Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU)

by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

The industrial nature, skill, workmanship and precision were attributes that made the Czech tradesmen famous throughout Europe. To become a tradesman or craftsman required on the job training, schooling, as well as apprenticeship with a master tradesman or craftsman and usually several years of experience abroad. Until 1859 craftsmen and artisans in the Czechlands were organized in guilds (“cechy”) which enjoyed special privileges, especially in the earlier days (1).

It is therefore not surprising that Czech tradesmen found immediate employment after they immigrated to the US and some of them soon established themselves as independent proprietors of shops (2). …read more

FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO PRESENT GENEALOGICAL LINEAGES

Compiled and Edited by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

SVU Press, 1987. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 86-063911
Copyright (C) Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, Inc. 1987
No part of tis publication may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, or any other means without written permission from the Society.

INTRODUCTION

The part played by the immigrants from Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia – that comprise today’s Czechoslovakia-tn the growth and development of The United States has not been by any means insignificant. From early colonial times and later immigration waves to The present, these European settlers and their descendants have participated in practically every sector of the American society and have made important contributions to economic, cultural and spiritual life in this country.1 A good measure of these people’s contributions and achievements is their record of selection and election to public office.

The present volume represents the first serious effort to identify the members of the US. Congress who have their roots in Czechoslovakia. The listing includes persons born on the territory of today’s Czechoslovakia as well as individuals of Czechoslovak descent, born in the United States. The term Czechoslovak, as defined here, should be interpreted strictly in a geographic context without regard to nationality of The listed individuals.

Altogether, sixty-one individuals are listed, of whom forty-five can claim their ancestry in Czechoslovakia. In addition, the publication includes sixteen other legislators whose spouses are of Czechoslovak descent.

Of the first forty-five legislators whose ancestry is rooted on the territory of today’s Czechoslovakia, there are fifteen U.S. senators and Thirty-six U.S. representatives, Six individuals, namely Bender, Brewster, Clayton, Dworshak, Hruska, and Lamar have served both Houses, which explains the seeming discrepancy between the number of the listed individuals and the number of offices they held. Congressmen Michalek, Sabath and Stefan are the only legislators who actually were born on the territory of Czechoslovakia, all others have been born in the U.S. …read more

Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

The Demuth family, who immigrated to America from Moravia in the early part of the eighteenth century, had the distinction of being the charter members of the renewed Unitas fratrum Church, later known as the Moravian Church (1). After the initial stay in Georgia, the members of the family settled permanently in Pennsylvania, and later several branches of the family moved to Ohio. Since then the family has greatly multiplied and its descendants are scattered throughout the U.S., not to speak of the branches that remained in Europe.

The first generations of the Demuths in this country played an important role as pioneer settlers and builders of the early Moravian settlements. By vocation and avocation they were farmers, carpenters, gunsmiths, merchants or teachers. Despite the generally antiwar stand of the Moravian Church, several members of the Demuth family distinguished themselves as soldiers during the American Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War. In subsequent generations we find the Demuths practically in every profession, the number of physicians among them has been particularly high.

The Demuth’s tobacco shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, founded in 1770, is the oldest store of its kind in the United States and has been maintained by the family to date (2,3). Several members of this branch of the family were talented artists, especially Charles Demuth (1883-1935), who achieved national acclaim as a landscape artist (4, 5). Oliver James Demuth (1860-1912) entered politics, becoming county commissioner for Tuscarawas County, Ohio, state senator, mayor of New Philadelphia and later Ohio State Superintendent of the State Memorial Park at Schoenbrunn (6).

Genealogically speaking, there have been several attempts made to construct the family tree of the American Demuths, the most extensive being that of C.F. Buttershell (7) in his The Demuth Family and the Moravian Church. This attractive fifty-two page booklet, published in 1931, is a combination of a family tree and a narrative. The early data were adopted from the genealogy chart of the Demuth family (8), compiled by Rev. Th. Mueller, archivist for the Records of the Moravian Church in Herrnhut, Saxony. In July 1941, Anna E. Gray, jointly with Donald S. Gray, prepared a typescript entitled “Demuth Family Tree” (9), based on the information gathered during the annual reunions of the local Demuth Association in Ohio. It is not a family tree in the usual sense but rather a compilation of names (without any vital data), each name having been assigned a composite number from which one can determine the place of a given individual on the family tree. Although the process is somewhat cumbersome, the compilation is, nevertheless, quite useful in furnishing names of the descendants in later generations, at least for some of the lines.

