John Dvorak (and list) - I've been on this list for a few years and have followed John's adventures researching his Dvorak line. I wish I was so successful. Nobody seems to know where my grandfather Dvorak came from in Bohemia or his family. All we know is his family died shortly after their arrival to St. Louis (abt 1883) as a young teen, was the only survivor, and was taken in by another family (also unknown) until he was a young adult. I am very familiar with Antonin Dvorak. According to several family members, including my father, Antonin is my great grand uncle. BUT, not from my Dvorak grandfather, BUT from my great grandmother Barbara Bochnicek, It was just so happened their daughter, Mary, married a Dvorak. Apparently my great grandparents were quite concerned about this and finally determined there was no connection to Antonin's family. I have not confirmed that my gr-grandmother Barbara is actually related to Antonin, or what her relationship was to him. This is something I'm working on. - Some tidbits - Some list members may be familiar with the book "Antonin Dvorak, My Father" by Otakar Dvorak. On page xvii, last sentence of the last paragraph, it states; "The first Dvorak relative born in Nelahozeves was Dr. Dvorak's aunt Barbara, born in house number 7 in 1823." We believed my gr-grandmother, born abt 1844, was either a daughter, sister, or at least named after this Barbara. Unfortunately, the author did not source or make further mention of this aunt in his book. John - if you're interested in other clues, please contact me privately. Lynn Brown > > > Hi Lynn. Nice to meet you.....My name was originally Dvorzhak > too......but most of my family just says Dvorak.........It's > amazing in the mail how many variations of the name there are. > Dorvak, Drovak......Dovak......Just amazing but Dvorak the way the > composer pronounced it is the original way that we pronounced our > name,........(You DO know the composer Antonin Dvorak, don't you? > AHAHHAHAHAHAH) >> >>John - I, too, have a grandparent "John Dvorak" and for the first >>10 years living in Missouri, he spelled "Dvorak" as "Deworack", >>then it was changed to "Dworak", and then finally back to >>"Dvorak". When I inquired through family lines why the changes in >>spelling, I was told 1) when he first came here, the change was >>"political", wanting a hard "ack" [D-VOR-ACK] because everyone >>pronouced his name as "De-zore-sack". Later, as he learned >>English, it became Dvorak, and we pronouce it with a hard "ack". >>[no one speaks Bohomian or Czech in the family anymore - a shame]. >> >> >> Lynn Brown (Dvorak) >> -- Visit my genealogy website: http://webs.lanset.com/lingbro Key surnames: BOCHNICEK, BROD, BROZ, DVORAK, GRAHAM, HRASKY, ONTL, PETRAN, PAZDERA, SMRCKA, STEUERNAGEL, TOUPAL, VANICEK, VOKRACKA and more, most from Missouri, Illinois and New York areas. "ALL INCOMING AND OUTGOING E-MAIL IS SCANNED WITH NORTON ANTI-VIRUS, updated daily"