D'SPLA~ CoP"
tI'
THE TEXIANS AND THE TEXANS
THE
CZECH
TEXANS
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
AT SAN ANTONIO
THE TEXIANS AND TEXANS
A pamphlet series dealing with the many kinds of people who have
contributed to the history and heritage of Texas. Now in print:
The Indian Texans, The German Texans, The Norwegian Texans,
The Mexican Texans (in English), Los Tejanos Mexicanos (in
Spanish), The Spanish Texans, The Polish Texans, The Czech
Texans, The French Texans, The Italian Texans, The Greek Tex­ans,
The Jewish Texans, The Syrian and Lebanese Texans, The
Afro-American Texans, The Anglo-American Texans, The Belgian
Texans, The Swiss Texans and The Chinese Texans.
The Czech Texans
Principal Researcher: W . Phil Hewitt
© 1972: The University of Texas
Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio
Jack Maguire, Executive Director
Pat Maguire, Director of Publications and
Coordinator of Programs
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 73-621012
International Standard Book Number 0-933164-04-1
First Edition, Fifth Printing, 1980
This publication was made possible, in part, by a grant from the
HOUSTON ENDOWMENT, INC.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover: J. J. Holik
Courtesy of the SPJST Supreme Lodge
Inside Cover: Boys' Baseball Game
Courtesy of Sister M. Andrea
Back Cover: Picnic by the Creek, Dubina, 1900
Courtesy of Edwin Peter
GERMANY
THE PEOPLES
OF AUSTRIA·HUNGARY
--Romanians _italian.
SLAVS
_ J Pole.
Slovenes
Ukrainians
............... Dual Monarchy. 1867
THE PEOPLES OF AUSTRIA HUNGARY
INTRODUCTION
The Czechs are a Slavic people who have
lived in the provinces now called Bohemia
and Moravia since about the fifth cen­tury.
Their homeland is a crossroads, ly­ing
in paths of invasion from east to west
and from north to south. The land has
been overrun by Mongols, Huns, Ger­mans,
Poles, Tartars, and many others.
RUSSIA
BULGARIA
4
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
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Pipes, Europe Since 1815
Usually, the invader attempted to impose
his own religious and political views on
the Czechs.
Despite brief periods of freedom, the
Czechs usually have been ruled by a for­eign
power. Their unity has been cultural
rather than national. From 1620 until
1918 they were ruled by Austria. During
most of this time, their social, intellectual,
and religious institutions were revised by
the Austrians.
Czechs began coming to America quite
early; Augustine Hermann reached New
Amsterdam in 1633. Among the first to
enter Texas was Frederick Lemsky, who
was a musician with Sam Houston's little
army at San Jacinto. Few others followed
until the 1850's. The first organized Czech
immigrant group of sixteen families ar­rived
in Galveston in 1852. By 1900 there
were more than 15,000 Czechs in Texas.
Most of these newcomers to the Lone
Star State had been farmers in the old
country. They settled in the rich black­land
areas and the Gulf coastal plain.
From these areas they have spread out
over the state. From the panhandle to
deep East Texas one finds evidence of
Czech settlement: names on mailboxes,
Czech churches and fraternal organiza­tions,
Czech festivals, and Czech-language
radio broadcasts.
ANTHONY MICHAEL
DIGNOWITY
1833
Anthony Michael Dignowity, patriarch
of a well-known San Antonio family, had
great courage and a spirit of adventure
which admirably equipped him for a
frontiersman's life. His childhood in early
19th century Bohemia was filled with
hardship. His father was a musician, poet,
and man of trades. Unfortunately, he was
not a good businessman. He lost what lit­tle
money the family possessed in a series
of ill-advised business ventures. Young
Anthony was determined to improve his
2
DR. ANTHONY M. DIGNOWITY
Twentieth Century History of Southwest Texas
situation. He first tried selling homemade
hooks-and-eyes with which to fasten
clothing. When this failed, he made and
sold sulfur matches. He became absorbed
in reading and studying. At 17 he began
traveling. Three years later, when he was
20, he joined the 1830 Polish uprising
against Russia. When the revolt collapsed,
Dignowity fled to Hamburg, and sailed
for America. He arrived at New York har­bor
in October, 1832.
The young immigrant headed south­west-
to Natchez, Mississippi, where he
remained briefly, before continuing on to
San Antonio. Satisfying his wanderlust
for the moment, he returned to Mississip­pi
and studied medicine. He began his
practice there, but soon tired of the sur­roundings.
For the next few years he was
a doctor in Indian Territory and Western
Arkansas. When the Mexican War began,
he hurried to Texas with ten Arkansas
volunteers for General Taylor's army.
When he reached San Antonio, he found
his medical services so in demand that he
decided to establish his practice there. As
the Civil War approached, he became out­spoken
in his anti-slavery and anti-seces­sion
views. Hearing that an attempt
would be made to hang him, Dignowity
fled North, where he remained for the
duration. In 1869 he returned, to find his
home and lands confiscated. He spent the
last six years of his life recovering his
losses. He died in 1875 at "Harmony
House" on Dignowity Hill. This land-o
6
mark was torn down in 1926, and today
the site is a San Antonio city park.
Mrs. Amanda McCann Dignowity, the
daughter of an Irishman, had been on her
way to a career as a lady doctor, when
marriage to Anthony Michael Dignowity
intervened. She maintained her interest
in medicine by assisting her husband
with his r esearch. In old age she recalled
exciting adventures as a bride on the
Texas frontier . On her trip to San Antonio
in 1847 the traveling party was fright­ened
by a great war-whoop at the Salado
Creek crossing near the city. "The men
seized their guns, pistols, and Bowie
knives and prepared for battle. I slid to
the bottom of the wagon, covering my
babies with the carpeting. Soon a voice
called out:
" 'No fightie, mucho amigo; plenty
whiskey; plenty drunk.' What a relief!
As we descended the hill we saw in the
bend of the creek over a hundred Indians.
MRS. AMANDA DIGNOWITY
Twentieth Century History of Southwest T exas
They had been to San Antonio for rations
and all were beastly drunk except the
three watchers."
Mrs. Dignowity was impressed with
San Antonio's cosmopolitan atmosphere.
On her first evening in the city she heard
seven languages spoken at the dinner
table. It was, at the beginning, a pleasant
life. "All visiting was done after sun­down.
The Plaza from ten o'clock in the
morning until four o'clock in the after­noon
was empty. All doors were closed.
Everyone took a siesta. After four o'clock
and on until midnight, the Plaza and
streets were gay with men and women in
full dress and elegant toilets engaged in
shopping, visiting and enjoying the eve­ning
air."
Later, her two eldest sons were con­scripted
into the Confederate army. While
on furlough, they swam the Rio Grande
and joined the Union forces at Brazos de
Santiago. In later years the oldest boy,
Anthony Francis, became an engineer
and surveyor. It was he who layed out
the towns of Brackettville and Del Rio.
Frank, as he was widely known, died at
San Antonio in 1921. Another Dignowity
son, Albert Wentzel, became an officer in
Benito Juarez' Mexican liberation army,
and was killed, at Piedras Negras, on Feb­ruary
25, 1872.
FREDERICK LEMSKY
1836
Frederick Lemsky came to Texas in Febru­ary,
1836, and was a fifer in the four-piece
Texas Army "band" at San Jacinto. The
musicians played "Will You Come to the
Bower," as the Texans charged the Mexi­can
encampment. Lemsky later taught
music in Houston. There, at his boarding
house, the German Union was formed in
the winter of 1840-1841 to aid newly ar­rived
immigrants. In March, 1842, he
was one of the contractors responsible for
digging the Brazos and San Luis Canal
system. He was last known to be living at
Houston in May, 1856.
THE REVEREND BOHUMIR
MENZL
1840
Probably the first Czech Catholic priest in
Texas, the Reverend Bohumir Menzl ar­rived
with a group of German soldiers
in 1840, and began working in the vicin­ity
of present day Castroville1and D'Han­is.
Menzl served here for 16 year~, re­turned
to his homeland in 1856, and
remained there until his death. Today,
he is honored in his hometown of Fryd­landt,
Czechoslovakia, for his pioneering
work in early Texas.
KARL A. POSTL San Jacinto Museum of History
KARL ANTON POSTL
1841
Karl Anton Postl, born in Moravia and
educated for the priesthood, was a hot­headed
liberal unsuited to the discipline
of the monastery. He fled to Switzerland
in 1823, and became a writer under the
pen name of "Charles Sealsfield." In 1826,
he sailed to New Orleans, toured the lower
Mississippi, then settled briefly in Penn­sylvania.
He returned to Europe to write
a book about his travels. While in Mexico
in 1828, he first heard about Texas from
United States Ambassador Joel Poinsett,
who was trying to buy the territory for
his government. Postl journeyed back to
Switzerland in 1832. Although he prob-
3
4
ably never came to Texas, he cribbed
information from other writers and
produced several early articles which
interested Czechs, Germans, and English­men
in migrating to Texas. In 1841 he
published Das Kajutenbuch ("The Cabin
Book" ), which presented an idealized ac­count
of life on the Texas frontier. It ran
14 editions in German and English, and
probably had more influence on European
migration than all of the colonization
schemes combined. Postl, the author, died
in 1864.
REVOLUTION
1848
The unsuccessful Revolution of 1848
caused most Czechs to give up hope for
the establishment of a free Slavic state
under the Hapsburg monarchy. In the
cities and towns of Bohemia and Moravia
they fought the soldiers in the streets and
from behind barricades. When the rebel­lion
was ruthlessly crushed, many began
to look toward the New World for the
freedom and opportunity which they had
scant hope of achieving in their home­land.
Migration increased sharply in the
next few years.
* * * * * * * *
".In the Old Country, one was never
able to get away from being a cabinet­maker
if his father before him had been
one."-Dr. Henry Maresh, Czech Pio­neers
of the Southwest.
ARNOST BERGMANN
1858
Arnost Bergmann was another whose
writings greatly influenced European mi- FIGHTING AT THE BARRICADES H usa, Dejiny Ceskoslovenska
gration to Texas. He was born in Zapudov,
Bohemia, on August 12, 1797, and-after
studying for the Protestant ministry in
Germany and Czechoslovakia-was or­dained
in 1830. In 1850, he landed at
Galveston and proceeded to the German
settlement at Cat Spring. Not knowing
what else to do, he farmed. He also estab­lished
a church and a school, and when
the Cat Spring Agricultural Society was
conceived in 1856, Bergmann was one of
the organizers. He was highly enthusias­tic
about the opportunities to be found in
Texas, and wrote open letters to his coun­trymen
urging them to follow. These
letters appeared in Moravske Noviny, a
Moravian newspaper, and are credited
with bringing many Czechs to the new
land.
EARLY CZECH
IMMIGRATION
1852-1853
The first Czech immigrant group, 16 fam­ilies,
arrived at Galveston in 1852. They
were fleeing the oppression which fol­lowed
the unsuccessful revolt of 1848.