More recently, Sarah Davies Hogeboom (10) began issuing a family genealogical journal, Sweet their Memories Are, which includes several sections devoted to the Demuth family. The chief value of this publication lies in the new genealogical data provided on the descendants of Wilhelm Gottlieb Demuth (1791-1882). The information has not, as yet, been brought up to date.

Most American Demuth lines originated either from Gotthard Demuth (1694-1744) or Gottlieb Demuth (1715-1776), the latter being the nephew of the former. On the close inspection of the data on Gotthard’s and Gottlieb’s descendants, as depicted in the published genealogies, referenced above, one is struck by one oddity, namely that Gottlieb Demuth is listed as having two sons, bearing the same given name, Christoph, one born in 1738 and the other in 1755. If the first Christoph would have died as a child, it would have been quite natural for the parents to give one of their later children the same name. However, in this case, the two Demuths lived, married, and both had children. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the older Christoph was born in the year of 1738, which is difficult to reconcile with fact that his presumed father Gottlieb married Christoph’s mother Eva Gutsler in 1739 or 1740.
In the effort to throw some light on these discrepancies; this writer has examined some of the early Moravian records and reconstructed the early history and genealogy of the Demuth family, which is the basis for the present paper. The main sources of my information were the manuscripts written by Rev. George Neisser (11), the first diarist of Bethlehem, who kept meticulous notes of the happenings and events of the early Moravians after they emigrated to Herrnhut and later to America.

An extremely useful source was also the rather rare publication of Dr. Felix Moeschler (12), entitled Die alte Herrnhuter Familien, a fairly reliable source of information on the Moravian and Bohemian emigrants, based on authentic church records and archival material in Herrnhut.

The Ancestral Home

The oldest known ancestor from whom  rose most of the American Demuth lines, was Christoph Demuth, purportedly a magistrate in Karlov (Karlsdorf), Moravia, a province of today’s Czech Republic. Originally, however, he came from Šanov, Moravia, where his two oldest children were also born.

Some publications state that he lived in Carlsdorf, also spel1ed as Handelsdorf or Kathelsdorf, while. others give Karlsdorf, Handelsdorf or Radelsdorf, Bohemia as his home. All the authors agree on one point, however, namely that the community cannot be located on any modern or contemporary map.

According to the official Czechoslovak historical gazetteer (13) the community Karlsdorf, as it should properly be spelled, is identical with the village known under the Czech name Karlov. I was originally under the impression that this village was located in the Krnov District but, after reexamination of all the existing facts, I came to the conclusion that his village is located, what, in1850, was known as Šilperk District. During 1869-1910 it was part of the Zábreh District and subsequently renamed Moravský Karlov. During 1921-1930 it was still an independent village (“obec”) but in 1950 it became a part of the village Bílá Voda in the Zábreh District. Since 1951 it was attached to the village Cervená Voda in the Ústí nad Orlicí District. Considering these changes and the fact that the community is rather small, and that there are a number of other villages with the same name, it is not surprising that it could not be easily located on a conventional map.

It is not known exactly when Christoph Demuth was born or when he actually died. The information about his wife, whose maiden name is not known, is equally scanty. What we do know are the names of his five children, i.e., Tobias, Justina (14), Christoph, Gotthard, and Maria Magdalena.

The family was nominally Catholic, of the “Hidden Seed (15), who for conscience sake and personal persecution, chose to flee from their homeland to seek refuge in Herrnhut, a newly organized Bohemian Brethren haven in Upper Lusatia, Saxony on the estate of Count Nicholas Ludwig van Zinzendorf.

The Herrnhut Exiles

The first of the Demuth family to leave for exile in Herrnhut (in 1725) was Christoph Demuth’s second oldest son Christoph, his oldest son Tobias having died in 1715. A few weeks later, Christoph returned to Moravia for his wife and his children. He and his wife, Anna Maria Schmidt, were participants at the first celebration of the Holy Communion in the parish church of Berthelsdorf on August 13, 1727. This was a memorable event marking the beginning of the Renewed Church of the Brethren. In 1728 the Demuths were joined in exile by Christoph’s third son Gotthard, and Christoph’s oldest daughter Justina.

