German -- the purpose of his visit. Arrangements were made to pay them for their research which Tom received several months after returning to the States. That info, however, was limited only to the parents and grandparents of Tom's grandmother, ANNA DRAHOSOVA. No further information was uncovered relating to the TOPINKA family.
With only a day or two left before having to leave Czechoslovakia, Tom and Gayla found, after considerable searching, the small, rural village of Ceske Rybna -- the ancestral home of Tom's DRAHOS ancestors. It apparently was not much larger in 1990 than it had been in 1887 when ANNA and FRANK TOPINKA departed to start a new life in the USA. There appeared to be less than 225 houses (as opposed to 141 in 1890). The inhabitants, most if not all, were farmers who lived in the village, kept their equipment and livestock next to their homes and went out into the adjacent countryside to farm the plots they owned or rented. There were no noticeable stores, shops, etc., in the village. Only a flour mill owned, Tom was told by Mayor Edlman, in earlier days by his TOPINKA ancestors before the communists took over. The villagers apparently did their necessary shopping in Policka, a fairly large town about 10 miles to the East.
Continuing his search over the years for further information on our TOPINKA and DRAHOS ancestors, Tom -- while searching the Internet in early 2000 -- found a well documented and lengthy "paper" prepared by Mr. Karel Kysilka, a Czech citizen and genealogist. The "paper" had been presented by Mr. Kysilka to the Texas Czech Society during an earlier visit to the USA. The essay covered a number of Czechs who had emigrated from Bohemia and Moravia to the USA primarily from the area around Policka (near Ceske Rybna, the ancestral village of our ancestors).
While reading the "paper," Tom was delighted to find that it included a paragraph devoted to his great grandfather, JOSEF TOPINKA and his son, JOSEF, Jr., the brother of Tom's grandfather, FRANTISEK TOPINKA. Tom immediately wrote to Mr. Kysilka to thank him for confirming a portion of stories which Bernice (Easker) Smith recalled hearing from her and Tom's grandmother, ANNA (DRAHOS) TOPINKA.
After learning that Mr. Kysilka is recognized as a leading and highly skilled professional researcher who has attended and addressed genealogical forums here in the States as well as in Europe, Tom engaged him to do further research concerning our DRAHOS and TOPINKA relatives. Much of what follows is based largely on Mr. Kysilka's research -- including the fact that Mr. Kysilka also is related to our family line through the marriage of DOROTA KYSILKOVA, born about 1745, to VENCESLAS (VACLAV) DRAHOS, born about 1734, who was the son of our oldest known DRAHOS ancestor.
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Bef 1780 - Yes, date unknown