These people had chosen Texas as a refuge
in response to the glowing letters sent to
Bohemia and Moravia by the Reverend
Arnost Bergmann of Cat Spring. Their
voyage from Hamburg, Germany, to
Texas lasted a miserable 17 weeks. The
ship was a leaky tub, the food was raw,
and the party had been victimized by un­scrupulous
immigration agents. After
landing on the Texas coast, many of these
new arrivals came by ox cart to the area
between Cat Spring and New Ulm in
Austin County. This came to be known as
THE LESIKAR HOME AT NELSONVILLE
the New Bremen Settlement, one of the
first Czech centers in Texas.
During 1852-1853, over 32 Czech fami­lies
arrived in Texas. Among these early
immigrants was Joseph Lidumil Lesikar,
who had come at the bidding of the Rev­erend
Bergmann. Lesikar was a tailor by
trade, but he is remembered for having
laid the groundwork for Czech journalism
in Texas. He contributed articles to jour­nals
both in the United States and in the
Old Country until his death in 1887.
Lesikar's home, built about 1854, still
stands in remarkable condition near Nel­sonville.
-
Courtesy I. I . Stalmach
JAN REYMERSHOFFER
1854
As a youth, Jan Reymershoffer had ex­ceptional
artistic talent which he had
hoped to cultivate, but a career as a mer­chant
interfered. Once in Texas, however,
he followed the example of his neighbors
and became a part-time cattleman. At
this point, he discovered an excellent use
for his drawing skill: in his herdbook he
recorded not only brand marks, but
sketched with great accuracy each cow in
the bunch.
Reymershoffer, his wife, and their five
children arrived at the Port of Galveston
5
6
in 1854. They were anchored there for
eight weeks while their ship was placed
under a smallpox quarantine. With them
the Reymershoffers brought enough goods
to stock a small mercantile store. When
they were released from quarantine, they
made their way to Cat Spring, where they
opened their business. This was a new be­ginning
for Jan, who was a member of an
old and prominent family of Holesov,
Moravia. He had been a successful mer­chant
and member of the Austrian Reich­stag.
After five years at Cat Spring, Reymers­hoffer
moved his store to Alleyton in
1859. Following the Civil War, he entered
the import business at Galveston, dealing
in glass- and porcelain-ware. Later, this
enterprise was sold and the family estab­lished
a flour mill, exporting to Europe.
Many an old settler could remember
the time when the Reymershoffers had
provided him and his family with lodging
and food before the long trek to the in­terior
of Texas. Jan Reymershoffer, Sr.
died in 1876, and his son, Jan Jr., took
over the family businesses, also acting as
Texas Consul for Austria at Galveston.
Jan Jr. died in 1899.
FAYETTEVILLE AND
HOSTYN
1850's
Fayetteville, in eastern Fayette County, is
often called the "cradle of Czech settle­ment
in Texas." Here, the pioneer immi­grants
of the 1850'sl stopped to rest and
obtain information before .scattering to
lands in surrounding counties. Although
it was originally a German community,
Fayetteville today is predominantly
Czech. The language, music, and customs
of the Czechs are a part of daily life. It is
the home of the first lodge of the Slovan­ska
Podporujici l ednota Statu T exas-or
SPJST-the widely-known Slavonic be­nevolent
association.
Some of the Czech travelers through
Fayetteville ultimately settled at Hostyn
on land formerly held by Father Michael
Muldoon, Irish "parish priest" of all An­glo
Texas during Mexican times. Founded
in the early 1840's, the village lies five
miles southwest of La Grange. Originally
called Bluff, and later Moravan, the pres­ent
name was conferred after the arrival
of Czech immigrants in the 1850's. Hos­tyn
was the birthplace of the Katolicka
l ednota T exaska, the other principal be­nevolent
organization of Czech Texans.
FAYETTEVILLE TODAY I .T .C. Collection
"FROM SUNUP TO SUNDOWN," BY BRUCE MARSHALL I.T.C. Collection
CZECH FARMERS
Life for the immigrant Czech farmer bore
little resemblance to romantic visions of
the sturdy yeoman tending picture-book
fields of luscious grain, or watching over
herds of fat sheep and cattle. In reality, it
was a hard, grueling, monotonous life.
The farmer, his wife, and all the children
worked from sunup to sundown, just to
survive. All necessities were grown or
made right on the farm. The family raised
one cash crop, usually cotton or corn. The
proceeds for its sale were spent on neces-
. shies which could not be grown or manu­factured
at home.
Tt was a life of constant struggle against
the elements. After the crop was planted
the farmer had to contend with insects,
which could bring ruin overnight. A
drought could defeat a year's labor~ a
hailstorm could flatten a field of cotton or
corn in minutes. And even after the crop
was harvested, the chances of selling it
for an adequate price were usually quite
poor.
Despite the hardships, the monotony,
and the toil, the Czech farmer managed
not only to survive, but to prosper . Many
Czechs began their life in Texas as t enant
farmers. After a few years in their adopt­ed
land, almost all managed to acquire
their own land, build sturdy homes, and
educate their children.
DUBINA. TEXAS
1856
In the 1850's a town originally called
"Navidad" sprang up on the east bank of
Navidad Creek about five miles northeast
of Schulenburg. Czech immigrants began
settling in this blackland farming com­munity
in November 1856. Soon, Augus­tin
Haidusek's father renamed the place
"Dubina," which in the Czech language
means "oak grove." In the beginning,
these pioneers had only crudely con­structed
grass shelters in which to live.
Only after crops were planted could
thought be given to permanent shelter. In
1858, Joseph Peter, Sr. built a log house
in which Roman Catholic services were
conducted until 1877, when the first
church was built. The parish soon count­ed
more than 600 families, including
many from nearby Weimar, where no
church had yet been erected.
DUBINA I.T.C. Collection
7
MR. AND MRS. JOSEPH PETER, JR. Courtesr of Edwin Peter
8
By 1900, Dubina was a thriving com­munity
with a cotton gin, a grist mill, a
general store and saloon, a blacksmith
shop, a church, and a school. But Dubina
suffered a tropical storm in 1909, which
destroyed the church. And in 1912, a fire
devastated the cotton gin, grist mill,
blacksmith shop, and general store. The
store was rebuilt, but the old volume of
business was never again attained. The
community never recovered from these
disasters. Today Dubina is a ghost town.
JOSEPH PETER. JR.
Moravian-born Joseph Peter, Jr. was
eleven when his father brought his family
to Texas in September, 1856. The group
stopped briefly at Cat Spring and La
Grange, and finally settled at Dubina.
Young Joseph first learned the blacksmith
trade, and opened his own shop at Du­bina.
A Confederate sympathizer, he was
too young for military service, so he was
engaged hauling cotton to Mexico. After
the war, he established a well-known
store, saloon, post office, and cotton gin in
his community. Later, he donated land
for a church building. In 1890, he was
elected to the state legislature as the rep­resentative
of Fayette County. Peter's
spirit of public service continued until his
death on March 26, 1924.
MORITZ KOPPERL
1857
In 1877, the Gulf Coast and Santa Fe Rail­road
was on the verge of collapse. After
years of struggle, the lines extended only
a few miles beyond the Galveston city
limits. The tax collector was threatening
to seize and sell the property for the pay­ment
of back taxes. At this point, a dis­tinguished
Texas banker of Czech ances­try
stepped in to retrieve the situation.
Moritz Kopperl was elected president of
the railway, and devoted his total energy
to its successful construction.
For the last two and one-half decades
of his life, Kopperl made an impressive
contribution to the business life of Galves­ton,
through his activities as a merchant,
cotton trader, and importer. Born October
7, 1826, in Trebitsch, Moravia, his edu­cation
had begun there at the Capuchin
Institute, and was completed later in Vi­enna,
Austria. In 1848, he came to the
United States to enter business with his
uncle, Charles Kopperl, in Mississippi. In
1857, young Moritz arrived in Galveston
with A. Lipman, a Mississippi associate,
with whom he formed the firm of Lipman
and Kopperl. This enterprise continued
until 1861, when Union troops succeeded
in closing the Port of Galveston. This busi­ness
was ruined, but when the war ended,
Kopperl sought out his creditors and paid
them in full. In 1865, he entered the cot­ton
commission business, and later, the
coffee trade. He Soon made Galveston a
major unloading point for coffee imports.
Kopperl became president of the Texas
National Bank in 1868, and built it into
a sound and prosperous institution.
In addition to his efforts in behalf of the
railroad, Kopperl also found time to serve
as director of two insurance companies,
and as a member of the Galveston city
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Encyclopedia of the N ew West
9
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council in 1871 and 1872. In 1876, he was
elected to the 15th Legislature. During
those years, he became an early advocate
of Pan Americanism-influenced no
doubt by his own South American busi­ness
ties. Kopperl married Isabella Dyer
in 1866, and they had two sons-Herman
B. and Moritz 0.; the latter became a
widely-known attorney. The elder Kop­perl
died on July 3, 1883, at Bayreuth,
Germany while traveling for his health.
He is buried in Galveston.
PRAHA IN THE 1890's
PRAHA. TEXAS
1858
Praha, in southern Fayette County, was
an Anglo-American settlement called
"Mulberry"-then, for a time, was nick­named.
"Hottentot," after an outlaw band
who stayed there. In 1858, a Czech group
settled in the vicinity and changed the
name to Praha (Prague), after the capitol
and cultural center of their homeland.
Mattias Novak was the first Czech settler,
in 1855. When Father Joseph Bittowski
formed a congregation in 1866, Novak
gave the land for a church and a parish
cemetery. The church which stands in
Praha today was built in 1890, and is
reminiscent of Old World architecture
translated into the means and materials
of the new. Praha became the mother par­ish
for surrounding towns and was called
Maticka Praha or "Mother Praha."
Each year, on August 15, the little
hamlet bulges with more than 5,000
Czech Texans and their friends. The
I.T.C. Collection
Praha Festival begins with the celebra­tion
of mass. After the religious aspects
of the occasion, the participants get down
to some serious eating, drinking, dancing,
and socializing. When the festival con­cludes
near dawn the next morning,one
cannot help but feel that most of the cele­brants
will return for another round the
next year.
CZECHS AND THE
CIVIL WAR
The Czechs were generally opposed to
slavery. Although a number served in the
Confederate Army, most were recent im­migrants
to Texas, and had little or no
stake in the war. In addition, many had
left their homeland to avoid serving in the
Austrian Army, and had no burning de­sire
to serve in anyone's army. Many es­caped
conscription into Confederate serv­ice
by hiding in the woods and river
bottoms, sometimes for as long as two or
three years. Others, who were drafted,
deserted to the Union forces.