Their sister-in-law, the widow of Tobias, Rosina (Tonn) Demuth, came to Herrnhut in 1729, after managing to escape from prison in Moravia where she was held for over a year. She apparently came to Herrnhut together with her daughter Veronica. The remaining children .of Tobias and Rosina Demuth, i.e., Joseph, (Anna) Veronica, Anna Maria and Gottlieb, were brought out of Moravia in 1730 by their uncle (Johann) Christoph Demuth. They were also accompanied by (Johann) Christoph Demuth’s sister, Maria Magdalena (Demuth) Wetzel, and her children.

While in Herrnhut, Gotthard Demuth married, in 1727, Regina Leupold, a daughter of George Leupold, whose family emigrated to Herrnhut in 1727 from Mladkov, Bohemia.

Veronica (or Verona) Demuth, the oldest daughter of Tobias and Rosina , was married twice, first in 1738 to Valentine Loehans, who died in 1742, and secondly in 1743 to Johann Boehner.

Joseph Demuth, a brother of Veronica, married in 1738 Judith Schaul, and their sister, Rosina Demuth, married an individual bearing the surname Hinz.

The remaining daughter of Tobias and Rosina, Anna Maria Demuth, was a woman of rare spiritual gifts who lived with the family of Count Zinzendorf and was ordained Deaconess. In 1738 she married Rev. A. A. Lawatsch with whom she served in various offices and places, in the capacity of spiritual adviser or general “Elder” of the female portion of the Church. 

American Settlers

The first Demuth to step on the American soil was Gotthard Demuth (1694-1744) who sailed in a group of ten selected Brethren in November 1734 to the English Province of Georgia for the purpose of colonization. The vessel “Two Brothers” commanded by Capt. Thompson arrived off Savannah on March 22, 1735. The Moravian Brethren who arrived with Demuth were Augustus G. Spangenberg, Anton Seyffert, John Toltschig, Gottfried Haberecht, Peter Rosa, Michael Haberland, George Haberland, Frederic Riedel and George Waschke. With the exception of Spangcnberg, all were natives of the Czech Lands.

Gotthard Demuth’s wife, Regina (Leupold) Demuth (1702-1774), followed a year later, arriving off Savannah on the “Simmonds” on February 16. This vessel brought altogether 25 persons, the majority of whom came either from Bohemia or Moravia, including Gotthard Demuth’s nephew, Gottlieb Demuth (1715-1776), and David Nitschmann (1696-1772), the first Bishop of the Renewed Unitas fratrum Church – the Moravian Church. Among the passengers on the ship which brought the Moravians to Georgia was also John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, who became acquainted with the Brethren, attended their services, worshiped with them, and lived in their home during his initial stay in Georgia.

The stay of the Moravians in Georgia was not a happy one and led early to their decision to leave for Pennsylvania where they settled permanently. Seven of the colonists, including Gotthard Demuth and his wife Regina, left Georgia in 1737 and settled in Germantown, while Gottlieb Demuth moved to a new settlement in Matetsche, PA..
The next Demuths to come to America were (Johann) Christoph Demuth (1689-1754) and his wife, Anna Maria (Schmidt) Demuth (1697-1761), who sailed together with the other members of “The Second Sea Congregation” on “The Little Strength,” arriving in New York on November 26, 1743. They settled in Bethlehem, becoming members of the “Moravian Economy.” (Johann) Christoph Demuth died in Nazareth, PA and his name appears on a monument along with other names, giving the date of his death as March 5, 1754.

Gottlieb’s sister, Anna Maria (Demuth) Lawatsch (1712-1760), and her husband, Rev. Andrew Anton Lawatsch (d. 1771), sailed to America on the vessel “Irene,” arriving in New York City on May 17, 1751. She died on January 20, 1760 and is buried in the Old Moravian Cemetery of Bethlehem.

