Two weeks ago a member of Ancestry.com, Margaret from Toronto, connected with me and she’s the best lead I’ve had in years for researching my ancestors in the town of Veliki Slatnik. We share a surname in our tree, Srebernak, have been collaborating daily, and started down the rabbit hole of attempting to locate our ancestor’s houses in the town using maps and land registries from 1824. Our common ancestors are our 3 times great-grandparents Jakob and Gertrud (Radež) Pene. Jakob and Gertrud had 6 children: Margaretha, Maria, Elizabeth, Anton, Anna and Jakob. Margaret’s Srebernak line is through Margaretha who married Janez Srebernjak and my line is through Anton who married Franciska Blažič. However, Franciska’s mother was Ursula Srebernak and there is probably relation there as well, I’m still investigating. Apparently, it was a small village;)
Empress Maria Theresa (ruled 1740-1780) the only female ruler of the Habsburg lands as well as the last of the House of Habsburg began a complete cadastral mapping of the Habsburg lands in 1746. A cadaster is a register that includes details of property ownership, location and measurements of both homes and land parcels. Cadastral maps and records are commonly used in conjunction with other records such as title or parcel register. Having reliable maps, which the Empire was lacking during the Seven Years’ War, was one purpose but the main objective was for efficient tax collection. Maria Theresa’s son Emperor Joseph II (ruled 1780-1790) improved the cadaster in 1785 by introducing simple land measurements, registered vulgar names and reorganized house numbers. Vulgar names also called “household names” are names attached the house itself as a fixed point that remains the same even if the household inhabitant’s surnames change over time. They are used in Slovenia to this very day. Jakob Pene’s home in 1826 at Veliki Slatnik 15 was known as “Saudat”, which means soldier.
In “modern” Slovenia, beginning around 1826, the Francisean cadaster was created by Emperor Francis II who was the last Holy Roman Emperor (1792-1806) and then the Austrian Emperor (1804-1836). During the two year overlap he was known as Emperor of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austrian Empire. This comprehensive cadaster is one of the single most important resources for spatial research today. Luckily, these maps are available today for anyone patient enough to figure out the system. Detailed and elegant, the cadastral map is truly a work of art. Several years ago, my daughter gifted me a much larger framed cross-section of the map shown.
Veliki Slatnik from 1824 Habsburg Cadastral Map Collection, mapire.eu.
Since I already knew the village and house number, Veliki Slatnik 15, where my great-grandfather, Anton Pene, was born the next step was to find which cadastral municipality it belonged. Fortunately, someone on Facebook Group Slovenian Genealogy put together an impressive tutorial on finding new address of old house numbers and I was able to use a variety of internet maps (geopedia.si and arsq.gov.si) to find my answer. Veliki Slatnik is in the municipality of Novo Mesto and the cadastral municipality of “Potov Vrh”. Referencing the parcel list I could see Jakob Pene at Veliki Slatnik 15 and number 78 on the cadastral map.
Jakob Pene’s information taken from the parcel list showing map number #78, house name “Saudat” and house number 15.
After finding location 78 on the map and looking at the attached GPS coordinates I used Google Maps to find the location today, including the current address of Veliki Slatnik 24.
Current map showing location of Jakob Pene home in 2019 and 1826 as well as the Blažič and Srebernak homes. Jakob Pene’s son Anton, my 2nd great grandfather, would marry Franciska the daughter of Jakob Blažič and Ursula Srebernak.
Interestingly, though, when I looked back on Jakob’s wedding record from 1821, his address was Žihovo selo 5 and his wife Gertrud Rađez Veliki Slatnik 15. The two towns are 8.8 km apart, today that’s a 14 minute drive.
Pene home on cadastral map, 1826. Notice the difference between the German spelling of the town, Schichousello, and the modern Slovene spelling, Zihovo selo.
The Pene home in 1826 at Žihovo selo 5 doesn’t seem to exist in 2019.
It seems there are additional questions now that need answers: How did Jakob and Gertrud meet? What was the circumstance of the house transferring from Gertrud’s father Johann to Jakob? What became of Zihovo selo 5?, did Jakob have an older brother who inherited the home? And, by the way, if you ever visit Veliki Slatnik, the Gostilna Slatnik is a wonderful place to drink espresso, pivo or wino and they are the “new” Veliki Slatnik 15!