Czech American Timeline: Chronology of Milestones in the History of Czechs in America

By Miloslav Rechcigl Jr.

Czech American Timeline chronicles important events bearing on Czech-American history, from the earliest known entry of a Czech on American soil to date. This comprehensive chronology depicts the dazzling epic history of Czech colonists, settlers, as well as early visitors, and their descendants, starting in 1519, with Hernn Corts soldier Johann Berger in Mexico, and in 1528, the Jchymov miners in Haiti, through the escapades of Bohemian Jesuits in Latin America in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Bohemian and Moravian pioneer settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) in the 17th century and the extraordinary mission work of Moravian Brethren in the 18th century, to the mass migration of Czechs from the Habsburg Empire in the second half of the 19th and the early part of the 20th centuries and the contemporary exodus of Czechs from Nazism and Communism. Historically, this is the first serious undertaking of its kind. This is an invaluable reference to all researchers and students of Czech-American history, as well as to professionals and amateurs of Czech-American genealogy, and to individuals interested in immigration and cultural history, in general.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481757065

Miloslav Rechcigl Jr.

Míla Rechcigl, as he likes to be called, is a versatile person with many talents, a man of science and organization professionally, and Renaissance man by breadth of his knowledge and scholarly interests. Born in Czechoslovakia to a son of the youngest member of the Czechoslovak Parliament, he spent the War years under Nazi occupation and after the Communist’s coup d’état escaped to the West and immigrated to the US. He received training as biochemist at Cornell University and later served as a research biochemist at NIH. Following his additional training he became a science administrator, first at the DHEW and later at US Department of State and AID. Apart from his scientific and science administrative pursuits, he served as an editor of several scientific series and authored more than thirty books and handbooks. Beyond that, he is considered an authority on immigration history, on which subject he had written extensively. He was also one of the founders of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) and for many years served as its President.

Book preview

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

PREFACE

CHRONOLOGY

GENERAL REFERENCES

ABBREVIATIONS

In affection to my beloved wife Eva,

loving children Jack and Karen,

adorable grandchildren Greg, Kevin, Lindsey, Kristin and Paul,

great daughter-in-law Nancy

and

in memory of my and Eva’s parents

FOREWORD

This is another first for Míla Rechcigl, SVU Scholar in Residence and one of the founders and Past Presidents of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) for many years. Hardly two years have passed since the publication of his authoritative Czech American Bibliography. A Comprehensive Listing with Focus on the US and with Appendices on Czechs in Canada and Latin America, and now Rechcigl is coming out with his new Czech American Timeline: Chronology of Milestones in the History of Czechs in America.

His latest work, Czech American Timeline, is not a mere chronology of dates and events bearing on Czech Americans but it is a comprehensive chronicle of history of Czech pioneers and their descendants who affected American history, practically from the time the New World was discovered to the contemporary era.

This unique publication is a magnificent testimony, not only to the fact that the Czech American immigrants found their new home in the New World, but also that they significantly contributed to its creation. The fruit of Míla Rechcigl’s admirable efforts to trace these men and women, as well as their descendants, and to follow their phenomenal achievements and august contributions, is a permanent reminder of their, sometimes hard and difficult, but always absorbingly interesting life stories which form a strong and eternal bond between our two nations.

Míla Rechcigl, who rightly belongs among the listed, is one of the important Czech personalities, who came to the US and succeeded. He became a recognized scientist, researcher, writer and historian. At the same time, however, he never forgot where he came from. He has not forgotten his Czech roots and in his new home in Maryland he has always tried to promote mutual ties between the Americans and Czechs for the great benefit of both countries.

This distinctly informative and thought-provoking vade mecum is delightfully readable, stimulating, enthralling and inspiring to the point that you won’t be able to put it down, just as I could not. It is a must for anybody interested in Czech American history and culture. I highly recommend it.