The oldest sister of Gottlieb, Veronica (Demuth) Boehner (1706-1765), who died at St. John, W.I., must have lived in Pennsylvania at least temporarily, considering the fact that two of her children, Paul Boehner (1745-1748) and Elizabeth Boehner (1751-1761), were buried in Bethlehem and another child, John Frederick Boehner (1745-1791), was buried at Nazareth.

There is also a record of the burial at Bethlehem of Agnes (Demuth) Loesch (1749-1832), a daughter of Gottlieb’s brother Joseph Demuth, the wife of a missionary, George Matthew Loesch (1750-1831).

The Family of Gotthard and Regina Demuth

Based on Neisser’s List of the Bohemian and Moravian Emigrants to Saxony and Rev. Th. Mueller’s Family Tree, it is certain that Gotthard and Regina Demuth had at least one child, bearing the name Maria Magdalena (1731-1778), while living in Herrnhut. Dr. Pelix Moeschler in his Herrnhuter Familien lists actually four children who were born to them in Herrnhut, i.e., Maria Magdalena (1729-?), Magdalena (1731-1778), Johanna Elisabeth (1732-?) and Johannes (1734­1737). The stated year of Magdalena’s death (1778) is suspect since it is hard to imagine that her mother Regina would have emigrated to America in 1736, leaving her five-year-old daughter behind.

From Neisser’s List, as well as Moeschler’s Herrnhuter Familien, it is quite clear that Gotthard and Regina had two more children after coming to America, namely, John Christoph (born September 19, 1738) and Christian Frederick (born December 26, 1740). Most records indicate that the two sons were born in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
Both Christoph and Christian were enrolled, in 1745, in the Moravian School for little boys in Frederick Township, as recorded by Rev. Abraham Reincke in his “Register of the Moravian Church”. According to this source, the two boys were born in Germantown and both were clearly identified as being the sons of Gotthard and Regina Demuth.
Gotthard Demuth, who was a cabinet- and watchmaker by vocation, died at a young age in Germantown on December 11, 1744. His widow Regina remarried on June 19, 1747, taking as her second husband the widower David Tanneberger (1696-1760), a native of Suchdol, Moravia. There was no issue from the second marriage. Regina (Leupold) Demuth Tanneberger died in Bethlehem on January 29, 1744, where she then lived.

Gotthard’s son, Christoph Demuth (1738-1818), made his home in Lancaster, PA where in 1767 he married Elizabeth Hartaffel (1746-1841), a daughter of a tobacco manufacturer. In 1770 Christoph Demuth purchased his father-in-law’s business and established Demuth’s Tobacco Shop. This is the famous Lancaster tobacco shop, situated at 114 East King Street, the oldest establishment of its kind in the United States which has been maintained by the same family from its inception to date.

Christoph and Elizabeth (Hartaffel) Demuth had a large family, consisting of ten children. Christoph’s son, Jacob Demuth (1779-1842), who succeeded his father as proprietor of the tobacco shop, was married three times, fathering a total of twenty children. It is noteworthy that among the twenty children were several amateur artists of talent. One of their descendants was the famed artist Charles Demuth (1883-1935) (4, 5)

Christoph Demuth, the founder of the tobacco shop, was not only a successful businessman but also found time to serve as a private in Captain Jacob Krug’s company of Colonel Matthias Slaugh’s battalion, Lancaster County Riflemen, in the year 1727.

The Family of Gottlieb and Eva Demuth

Gottlieb Demuth first lived in Frederick Township and the Saucon Valley. As was already mentioned, he married Eva Barbara GutsIer (1713-1784), either in 1739 or May 1740. She was a widow of Henry Hehl. Two children from her first marriage died.

According to Neisser’s List, Gottlieb and Eva Demuth had seven sons, four of whom died early, and two daughters. The name of their first son, who must have died as an infant, is not known with certainty (18). The second son, Tobias, was born in 1741 in Saucon, two miles from Bethlehem, where the young couple lived at the time.
After moving to Bethlehem, Gottlieb and Eva had two more sons, Johannes (1743-45) and Gottlieb (1745-46), who died young and were buried at the Old Moravian Cemetery in Bethlehem.