Czechs frequently avoided military
duty by serving as teamsters, hauling
Confederate cotton to the Mexican port of
Matamoros. On each of these trips there
would be six or seven wagons, each drawn
by four or more yokes of oxen. The sturdy
animals moved so slowly that, on many
occasions, the teamsters-after a hard
day's travel-could look back and see
their previous campsight. The trip was
long, slow, and dangerous, and many
Czech drovers were never heard from
agam.
With their menfolk away-fighting,
hauling cotton, or hiding from Confeder­ate
conscription parties-the women as­sumed
all the duties of managing a farm.
They tilled the fields, harvested the crops,
and somehow managed to keep their fam­ilies
together. During the Civil War, even
the necessities were almost non-existent.
Many of the families lived on homegrown
bacon, homemade molasses, and home
ground cornmeal. Sugar and coffee were
unobtainable; roasted and ground corn
or acorns were used as a replacement. At
times even bacon and lard were scarce,
and beef tallow was substituted.
JOSEF AND JOHN LIDIAK
1860 ,
During the Civil War many Czech fami­lies
suffered the terrible pains of a house
divided. The Lidiak family of Hostyn was
one of these. In 1860, Josef Lidiak and his
family left their home in Moravia and
made the long voyage to Texas. He settled
JOSEF LIDIAK (FATHER) . I.T.C. Collection
.e~- ::t""
JOHN LIDIAK ( SON) I .T .C. Collection
in Fayette County near the little com­munity
of Hostyn, then known as Bluff.
He farmed until 1863, when he enlisted
in Martindale's Company, Confederate
Army. Most of his service was completed
in Texas. After the war, he returned to
the peaceful pursuit of farming and con­tinued
until his death in 1869.
John Lidiak, son of Josef, was still a
youth when the war began. In 1863, he
made the long, slow, dangerous trip to
Brownsville, with a friend who was haul­ing
cotton for the Confederacy. The
friend, after selling the cotton, also sold
the team, thus leaving the boy stranded
365 miles from home. While in Browns­ville,
John met some friends who were en­listing
in the Union army. Having no way
to get home, and probably not very much
in sympathy with the cause of the Con­federacy,
John was persuaded to join. For
the rest of the war he served in Ham­mett's
Company, First Texas Cavalry,
United States Army.
II
12
"THE ORDEAL OF FERDINAND DOUBRAVA," BY BRUCE MARSHALL I.T.C. Collection
THE DOUBRAVA FAMILY,
ONE THAT DID NOT STAY
One day, early in the Civil War, a recently
arrived Czech Texan was working in his
field, when suddenly he was surrounded
by a pack of bloodhounds. In a moment, a
Confederate guerrilla captain stepped in­to
the clearing and told young Ferdinand
Doubrava that he was being inducted into
the Confederate Army. The problem was
complicated because Doubrava did not
speak English. Finally, after a lengthy
exchange of documents, the immigrant
proved himself to be a subject of the Aus­trian
Empire. The captain and his dogs
left. The incident sealed the young
Czech's dislike for Texas. When the war
ended, he and his family moved to Wis-consIn.
\
The arrival of the Doubrava family in
Texas was unpromising at the outset.
They came from Moravia after a particu­larly
difficult voyage of fourteen weeks
and two days. The vessel in which they
sailed was later described as a "two-masted
tub." The trip must have been a
first-rate disaster. Almost as soon as they
arrived, the family determined to return
to their native Moravia. However, the
Civil War interfered. Ferdinand Doubra­va
had never held a plow in his hand and
had never driven a yoke of oxen. In fact,
he said later, "I knew less about plowing
than did the oxen themselves." During
the war, the family suffered from typhoid
fever and malaria. Doctor calls were
$25.00 apiece, and medicine cost a small
fortune. Flour was a dollar a pound and
scarce, even at that price. Sugar, tea, and
coffee were simply nonexistant. Through­out
the conflict, Doubrava continued
growing cotton, which he somehow man­aged
to conceal from the Confederates.
When peace came, he sold his four-year
cotton crop to a northern firm for a large
sum of money, paid in gold. He quickly
departed for Wisconsin.
IMMIGRATION RESUMES
1865
After the Civil War, immigration re­sumed.
Austria stood in an almost con­stant
threat of war from other powers
and sought to conscript young men from
the Czech-speaking provinces. Many
Czechs thought differently. It was bad
enough to be under the heel of Austrian
oppression; serving in the oppressor's
army was intolerable. Service in the Aus­trian
army frequently lasted eight years,
and parents with sons looked to Texas for
their deferment. Of those who did serve,
many left their homeland as soon as their
tour of duty was complete.
INTERIOR OF THE WESLEY BRETHREN CHURCH
WESLEY BRETHREN
CHURCH
1866
Most Czech immigrants to Texas were
Roman Catholic. Of the ten to fifteen per­cent
who were protestant, most were
United Brethren. Their first church on
Texas soil was erected at Wesley, ten
miles southwest of Brenham, in 1866. The
area had begun filling up with Czech set­tlers
shortly before the Civil War. The
community, first called Veseli, was soon
anglicized to Wesley. The Reverend
Joseph Opocensky arrived there in 1864
I.T.C. Collection
and began conducting services in private
homes. The members felt that they were
financially unable to provide a church
building; so, Opocensky made an unsuc­cessful
trip to Europe in search of aid. On
returning empty-handed, he received an
offer of aid from the Reymershoffer fam­ily
of Galveston, but the Wesley settlers
refused it! Opocensky called this behavior
"obstinate."
A church finally was erected in 1866.
The center foundation log was cut from
a huge oak. It is still in perfect condition.
A brass oil-burning chandelier gave light
for evening services. Until about 1900 the
little building doubled as the local school
house. The pastor usually served as t each ­er,
and the lessons were copied on slates
resting on the narrow, slanted tops of the
pews. In 1883, the sanctuary was expand­ed
by one-third, and a steeple with a bell
was added. The night before the dedica­tion
of the bell, someone stole the clapper.
Fortunately, the local blacksmith forged
one on short notice and the service went
on as scheduled. In 1888, the Reverend B.
E. Lacjac became pastor. It was he who
painted the unusual decorations which
are preserved on the walls and ceiling of
the church today. Since 1901 the Wesley
Brethren Church has been served by non­resident
pastors; but the congregation has
prospered. A new building was completed
in 1963. The old one is still used for oc­casional
meetings. It is kept in good repair
and is open to the public.
CESKOSLOVENSKY
CTENARSKY SPOLEK
1867
The first Czech reading club in Texas was
formed at Veseli in 1867. Ceskoslovensky
Ctenarsky Spolek (Czechoslovakian Read­ing
Club) aroused great interest in the
community. In a short time, the club had
amassed a considerable library of Czech­language
books. A fire swept the building
in which the books were housed, and end­ed
the club. The idea spread, however,
and similar clubs were formed in the
1870's. These early reading clubs stimu­lated
an intellectual interest, which
13
WENZEL MATEJOWSKY STORE I.T.C. Collection
14
- ----------------------
eventually brought about the demand for
schools in Czech communities.
WENZEL MATEJOWSKY
In 1867, Wenzel Matejowsky established
a country store which preserved an au­thentic
19th century atmosphere­through
four generations of family own­ership-
until its destruction by fire, early
in 1971. Matejowsky had corne to Texas
in 1850 from N echanitz, Moravia, where
his merchant-father had served as mayor.
Two older brothers had occupied impor­tant
offices in Prague. Young Wenzel
might have had similar opportunity, but
at 29, he decided to sail for Texas. First,
he farmed near East Bernard, then, by
1852, became owner of a cigar factory in
Bastrop. He remained there a few years,
then returned to farming, this time at
Long Prairie, north of La Grange. When
a post office was established at the store
in 1873, he was designated postmaster.
The settlement was renamed Nechanitz,
after the town of Wenzel's birth.
In 1888, Matejowsky was elected to
the 20th Legislature. Aside from his
duties as merchant, postmaster, and lead­ing
political figure in the county, he was
also a successful tobacco grower. But, the
store was the focal point of his interests.
For a time the Nechanitz community
boasted a cotton gin. The farmers brought
their crops to the Matejowsky store, where
they were weighed, and a price agreed
upon. The farmers then received trade
tokens redeemable in merchandise. When
the store burned in 1971, little had
changed since the doors were opened a
century earlier.
AUGUSTIN HAIDUSEK
1870
Through his career as a newspaperman
and politician, Augustin Haidusek was
likely the best-known and most influential
of the Czech pioneers in Texas. Born in
Moravia in 1845, he was brought by his
parents to Texas when he was eleven.
The immigrants landed at Galveston in
October, 1856, and proceeded to an oak
grove on the east bank of the N avidad
River in Fayette County. Here, the village
of Dubina took root. In later years Haidu­sek
remembered some of those early ex­perIences:
"With shelter provided, all began clear­ing
the land, made rail fences and pre­pared
the land for tilling. In the follow­ing
fall only one small bale of cotton was
made by the whole group. It was loaded
on a sled and pulled by oxen to La
Grange, where it was sold. Indeed this
first struggling effort at making a living
was filled with forebodings. By now, the
savings brought from Europe were spent.
Flour was $20.00 a barrel, and an epi­demic
broke out, caused by hard work and
contaminated water. It was truly a fight
for survival. But God was with us. The
following year crops were better and with
the kind help of those of English speaking
extraction, we became firmly estab­lished."
Four years after their arrival in Texas
the Haiduseks were visited by a family AUGUSTIN HAIDUSEK Johnson and Barker, Texas and Texans
15
16
friend newly arrived from Moravia. "My
dear Valento," the friend told Augustin's
father, "you had a better pig-sty at
home." The father replied, "I had rather
live in this hut as an American citizen,
than to live in a palace and be under the
Austro-Hungarian oppression."
In 1863, Haidusek enlisted in the Con­federate
army and was stationed at Fort
Velasco. After his discharge from service
in 1865, he spent most of his time farming
and teaching school until 1869, when he
began the study of law. The next year he
became the first Texan of Czech origin
licensed to practice law in the state. In
1875, he was elected mayor of La Grange.
In the 1880's he served in the Texas Legis­lature
and as judge of Fayette County.
From 1901 to 1910 he was a member of
the Texas A&M Board of Directors. He be­came
owner of an effective Czech-lan­guage
newspaper, Svoboda, at La Grange
in 1890, and six years later became presi­dent
of the First National Bank there.
Augustin Haidusek encouraged assimi­lation
into the Texas culture, and insisted
that only English be spoken in the Czech
classrooms. He did much to end the dis­trust
of other groups toward the Czechs,
and helped his countrymen secure new
opportunities in Texas society and poli­tics.
