Kystufek Families of South Bohemia

Gottfried (Bohumil) Kristof and his wife Eva are the earliest known beginning to what we now know as the Kristufek surname of South Bohemia.

The earliest found record in the area is a death record for an Anna Kristofkova on Jan 20, 1672 in the town of Selibov, South Bohemia. Her relationship to Gottfried and Eva Kristof is unknown as the earliest census record for Selibov which records members of this family is in 1687. That 1687 census record lists members of the "House of Gottfried Kristof" which include wife Eva, daughters Alzbeta (24), Marianna (19), Catharina (16), Anna (12) and son Vit (11). It also lists earlier in the same census a likely son for Gottfried and Eva Kristof: Mattes Kristof, his wife Eva and their daughter Veronika (7). 

The Kristof family members continue to appear in the Selibov census records through the 1702 record. Then, in the 1708 record, Mattes and Eva Kristof appear as Mattes and Eva Krystufek in the 1708 Census in Talin and in the 1713 Census, Mattes' brother Vit appears as Vit Krystufek with his wife Katarina Kahovec in her hometown of Maletice, where he had been listed as working in previous Selibov census entries.

Maletice Krystufek Surname
There is some surname confusion for the first forty years of the Krystufek family in Maletice. However this seems to have started with the arrival of Vit Krystufek in the 1713 Protivin Census, Vit on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine/Katarina Kahovec of Maletice. This Vit Krystufek would seem to Vit Christoff, born around 1676 to Gottfried and Eva Christoff in Selibov.

Vit Krystufek and Katarina Kahovec and their offspring are listed as Kahovec in subsequent census records for decades even though the birth index of the period record Krystufek births, starting with a Tomas Krystufek as early as 1714, which corresponds with their marriage. Then in the 1752 Protivin Census, the last name is crossed out and replaced with Krystufek, and it remains that way through the end of the Protivin Census in the 1828-1830 Census. In earlier records, the address is listed as the "House of Kahovec" which may be why they continued to be listed as Kahovec during this period until house numbering became common in the mid to late 1700s.

Talin Krystufek Surname
The appearance of Mattes and Eva Krystufek in 1708 is the first appearance of the surname in Talin, however, the arrival of Vit and Katarina Krystufek in 1717 is the true beginning of the Krystufek surname in Talin. That a different Vit and Katarina Krystufek was living in Maletice just three miles away is a bit confusing. It is most likely that the Vit Krystufek of Maletice is the younger brother of Mattes Krystufek and Vit Krystufek of Talin is Mattes' son.

Vit Krystufek of Talin was born around 1685 and had five children with his wife Katarina: Marianna (1718-1772), Vojtech (1725), Pavel (1728-1763), Georg (1729-1776) and Veronika (1732-1839). His son Vojtech continued the family line in Talin Bohemia. Vojtech's son Tomas Krystufek (1751-1809) wed Veronika Koza and had six children including Matej Krystufek in 1788 who is the father of four sons (Matej, Jan, Jakub and Frank) who came to Chicago in the mid 1800s. After Matej Krystufek Sr.'s death in 1837, and the remarriage of his second wife, Talin 18 became the primary residence of the descendants of Matej's sister Anna Krystufek Koza (1785).

For more details on the Krystufek family in Talin, see Earliest Krystufek Records: Talin 1708-1755.

Smrkovice Krystufek Family
Vit Krystufek of Talin's younger son Jiri/Georg Krystufek (1729-1776) moved to nearby Smrkovice at the time of his marriage to Dorota Keczlikova of Smrkovice. It was there that Georg spawned generations of Krystufek and Kristufek descendants through his son Jan Krystufek (1767-1833). His daughter Jana Krystufek also married Jacob Kadlecz there in a double wedding with her brother Jan on January 28, 1787.

There is a line of Georg Krystufek descendants in the US through Georg Krystufek's granddaughter Anna Krystufek (b. Aug 24, 1800) and the town of Hradiste, South Bohemia. Anna Krystufek and Josef Martinec of Hradiste, South Bohemia were married on January 11, 1825. Their grandsons through their son Tomas Martinec, Frank Joseph Martinec (Apr 1, 1876-1954) and John Joseph Martinec (1873-1945) settled in Charles Mix South Dakota in the late 1800s.

A second Hradiste Krystufek connection is with Josef Krystufek's 1845 marriage to Anna Martinec and the five children they had there. Josef Krystufek of Smrkovice is the son of Vaclav Krystufek and a great grandson of Georg Krytufek of Smrkovice. Anna Martinec is the niece of Josef Martinec, the husband of Anna Krystufek and Josef Krystufek is Anna Krystufek's nephew.