Josef Mohelnicky - letters from Prague

On August 25, 1999, Josef Mohelnický wrote in Czech; following is an English translation

Translation by Petr and Karen Kolarsky, October 9, 1999; and Pavel Kolarsky, October 24, 1999.

Thank you for the letter and I ask you to forgive me for not good enough knowledge of English, I'm writing to you in Czech.

To answer your questions, I used:

1. Family chronicle {coat of arms and the story that goes with}

2. The Last Will of Vincent Mohelnitzky - year 1825

3. Birth Certificate of my grandfather Carl/Karl Mohelnitzky, 1818 {should be "great" grandfather}

4. Birth Certificate of my father Rudolf Mohelnitzky, 1887

It states in the family chronicle that the first report of the Mohelnitzky family tree dates to 14th century and that they lived in lower Slezko {today's Poland} where in the present {past} "dukedom" {like Kingdom only lower level - the "little king's" land} occupying different important functions and as an honor for religion John Mohelnitzky was in 1595 put into a higher status of his sect (slechtického) with the right of using his family coat of arms.

The family chronicle of coat of arms is written in the German language.

The Czech family tree is mentioned in the Last Will of Vincent Mohelnitzky from 1825 - where the mentioned {Vincent} willed part of his estate to his brothers Josef and Antonin Mohelnitzky.

Josef Mohelnitzky, master silk/cotton maker, in Hranich in Moravia, was according to family chronicle #3, the father of my grandfather {father of great-grandfather}, Carl Mohelnitzky, born in 1818 which according to family chronicle #4 is father to my grandfather Frank, to whom in 1887 was born my father Rudolf.

According to the Last Will #2 he was the brother of Josef Mohelnitzky. Antonin Mohelnitzky, occupation master silk/cotton maker, in Sedlcanech {Sedlcany} (a town south of Prague) which however according to #2 was in the year 1825 still here because there isn't any more information about the above mentioned {Antonin}. It could be dealing about your grand-grand-father and please I ask you to, according to the date of birth and death, to judge the probability of this assumption.

The difference in the way the name is written is due to the fact that the name Mohelnitzky written in Czech, Germans read Mohelniky and so because of that the name would be said correctly in German. It's important to exchange the letter "c" for "tz".

How we came to know Josef of Prague

While visiting a Bukovina researcher Paul Polansky at his Czech research center in Spillville, Iowa, on February 1, 1997, we asked Paul for information about the Mohelnitzky name and the town "Sellzau/Sellgan" where Anton Mohelnitzky was said to have come from [these town names were later found to be incorrect; Anton came from Seltschan/Sedlcany in Czech]. Paul had a book of town names and found Mohelnice. From the Prague phone book, he copied the page showing Josef Mohelnicky's address and phone number. Paul thought there was a good chance of receiving a reply if we sent a letter to Josef. 

August 11, 1999: The first letter was sent to Josef Mohelnicky. He replied and sent lots of genealogy information including a Mohelnitzky crest/wappen, and Mohelnicky will.

July 9, 2000: The date of the last letter from Josef Mohelnicky.

December 8, 2006: We called Josef's phone number but due to not knowing Czech and their not knowing German or English, the call was not successful. 

January 10, 2007: A letter to Josef Mohelnicky, written in 3 languages (Czech, German, English) was sent. No reply was received. It is assumed that Josef has died. 

On March 2, 2000, Josef Mohelnický wrote:

Über Anton Mohelnický, Bruder von meinem Ur-Ur Grosvaterr Josef habe ich leider keine Informationen. Er war Tuchmacher und wohnte im Jahre 1825 in Sedlcany, einer kleinen Stadt südlich von Prag. Ich werde versuchen vom Pfarramt in Sedlcany näheres zu erfahren.

Was die schreibweise des Namens anbetrift - es ist ein slawischer Name und richtig wird Mohelnický geschrieben, in deutscher schreibweise wird c mit tz ersetzt. Im Testament aus dem Jahre 1825 ist der Name auch so geschrieben. Es wird Sie villeicht interesieren das in Mähren in der nähe von Olmütz eine Stadt mit den Namen Mohelnice und in west Böhmen ein Dorf desselben Namens ist.

Translation to English:

About Anton Mohelnický, brother of my great-great grandfather Josef, I have no information. He was a cloth maker and lived in 1825 in Sedlčany, a small town south of Prague. I will try to learn more from the rectory in Sedlčany. 

As for the spelling of the name - it is a Slavic name and correctly written as Mohelnický; in German spelling the c is replaced by tz. In the Testament of 1825, the name is also written. It will perhaps interest you that in Moravia, near Olomouc, is a town with the names Mohelnice and in western Bohemia is a village of the same name.

On July 9, 2000, Josef Mohelnický wrote:

Meine Vorfahren stammen aus niederschlesien das cca bis zum Jahre 1750 ein Bestandteil des böhmischen Königreiches war. Niederschlesien mit der Hauptstadt Wroclaw (Breslau) ist heute ein Teil von Polen.

In der Chronik ist angeführt wie sich der Name entwickelte und auch die Orte wo sie lebten. Der Name hat keine bedeutung und ist nicht übersetzbar. Bei uns gibt es viele Familiennamen die vom Namen eines Ortes abstammen, und es ist nicht ausgeschlosen das den Name der Stadt Mohelnice (deutch Müglitz) in Nordmähren einen zusamenhang hat.

Translation to English:

My ancestors are from lower Schlesia (Niederschlesien), this area was until 1750 in existence in the Bohemian Kingdom. Lower Schlesia with the capitol town Wroclaw (German name Breslau) is today a part of Poland.

In the family history it is written how our name (Mohelnitzky) developed and also the towns where they lived. The name has no meaning and cannot be translated. By us many family names got their name from a town, and it is not impossible that the name is connected with the town Mohelnice (German name Müglitz) in northern Moravia.

Family Tree of Josef Mohelnicky (born 1914)