There is a record of Tobias Demuth, identified as a son of Gottlieb, as having attended the Moravian School in Frederickstown in 1745, where Gottlieb Demuth was then employed. Two additional children were born to the Demuths in Frederickstown, Anna Maria (1746-1813) and Joseph (1748-1827). The latter is buried in the Moravian Graveyard at Nazareth.

When Frederickstown School was discontinued, the Demuths and several other families moved to a Moravian settlement at Allemaengel in Lynn Township, Lehigh County. Gottlieb and his wife Eva Demuth were listed as members of the Moravian Church in Allemaengel in 1754, according to Rev. Abraham Reincke’s “Register”. While in Allemaengel, three more children were born to them, Gottlieb (1750-1825), Christopher (1755-1822), and Regina (1757-?).

During the Indian war the family had to flee from Allemaengel to Plainfield. They were among the first members of Schoeneck, where they subsequently moved. Gottlieb Demuth died at Schoeneck on October 6, 1776 at the age of sixty-one.

After the death of her husband, the widow made her home with her youngest son Christopher. She died at Schoeneck, May 20, 1784 at the age of seventy-one.

According to Gottlieb’s Last Will (20), five of his children were living at that time, namely, Anna Maria, Joseph, Gottlieb, Christopher and Rosina. It is noteworthy that all three surviving sons, Joseph (1748-1827), Gottlieb Jr. (1750-1825) and Christopher (1755-1822) actively participated in the Revolutionary War, all having been enrolled in the Second Battalion of the Northampton County, PA Militia.

Gottlieb Demuth, Jr. and Christopher Demuth later moved to Ohio in Tuscarawas County where they left a great number of descendants, many of whom are living today.

Moravian Roots of the First Lady Barbara Pierce Bush

That Barbara Pierce Bush (1925-), the wife of the former President George H. W. Bush (1924-), and the mother of the current President George W. Bush (1946-), is of Moravian descent, I reported earlier and also posted her family tree on the Internet. (19). It was also published in the periodical Kosmas (20) and as a chapter in Rechcigl’s monograph Czechs and Slovaks in America (21). 

The First Lady is a descendant of Gottlieb Demuth (1715-1776), a native of Karlov in Moravia, who immigrated to America in 1736. Besides two sons and two daughters, his wife Eva Barbara Gutsler gave birth to another son, named Christopher on August 22, 1755 in Allemangel, Pennsylvania, where the family lived at that time. In 1777, the mentioned Christopher (1755-1823) married Susanna Catherine Klein (1758-1817) and owned land in the vicinity of Shoeneck and Nazareth. He and his brother Gottlieb took part in the American Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania militia, under the command of Captain Jacob Heller. Their names appear on the memorial monument in the Gnadenhuetten cemetery, Ohio, where the brothers moved.

Christopher and Susanna Catherine Klein had altogether 10 children, two sons and eight daughters. Of these, Margaret Demuth (1793-1850) married John Flickinger (1787-1824) on April 7, 1812. Soon after, the War of 1812 started during which the State of Ohio was exposed to constant attacks by the Indians. John Flickinger served in the militia at that time. Even though John did not belong to the Moravian church, the names of his first four children can be found in the Moravian Church registry in Gnadenhuetten and Beersheba. Their youngest son Stephen Flickinger (1823-1869), from whom Barbara Bush descended, was born on May 4, 1823. Soon after he was born, the family was stricken by a misfortune when John Flickinger died at an early age of 37 years, leaving the young widow with six children, ranging in age from 1 to10. A year later, Margaret married James Tracy (1799-1889).
Stephen Fleckinger married Margaret A. Figley with whom he had 7 children. He died also relatively young at the age of 45 on January 22, 1869, leaving the widow with so many children to take care of. Their son Jacob Marion Flickinger (1849-1917) married Sarah A. Haines (1855­1888). They had one daughter together, whom they named Lula Dell. Sarah died also very young, in 1888, at the age of 33 years. 

Lula Dell Flickinger (1875-1957) married on March 31, 1895 James Edgar Robinson (1868-1932), the son of the Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. They had four children: Pauline, Sarah, Eloise and James. Based on the Robinson’s family tradition, they were all members of the Presbyterian Church.

