In the Czech language, "SVOBODA" (pronounced "SWOH-buh-duh") can be translated "freedom." It is the second most common Czech family name. My SVOBODA ancestors left their homeland in Moravia and first set foot on American soil in 1872. This page contains history and genealogy of my Moravian ancestors. New information will be added as it is discovered.
Anton SVOBODA, born on 10 January 1828, was the fourth of five children born to Thomas and Anna (MIKULASCH) SWOBODA in house #10 in the village of Borova, parish of Budec, district of Dacice, in southwestern Moravia. On 19 October 1852 at the Roman Catholic Church of Budec Parish, he married Katerina (Kate) ANDEL, the daughter of Mathias and Marie (SMETANA) ANDEL. Anton and Kate had 8 children born in Moravia and 1 in Nebraska: Katerina (SVOBODA) TUMA (1852-1925), Francesca (Frances) (SVOBODA) BOWER (1854-1916), Maria SVOBODOVÁ (1856-1860), James Wenzl (Vaclav) SVOBODA (1859-1946), Josefa (Josephine) (SVOBODA) JONES (1863-1914), Maria (Mary) Elizabeth (SVOBODOVÁ) HOOPER (1865-1952), Victoria (SVOBODA) VAVAK (1868-1928), Franz (Frank) H. SVOBODA (1871-1956), and Peter Frank SVOBODA (1873-1963). In 1872 this family came to America, where they settled in Saunders County, Nebraska, on 24 June 1873. Anton was a farmer. He died on 27 December 1918 at Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska. He was buried at Linwood Hill Cemetery in Butler County, Nebraska. Thomas SWOBODA, the fifth of eight children of Josef and Mariana (SWOBODOVA) SWOBODA, was born on 6 December 1801 in house #10 in the village of Raabstein (now Borova), Budec parish, Moravia (Czech Republic). At Moravske Budejovice, near the village of Jatzkau (now Jackov), Moravia, on 25 November 1822 he married Anna MIKULASCH, daughter of Frantisek (Franz) and Maria Anna (CHALAUPKA) MIKULASCH. Thomas and Anna were the parents of 5 known children, all born in house #10 in Borova: Franz SVOBODA (b. 1823), Theresie SVOBODOVA (b. 1824), Martin SVOBODA (1826-1827), Anton SVOBODA (1828-1918), and Mariana (Marie) (SVOBODA) DOLEZAL (1830-1874). Thomas was a farmer. By 1880 he was living with his granddaughter, Josephine (DOLEZAL) SLOUP, in Chester Precinct of Saunders County, Nebraska. In 1885 he was living with his son Anton in Chester Precinct, Saunders County, Nebraska. He died in Nebraska on 17 January 1889. He was buried at Linwood Cemetery in Butler County, Nebraska. Josef SWOBODA, born 12 February 1759, married Mariana SWOBODOVA 23 Sep 1784 at Lomy, Budec, Moravia (Czech Republic). She was born 12 Aug 1764. He was a farmer. They were Catholic. Their children, all born at Raabstein (now Borova), Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), were Jakob SWOBODA (b. 1790), Joannes SWOBODA (b. 1793), Mariana SWOBODA (b. 1796), Anton SWOBODA (b. 1798), Thomas SWOBODA (1801-1889), Wintzens SWOBODA (b. 1804), Anna SWOBODA (b. 1806), Weronika SWOBODA (b. 1808).
Frantisek (Franz) MIKULASCH was christened as "Franciscus" at the Roman Catholic Church at Moravske Budejovice, near Jackov, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), on 23 October 1761. He was the firstborn child of Johann and Anna (CHALAUPKA) MIKULASCH. On 1 Feb 1790 Franz married Maria Anna CHALAUPKA, the daughter of Franciscus and Marzena CHALAUPKA. Being cousins ("3rd grade of blood relationship"), the Catholic church granted Franz and Maria Anna dispensation to allow them to marry. They became the parents of five children, all born in house #26 in the village of Jackov: Anton MIKULASCH (1791-1795), Martin MIKULASCH (1792-1814), Anna (MIKULASCH) SWOBODA (b. 1794), Eva MIKULASCH (b. 1796), and Thelka MIKULASCH (1798-1801). Franz was a farmer. Joannes (Johann or Jan) MIKULASCH was born about 1727, the son of Antonius MIKULASCH. Johann was Catholic. He first married Anna CHALAUPKA on 11 January 1761 at Moravske Budejovice, near Jackov, Moravia (Czech Republic). They had four children: Frantisek MIKULASCH (b. 1761), Catharina MIKULASCH (b. 1764), Lucas MIKULASCH (b. 1766), and Maria Anna MIKULASCH (b. 1770). After their mother died in 1787, he married the 45-year-old Mrs. Rosalia BAUER on 31 July 1787 at Moravske Budejovice, near Jackov, Moravia. She was the widow of Jan (Johann) BAUER (c.1725-1786). She died from hydropsy (heart or kidney failure) on 12 March 1798 at house #5 in Jackov. Johann MIKULASCH suffered a stroke and died in house #5 in Jackov on 18 January 1792. He was buried on 20 January 1792 at St. John's Cemetery at Moravske Budejovice, Moravia. Antonius MIKULASCH, the father of Johann MIKULASCH, was living at Jackov, Moravia, in 1761.