FATHER JOSEF
CHROMCIK
1872
The Reverend Josef Chromcik, pioneer
Czech missionary and parish priest, was
born January 25, 1845, at Olomouc, Mo-
THE CHROMCIK SCHOOL
ravia. He attended the seminary there,
and distinguished himself as a scholar
and linguist. Six years after his ordina­tion
he was assigned to the Diocese of
Galveston. He arrived Christmas Eve,
1812. In 1873, he re-established St. John's
parish in Fayetteville and built the
Chromcik School, where he taught for
Courtesy of Sister M. Andrea
many years. His knowledge of several
languages enabled him to represent the
German and Bohemian nationalities as
their spokesman. He remained in Fayette­ville
until his death, although he returned
to Europe in 1894, to celebrate the 25th
anniversary of his ordination.
CZECH JOURNALISM IN
TEXAS
lished the La Grange weekly, and called
it simply, Texan. His ownership lasted
five months-from February through
July. The paper was sold then to Frank
Lidiak, who renamed it Slovan. The jour­nal
was published in a magazine-type for­mat,
and was devoted to fiction, laws and
customs of the country, and current inter-
1879
The first Czech newspaper in Texas was
established at La Grange in 1879. Prior
to that time, many Czechs subscribed to
native language newspapers published in
northern cities. F. J. Gleuckman pub-
SVOBODA. DKlIOKRATICKY TYDIlNNIK V~NOVANY z.{;"(r,, CECHOSLOVANtr v TEXAS.
~GrBnge, TexBs,. due ~O. srpna 1892. <,::,,,1031.
:')1''1' ••• » -'.'1' 1'08TO"PIC. o:a.t.)fo:a, '1' • .1"'., .\ 8 •• COlfD CL ......
Nar~IDI1 d8m~kranctt llsloi I ~~~ '.:b:o'¥:t;:";1~:,~~mh'" T
bokyeh udoll Sierra Madre uprehli. vykonbajfcr "ybybWe, IQrovc Je DemokraClo e Selain. vlidnlbo vojlkll pOllina by. ztyraU. vybybky pfebuovali. {:tyfi
la za Dimi. - tUee nllL1!nf odneieni byU bned z po
statu Texas roztrzena. § Chicago, 11. IIrpna. Vuer. by. CilCtl do aemoenice. Kdy! y lled~1i
Za pr~i~lIta:
GROVER CLEVELAND.
Za IIl ul<Jpresiilenta:
H.B. Bleb.rda
ucbill 4e 0 Ufe.d Imfrtlho ICUdCII T 1, ob
... odn (L.Gr ... ge) O).:~IU FaYlne.
Conn.d.:Aertaeh
Iy zde .ubijeny zkoniiky I "Olcm, U veeer 0 'it. bod. plijeti m~1 OlObn[
Hogg i Clark :~~~!inDy~ ~~8C~:n'~A~!~~nU~~~ ~~~~:I~eh~d:~i :!:::~it!:e:: ;~::
P .·d nit' vol"teM' !':~~:!~ 'dt.d i"knJu. ve r.,cUnlll· JI:' navr!enl houstonskou konvenci lery Co." 1. B. Dunald ukual btl· doeuly so z; kolej!, ale cellojlc!m
relll e I I • u. aviak !Eddy od Ive Ilrauy. Ilouc!mu obeccndvu koeir ber; 11.001, oel5talo Ie nic. V oc-d!1i vcc('r r;oo--
11. II. BOO:Sl:. J. T. PUKnu, Okres Austin . . . . kterj' byl pomod elcktnny Y poh,-b va zacaJo ua mnoh:L ml8lKh horeli,
~,~it~~~~,SI.EY' RH~ p~::~; George S. CIIIDIDIDP • ' .:,. Lid bude rozhodovati ;i:~lio~a~rTeoz~ ~;ll: ;~!~~:;c~I:~~ ~:B~~~DU;u~:;:oP:~o~~:O~~T t~;:
WalterS BUKE, Ln RIDDLX uvedotlluje nalincc okreau Austin, l eu. - . ~ v liatopadu eam, V dotycn~m VOtU naleulo l5e pet nhnino a varodao, aby neopova:lo
R 11 WAm" GEORGE BURGS-SIl, chiti u 0 diad okreanfbo u,Jcmofka fl ' kolo lIla byti jebo gUYerll~rcm , olob a jelo ee po Monroo ulioi dl) \'alo.o Ilrojem s mll5ta hnouli. Po-
ADLAI E. STEVENSON.
RWST,\YTO=- ER LANE CouolyClerkateho!okretu. 'SI"IJIi' ~ lntn · W . Winchcater ave., po Jacksoo, Bou, oevadlnabllzkubydr:mtl'lneol, mu
A A BELT.. John B. Lew!, ~ 11 Uomo!1I1Uc!J llster Cebo 8e moozl tllkobav.IIoli ta' levard a LaSalle ul. a ::pH belO vii seli basici nccinno k ohn i ptihttIeti.
uchul lie 0 IHad dpiluika dill! (11:1" U· • • 1 k tk S 'I • d k B .. nehody V pondell v 6 bodin rinD miilyode,
Do kongu.m: .euor) vokruu AU4tin , Za guVSEORGE CLARK c~:ek~o:e::· v ~~:II\on:mvo Q~:~i Obro'Tllkfi nadraif. Jako vio, jeti dv~ vlalr..y. I llubylkl:JJl •• v~~k.
WiLTER QRESH". ~o",r .'hlb 1 Waco, McLennan Count . uhajena rozM:lilllse ve dvb It ra' co e~ ev~tovo~ v~ltavou V Ch i~~o ~~~~h b~~:~~;i 8zer~~c.~:d. l~cJ~
~e~f,,4D'lioef~:~~~~~ cod~-:~~:c k;;!; ~C~~~i:t~ Ci::k
d
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irad k<lIlN1nfka. C I ROGERS zapo,M.ly prAc. 8I'OU kald' z,IR!t. mery a bude :r;Hzto3o t3ok,' aby pojala bUm a kaldo .. chvlh vy~lehly to neb
S. A.. Hili Jr. " k ,PH~ou k roztrice za"dal sam pfed 25.000 osob. Nil. nich vracovino by onde plameo,.. Viecky Ilmpy t .,y.
Okr F tte ocUzhe ourld Counly Clerk~ [okres· :z; 0 resu Travls. 8ed::& vjkoIlneho Btatnibo demokra 10 oekolik meslctl. ro:z;vrh pr') vlalt. hybek ua driue Erie byly ukradeny, as aye. nfho tajemnlka] v okmu AUltln. Za vrchni/w ndt!l~ilni/W: tickeh? vjboru Web Finley avt~ oi n:l.draH pochS,:r;( od sta .. ilele C. H, tak!~ v nocn{m te~nu ni; Ie bnouti
E ! I DOWELL panovltyml bezoblednym VyBtOpO Atwooda ktcry naert! pliuy pro nesmelo. Ve:l hodiny ranD .. ,.pra·
1(II'd se 0 ZD!::V~~::~ za po.lance do Okres Lavaca. .. I: ohelU Coryell. dnim hoed pH zabajen£ konv~nce u.m;;~eckY' a I('s~ic~\~ palilc. ?!Iii. byli ~eo z, ~uf{~lo vlak pro olobnt "11~
f~illtur7; byl linden od dlllDokratfl. Za 1'«tniM uC6l1lka: Prvo[ pracf bJla volba prozahmnf tdnt: "cd I., aOnllntlllracnt uudovy, c, 1. E~lo drahy a pro osobnf vlalr. c . . _.,"'_F_"_'_'''_.___ ___ ~o&epb Wollek . CUIDT", B. GILLE8PJE bo pfedeedy pro Icbo.tij Hoggov· mHiti l SO:z;300 8topach a It :zipadu 2:1. Lehigh dr'by .• Oba vlakYle opo
uehu( ae 0 urld useSlor& (dpllnrkada D.AJUWI,) ci Davrbli Jobo L. Sheperd. z o· ro:z;prolUrati Ie bude liii. 87i atop :zdlly a ouledkem _patna pololenyob
tbu.1 ae 0 !/;:';a=::~: Ie Illuol'}' til]" oknlu Linea. s okret!u Dalla" kreln Camp, kde!to CI.r.ovci na" d~lky a 100 Itl,lP ililty. Do n'drat:{ ~tbY~k vyiii~~: pos~d.nl ~I.k
10 IIl;ji byl onnen ad domo'kraLlclr.~ .... H. Weller Za ItillliM pokladnlka: vrbli John Laoe-a z LaGtange, ul titi bude 24. Ir.oh,jf, V obledu Ita, oeta.e n.~ Iny n~ rls n ~'
!r&o}" okmu F.yette, !~:e~~'t:'al~l:od~~f: :~~r! !~:f.n" THOm J, GOREE Phda&da chtlil, at ee blaanje die vitel,Um b~de nadrall praYoo oedo !~ Stil!l~ke~~~:Ob~~d:~ln~~~ ~:~:~~
1 ... L. 8w"J , cfl. 0 pHiefch To)Wch, Z oben Cherokee. okrnf\;, Clarkovci &at at mil. prll.To ;:~o ::'~~t~i~~~v~t:~=1 :~Aoc:!~ Kot: hoHclcb ,.od udiili .tbWi
i~~~~!I!:nl.e;)·~i~~~rik~:,.!rr~'!~cl~~t~ 1, P. EllI. Zapoumko"lAo komisart-: kdd.1 delegll.t kjedoomu hllau •. Z do velke line 0 60:z:80 .t.o~b. Strop na prbdoycb vo:z;cch n'kladnlcb. vy
~J.lufl Auatin. C.ldwell. FaJettc • ucb~:d.e 0 l1fad okreltlfho nbladn(ho i . C, 1M tobo pa,.,tala .,fan, poohadl FlU poelednejlil utvofen budc z; kl .. io. amlvajlce &e pokusAm ohuiti oheft.
lays, (couoty·aUJI'ney) ... okf'lllu Lanca. • okresu T~is. ley chilli proeadit I"CoD vAli a De· kjrh oblouk6, Na ~tyrech .tranicb ° 6. hodiue raun! .itu&C6 .t! slepiila,
W. S. llobNa •• 8. T'1nIte.d Za1W'CMUw do~ lkol: JX>:&loDchal nikoho. Bylo bla [II ~ sId omlJtenQ bude 24 bodin, ktero\ i byla udl!je., Ie jut po kravaleob,
tl!1d Ie 0 Coo,.uuolenl r;& okrunlho uclWJ ae 0 l1bd okre.nfbo ddadniho JACOB BICILEB. kflku. k nepopwf, a lido' billo ukason,j blldoll euo.,t l'O:zd1l o.ej. §koda do te doby .p6aoben4 pUI Ie
)udte." okre.u Payette, (eounty·attorney) ... okrt.u Lnaca.. vitlf proto viak pfece Finley 0' d6lditAjilob mfat na Iv~tf \11'l'C> na .":1.009, Serif v,-.III uhy rino
a • ...,.. IWt ,J... B DeTail " ' S .0ltrelD. GaIn.ton. UI,d.i1, Ie Sbeperd je r.a pfedlMldu It fed bude iaformacDt kan~Uf pro 100 d(puty.~rir6 a decllo ":Mz:ynl
tiuid If! 0 df.d Couty Clcrh (o'neanl· ucbu~ ~~.~ oue.ufho pokl&dnrk.,. Za.oudu odD. krim. 8OtIllu: die voUdkn okrelA nolen. No,.y l,liDaee. V pll:z;emi bude &alWlnl mallt,.o poh~jnf po.lino D" Udra·
l tajU1I1rk.) pro okra Fayette. okrel B. H. PHELP8 i. D, fOOD vyboo:h dioi'l!jil pfEdei1:feh, pi' jail' btvi obyoejni, y drub6m path II ~ oc:hrane nfedol'd. ~dak po&:
C E Laae Prlnell 81..... s okffta FaJette, .. ok.NlluHaYL Di phdJedo, , ohon Ittau prodrali obromni. jldelna pro Jl4YitAvnlkJ, dlJI 'Itaa.oe OpeL M IborillL f.e~eat
'b.h l K 0 ufad' o~re.nlho nhladnlh9 l10dlhe uehib:eU 0 l1adnoat Ittlnlho Ie- Ie ke kleIlu pfedeednickt1ma a Ina kleff Ii jldlo pfiDnoU Mboo. M.imo 10. a 11, bod. dopoledn.e ho 0 ....