Their daughter Pauline was a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she met her future husband Marvin Pierce (1893-1969), whom she married in 1918. They then removed to New York where Pierce worked for the McCall’s Publishing Co., of which he later became director.

Their daughter Barbara, the future First Lady of the United States, was born on June 8, 1925 in the city of Rye, New York. She married the future President George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-) in 1945. Their first son George Walker Bush was born on June 6, 1946. At the time of his birth, his parents lived in New Haven, Connecticut, where George Bush was a student at Yale University.

Barbara Bush’s mother, Pauline Robinson died in an automobile accident in 1949, at the time when Barbara was pregnant with her second child. Their second child was a daughter Robin who died prematurely at the age of three on leukemia. Afterwards four more children were born, including John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, the former Governor of Florida.

ENDNOTES

http://www.svu2000.org/czechoslovak-america/

by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

It has generally been assumed that the first emigrants from the Czechlands who permanently settled in Pennsylvania were Moravian Brethren in the eighteenth century who sought refuge in America from religious persecution. We are, of course, referring here to permanent settlers since otherwise there is a plentiful evidence that a Bohemian native, by name of Augustine Herman, traveled through this territory already in the second part of the 17th century.

The first contingent of Moravian Brethren arrived in America in March 1735. They included Anton Haberland, Frederick Riedel, peter Rosa, George Waschke, and Gottfried Haberecht, all, but the last one having been Moravians or Bohemians. Haberecht was a native of Silesia which, at that time, was still an integral part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. The group was preceded in September 1734 by another member of the Moravian Church George Boehmisch (1695-1772) from Kunin, Moravia, who was hired by Schwenkfelders to bring their religions sect to America. The second group of Moravian Brethren followed in the summer of 1735, then the third, and many others, until their migration leveled off toward the end of the century.

Although the first two groups of Moravian Brethren initially settled in Georgia, they soon removed to Pennsylvania which offered more ideal conditions for practicing their faith. In 1740 they established the town of Bethlehem which became their first permanent settlement in America.

It has now come to light that there was another settler from the Czechlands living in Pennsylvania, at least a decade prior to the arrival of Moravian Brethren there. I am referring to Stephanus Styer from Bohemia, where he was born in 1688. His father John Nicholas Steiger, as was the name originally spelled, was employed as a horseman in the famed Bernard regiment of the cavalry of the King of Bohemia.

Stephanus Styer settled in 1727 on an one hundred acre farm near Germantown, Pennsylvania in Worcester township of the Montgomery County, on a site upon which a Mennonite meeting house was built, known as Metatha Church. He was christened by a Catholic priest, an army chaplain, but died in the Mennonite faith. He had many children, including Jacob, Stephen, Daniel, Catherine, Anna, and Gertrude.

His son Jacob (1719-77) was a farmer in Montgomery County and the father of at least eight children, namely Susanna, Stephen, Mary, Henry, John, Jacob, David, and Leonard. Leonard’s son David (b. 1810) was a railroad contractor who later moved to Florence in Burlington County, New Jersey. He was in active service during the civil war. Politically he was affiliated with the Whig and the Republican parties and he was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

David’s son Henry Clay (b. 1841) enlisted in 1861 in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment and during 1861—65 served in the Quartermaster Department. After leaving the army, he eventually settled in Burlington County. He was a Republican, and justice of the peace for Springfield Township, and for twenty years had been a member of the board of education. He also served his township as collector, clerk, and committeeman. Henry Clay’s son David (b.1877) attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania from which he graduated with the degree of civil engineering.

Jacob’s grandson William Augustus Styer (b. 1828), a son of John Styer (1758—1816), was a farmer in Whitpain Township, residing on a farm of one hundred acres until 1898 when Morristown became the family hone. His son Freas Styer (b. 1859) graduated in 1885 with A.B. degree from Lafayette College and in 1888 with the degree of A.M. He then began to study law at Morristown and was admitted to practice in 1887. He became widely known as a lawyer of skill and ability and commanded a large practice. In addition to his law practice he was one of the original stockholders and members of the board of directors of the Penn Trust Co., solicitor and director of several building and loan associations. and director of Morristown Box Co.

