Bolfs in the USA

Frantisek Bolf (1888-1961) and Jan Bolf (1878-1927), brothers born in Male Karlovice (today's Velke Karlovice, Czech Republic), have immigrated to the United States in the early 1900's.

Jan (John) Bolf has married Mary Horvath and settled in Illinois.

Frantisek (Frank) Bolf has married Ellie Neubauer and settled in Texas.

I would love to meet any Bolf relatives (living in the US or the Czech Republic) and share our stories, photos and records.

My Great Grandfather Frantisek Bolf in Velke Karlovice

Raleigh Raymond Hendrix (1901 - 1986)

Raleigh Raymond Hendrix was born in 1901 in Oklahoma to Rufus Hendrix and Emma Dart.  Raleigh's one of the many siblings was Grace Ardell who's daughter Elsie has married Roy Franklin Staton.

Raleigh Hendrix has served his whole life in the military.  I have found very little on Raleigh on the web about his both military and personal life.  He was a Brig. General during WWII and Maj. General before retirement in 1961.   His military records do not become publicly available until 2023.  If you have any information or photos of Raleigh you are willing to share please contact me through my e-mail.

Franklin L. Staton (1835 - 1880's)

Franklin L. Staton is the Great Great Grandfather of my husband.  I have searched for F. L. Staton's parents and his sibling for years now without any luck.  If you have any relevant information please let me know.

Here is the info I have found:


- 2 records indicate his name was Franklin (Frank) L. Staton or Stayton

- most likely he was from Tennessee; some Tennessee census records were burnt during the Civil War so his first and only census is from 1870 from Pocahontas, Current River, Randolph County, Arkansas (there are other Staytons who are his neighbors)

- his marriage record indicates he married Martha Ann Hoosier (Hoozer) in Woodruff Arkansas on 16 May 1867

- his marriage record and census indicate he was born between 1835 - 1837

- his last confirmed child was born in 1881 so his death had to be between 1880 - 1891 as a land record indicates Martha was a widow by 1891

- his children were Jinsey, Benjamin H., Roxana, Ida Fay, Mary Caroline, and maybe Jesse

- his descendants thought his name was Benjamin Franklin Staton

- there is no record of his parents, siblings, grave location

- there is no record of him in the Staton Book by John Samuel Staton 1960


The following picture is perhaps of Franklin L. Staton.  Can anyone recognize the picture?

Czech Church Book Record Search

In the Czech Republic the best source of ancestral records are Church Book Records.  Here is what you need to know to access the Church Books and find your ancestors.

1. Forget about a quick look up!  The Czech Records are only now being digitalized.  There is no or very little indexing.  First you should know of the location of you ancestor.  The Czech Republic is divided into 8 regions that manage the Church Book Records.  Log into Genealogie.cz and select the region your ancestors are from.  Don't forget you can view the pages in English!

2. The Region websites are not all the same but they are similar enough to orient yourself easily in any of them.  Search by 'Place'.  If your place doesn't show up there are 3 possible reasons: it is misspelled; you are in the wrong region; or the location is registered under another, perhaps larger, village or town.

3. The search results are organized by abbreviations (N birth, M marriage, Z deceased, I index), year range and location name and book numbers/volume.  Select the one you are interested in and click and the book icon.  Here you are!

4. At this point 2 things can make your search much much easier.  First if the book is indexed and typically at the end of the book you will find the names & years and the pages the records are written on.  Second is if you know the date (of birth, marriage or death) then you can navigate the the page of interest.

5. The Church Books are typically written in these languages: Czech, German & Svabach and Latin.  Some are written in such a bad handwriting that it really doesn't matter what language it is in anymore.  Of course the older it is, the poorer quality it will be.

6. Going through the Czech Church Books takes a lot of time and patience but it can be done!  If you have questions or need help just let me know!

Staton Book by John Samuel Staton 1960 Lookups

I can do free quick look ups in the Staton Book by John Samuel Staton.

Dedication from the Staton Book:

To every person living or dead or yet unborn who spells his or her name Staton, Staunton,Staten, Stayton, Staiton, Stanton, Staaton, Statton, or any other form originating from STAUNTON and their relatives by blood, adoption, or marriage this history is humbly dedicated in the hope that they may better understand and appreciate their ancestors, relatives, and descendants by reading, understanding, connecting missing records (Notifying the author so an addition can be added to this history) preserving and adding new volumes and family records to this first history ever written on the particular name STATON HISTORY. 

Kalus Reunion

Kalus family will gather in Velke Karlovice, Czech Republic on June 8th, 2013 for a family reunion.  If you are a relative and you are interested to attend, please contact me by e-mail.

Kalus relatives who emigrated to United States around 1914:
- Vavrinec Kalus / Lawrence Kallus (1887 - 1943)
- Karolina Kalus (1885 - 1922) had 2 children Anna Petrek and Mary Carolyn Denning Petrek
- Mary Kalus (1889 - ) had a child Vladimir

4 Family Branches

Staton Family Genealogy Blog

Ok, here is my first blog ever.  I think this may be a good way to connect with all family members  (close and distant) for genealogy collaboration.

I would like to use this blog to share new genealogy research results, collaborate with others on finding new info/records, and provide help and info to anyone interested in already researched areas.

The families of interest are:
Staton, Michael, Neoral, Kalus, Barnard, Gauntt, Jilek, Bolf, Hankins, Wallace, Ellis, Nemec, Zavadil, Vojvodik, Surala, Hoosier, Spiva, Fugate, Nunn, Bradley, Moody, Hendrix, Glines, Dart, Slocum, Shisler, Benner, Suess, Weaver, Moore, Price, Horton, Berka, Stryka, Ryznavy, Horelica, Chudej, Valigura, Bila, Sabrsula, Petrvaldsy, Martinak, Petrek, Kulajda, Juchec; and other related families.