Petr Gandalovič

Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States

PREFACE

The present Czech American Timeline chronicles important events bearing on Czech-American history, from the earliest known entry of a Czech on American soil to date.

Although the mass immigration of Czechs, or Bohemians, as they were originally known in America, occurred only after the Revolution of 1848, enterprising individuals from the Czech Lands began arriving in the New World soon after its discovery. Some of them came because of their adventurous spirit but the majority was sent there because of their particular skills or expertise.

This comprehensive chronology depicts the dazzling epic history of Czech colonists, settlers, as well as early visitors, and their descendants, starting in 1519, with Hernán Cortés’ soldier Johann Berger in Mexico, and in 1528, the Jáchymov miners in Haiti, through the escapades of Bohemian Jesuits in Latin America in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Bohemian and Moravian pioneer settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) in the 17th century and the extraordinary mission work of Moravian Brethren in the 18th century, to the mass migration of Czechs from the Habsburg Empire in the second half of the 19th and the early part of the 20th centuries and the contemporary exodus of Czechs from Nazism and Communism.

This is an chronology of historical events, places and people, their settlements in the newly found home, their strenuous and harsh beginnings under the most severe conditions, incredible adaptation to the new surroundings and melting pot, while preserving their ethnic heritage and identity, their rapid progress in economy and social and cultural life, their remarkable achievements in public service and their unique and august contributions to professions, in just about every facet of human endeavor.

Historically, this is the first serious undertaking of its kind, albeit a few lesser earlier efforts should be mentioned. The first attempt to prepare a Czech-American chronology was that of Tomáš Čapek who devoted a chapter to it in his 1926 classical Czech monograph Naše America.¹ Although now out of date, with its emphasis on memorable events in Czech-American community, it can still be of some use today. There were two other chronologies published later, one in 1978,² and another ca 2001,³ which, though being more current, don’t contain much information on the settlements and on the achievements of immigrants with Czech roots and their contributions to America.

As for the methodology, specific individuals have been included, irrespective of their language or religion preference, the only criterion being that they were born on, or have descended from, the territory of the historic Czech Lands. The original diacritical marks were retained in the names of the immigrant settlers only; in subsequent generations they were not employed, unless specifically used by some of the individuals. To make this Timeline as useful as possible for the reader, in addition to a Name Index, a number of other extensive indexes are included, i.e., relating to Settlements, the Pioneers, the Clergy, Social and Cultural Life, Public Service and Professional Life.

This is an invaluable reference to all researchers and students of Czech-American history, as well as to professionals and amateurs of Czech-American genealogy, and to individuals interested in immigration and cultural history, in general. Inasmuch as Czech-American history can be also viewed as an extension, if not an integral part, of Czech history, many a Czech, in his native country, may find this publication not only informative but it may rouse his national pride and admiration for the accomplishments of his countrymen in their new country and may inspire him/her to emulate them.

CHRONOLOGY

some 3000 years ago

Between 1898 and 1903, during his scientific travels across America, Czech-American anthropologist Aleš Hrdlička (1869-1943), a native of Humpolec, Bohemia, became the first scientist to spot and document the theory of human colonization of the American continent from East Asia only some 3,000 years ago. He argued that the Indians migrated across the Bering Strait from Asia, supporting this theory with detailed field research of skeletal remains as well as studies of the people in Mongolia, Tibet, Siberia, Alaska, and Aleutian Islands. The findings backed up the argument which later evolved into the theory of global origin of human species that was awarded by the Thomas Henry Huxley Award in 1927.

1466

The inhabitants of the Kingdom of Bohemia began to dream about the New World, ever since 1466, a quarter century before it was actually discovered, when Václav Šašek of Bířkov had written his fantastic travelogue Deník o jízdě a putování pana Lva z Rožmitálu a z Blatné z Čech až na konec světa v letech 1465-67 (A diary about the voyage and the travels of Lev of Rožmitál and Blatná from Bohemia to the end of the world in 1465-67), in which he writes that, upon reaching the village Stella obscura at the end of the Pyrenean Peninsula, they learned about the land beyond the gigantic ocean.