A Republican in politics, Freas Styer was a chairman of the Republican County Committee of Montgomery County and a member of the Republican State Central Committee. He was a solicitor and clerk of the county board of directors and the county solicitor, and in 1921 was appointed superintendent of the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia.

Jacob’s qreatgrandson Albanus Styer (died 1901), son of Jacob (b. 1762), also a native of Montgomery County, studied medicine, becoming an able and skillful physician. He practiced his profession for many years in the village of Montgomery Square and later moved to Ambler where he owned a farm and was the proprietor of a drug store. His son Samuel was a successful businessman. He owned three mines and shipped the product, bituminous coal, to New York, Buffalo, New England, Chicago and St. Louis. He ranked among the most extensive dealers of coal in the state.

The most successful descendant of Stephanus Styer was, however, Henry Delp Styer (b. 1862). He attended the Military Academy, graduating from there in 1864, and at the Army War College in 1914. commissioned lieutenant in 1884, Styer was promoted through grades to brigadier general in 1936.

Following the outbreak of the Spanish American War, he spent three years in the Philippine Islands, winning mention in orders for his capture of Vincente Prado, a notorious guerilla leader. From 1892 to 1896, and again 1902 to 1906, he was professor of military science and tactics at the Utah Agricultural College and from 1906 to 1909 was back in the Philippines.

In September 1917 he was placed in command of the 181st Infantry Brigade at Camp Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, from there going to the Philippines to take all troops available from that point to Siberia. In August 1918, as a brigadier general of the national army, he was given command of the A.E.F. in Siberia and led the advance on the Amur River. After being retired, at his own request, as the colonel in the regular army in 1919, he was recalled for active duty in Detroit, Michigan and headed the recruiting center there until 1922. In 1924-25 he was the head of the department of military science and tactics at the Oak Ridge Institute. For his military accomplishments he was awarded the order of Rising Sun of Japan and the War Cross of Czechoslovakia.

http://www.svu2000.org/czechoslovak-america/

by Miloslav Rechcígl Jr.

According to Thomas Capek’s classical book The Czechs (Bohemians) in America (1920), the first groups of Czechs began filtering into Chicago in 1852- 53. Similarly, a noted Czech American journalist Frantisek Boleslav Zdrubek, who lived in Chicago since 1875, stated in his first published study about the Chicago Czechs that the Czech settlers began arriving with the year 1853.

We must assume that both authors were referring to a mass migration to that city rather than to the arrival of individuals, inasmuch as both authors were aware of the fact that some Czechs lived in Chicago already before 1850, although they did not mention specific names. …read more

by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

Information concerning the arrival of the first Slovaks in this country is rather scanty and unreliable. Claims have been made that the first Sbovak to arrive in the New World was Stephanus Parmenius who in 1583 accompanied Sir Humphrey Gilbert to Canada to Newfoundland. To make it more credible some amateur historians came forward with the suggestion that his original name was Stitnicky. According to the available evidence, Parmenius whose real name was Istvan Paizson was of Hungarian origin and came originally from the city of Buda.

There was also a claim that two Slovaks, by the name of George Mata and John Bogdan, accompanied Captain John Smith on his historic voyage to Jamestown, Viriginia in 1608. This sensational “find” found its way even into the Congressional Record. Subsequently it was discovered, however, that this was a big hoax since these two individuals, whose ethnic origin was also claimed by the Poles, did not even exist.

The first individual of indisputably known Slovak origin to enter the territory of the United States was Isaac Ferdinand Sarosy. Trained as a Protestant preacher, Sarosy came to Pennsylvania in 1695 to join the colony of Francis Daniel Pastorius (1651-1720) at Germanopolia, later renamed Germantown. According to Pastorius’ account, Sarosy could not get used to the preacher’s work without fixed compensation. Disillusioned, Sarosy left Pennsylvania for Maryland where he intended sailingfor Europe. Noting more is known about his fate.

According to general belief the first immigrant of Slovak ancestry to permanently settle in America was a legendary Major John J. Polerecky (1748-1830). This information will need to be corrected, as well. In studying the early records of the Moravian Church, this author came across the name of a Slovak settler who preceded Polerecky in America by thirty five years.