~unIY'''loroey) ... obclu Fayll~. '~:d~!~-;~~I~il~~I!::~J~1I bude 011 3tjtlf llItct Bllllfci-Ceaatntl lili H &8po6fti 8VOQ ~ona-t _ ale to =. bude :=po:~::( 11ft, :~tt::;~ l~a:~S:j!io~k~:t4~~
J .... ~ F. ".Uen Tie marn~, Ve .tfeda nnO pair .. ~n .Ift, f il, • pro H. to feruihi v6beo jlldll D8
ch'd It co Coont, Attorney [OkHI.( .1.0""'r Za goyern4ra: .taveoi bJIi Clarkovci a dnf{ IfnA ta.onf zavuadla a j. V tfeU .. path m 0 ,p , . Val
01l"'I&dufbo] "nr.ku.okreJu. IIchU(aeosn01'UsyoleDldolfadDlk,.,.· 1. S.HOGG k I! ( r' t ktef{'i 'ed' budoo Ir.anoelih r6znfohleleuioa oboa drih4cb, EflealAhlgb •
---=---=~--~ LIJ'& r.:J.eob,.od 2., a \&k&8 I ok,...aao s OChl1l Smith. onna n po lCI~ '1, 1 m J , bude odtud roskoilli YJhUdk_ na yt I_y. .
Cll J.u.I'. ~ [ krelAOJ.o .::, d , :~~::::j!r~~!t-o:!:tlC:!: Za mfltog1lvcru4ra: :od~ ~kli, -:ale DfllIl?~: pu:~ .t..,.iltl, admiDiatrab.1 budoVll a 1'8 Omtlo~t.1t u ....... - Memphil,
'It:~~k!fJad'~~P:;Sl~o kre •• La,.r.ca. M.M..CRANE OYDlt proto ne~aJ Ina likoD DAddku, Na Ilfde I oholl TtlDD" 10, .,POL Velilt4 ro.lIi1ea~
p lob .. " JOhDIOD. boggoVlkfcb, Obntih H tedy a .tru nbodll hla'flliho bodou d,.1 bo mni. adeJlfm ob,vatelltvem .pbohl
J.b., Bel"""J Okres Burleson Za vrohclho D1vladDlho: Iii do TDrn8r B.allQ, kdel nanbll dino'" vUe, kaJd' 18 lItJfmi oirernl Ia spr"'.. Ie gn,..rner Duohuu
~~~:ek~e~k:":~~=(::J!!:.~1l dial· 1. B. WeIIaee· CHARLES A. ~=lu. ~!:=. .;.&~.~ Tolik pro ~jeti~~!*,!61:e,.!!!~J~~~:e~~ ::~;t ~i:~=:i ~~n~~':.~
SVOBODA, CAMPAIGN ISSUE, AUGUST 20, 1892. V.T. Barker Archives
est topics. After five years under Lidiak's
direction, Joseph Cada, a new owner,
moved the press to Bryan, where it ceased
publication in 1889.
Probably one reason for the decline and
death of Slovan was the establishment of
another Czech-language newspaper,
called Svoboda. It, too, was founded in La
Grange in 1885, the same year that
Slovan was moved to Bryan. Augustin
Haidusek was the first editor of Svoboda,
serving until aNew Yorker arrived to as­sume
charge. During the career of this
gentleman, Svoboda went increasingly in
debt, until Haidusek was forced to take
control again. After three years of hard
work, the paper was free of debt, had
over 2,000 subscribers, and was the most
influential Czech language newspaper in
the state. Editorially, Haidusek supported
the Democratic Party, urged that Czech
children be educated in the English lan­guage,
and preached the ideals of re­sponsible
citizenship.
Czech journalism began to prove itself
profitable. Several other papers followed
shortly. They were the most accessible
means of news and information for a large
minority group which largely was literate
only in its native tongue. As the younger
generation became fluent in English, the
need for Czech papers declined steadily.
Today there are only a handful of survi­vors:
Bratrske Listy, published by the
Czech Brethren in Texas; Nasinec, organ
of the K.J.T.; and Vestnik, spokesman for
the SPJST. But only one, Hospodar, pub­lished
at West, Texas, is printed entirely
in Czech.
17
\ \
18
BACA'S BAND, ABOUT 1882
BACA'S BAND
1882
There is a saying that "every Czech is
born with a violin in his hand." Although
the instrument varied, the musical in­stinct
was exhibited in Czech Texans as
early as 1836 at San Jacinto. Baca's Band
of Fayetteville, generally considered the
first Czech band in Texas, was formed in
1882. Baca's Band was definitely the first
to gain widespread popularity and is the
oldest in Texas. It is still in existence.
Frank Baca organized the original eleven
musicians from the Fayetteville area. The
band was so successful that, in 1907, it
Courtesy of Sister M . Andrea
was about to embark upon a national con­cert
tour, when plans were cancelled be­cause
of Frank Baca's death. The band
made its first out-of-state appearance 61
years later at the Smithsonian Institu­tion's
American Folklife Festival. The
musical group also has some popular rec­ord
albums to its credit. The Baca family
has trained its descendants to develop
their inherent musical ability. A Slavic
folk instrument, the dulcimer, is still
played today by Ray Baca, son of the
original band leader, and father of the
present leader, Gil Baca.
ALOIS POLANSKY
1886
Alois Polansky and his bride, Johanna,
began their married life with total assets
of a small farm bought on credit, a horse,
three cows, two calves, and a slab of
bacon. During their first year of marriage
their store-bought purchases consisted of
two dollar's worth of coffee and a dollar's
worth of flour. The two young people
lived largely on cornbread and cornmeal
mush. They worked in the fields trying to
make a crop, until Alois' health failed. He
was told that he had tuberculosis, and was
given only a short time to live. In his
native Moravia-where he was born in
1849, and from which he had migrated in
1871-he had worked for a doctor and
had learned the medicinal value of cer-
ALOIS POLANSKY Courtesy of Sister i\ll. Andrea
SPjST
1897
The Texas delegation to the 1896
C.S.P.S. (a national Czech fraternal
insurance organization) convention in
St. Paul, Minnesota, objected to lack
of distinction in assessing dues to the
miners and industrial workers in the
north and east and the farmers from
the west and the south. The southerners
and westerners felt that miners and
other industrial workers had a shorter
life span than did farmers and agricul­tural
workers. They proposed that their
dues be reduced to accommodate the
difference. The convention rejected
their proposals. The Texans responded
by withdrawing from the C.S.P.S.
On December 28, 1896, 25 dele­gates
representing most of the C.S.P.S.
lodges in Texas met at the La Grange
courthouse and determined to establish
Texas's own fraternal organization­Slovanska
Podporujici ]ednota Statu
Texas (Slavonic Benevolent Order of
the State of Texas). The society began
operation]uly 1, 1897. The first chapter
was chartered at Fayetteville. Today the
SP]ST is a multimillion-dollar fraternal
society and has lodges in most parts of
the state. The lodges provide a place for
members to gather for dances and
theatricals; some offer courses in Czech
language and culture. For older mem­bers
the SP]ST has built two modern
retirement homes, one in Taylor and
another in Needville. The organization
also supports, through scholarships, the
study of the Czech language at The
University of Texas and at Texas A&M
University, and courses at a number of
high schools in central and south Texas.
THE CZECH WEDDING
The traditional Czech wedding was a
memorable event, which required long
and careful preparation. First, the
young couple had to rent land on which
to farm. Next, the all-important wed­ding
feast required the raising of addi­tional
chickens, turkeys and geese, and
perhaps an extra calf and hog. Well in
advance of the celebration the couple
selected their attendants. The groom
would choose two of his groomsmen to
dress in their Sunday best and ride
around from house-to-house ex'tending
form~ invitations.
A few days before the ceremony
friends of the family would gather to
assist in the preparations. There had to
be not only food for the feast, but
plenty for the guests to take home.
Numerous kegs of beer were also pro­vided.
Much of the baking was done
two or three days ahead of time, but the
meat was usually cooked on the morn­ing
of the wedding. Breakfast was then
served to the couple, their attendants
and immediate families. A groom was
not permitted to see his bride in her
wedding dress before two dclock in the
afternoon, when the guests gathered in
the church parlor. On the arrival of the
bride and her parents, a man called the
starosta stepped forward and presented
her to the groom. He admonished the
groom to be kind, gentle and worthy;
and the bride to be moral, obedient and
submissive. Both were told to honor
their parents. After this came the pro­cession
to the sanctuary.
Following the ceremony, the crowd
returned to the bride's home for the
feast. Perhaps they would be stopped
by friends who would stretch a ribbon
across the road and ask for a donation.
The proceeds might be given either to
the newlyweds, or to the musicians­who
had doubtless earned it! At the
Czech wedding in Fayetteville
SS·
15
reception the bridesmaids would pin on
each guest a sprig of rosemary, which
symbolized fidelity and constancy.
Sometimes a collection would be taken
up to buy a cradle for the first child.
Then came a virtual orgy of eating,
drinking, dancing and visiting. It
required great stamina to survive a
Czech wedding, but few invitations
were ever turned down.
THE ROLNICKA
PODPORUJICI JEDNOTA
Sv.ISIDOR
1901
The SPJST and the KJ.T. fraternal
orders appealed to large segments of
the Czech community. There were
others that were more specialized. The
Rolnicka Podporujici J ednota Sv. Isidor
(Agricultural Benevolent Society of St.
Isidor) was organized by farmers in
Lavaca County in 1901. The society
had two purposes. It would encourage
agriculture and horticulture through
fairs and livestock exhibitions; it would
provide low cost life insurance through
periodic assessments. The Society of St.
