BLAHNIK Family From Bohemia (Czech Republic)

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LIBKOV
Algoma, WI
Starec,  CZ
LIBKOV
MI/WI /NY/IL
Smrzovice, CZ
LIBKOV
Canadian

U Blahniku
LIBKOV WI /NY - Kout, Domazlice, CZ
Blahnik & Blacknik
LIBKOV -
MYTO
PA/WI   Milwaukee & PA
Blahnik & Blamick
LIBKOV Appleton, WI - Branisov Kdyne Ashland WI, OH/CA, Gogebec, MI France/IL/WI/
Ledvice, Strasice
Jos & Tulachka
to Kewaunee, WI
BLAHNIK News
 
 2012 Cz Trip & Reunions Czech Blahniks Mlynec, Klatovy, CZ -
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Polenka, Klatovy -
Oxford Jct. IA & Chicago, IL
Adam & Spora to Kewaunee, WI MN -Volduchy

   Vaclav 1838
 to Manitowoc, WI

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Web updated 7/21/2014

 

Family tree Database Update 02/15/2014

*Nase Rodina Article on Blahnik DNA Dec 2013 Blahnik DNA Project

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the  Blahnik family web.  The Blahnik name is not a real common one.  The name originated in the Czech Republic which was the old Kingdom of Bohemia.  The name is currently found in the Czech Republic, America, Canada and a few other European countries.  Probably the most well known Blahnik is the famous shoe designer, Manolo Blahnik.  We know his father came from Prague and his mother was Spanish.  There have also been some Blahnik musical composers.  Roman Blahnik 1897-1966 in Prague and Joel Blahnik from Wisconsin who also writes and performs in Czech.

Origin of the Name
Background for locations of Blahnik families and Immigration
DNA Studies and our Blahnik families  also see http://www.familytreedna.com/public/blahnik/

   
Haplo I2a or I-P37.2  Libkov Cz Blahniks (Smrzovice, Algoma, Kout, Vitovky, Canada, Chodsko Loucim, and Myto/PA branches)
   
Haplo N1C1 or N-M231  Village Trhanov, Cz and Ashland, WI/MI/OH/CA  Blahniks
   
Haplo  I1 or I-M253  Cedar Rapids, IA Blahniks
   
Haplo I2b1 or I-M223 Ledvice, CZ to France and on to WI and IL
    
Haplo L-M61 Volduchy CZ Blahniks to MN

The tabs located on the top of the page discuss different Blahnik branches that have been located.  Not all of them have had a Y-DNA cheek swab test to see if they connect with other branches at this time.
If you know your family group, click on the tab.  If you are un certain, the Family tree tab should link you back to the oldest known Blahnik male and location of his birth.  This will also give you the information to chose which family tab you would wish to visit.

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NAME BLAHNIK
The origins of the name "Blahnik" was discussed in the document by Ladislav Blahnik called "History of the Family of Blahnik of Smrzovice (1842-1944).  He reflected on the work of Dr. Roubik.  Ladislav suggested that the name Blahnik could be found in the Christian name "Blazej", according to the old Czech abbreviation, Blaha.  He felt Blahnik could have meant "small Blaha" or have been an abbreviated form.  He pointed out the names of "Blasius Hoden de Poczynovice" in 1430 as a city official and "Ondra et Blasius de Poczynovice" in Latin records from 1434.  Additionally there were councilmen in 1481 named "Matthew & Blaha of Pocinovice".  He felt these were all precursors to the formal last name of "Blahnik".  Blaha is a much more common name.  There has been no known DNA groups for Blaha to see if we connect with that name even further back. Blahnik itself is not a real common name and so it was thought all the Czech Blahniks were related.

(1) In any case, it appears as though last names began to be more accepted for usage in Czech by the late 1400's to early 1500's.  This is what makes genealogy prior to this time so very difficult if not impossible.  It is most likely that more than one biological family chose the last name Blahnik and were not in fact blood related to another Blahnik family other than being Czech.  This is most likely why there could be 5 different haplotypes in our current study.