The person in question was Anton Schmidt (1725-1793), a tinsmith by trade, who emigrated from Bratislava “for conscience sake” and settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1146. He was an adherent of the renewed “Unitas fratrum” and is buried with other Moravian Bretlnen in the old Moravian Cemetery n Bethlehem. His name is also listed in the Register of members of the Moravian Church.

Very little is known about him. He was married twice, first to Anna Catherine Riedt (in 1747) with whom he had five children, and the second time to a Jewess Beata Ysselstein who bore him six children. There are several references to him in Joseph Mortimer Lovering’s History of Bethlehem, in connection with his missionary activities among the Indians who gave him an Indian name “Rachwisteni.” On one occasion he set out from Bethlehem for Shamokin to rescue a fellow missionary who was captured by the Indians. On another occasion he was charged with the responsibility for burying the dead after the infamous massacre at the Mahoning.

Anton Schmidt’s name also appears among the vouchers, showing the items of expenses, as yet in existence, presented to the Continental Congress on behalf of John Bonn Varden of Philadelphia on October 23, 1779. The petition was read in Congress on October 26 and referred to the Board of Treasury, and on November 6 it was passed over to the chamber of accounts with directions to adjust the accounts. It is possible that the latter reference relates to Schmidt’s son who bore the identical name and who lived from   1740-1834.

http://www.svu2000.org/czechoslovak-america/

by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

Contrary to the general belief, it was neither Chicago nor New York nor Cleveland that initially most attracted Czech immigrants to settle there but rather the state of Wisconsin. This can be verified by the existing statistics. According to the US Census of 1860(1), in Wisconsin lived 7,060 Czech settlers, as compared to 3, 132 Czech immigrants in Missouri, 2, 700 in Iowa, 2,438 in New York, 2,106 in Illinois, and 1,317 in Ohio. Ten years later the statistics (2) were very similar. Wisconsin led again with 10,570 Czech settlers, followed by Illinois with 7,350 settlers, then came Iowa with 6,765, Missouri with 3,517, Minnesota with 2,160, New York with 2,071, Michigan with 1.1,770, Nebraska with 1,170 and Ohio with 1,423.Wisconsin was still ahead of other states in 1880 (3). However, in 1 890 (4) it fell to the third place, behind Illinois, and Nebraska. In 1 900 (5) it dropped even further to fifth place, behind Illinois, New York, Nebraska, and Ohio. …read more

by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

As we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the independence of Czechs and Slovaks from the Austro-Hungarian oppression and the foundation of Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918, we should also remember the role the Czech Americans played on behalf of their homeland.

The liberation movement for an independent Czechoslovak state had its beginnings since the earliest days of World War I. On July 7, 1914, a rally took place in Pilsen Park by the Chicago Czechs to voice their sympathy for the Serbian brothers who were attacked by the Austro-Hungarian forces. The organizer of the meeting, Jaroslav Nigrin, proclaimed on that occasion that the war would lead to the defeat and eventual breakup of Austro-Hungarian rule and that American Czechs should get ready for such eventuality. What prophetic words these were. …read more

 by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

Slovak Americans are well known for their cultural contributions in church-related activities, their ethnic press, their work in fraternal organization and for sponsorship of various community events. Less known are accomplishments of Slovak Americans in specific professions (1). This lack of knowledge has been brought about by the fact that during the mass migration in the second half of the 19th century Slovaks were generally grouped together with Hungarians or Austrians, making their identification difficult, unless they resided in Slovak immigrant communities(2). …read more

 by Miloslav Rechcígl, Jr.

Although a major exodus of Czechs to America did not take place until after the revolutionary year of 1848, there is plenty of evidence on hand attesting to numerous cases of individual migrations from the Czechlands not too long after the New World was discovered.

News about the Discovery of the New World in Bohemia

As surprising as it may sound to most of you, according to some scholars, Czechs could actually claim some credit for the discovery of the New World. I am referring to German author Franz Loeher (1) who made the claim that Martin Behaim, rather than Columbus, or for that matter Amerigo Vespucci was the true discoverer of America. Loeher celebrates Behaim, whom he considers to be a German, not only as the first European to view the coast of America off Brazil in the year 1483 but also as the instructor in western navigation of both of the putative later discoverers and explorers, Columbus and Magellan. …read more