The tragic summer of 1847 in Sedlo 12

Registers tell joyful but also sad stories of our ancestors. This story is one of the tragic ones.

During seven weeks, between June 14 and August 1, 1847, four people died in Sedlo 12. More precisely, three people died and one stillborn child was born. The events unfolded as follows:

On June 14, 1847, Vojtěch Vachuška (born in 1845) died at the age of two,

On June 22, 1847, a stillborn child was born,

On June 29, 1847, Marie Vachušková, born Čapková (born in 1817), died at the age of 30, mother of the stillborn child,

On August 1, 1847, František Vachuška (born in 1845) died at the age of two, son of Marie.

Record of the death of four members of the Vachuška family in the summer of 1847 in Sedlo 12

Source: State Regional Archives in Třeboň; Collection of registers of the South Bohemian Region; inv. no. 5350. Register Z; Dolní Poříčí, Horní Poříčí, Kozlov, Sedlo, Střelské Hoštice, Střelskohoštická Lhota, Svaté Pole, Zadní Hoštice. Dates: 1784–1876.

That summer, Jan Vachuška lost his wife Marie and his two-year-old son, and another child was stillborn. His brother Jakub lost his two-year-old son Vojtěch in the same house.

Jakub, Jan's brother, had been living outside Sedlo until that summer. However, according to the registry, his daughter was born in September of that year in Sedlo 12. From this, we can conclude that Jakub's family lived with his brother Jan for a while or visited him to help him cope with the loss of his wife and two children.

Shortly thereafter, the Vachuška family suffered another blow. On November 1, 1849, Maria Magdalena Vachušková, born Jandová, died in the same house at the age of 70. She was the mother of Jan and Jakub and the grandmother of Vojtěch and František.

Jan Vachuška, the father of the deceased, left no heir to the surname, as all his sons died at a young age. His firstborn daughter Rosalie remained to live at Sedlo 12 with her family. Rosalie and her sister Lidmila, Jan's sister, were the last bearers of the Vachuška surname to live at Sedlo 12. The surname was passed on to the next generation by Jan's brothers and other male relatives.

What misfortune did your family endure so that you could bear its name today?