(2) A second possibility is that there could have been an interrupted male line for the Blahnik family.  The DNA test used to establish the paternal lineage comes from the Y chromosome and will show the direct genetic path from father to son.  If that path were ever interrupted, then the name Blahnik and the Y DNA would no longer match. 

This possibility would include something like a family carrying on an adopted name rather than direct bloodline name of the father.  A Blahnik could have adopted a son and the son took his last name.  We do know about one case of adoption by one of the Algoma Blahnik immigrant sons.

Another possibility at any point in time could have been for a son choosing to use the mother's last name of Blahnik.  That would have made the child a Blahnik by blood, but not show up on the direct Y DNA information in our DNA test.  In checking the archives it was not uncommon for Czech women (centuries ago who were unmarried) having their children baptized with her last name.  This has been seen in the Czech record archives.   Additionally there is a family story that Joel Blahnik reported indicating at least one situation where the family chose to take the mother's name of Blahnik rather than the father's name.  Joel recounted that there was family belief that during the time of Napoleon there was a man who deserted the regiment and married a Blahnik woman in Chodsko.  In order to avoid being detected as a deserter from Napoleon's army, he purposely took on his wife's last name of Blahnik and raise his children as Blahnik. This again would have the name Blahnik without the Y DNA match directly to that name.

The only thing we know at this point in time is that we have Y DNA  showing at least 5 different Blahnik root families.  We suspect they are all different Czech male families who chose to use the last name of Blahnik and are united by the fact that all of them are Czech families.

 

Background:
A study of all Blahniks known to have immigrated to America found
118 immigrants with the last name of Blahnik.  These people came from 32 families.  At this point it is unclear if all of those families were related or just immigrated at different times.  Wisconsin had the greatest number of Blahnik immigrants with 66 people settling in the state of Wisconsin during the late 19th to early 20th century. 

It was discovered that among the 2011 Wisconsin residents, a majority of them had their oldest known ancestor coming from SW Bohemia in the area of Domazlice to Klatovy.  One family (Smrzovice) had a genealogical tree going back to the 1400�s and ancient Chod Heritage in Czech.   

 

The break down for known Blahnik immigrants shown below by the State that the families settled.

State

Immigrants

families

Locations the immigrants settled

(not all locations found yet) Places some were known to come from:

WI

66

14

Algoma, Antigo, Appleton, Ashland, Carlton, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Kewaunee & Brown Co. Appleton branch lived in Blahnik Pocket (Smrzovice, Domazlice, Loucim), Prague & Havlovice, CZ.
Other Pocket villages; Starec, Novy Dvur, Radonice, Stanetice, Lhota, Smrzovice

IL

12

5

Chicago, St. Charles Polenka near Klatvoy, Smrzovice, Brnirov, Klatvoy (in the Blahnik Pocket) , Strasice by Plzen

IA

8

5

Jones Co, Linn Co, Oxford Jct, Cedar Rapids Mlynic/Allynace, Cz in 1893

MI

8

2

Menominee Smrzovice and Lhota in the Blahnik Pocket

NY (Blacknik)

7

3

Manhattan Stanetice, Oprechtice and Smrzovice

MN

5

3

St. Paul, Lancing, Austin, Mower, Pine City, Tarbor Volduchy near Plzen
NJ 1 1 Bridgewater unknown

PA (Blamick)

4

1

Allegheny Myto near Plzen

MO/CA

3

1

Kansas City, San Francisco Loucim (Blahnik Pocket)

Canada

3

1

Winnipeg/Grande Point, MB U Blahniku (Blahnik Pocket)

total

117

36

   

Wisconsin gained it's statehood in 1848.  This occurred about the same time as the serf statues was lifted in Bohemia.  There was a great deal of advertising in Czech and German newspapers encouraging people come to settle this new state.  This is probably why there were so many Czechs coming to Wisconsin between 1850-1880.  In 2011 the White pages the people with the last name of Blahnik had grown to 821 from these 118 immigrants.  One third of these Blahniks were still living in Wisconsin.  Wisconsin had the most Czech immigrants in the 1860 & 1870 census records for the US.  More than half of our Blahnik families did immigrate to Wisconsin and the Midwest, but we have settlements as far away as Canada too.

