Many, if not most, Ladmans in the US are descended from Anton Ladman and his wife Anna Zeman who immigrated from Bohemia (a semi-autonomous kingdom under the Austrian empire, and now lands of present day Czech Republic) in the 1850s and settled near Portland, Missouri.

For many years the Ladman origins in Bohemia were lost, but recently they were rediscovered when the paper trail was found in the village of Zezice near the larger city Pribram in Central Bohemia (www.antonladman.com).

However, Anton Ladman's parentage still remains unclear. Was he born out of wedlock to Magdalena Ladman and took his mother's maiden name as his surname? Was his father Jan Ladman as indicated on the parish birth records for Anton's children in Bohemia?

The primary objective of the Ladman DNA project is to either confirm that the Ladman name comes from Anton's paternal line, or discover his paternal surname if in fact the Ladman name was passed down from his mother's maiden name.

This objective will be achieved by testing the DNA of known descendants of Anton Ladman in America and Ladmans or other suspected cousins in the Czech Republic who have origins near the villages of Zezice and Dubno.

There will be two parts to the project. Firstly, the actual DNA testing itself. And secondly, investigation of the paper trail in the old Bohemian parish records.

We require a Y-DNA 37 or higher test to participate.