Isidor opened its membership to men
between the ages of 18 and 55 who
spoke the Czech language. The society
was never large; at its peak in the
mid-1930's it had only 37 lodges and a
total of 1,020 members.
Agricultural Benevolent Society of St. [sidor
16
UNITY OF THE
BRETHREN IN TEXAS
1903
In 1855 at Ross Prairie, between
Ellinger and Fayetteville, Czech
Protestants held the first Unity of the
Brethren service in Texas. The
Brethren's history dates back to the
Czech reformer John Hus in the 15th
century. Although the Hussite reforms
were swept away by a series of religious
wars, Czech Protestants continued to
practice their religion in secret. When
the Brethren came to Texas they estab­lished
independent churches, but no
denominational organization. They
built their first church at Wesley in
1866. The Brethren prospered, but
efforts to create a cohesive organiza­tion
failed.
It was not until 1903 that the
Reverend Adolph Chlumsky suc­ceeded
in organizing the separate con­gregations.
Born in 1842, Chlumsky
studied for the ministry at seminaries
in Silesia, Hungary, Switzerland and
Vienna, where he also received medi­cal
training. Ordained in 1866, he
served a number of congregations
before coming to Texas in 1889. He
farmed to supplement his pastor's
income, and in 1893 began his efforts
to forge the various congregations into
a union. Ten years later the dream was
The Reverend Adolph Chlumsky
realized at Granger, Texas, where
conference delegates created the Unity
of the Brethren in Texas .
STANLEY L. KOSTORYZ
1906
To Stanley L. Kostoryz must go the
credit for the establishment of the large
Corpus Christi Czech community.
Born in Prague, Kostoryz came to the
United States as a young man and set­tled
in Nebraska, where he owned and
edited a Czech-language newspaper.
About 1904 he sold the paper and
immigrated to Texas, settling near
Corpus Christi. Using the proceeds
from the sale of the paper, he pur­chased
7,700 acres southwest of the
town, then known as the Rabb Ranch.
Kostoryz had the land surveyed and
subdivided, and named it the "Bohe­mian
Colony Lands." He advertised his
colony in Czech-language newspapers
throughout the United States.
In the fall of 1906 the first five
families moved in and began dearing
Stanley L. Kostoryz
the brushland. More families moved
in, the colony prospered, and a school
was built and named for the colony's
founder. Bohemian Colony settlers
were not greenhorns recently arrived
from Europe. Most came from the
older Czech settlements in central
Texas or from the Midwest.
In 1912 Kostoryz enlarged upon
his colonization scheme by purchasing
an additional 2,200 acres. Settlers con­tinued
to come to the Nueces County
settlement, but the costs of promoting
the colony were greater than the in­come
from land sales. The enterprise
was not financially successful for
Kostoryz. He eventually sold his
holdings and returned to Czechoslova­kia,
but he did leave an indelible mark
on the Corpus Christi area. There is
now a major thoroughfare named in
his honor. The original Kostoryz
school is gone, but in its place is a
modern structure built in 1964 and
also named for him.
The tightly knit Czech communi­ty
supports an active Sokol gymnastics
club, and the major Czech fraternal
organizations have lodges in the area.
SOKOL
1908
Sokol (Czech for falcon) is an organiza­tion
which is said to be in close har­mony
with the ancient Greek concept
of life "which combines music, litera-ture
and artistic culture for the mind
and systematic training for the body:'
In Austria-Hungary many Czech
social, political and cultural organiza­tions
were forbidden. But the authori­ties
allowed the Czechs to establish
gymnastic societies. The result in 1862
was the establishment of Sokol, a
cultural organization whose motto was
"A Sound Mind in a Sound Body:'
Under the guise of massed formation
gymnastics, Czech leaders taught their
young people physical fitness, Czech
history and Czech culture.
Sokol came to Texas in 1908.
Activities continued to follow the
pattern originally set in Europe. The
units emphasize physical training,
dancing, singing and the teaching of
Czech culture. Members of the units,
found in virtually all Czech communi­ties,
perform at various feasts, festivals
and parades across the state.
CZECHS IN WEST TEXAS
1910 •
Shortly after the turn of the century
CZ'ech pioneers from central and south
Texas began moving to the newly
op'ened plains of west Texas. Farmland
was much cheaper on the south plains
than in the older, more settled areas
of the state. By 1910 Czechs were
established in settlements in the
Panhandle and in far northwest Texas.
JOHN PLISKA
1912
John Pliska, a Czech from Austria,
built an airplane in his blacksmith shop
at Midland, Texas, in 1912 and flew it
over the Staked Plains. This was one of
the first airplanes to be built and flown
in Texas. In 1910 William Randolph
Hearst had offered a $50,000 prize to
the first pilot completing a coast-to­coast
flight in 30 days. Late the
following year Robert G. Fowler­competing
for the jackpot - set his
Curtiss plane down on the outskirts of
Midland. John Pliska was watching
along with an ex-cowboy named Gray
Coggin. Pliska had served in the
Austrian balloon and glider corps
before emigrating to America. Together
the two men built a flying machine,
with a few innovations of their own.
The Curtiss plane had two propellers;
they used one. They also faced the prop
edge with metal- probably the first
time this was done. They used muslin
on the wings instead of canvas.
In 1912 Pliska and Coggin hitched
a ride on a cattle train to Sandusky,
Ohio, where they conferred with offi­cials
of the Roberts Engine Company,
the only enterprise in America then
building airplane engines. Later, on a
test flight near Midland, the muslin­covered
wings "leaked" air, so shellac
was applied. Also, the engine could not
Girls' Sokol team at the Ennis Festival
17
John Plislro. (standing) and his airplane
really deliver enough power to lift the
aircraft high enough into the dry west
Texas air. The test flights ended a month
later near Odessa, when the plane
could do no more than skip along the
improvised runway. The machine was
dismantled and preserved in Pliskas
blacksmith shop until 1965, when it was
reassembled and installed in a museum
at 'the Midland-Odessa airport.
Dr. John j. Shiller (left) in his drugstore at ROUlena, c. 1915.
18
JOHN JAROSLAV
SHILLER, M.D.
1913
In 1903 when John J. Shiller, M.D.,
opened his first office in Praha, Texas,
an office visit cost $1.00; a house call
was $2.00. When he closed his practice
in Rowena 56 years later, the price of
an office visit had skyrocketed, and
doctors no longer made house calls.
The son of immigrant parents,
John Jaroslav Shiller was born on a
farm near Rice's Crossing in William­son
County on January 23, 1877. His
parents were determined that their son
would not be a cotton farmer. John
began his studies in a one-room rural
schoolhouse. He progressed to business
college and prep schools in Austin
before entering The University of Texas
Medical Department in Galveston.
After the school was washed away in the
hurricane of 1900, he transferred to
Tulane Medical School in New Orleans
where he received his degree in 1903.
During his first year of practice in
Praha in southern Fayette County, Dr.
Shiller charged patients a total of $180.
He managed to collect only about half
of that, including some corn for his
horse and some farm produce - pigs,
chickens, eggs-to help feed his family.
After seven years in Moravia,
Texas, and a brief time in Victoria,
Shiller and his wife Annie Louise
moved to the thriving west Texas Czech
community of Rowena, located in
Runnels County. There he set up an
office, opened a pharmacy which he
later sold to his brother, and remained
an active citizen until shortly before his
death in 1975.
Soon after his retirement Dr.
Shiller recalled those early days in
Runnels County. The charge for deliv­ering
a baby-and he delivered 1,400
in his lifetime-was $10.00, plus $1.00
per mile for out-of-town visits. The sur­charge
was well deserved, considering
the times his car mired in the muddy
roads and he had to dig himself out.
In 1971 Dr. Shiller donated his
office equipment, medical library and
medical saddlebags to the SPJST
Museum in Temple. For him these
items were a historic legacy, a reminder
of the strength and courage of those
Czechs who left Europe to build new
homes in Texas.
Mr. and Mrs. John J Shiller
HUS MEMORIAL SCHOOL
1914 .
Near the turn of the century Czech
~oravian Brethren minister Adolph
Chlumsky and his wife began instruct­ing
a few young girls in Bible study,
music and the Czech language at their
home near Brenham. As an outgrowth
of this program, the Reverend Josef
Barton and the Reverend Josef Hegar
officially founded and named the Hus
Memorial School (Husova Skola) in
January 1914. The school-named for
the 15th century Czech reformer and
martyr John Hus-opened in Granger
under the tutelage of its founders. In
1924 the institution moved into perma­nent
quarters in Temple. Students who
received Hus School training assisted
pastors in Czech Moravian Brethren
churches in Granger, Taylor, Caldwell,
West, Temple and other Texas towns.
SLAVIC LANGUAGES AT
THE UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS
1915
The Department of Slavic Languages
of The University of Texas at Austin
is considered to be one of the best in
the nation. However, had it not been
for the intense interest and shrewd
lobbying efforts of a determined band
of Czech students, creation of the
department would have been delayed
many years.
The effort to create a chair of
Slavic languages began in 1909. Five
Czech students organized the club,
Cechie. The group met twice a month
to study Czech history, sing Czech
songs and speak the language. Their
first efforts were unsuccessful. In 1913,
under the leadership of Charles
Knizek (later changed to Kinzek), the
club revived their lobbying efforts. The
students pointed out that some 100,000
Texas Czechs would look with favor
upon the establishment of a course in
the Czech language. It was not until
Knizek took his case to the camp of the
Professor Charles Knizek
opposition and convinced its leaders
that the battle was won. An $1,800
appropriation was added to the univer­sity
budget, and Knizek became the
first adjunct professor of Czech and
Russian languages.
Today The University of Texas at
Austin, Texas A&M University and a
number of high schools and junior col­leges
offer courses in the Czech lan­guage.
Czech remains a living lan­guage
among the descendants of the
pioneers of 1851.
19
Dominik Naplava
DOMINIK NAPLAVA
1917
In 1914, at the age of 22, Dominik
Naplava came to Houston. When
World War I broke out Dominik was
one of the first to try to enlist. Rejected
because he lacked complete citizen­ship,
Naplava went north and enlisted
in the Canadian army. In November
of 1917 he was killed in France, the first
Texan to die in World War 1. A memo­rial
table commemorating his devotion
stands at the City Hall in Houston.
THE CZECHOSLOVAK
LEGION
1919
The Southern Pacific train rolled into
the station shortly after 2:00 a.m. on
a sultry July night. The sleepy soldiers
were welcomed with the sound of mar­tial
music and the voices of 500 Czech
Texans shouting, "Nazdar-Vitame
Vas" (To success -Welcome). Czech
girls dressed in festive costumes es­corted
the somewhat bewildered men.
The Red Cross and other volunteers
passed out food, drink, cigarettes and
gifts to the soldiers. The mayor's repre­sentative
and a committee of Houston
Czechs officially welcomed the famed
Czech Legionnaires to Texas.