In 2011 the greatest number of Blahniks in Czech continued to live in this same SW area of the Czech Republic.  Domazlice to Klatovy has the highest population of Blahniks from land line phone records.  In 2011 the land line records in Czech showed 519 listings while the US showed 821 listings.  Wisconsin still showed the greatest number of Blahniks and had increased from 66 immigration families to 303 homes some 150 years later.

A note should be made here about how the numbers gathered for this comparison.  Cell phones are more common in Czech currently than Land Lines are, so it is possible that this is not as direct of a comparison as one might think.  Still, the Blahnik immigrants definitely established themselves on the North American continent.

In 2012 a DNA group was up to see how we might all relate.  The information will be presented by the name of the oldest known ancestor from each Blahnik family.  Currently five different families (Male family lines) have been discovered.

Although 65 Blahnik families were identified at the time of immigration, it was discovered that some of them were related to others and also that some families died out with the Blahnik name (having either no children or daughters only).

DNA and Genealogical attempts to identify our Families

In 2011 there was a Blahnik family reunion held at Blahnik Heritage Park in Algoma, WI.  Blahniks from all over the world were invited to attend.  From this reunion the idea establishing a Blahnik DNA group was discussed.  Three Blahnik men initiated this group and had no common ancestor back to the 1700's.  All three of these men were from a short distance from each other in NE Wisconsin.  They all turned out to be related.  Other Blahnik males joined the Y-DNA group to test for their paternal ancestry line. 

So far, fifteen different male Blahniks from what seemed like separate families took the DNA test which resulted in these five different groups.  The groups are being identified by the oldest known ancestor and the Haplogroup affiliated with them.  The majority of Czechs have an �R� or R1b Haplogroup (roughly 36%).  None of our Blahnik families belong to this group. �R� is often associated with the Celts and the Boii tribe was said to have been pushed over the Alps into Czech (Bohemia) by the Romans. Three of our Blahnik families came from the "I" group mutation while the other two come from "L" and "N".

The Five DNA Haplo Groups
There is an article in the December 2013 issue of Nase Rodina.  That is the Genealogical Magazine from CGSI (Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International) and discusses our Blahnik DNA Project.  The info below expands on some of the DNA groups while a fuller explanation for the Libkov group can be found in this article

1- Haplo I2a or I-P37.2 Lipkov, Bohemia includes families from Czech villages Smrzovice, Kout, Vitovky, Myto (PA) and Loucim, CZ.  Also immigrant locations for  Winnipeg Canada, Algoma WI are included with this group.  This includes both American and Czech DNA samples.  The oldest known ancestor was Ondra Blahnik c1455 Libkov (between Domazlice and Klatovy) -after 1482.  This appears to be the largest Blahnik family both in Czech and North America.  See ancestral migration map below and the known genealogical tree that we currently have available.  There were some branches that split off the trunk earlier which are likely the Kout, Vitovky and Loucim Blahniks.  Though they are connected genetically, the genealogical connection has yet to be found.
LIBKOV BLAHNIKS

 

2-  Haplo N1C1 or N-M231 has been found for two different families.  There is an immigrant family named Blahnik who settled in Ashland, WI.  Their oldest known ancestor was Jan (John) Blahnik c1825 possibly Chodska Lhota, BohemiaThere was also a man in Prague,  Czech Republic that match his DNA with this Wisconsin family whose oldest known ancestor was Frantisek c1875 from the Village Trhanov (near Domazlice) Bohemia. 

Mike Glime estimates that these two branches shared the same direct ancestor in the late 1700's.  There is also a third party match with a man whose last name is Stanley.  This means the family split between the Blahniks and this man's family probably occurred before the standard use of last names.  The N Haplogroup is frequently found among the Turks, Russians, Finns, Baltic, Eastern Prussia and even in Russia.  The exact path of this family to Czech has not been determined at this time.  Perhaps the most likely place could be from Eastern Prussia which is close to Czech.  I should be noted that there is an FTDNA direct match with a Mr. Stanley in Slovakia.  The split with the Blahnik may have happened before last names became commonly used.

