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Dr. Miroslav Koudelka
Ancestry Research, Tours, TranslationClient Testimonials
Wendy Jedlicka / Roseville, MN USA
I have nothing but great things to say about Mirek. So many in fact, I make him blush. As you may have read in the 'Start' section of this site, I had a 25 year search for my family home in Bohemia.
Mine is the typical story, the original immigrants only tell the briefest of histories to their children. Those kids in turn try to pass on their ancestral language and heritage to their kids who'll have "None of that peasant stuff. We're Americans!," leaving my generation with only the roots they made themselves. We Americans are funny, we embrace whatever fractional bit of heritage suits us at the moment, but for the most part don't understand a sliver of what it really means to be, in my case Czech.
My father (a raging xenophobe) was horrified that I not only undertook to study German and Czech, but did so to do genealogical research, and hopefully, one day, find the rest of our family in Bohemia. Mirek for me was the final link in a long, long search. I found my villages from here eventually, but then what? I tried writing to the Archives in Tebon, but got very little help from them, and there are no relatives with my surname left in my ancestral village (we were actually 'newcomers' in 1755, we really come from 2 villages over). Mirek within a few weeks zoomed in and opened the past for me, found direct line (maternal) relatives, as well as the house my gr. grandfather was born in (still in the family, passed down through the women, though of course, the current owner has a different surname). It's fair to say Mirek has the keys to a time machine, your personal time machine.
Other researchers I've contacted aren't as effective, as reasonably priced (frankly I think we're taking advantage of him), honest, or as good a traveling companion. I can't think of a better person to have shared my moments of long lost family reunion with. He made the very good experience I had possible.
Since my first Ancestral Trip with Mirek, I've gone back on my own. My Czech is really bad and my relatives speak no English or German, but we gimp by with my few words and a dictionary until we're all too tired to see straight. All thanks to Mirek.
If you'd like to see more of what I've discovered and see how far back I've gotten my pedigree chart to go, stop by my website, Jedlicka Family History.
Robert Lempera / Oak Park, IL USA
I can't thank you enough for all of the intesting results you have sent to me. It has given me so much knowledge of the Lempera Family. I never expected to go back so far in history of the Lemperas as you have shown me.And to have real live relatives in Czech Republic is very exciting as well.
John Stasny / Austin, TX, USA
Appears in: Czech Family Histories, Volume II. Published by the Texas Czech Genealogical Society, 2005, pp. 917-918.
When I returned from my second fruitless trip, I knew that I was over my head and needed professional help if I expected to trace my ancestors in the Czech Republic. In February 1999, I found and commissioned Dr. Miroslav Koudelka to conduct the necessary genealogical research to trace all the branches of my family. Dr. Koudelka had come with the highest recommendations from a friend of mine who was also a client of his. After talking to her, I contacted Dr. Koudelka, gave him the information that I had obtained on my family, and he took over. Within a few months, Dr. Koudelka provided me with my first report. After that report, I began to dream again of meeting a Czech relative some day. Little did I know that a year later, he would be arranging for a reunion with the descendants of Josef Stasny (the younger brother of my great-grandfather, Jan Stasny).
Thanks to the diligent efforts of Dr. Koudelka, I was united with my Czech cousins in Vsetín, Moravia, during Easter 2000. Dr. Koudelka had located and arranged for thirty-nine descendants of Josef Stasny to meet with me, their American cousin. I was ecstatic. Following the reunion, my new relatives invited me to their homes. At each household we were greeted with Czech food, pastries, and a local drink, slivovica -- they openly shared family information and photographs with me.
The Stasny reunion was only the beginning of the most wonderful twenty-eight days of my life. Dr. Koudelka arranged a tour of the Czech Republic for me, my wife and my best friend of fifty years, Bill Hodon. Even though the trip was slanted toward ancestral discovery, Dr. Koudelka arranged the agenda in such a way that it became much more. Being a historian and genealogist, he provided us with insight into the Czech Lands that few people get. The entire trip was phenomenal. I am not overstating when I say that Dr. Koudelka opened a new door in my life.
Kristie Lamberg / Seabeck, WA, USA
Thank you very much for the detailed report, the photocopies and your suggestions for our visit. We are so excited to read and absorb all of the information in the report. You have found an amazing amount of data and I really appreciate it.
More testimonials to come...