[downloaded from Family Tree University, May 4, 2015] 6 Quick Tips for Czech and Slovak Genealogy Nearly 3.5 million Americans claim Czech or Slovak ancestry. If you count yourself among them, you’re undoubtedly eager to celebrate polka and pirohi in your past. But with your homeland’s well-known historical and political complexities, how do you start finding your family tree? 1. Learning key dates in history and having a basic knowledge of the administrative/political considerations is essential to tracing your Czech or Slovak ancestry. 2. Upon the formation of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy in 1867, Bohemia Moravia and Silesia were provinces administratively under Austria, while Slovakia remained under Hungarian control. 3. Although the Czech and Slovak republics were once united as one country (Czechoslovakia), there are a number of long-standing cultural differences between these two ethnic groups. 4. The Velvet Divorce of 1993 split the former Czechoslovakia into two countries—The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (Slovakia). 5. Czechs and Moravians largely began arriving in the United States in the 1850s; Slovaks and other ethnic groups from Upper Hungary began in the 1880s 6. Many early Czech and Slovak immigrants were so-called “birds of passage" who crossed the pond several times to earn enough money to buy land back home.  Sally Rolls Pavia [email protected] List Owner: [email protected] Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index "Our Soldiers are one of our greatest assets!"