The men of the legion were the
embodiment of the long-held hopes of
the Czech people for a nation of their
own-a free and independent Czecho-
20
slovakia. In two years the Czechoslovak
Legion had achieved worldwide fame.
The unit's chronology was familiar to
all Czech Texans - drafted into the
Austrian army, deserted to the Rus­sians,
fought on the Eastern front,
engaged in armed battles with Red
forces along the Trans,siberian railway,
guarded allied supplies at Vladivostok
during the allied intervention in
Siberia, and now on their way home
via the United States.
After a two-hour stopover the sol­diers
entrained. The train pulled out
of the station to the strains of the
Czech national anthem. The words
had a special meaning for the sol­diers
- they had been away for several
years; their old country was no more;
a new nation awaited them.
The anthem also had a special
meaning to the hundreds of Czech
Texans who stood, some with tears
streaming down their faces, on the
traitl platform. They too had been
away; the empire they left no longer
existed. The closest many of them
.. would ever come to the new Czecho­slovak
Republic was that meeting in
. the early hours of July 15, 1919. Their
home now was Texas.
CZECHS AND
AGRICULTURE
1930's
In the 1930's it was estimated that 95
percent of the Czechs in Texas were
farmers. From the beginning they had
Transporting Czech-grown cotton
settled in the rich, blackland cotton
belt of central Texas. As a family
moved into an area, they would find
agricultural work until they could
scrape together enough money to pur­chase
their first piece of land. Thrift
and hard work enabled them to ex­pand
their holdings quickly. The
Czechs were progressive farmers who
used the most improved implements
and methods of cultivation. They were
recognized for many years as the
backbone of the Texas cotton industry.
FOLK DRESS
AND COSTUME
The colorful folk dress commonly
associated with Bohemia and Moravia
was worn only on special festive occa­sions
in Europe. When they came to
Texas many Czechs left these costumes
behind. The few that were brought
were worn infrequently. For a time
during the early years of this century
their use was extremely rare. The
feeling in the Czech community was
that if they were going to be Ameri­cans,
they would dress like Americans.
In the last two decades this trend
has reversed; the use of folk costumes
has increased dramatically. The ladies'
clothes generally consist of a skirt in
a multicolored pattern or solid hue; a
vest, usually black with gold or lace
trim; a blouse with a large collar,
ruffles on the sleeves and embroidery
all over; and a brightly decorated cap.
The men are no less brilliantly attired.
Their pants are nearly always a solid
shade, but decorated or patterned to
suit the individual gentleman's taste.
More so than ever before, the Czechs
bring out their costumes, adding the
cheerful color of a festive European
village to the Texas countryside.
DR. HENRY R. MARESH­HISTORIAN
OF THE
TEXAS CZECHS
1934
Dr. Henry Maresh, according to all
accounts, was a fine doctor and skilled
surgeon. But perhaps his greatest con­tribution
was his collaboration on a
history of the Czech people in Texas.
The Czech Pioneers of the Southwest is one
of the most accurate and informative
books dealing with the history of a
Texas ethnic group. Dr. Maresh trav­eled
across the state in the early 1930's,
gathering first-hand information from
interviews with surviving pioneers and
their descendants. He conversed with
fellow Czechs in their own language
and took notes in longhand. Henry
Maresh was such an unassuming
person, that after the book was com­pleted,
he was reluctant to have his
name listed as coauthor, feeling that
such an act would seem pretentious.
The volume was published in 1934.
Czechs in national costume
Maresh, the son of immigrant
parents, was born in Caldwell, Texas,
in 1890. As a youth he wanted to
become a minister, but as he grew
olaer he set his sights on a medical
career. Henry and his brother,
Rudolph E. Maresh, taught public
school in Czech communities to save
money for medical training. They
attended The University of Texas at
Austin, where Henry became the first
student to sign up for Charles Knizek's
Czech language course. In 1919 the
Dr. Henry R. Maresh
brothers graduated from The Univer­sity
of Texas Medical Branch at
Galveston. After a stint in the army,
plus an internship, Henry and
Rudolph opened a medical practice in
Houston in 1921. They retained the
joint practice until Henry's death in
1957. In addition to his medical ser­vice,
Henry was a prominent business­man.
He was president of the Liberty
Loan and Building Association, and
owner of the Maresh Machine and
Welding Company. He was also a
widely-known Methodist layman. Dr.
Maresh remained active in Czech
affairs and in medicine until shortly
before his death.
CZECH PASTRY
BAKE AT TAYLOR
The Czech people are famous for their
pastries, one of which is the Ieolache.
Baking this pastry is a skill practiced
several times a year by a number of
Czech women's groups. The Christian
Sisters of the Taylor Brethren Church
hold a Ieolache bake quarterly to raise
money for the church. The fillings­poppy
seed, pineapple, apricot, cottage
cheese and prune - are prepared the
day before the bake. Several women
arrive as early as 4:00 a.m. to begin
making the first batch of dough. No
one uses a recipe. Kolaches are made
from a formula handed down from
generation to generation in Czech
families. The Christian Sisters work in
assembly-line fashion. Some make the
dough, others cut it into the desired
round shape, a third group puts in the
filling, and one woman operates the
large oven which holds 14 pans of
kolaches. After the Ieolaches are baked,
each is given a generous brushing of
butter. By mid-morning people are
waiting in lines to buy the more than
8,000 Ieolaches which will be baked
before the day ends.
THE ENNIS
POLKA FESTIVAL
On the first weekend in May of each
year, the town of Ennis, Texas, enter­tains
over 30,000 visitors celebrating
the National Polka Festival. Czechs,
mostly of the third and fourth genera-
21
Czech pastry bake at Taylor
tion in Texas, comprise between 35
and 40 percent of the local population
in this town southeast of Dallas. They
provide much of the food, music and
street dancing which leave participants
in a state of happy exhaustion. Activi­ties
also include a main street parade,
performances by Sokol tumblers and
gymnasts, and the blare of many,
many polka bands. The bands play
continuously from 8:30 on Saturday
night until the early morning hours,
beginning again at 2:00 on Sunday
Ennis Festival parade
22
afternoon. The restaurant of Ennis
offers typical Czech dishes for the
weekend. The offerings include klobasa
sausage, zapecene veprovi (cooked pork),
kysele zeli (sauerkraut), damaci chleba
(homemade bread) and pecivo (pas­trie~)
- including the famous Czech
kolache. Begun in 1967, the Ennis Polka
.. Festival has become a much-antici­pated
event for Texas Czechs and
. others who enjoy good music, good
food and good fun.
FRANK J. MALINA­TEXAN
ON THE
NEW FRONTIERS
One of the most spectacular frontiers­man
of our time is Dr. Frank J.
Malina, who pioneered in rocketry
and space exploration when these were
merely topics in science fiction. Then,
in true pioneer style, he left this field
to go in search of new worlds to
conquer. For several years he worked
in the area of international coopera­tion,
achieving a position of leadership
in this realm . Again he moved on, to
explore the relationship between art,
science and technology, so that
modern man can begin to understand,
through art, the strange new world into
which he has been thrust so suddenly.
Malina's father came to Texas
from his native Moravia at the age of
16, in 1897. He became a musician
and, eventually, director of the
Brenham High School band. In 1920
he took his family back to Czechoslo­vakia
on a visit, bought a small hotel
and decided to stay there. Young
Frank's teachers soon discovered his
exceptional mind and advised the
family that he should be given every
educational opportunity. The family
moved back to Texas in 1925, in order
to accomplish this end. In 1930, after
graduating from Brenham High
School, young Malina entered nearby
Texas A&M. In 1934 he received his
bachelor of science degree in mechani­cal
engineering. At the California
Institute of Technology he won two
advanced degrees and a Ph.D. in
aeronautics in 1940.
While still in college young
Malina became fascinated with the
possibilities of rocket propulsion. From
his pioneering projects came the jet­assisted
takeoff which presaged true jet
flight, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
our earliest rocket-propelled missiles,
and the WAC Corporal, America's first
successful high-altitude sounding
rocket. Then, with this field success­fully
opened, Malina turned his
attention to the Natural Sciences
Department of UNESCO at Paris,
working on the problems of overly
humid and arid lands. By 1951 he was
head of the Division of Natural
1
1
Frank j. Malina with WAC Corporal
Sciences Research for UNESCO.
Then in 1953 he resigned to set up
studios as a graphic artist. He soon
became the world's leading proponent
of kinetic art. His Lumidyne tech­nique
involved a combination of
painted surfaces, acted on by light,
with movement to produce an unend­ing
series of light-color patterns,
constantly evolving and changing. In
1960 he was a founder (later the third
presiden t) of the In ternational
Academy of Astronautics, a prime
factor in developing cooperation
between space scientists of all nations.
Concerned by the lack of communica­tion
between artists and the growing
chasm between the arts and sciences,
Dr. Malina, in 1967, founded Leonardo,
The International Journal of the Contem­porary
Artist. He has been its editor
from the beginning.
At present Frank J. Malina of
Brenham and Paris is convinced that
man must understand this new world
of science and space in order to survive
in it, and that this understanding must
be both intellectual and emotional. His
kinetic art is a tool for accomplishing
this purpose.
CZECH TEXANS TODAY
The exodus of Czechs from rural com­munities
began during World War I
and accelerated during and after
World War II. The small farming
communities, though they possessed a
certain amount of rural charm and
pastoral atmosphere, did not offer job
or career opportunities for the younger
generation. A number of the towns es­tablished
by Czech pioneers in the 19th
century are virtual ghost towns, many
marked only by a highway sign. Often
a ·few older people remain, but the
young ones are now concentrated in
the great urban centers of Texas. Today
one can look in vain on a highway map
for communities which were once vital
centers of Czech economic and cultur­allife:
Anton, Dubina, Frydek, Praha,
Haiduk, Hostyn, Kovar, Kutna Hora,
Marak, Mikeska, Moravan, Moravia,
Nechanitz, Pisek, Novohrad, Ratibor,
Roznov, Smetana, Tabor. . . .
But if one looks in the telephone
directories of any Texas city or town,
he will find a good sprinkling of Czech
names: Breska, Cervenka, Houdek,
Jalufka, Matula, Labaj , Skrabanek
and many others. In these cities and
in some of the smaller towns as well,
Czech pride and traditions are kept
very much alive by Czech social and
fraternal organizations, and through
such annual festivities as the Czech
celebration, at Dallas, Ennis, New
Braunfels, Praha and Corpus Christi.
The thread of Texas's Czech heritage
has been woven into the cloth of the
general Texas experience. It still
remains a distinctive thread, which can
be seen and traced by those who look
with knowing eyes.
Boys' baseball game
23
Italic numerals identify illustrations.