Thomas CHALAUPKA, the father of Anna CHALAUPKA, died before 1761.
Franciscus (Frantz) CHALAUPKA married about 1758 to Marzena (Maria Anna). They were Catholic. He was a farmer. They had six children, all born at Jackov, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic): Maria Anna (CHALAUPKA) (BENDA) MIKULASCH (b. 1760), Wenceslaus CHALAUPKA (b. 1762), Josephus CHALAUPKA (b. 1765), Joannes CHALAUPKA (b. 1767), Jacobus CHALAUPKA (b. 1769), and Anna CHALAUPKA (b. 1771).
Matyas (Matej/Mathias) ANDEL, the son of Martin and Katerina (MALÁ) ANDÉL, was born on 13 January 1804 at house #56 in the village of Kynice, Dacice, Moravia, (now in the Czech Republic). He married Marianna (Marie) SMETANA, daughter of Thomas and Ursula (VESELA) SMETANA, on 15 November 1825 at Budec parish in the district of Dacice in Moravia. Mathias and Marianna had 5 children, all born at house #23 in the village of Kynice: Anna ANDELOVÁ (b. 1826), Matej ANDÉL (b. 1829), Katerina (Kate) (ANDEL) SVOBODA (1831-1893), George ANDEL (1833-1892), and Jan (Johann) ANDÉL (b. 1835). Martin ANDÉL was born to Karel and Anna (VOPELKOVÁ) ANDÉL. He was christened on 13 November 1779 in the parish of Budec, Dacice, Moravia (Czech Republic). He married Katerina MALA, daughter of Jan and Marie MALY, on 9 November 1802 at Budec, Dacice, Moravia. Karel ANDÉL was born in the village of Kynice, district of Dacice, Moravia, (Czech Republic). The son of Kaspar and Margareta ANDÉL, he was christened on 20 October 1745 in Budec Parish, Dacice, Moravia. He married Anna VOPELKOVA, daughter of Frantisek and Katerina VOPELKA, on 19 November 1771 in Budec, Dacice, Moravia. When their son Martin ANDÉL was born in 1779, Karel was a farmer, living at house #56 in Kninice, Moravia. He died on 9 December 1813 at Kynice and was buried two days later. Kaspar ANDÉL married Margareta (or Magdalene?). When their son Karel ANDÉL was born in 1745, they were living at Kninice, Moravia. He was listed as a farmer in 1771 at house #56 in the village of Kninice.
Jan MALY and wife Marie were married in Moravia before 1781. They were the parents of Katerina MALÁ (b. c.1781). When Katerina married in 1802, Jan was a farmer, living at house #27 in the community of Lomy, Moravia.
Tomá SMETANA married Ursula (Vorila) VESALÁ on 13 Nov 1792 at Kninice (Kynice), Moravia (now in Czechia).
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Katerina (Katie) SVOBODA was the first of nine children born to Anton and Kate (ANDEL) SVOBODA. Katie was born on 7 November 1852 in house #23 in the village of Kninice [Kynice] in the Roman Catholic parish of Budec [Butsch], district of Dacice [Datschitz], Moravia. She was born a citizen of the Austrian Empire which controlled her country of Moravia. Her "home town" is presently located just north of the Austrian border in the south-central Czech Republic. On 6 February 1872 she acquired a birth and baptismal certificate, which served as her passport to America. At 19 years of age she departed Bremen, Germany, aboard the ship SS Berlin and arrived with her parents in Baltimore, Maryland, on 21 May 1872. On 18 May 1874 at Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, she married John TUMA (1848-1943), son of John and Anna (SPERL) THUMA. He came to America in 1871. They had 7 children, all born in Nebraska: Josephina (TUMA) HERMAN (1875-1897), William John TUMA (later COLE[MAN]) (1876-1959), Emma (TUMA) MISHKA (1877-1915), Joseph C. TUMA (1879-1921), Frank TUMA (born in May 1880; died in childhood), Lottie Kate (TUMA) POWERS BARRETT (1881-1964), and Marguerite Augusta (Gustie) (TUMA) SMILEY BRIDGES (1882-1936). They moved to Ord, Valley County, Nebraska, on 3 November 1895. In 1908 they moved to Burwell, Garfield Co., Nebraska. On 13 October 1924 she left a will at Ord, Nebraska. She died from uterine cancer on 6 February 1925 at Burwell, Nebraska. She was buried there at Cottonwood Cemetery.
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