 

3- Haplo  I1 or I-M253 belongs to one of the immigrant families that settled in Iowa.  The oldest known ancestor for this group is Georg (Jiri) Blahnik b: in Bohemia estimated birth 1840.  He married Dorothea (Janva) Janca Janda and they lived in Mlynec, Klatovy in the mid 1800�s.

There are a few Blahnik immigrant families that came to Iowa.  One family has been tested so far.  The FTDNA program suggests the I1 lineage may have started in northern France.  It was  found most frequently in the Viking/Scandinavian area of NW Europe and spread from there down to Central and Eastern Europe.  This Haplo DNA marker is not shown in great frequencies in East/Central Europe but is likely how this Blahnik group came to Czech.

 

 

4- I2b1 or I-M223 is the Haplogroup for an ancestral Blahnik family from Ledvice.  The oldest known ancestor of this group is Joseph Blahnik 1875 Ledvice, Bohemia.  This family emigrated to France before coming to America in the next generation.  Descendents can be found in IL and WI.

 The basic migration map is similar to both the Libkov Blahniks and the I-M253 Iowa group since they all come within the "I" group mutation.  From the basic "I" mutations they took slightly different paths.  FTDNA suggests that I2b1 may actually have had its roots in Northern France like I1.  This group probably took a similar path as the I-M253 Blahniks since it is a genetic subgroup.   Haplo I2b1 external link. 

 

 

 

5- Haplo L-M61 was found for the group known as the Volduchy Blahniks. The oldest known ancestor was Matej Blahnik b: c1775 Bohemia.  The family lived in  Litohlvy (just east of Plzen) in the early 1800's.  Two generations later Frantisek left from Minnesota USA in 1906.

 The L-M61 is an interesting Haplotype for this Czech family.  One source suggests that 50% of the men living in southern India have this marker.  It should be noted that it is also common in the Middle East among the Turks, Saudis and Pakistanis.  Perhaps the Volduchy Blahnik group  came through the Middle East making their way up to the Czech Republic.  Research continues and this current path may alter.  Certainly India is where most people with this L Haplo are now living .

 

 

 

Not all Blahnik lines have been tested to see how we all connect.

This project is looking for a Blahnik male from the family lines of
1- Jos Blahnik & Tulachka to Kewaunee, WI,
2-  Polenka, Klatovy -Oxford Jct. IA & Chicago, IL
3- Another male from a Cedar Rapids, Iowa group. 

A basic $60 test would indicate which of the 5 family lines belong to them.

The Blahnik DNA group is open for more testing.  There are Blahniks in other European Countries as well as other immigrant families who have not been tested.  We invite any male Blahniks (also spelled  Blacknik and Blamick with some American immigrant families) to join and connect with your Czech Cousins.

Feel free to contact this author


 

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Bob Blahnik continues regularly search obits in the Wisconsin papers and they are updated in the family tree.

2007 GEDfile indexed 6811 names
2008 Indexed updated with 400 new names since 2007 for a total of 7311 names.
2009 Indexed 7741 people for an addition of 430 names.
2011 January -indexes
updated to 8644 individuals
2011 September -
9802 Individuals now in database
*needs to be updates

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Flag correction per Ludmila Nov� http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia I would have a little correction for your web site: so, the Czech / Bohemian flag looks like this: the red colour is down and the white colour up on the flag (the teachers say to the small children at school this "key": "the blood is falling down, but the peace dove is flying up". -Thanks Ludmila!

This web page is meant for all members of the Blahnik family and its descendents.  There is also information pages about the American Immigrants, History of the family and Blahnik names we have not yet connected to the main tree.  I'm entering the Blahnik names I have located in the County Register of Deeds offices, Census records and Pilzn Archives and trying to connect them to the tree as well.  Any assistance with information is greatly appreciated.

If you have more information or corrections please contact Lori Dollevoet  and include your sources.

  � Lori Dollevoet 1999