Agricultural Benevolent Society of
St. Isidor
see Rolnicka Podporujici Jednota
Sv. Isidor
Alexander (ship) 5
Alleyton, Texas 7
American Folklife Festival 14
Anton, Texas 23
Austin County, Texas 6
Austin, Texas 18, 19
Austria-Hungary, Peoples of (map) 3
Baca, Frank 14
Baca's Band 13-14, 13
Barton, Rev. Josef 19
Bastrop, Texas 11
Batla, Tom 7
Bergmann, Ernst 5-6
Bluff, Texas
see Hostyn, Texas
Bohemia 3, 4, 5, 6, 20
Bohemian Colony, Texas 16-17
Brackettville, Texas 5
Bratrske Listy (newspaper) 13
Brenham, Texas 10, 19, 22, 23
Bryan, Texas 13
C.S.P.S. (Czech fraternal insurance
organization) 15
Cada, Joseph 13
Caldwell, Texas 19, 21
Cat Spring, Texas 6, 7, 8
Cechie (student club) 19
Cermna, Bohemia 6
Ceska Katolicka Jednota Texaska
see Katolicka J ednota Texaska
Ceskoslovensky Ctenarsky Spolek 11
Chlumsky, Rev. Adolph 16, 16, 19
Christian Sisters of the Taylor
Brethren Church
see Taylor Brethren Church
Chromcik, Rev. Josef 12-13, 14
Chromcik School 12, 13
Civil War, U.S. 4, 5, 7, 9-10, 12
Coggin, Gray 17
Cooking, Czech 21, 22, 22
Corpus Christi, Texas 16, 23
Costumes, Czech
see Folk dress, Czech
Cotton farming and industry 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 14, 20, 20
Czech Catholic Union of Texas
see Katolicka J ednota Texaska
Czech language and literature 3, 11, 13,
15, 19
Czech Parliament 5, 6
Czech Pioneers of the Southwest 5, 21
Czechoslovak Legion 20
Czechoslovakian Reading Club
see Ceskoslovensky Ctenarsky Spolek
Dallas, Texas 23
Del Rio, Texas 5
Dignowity, Albert Wentzel 5
Dignowity, Amanda (McCann) 4-5, 4
Dignowity, Anthony Francis (Frank) 5
Dignowity, Anthony Michael 4, 4
INDEX
Doubrava, Ferdinand, 10, 10
Dress, Czech
see Folk dress, Czech
Dubina, Texas 8, 8, 9, 12, 23,
Back cover
Ennis Polka Festival 17, 21-22, 22, 23
Ennis, Texas 21-22, 22, 23
Farming 8, 8, 20, 20
Fayette County, Texas 7, 8, 9, 12, 19
Fayetteville, Texas 7, 7, 13, 14, 14, 15,
15,23
Folk dress, Czech 20-21, 21
Fredericksburg, Texas 4
Frydek, Texas 23
Galveston, Texas 3, 9, 13, 18
Germans in Texas 3, 4, 6, 13
Gleuckman, FJ. 13
Granger, Texas 16, 19, 20
Gulf Coast and Santa Fe Railroad 9
Haiduk, Texas 23
Haidusek, Augustin 12, 12, 13
"Harmony House," San Antonio,
Texas 4
Hegar, Rev. Josef 19
Hermann, Augustine 3
Holesov, Moravia 7
Holik, J J. Cover
Hostyn, Texas 7-8, 9, 14, 23
H4iluston, Texas 20, 21
Hus, John 16, 19
H~s Memorial School (Husova Skala)
19
Immigration to Texas, Czech 3, 5,
6-7, 10
International Academy of
Astronautics 23
Jet Propulsion Laboratory 22
KJ.T.
see Katolicka Jednota Texaska
Katolicka Jednota Texaska 8, 13, 14,
14, 15, 16
Kinzek, Charles
see Knizek, Charles
Knizek, Charles 19, 19, 21
Kolaches 21, 22, 22
Kopperl, Charles 9
Kopperl, Herman B. 9
Kopperl, Isabella (Dyer) 9
Kopperl, Moritz 9, 9
Kostoryz, Stanley L. 16-17, 17
Kovar, Texas 23
Kreuzburg (Cross Mountain) 4
Kutna Hora 23
Lacjac, Rev. B.E. 11
La Grange, Texas 8, 12, 13, 15
Lanskroun District, Czechoslovakia 6
Lavaca County, Texas 16, 16
Leonardo, The International Journal of the
Contemporary Artist 23
Lesikar, Josef L. 6-7, 6
home at Nelsonville 7
Lesikar, Therese (Schiller) 6
Liberty Loan and Building
Association 21
Lidiak, Frank 13
Lidiak, John 9-10, 10
Lidiak, Josef 9, 9
Lipman, A. 9
Long Prairie, Texas
see Nechanitz, Texas
Malina, Frank J . 22-23, 23
Marak, Texas 23
Maresh, Henry R. 5, 21, 21
Maresh, Rudolph E. 21
Maresh Machine and Welding
Company 21
Marshall, Bruce (illustrations) 8, 10
Matejowsky, Wenzel 11-12
store 11, 11, 12
Menzl, Rev. Gottfried 3-4
Mexican War 4
Midland, Texas 17, 18
Mikeska, Texas 23
Moravan, Texas 23
Moravia 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14,
20, 22
Moravia, Texas 19, 23
Moravske Noviny 6
Muldoon, Fr. Michael 7
Naplava, Dominik 20, 20
Nasinec (newspaper) 13
Navidad River 8, 12
Nechanitz, Moravia 11
Nechanitz, Texas 11, 23
Needville, Texas 15
Nepomuk, Bohemia 6
New Amsterdam (New York City) 3
New Braunfels, Texas 3, 23
New Ulm, Texas 7
Newspapers, Czech-Texan 3, 12, 13
Novohrad, Texas 23
Odessa, Texas 18
Olomouc, Moravia 12
Opocensky, Rev. Joseph 10
Peter, Joseph 8
Peter, Joseph, Jr. 8-9, 9
Peter, Mrs. Joseph, Jr. 9
Pisek, Texas 23
Pliska, John 17-18, 18
Polansky, Alois 14, 14
Polansky, Johanna 14
Polish uprising, 1830 4
Prague, Czechoslovakia 5, 6, 11, 16
Praha, Texas 18, 19, 23
Rabb Ranch, Texas 16
Ratibor, Texas 23
Revolution of 1848, Czech 5, 5, 6
Reymershoffer, Jan 7
Reymershoffer, Jan, Jr. 7
Reymershoffer family 10
Rice's Crossing, Texas 18
Rolnicka Podporujici Jednota Sv. Isidor
16, 16
Roman Catholicism on the Texas
frontier 3-4
Ross Prairie, Texas 16
Rowena, Texas 18, 18, 19
Roznov, Texas 23
25
I
I I
I
Runnels County, Texas 19
SPJST
see Slavonic Benevolent Order of the
State of Texas
State of Texas
Smetana, Texas 23
Sokol 17, 17, 22
Strouzny, Silesia 6
St. John's Parish, Fayetteville, Texas 13
San Antonio, Texas 4
Svoboda (newspaper) 12, 13, 13
Tabor, Texas 23
Shiller, Annie Louise 19, 19
Shiller, John Jaroslav 18-19, 18, 19
drugstore 18, 19
Taylor Brethren Church 19, 21
Taylor, Texas 15, 19, 21, 22
Temple, Texas 19
Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State
of Texas 13, 15, 16
Museum, Temple, Texas 19
Slovan (newspaper) 13
Texan (newspaper) 13
Texas National Bank 9
Tuberculosis cure 14
UNESCO 22-23
Slovanska Podporujici Jednota
Statu Texas
Unity of the Brethren 13, 16
University of Texas at Austin 15, 19
see Slavonic Benevolent Order of the
PHOTO CREDITS
All photos are from the collection of The University of Texas Institute
of Texan Cultures at San Antonio, courtesy of the following lenders.
Credits from left to right are separated by semicolons and from top
to bottom by dashes.
Cover
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
SPJST Supreme Lodge, Temple.
Richard Pipes, Europe since 1815 (New York: American
Heritage Co. , 1968).
A 20th Century History of Southwest Texos, v. I (Chicago, New
York, Los Angeles: The Lewis Publishing Co. , 1907)
pp. 176-77; A 20th Century History of Southwest Texos,
pp. 176-77.
Vaclav Husa, Dejiny Ceslcoslovensko. (Praha: Orbis, 1962)
facing p. 224.
JJ. Stalmach, Smithville.
J J. Stalmach, Smithville -The Institute"ofTexan Cultures.
The Institute of Texan Cultures -The Institute of Texan
Cultures.
Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Koenig, Dubina; William S. Speer,
Encyclopedia of the New W"'t . .. (Marshall: U.s. Biographical
Publishing Company, 1881); The Institute of Texan
Cultures.
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Veseli, Texas
see Wesley, Texas
Vestnik (newspaper) 13
Victoria, Texas 19
Vienna, Austria 5, 9, 16
WAC Corporal (rocket) 22, 23
Weddings, Czech 15-16, 15
Weimar, Texas 8
Wesley Brethren Church 10-11, 11, 16
Wesley, Texas 10, 11, 16
West, Texas 19
West Texas 17, 19
Williamson County, Texas 18
World War I 20, 23
Zapudov, Bohemia 5
Sister M. Andrea Harrington, Ponca City, Oklahoma­Barker
Texas History Center, The University of Texas at
Austin.
KJ.T., La Grange - Sister M. Andrea Harrington, Ponca
City, Oklahoma.
Sister M. Andrea Harrington, Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Frank Machu, Taylor-Nose Dejiny (Granger: Tiskem
Casopisu N asinec, 1939).
Lillian Palethorpe, Houston-The Institute of Texan
Cultures.
Mary Beth Pliska, A Blacksmith's Airplane (n.p., 1965),
p. 26 - Pauline Shiller, Rowena.
SPJST Supreme Lodge, Temple; Estelle Hudson and
Henry R. Maresh, Czech Pioneers in the Southw",t (Dallas:
South-West Press, 1934).
Estelle Hudson and Henry R. Maresh, Czech Pioneers in
the Southw",t (Dallas: South-West Press, 1934)-SPJST
Supreme Lodge, Temple.
Chamber of Commerce, Ennis - Mrs. Henry R. Maresh,
Houston.
The Institute of Texan Cultures-Dallos Morning News,
Page 10 Dallas.
Page 11
The Institute of Texan Cultures -The Institute of Texan
Cultures.
The Institute of Texan Cultures -The Institute of Texan
Cultures.
Page 23 E & S (Engineering & Science) Magazine, February 1968, The
California Institute of Technology, v. XXXI, no. 5; Sister
M. Andrea Harrington, Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Page 12
26
Sister M. Andrea Harrington, Ponca City, Oklahoma­The
University of Texas, Longhorn (Austin, 1909).
Back Cover Edward Peter, Weimar.
One of a series
prepared by the staff of
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
AT SAN ANTONIO