In a message dated 11/20/2005 1:26:56 PM Mountain Standard Time, mpettyjohn@comcast.net writes: when the serf era ended Serfdom ended in all of the Habsburg lands after the 1848 uprising. I believe that the newly elected parliament finally agreed on a law ending it in 1849. At that time serfs were allowed to own the property where they had only had tenant status before but I believe they had to pay a "compensation tax" of some kind to their former landlords. The Herrschaft (noble estate or dominion) administrative system ended at that time. The old estates were incorporated into a new county system with administration from a county seat by public officials rather than a nobleman and his staff. I am not certain when the county system actually began to function but believe it may have been in 1850. Originally there were about 80 counties in Bohemia but I believe there were various reorganizations over the years that resulted in 139 or so by 1939. If you are looking for county records it is important to know what city was the county seat at the time the records were made. Karel Kysilka has published a lot of information about the jusdicial (justice) and general administrative districts of Moravia over time at his website about Moravia. http://members.tripod.com/~zlimpkk/ Karel also has maps of the old Herrschafts of Moravia at his site. You can see on those maps that some Herrschafts had small bits of property that were separated from the main estate by some distance. Those administrative islands disappeared when the new counties were mapped. The size and shape of the counties may have been related to the old estates in some areas while others were not. Karen