Principality of Vlachia

The House of Štěpánek de Taurow is an ancient Czech noble house. The first recorded ancestor was Štěpánek z Protivína († c. 1434) who is transcribed as Stephani de Protiwin and Štěpánek z Netolic († c. 1447) both of whom are the first bearers of the name Štěpánek in the area from where the noble house of Štěpánek de Taurow originated. They are mentioned in a document from 1426. Štěpánek z Protivína served as the burgrave of the local castle in the Vodňany region. There is a document from the Hussite wars where his seal is found on a armistice agreement between Ulricus II. de Rosenberg (✶ 1403 – † 1462) and the town of Prachatice, signed on the 12th November 1426. In 1434, the same Stephani de Protiwin appeared as the sworn councilor of the royal town of Písek.

Štěpánek z Netolic or Stepanek Netolicky is mentioned as a burger in the town of Prachatice before 1419, where he held a leading position in the hierarchy of the city patricians. Stepanek Netolicky and other leading citizens took part in military raids across the country’s borders into Germany. In 1436, Stepanek Netolicky was appointed to the position of the town councilor of Prachatice. In 1439, Ulricus II. de Rosenberg seized the town. After these events, Stepanek Netolicky had to take refuge with his family (wife Elena (Helena) and son Venceslaus (Václav) in the nearby royal town of Vodňany. Here his son Venceslaus, together with other former citizens of Prachatice, started a war with Ulricus II. de Rosenberg. Another entry comes from Vodňany from 1447, when Elena, already a widow, together with her son Venceslaus donates money to a local school for poor pupils and a local hospital. They owned a house and a farm in the town with fields and meadows.

Already reliably documented ancestors of the Stepanek family appear in the nearby village of Tourov (formerly also written as Turow, Taurow, Taurau, Tourové, Tourová, Tourowý or Dworowy) near town of Bavorov. In the village of Tourov in 1547, Stiepanek or Stepanek de Taurow (Štěpánek z Tourova) is mentioned as a farmer on a farm in Taurow. Stepanek de Taurow is also mentioned in 1597 and 1598. Stepanek also ran an inn at his farm (it is mentioned in 1589). By the year 1600, Stepanek de Taurow is not alive anymore and his widow led the farm in Taurow. In 1604, his son Mathias Stepanek was first mentioned.

1) In 1625, Mathias (Matěj) Štěpánek (✶ c. 1570 – † c. 1645) bought also another farm in
the nearby village Svinetice. In 1637, the transfer of the “Stepankuv dvur” in Taurow
from father Mathias Stepanek to son 2a) Andrew (Ondřej) Stepanek is mentioned.

2a) Andrew (Ondřej) Štěpánek (✶ ca. 1596 – † 1676), farmer in Taurow. With his wife 2b)
Anna († 1678) he had the heir of the farm in Taurow – 3a) Georgius and son 3c)
Venceslaus

3a) Georg (Jiří) Štěpánek (✶ c. 1636 – †1698) heir of the farm in Taurow he had with his
wife 3b) Marie Anna Lomek (✶ c. 1636 – † 1696) son Mathias (✶ 1665 – † 1727) heir of the
farm in Taurow (after his death in 1727 the farm in Taurow passes on his son-in-law)
and son 4a) Vitus

4a) Vitus (Vít) Štěpánek (✶ 1671-1732) lived with his wife 4b) Dorothea (Dorota)
Kauba (✶ 1680 – † 1757) in the village of Dunovice. He and his wife had a son 5a)
Casparus

5a) Caspar (Kašpar) Štěpánek (✶ 1704- † 1765) lived with his wife 5b) Catharina
(Kateřina) (✶ c. 1700 – † 1767) in the village of Dunovice. The son 6a) Martinus was born
in this marriage

6a) Martinus (Martin) Štěpánek (✶ 1730 – † 1795), who lived with his wife 6b) Rosalia
Pekař (✶ 1738 – † 1814) in the village of Pohorovice. In marriage the son 7a) Venceslaus
was born

7a) Venceslaus (Václav) Štěpánek (✶ 1765 – † 1822). In 1802 he bought the free estate
(curia libera) “Kdansky dvůr” in the village of Kloub, which the family held until 1956,
when it was nationalized by the communists. The farm was de facto returned to the
family in 1992 as a ruin. Venceslaus Stepanek had with his wife 7b) Catharina
(Kateřina) Karvánek (✶ 1774- † 1827) a son 8a) Joseph

8a) Joseph (Josef) Štěpánek (✶ 1795 – † 1862), owner of the free estate (curia libera)
“Kdansky dvůr” had with his wife 8b) Catharina (Kateřina) Šrámek (✶ 1805) son 9a)
Venceslaus

9a) Venceslaus (Václav) Štěpánek (✶ 1837 – † 1919), owner of the free estate (curia libera)
“Kdansky dvůr” had with his wife 9b) Anna Šefránek (✶ 1841 – † 1898) son 10a) Joseph

10a) Joseph (Josef) Štěpánek (✶ 1862 – † 1940), owner of the free estate (curia libera)
“Kdansky dvůr” had with his wife 10b) Anna Kovařík (✶ 1873 – † 1905) son 11a) Joseph

11a) Joseph (Josef) Štěpánek (✶ 1899 – † 1977), until 1956 the owner of the free estate
(curia libera) “Kdansky dvůr” had with his wife 11b) Sophia (Žofie) Januška (✶ 1905 –
† 1954) had a son 12a) Joseph

12a) Joseph (Josef) Štěpánek (✶ 1926 -† 2016), until 1956 the co-owner of the free estate
(curia libera) “Kdansky dvůr” had with his wife 12b) Joanna (Yvona) Kopec (✶ 1937) a
son 13a) Sidonius Joseph

13a) Sidonius Joseph (Zdeněk Josef) Štěpánek (✶ 1958), builder, has with his wife
Elisabeth (Alice) Šnajdr (✶ 1957) a son 14a) Andrew and a daughter Barbora

14a) Andrew (Ondřej) Štěpánek (✶ 1982), Mag. iur. (Magister Juris) and genealogist,
has with his wife 14b) Theresia (Tereza) Volek (✶ 1985), MDD. (Doctor of Dental
Medicine) son 15a) Charles (Karel) (✶ 2017) and 15b) Thomas (Tomáš) (✶ 2019)

The most important personality of the family was the son of 3c) Venceslaus Štěpánek (✶ 1641 – † 1710) 4c) Thomas Joannes Franciscus Stepanek Eqves de Taurow (Tomáš Jan František Štěpánek, rytíř z Tourova) (✶ c. 1670 – † 1749) who was from 1698 to 1719 the dean of the Royal dowry town of Polička. He was also from 1720 to 1748 the dean of the town of Chlumec nad Cidlinou called in Latin “vicarius foraneus” and a non-resident canon since 1718 and from 24th September 1748 until his death on 2nd September 1749 the dean of the Royal Collegiate Chapter of St. Peter and Paul in Vyšehrad in Prague. As the Dean of the Royal Chapter of St. Peter and Paul in Vyšehrad, he became the provincial prelate (mitred prelate /praelatus infulatus/ with the right to sit at the Provincial Assembly (Czech: Zemský sněm). On 18th December 1748, he was promoted to the hereditary knighthood of the Kingdom of Bohemia by the Queen Maria Theresia Habsburg (✶ 1717 – † 1780).