1483

German scholar Franz v. Löher made the claim that Martin Behaim (1459-1507), from New Bohemia (Neuböhmen), in the vicinity of Nuremberg, a noted explorer and the creator of the first globe, rather than Columbus, or for that matter Amerigo Vespucci, was the discoverer of America. Löher celebrated 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. As the name indicates, Behaim was actually of Bohemian origin, whose ancestors having moved to Nuremberg from Bohemia.

1504

The news of the discovery of the New Word reached the Kingdom of Bohemia as early as the first decade of the 16th century, during the reign of Vladislav II the Jagiellonian (1471-1516), when an early print in the Czech language, Spis o nowych zemiech A o novem swietie O niemžto gsme prwe žadne znamosti nemeli Ani kdy tzo slychali, was published in Plzeň, Bohemia in 1504, by one of the first known Bohemian printers, Mikuláš Bakalář. What is astounding is the fact that it came in the same year as the first printed Latin version.

1519

Johann Berger (ca 1502-d.), b. Osoblaha (Hotzenplotz), Moravia took part as a soldier in the expedition of Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) against Aztecs. He was presumably 17 years of age when he arrived in Mexico (Spaniards landed at Vera Cruz on March 1519), where he fell into French captivity. After being freed he took part in the exploration and battles in Venezuela and Colombia and subsequently returned to Mexico.

1528

The Welser family, Augsburg merchants, was granted rights to colonize most of north-eastern South America by Charles V. In July 1528, the first group of miners (16 men and 1 woman), largely from Bohemia and Silesia, left for America, via Antwerp and Seville in December, sailed off for Santo Domingo. Among them was Hans Trumpel (* aft.1500) from Jáchymov, Bohemia. Two months later the second group of miners (24 men) followed. Altogether some 50 volunteers came to Santo Domingo. It was an unsuccessful venture, number of people died and the remainder returned to Europe.

1536

Andrés Morav or Andrés Aleman, possibly born in Brno, Moravia, was accused of heresy by the inquisition in Mexico.

1585

Joachim Gans (ca 1560-d.), of Prague, took part in the first British colonization effort in America. On July 13, 1585, a group of 108 English colonists, including Joachim Gans, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reached Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Joachim Gans was a metallurgist by profession who was sent along to seek ores like silver and gold. The expedition returned to Europe the following year without much success.

1635

In September of that year, the ship Expedition, bound for the Barbados, had aboard one Richard Benes.

1637

Burger Jorissen (Citizen Jorissen) (1612-1671), native of Silesia, settled at Renssalaerswyck on Hudson River, New Amsterdam. He was a blacksmith by trade, who bought and conducted business on Hudson River.

1642

According to Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana (1693), John Amos Komenský (Comenius) (1592-1670), the exiled Bishop of the Bohemian Brethren, was invited to become president of Harvard College by John Winthrop, Jr., son of the Massachusetts Governor. Unfortunately, he did not accept the offer and went to Sweden instead.

1644

Augustine Heřman (1621-1686), b. Prague, the first known immigrant from Bohemia, arrived at New Amsterdam in the employment of the West India Company. He became a surveyor and one of the founders of the Virginia tobacco trade. In his time he was one of the most influential people in New Amsterdam and in 1647 he was elected to the ‘Board of Nine Men,’ a body of prominent citizens organized to advise and guide the Director-General of New Netherland of New Amsterdam. In time he would chair this Board.

1645

Juriaen Fradel, from Moravia is listed in the archives of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, as marrying Tryn Hersker. As the husband of the widow of Hendrick Hendricksen, he acquired some more land. On September 4, 1645, he was issued a land grant: 69 morgens in size (roughly 140 acres) on Long Island, 183 rods, 8 morgens of valley and an adjoining small island, east of Hellgate, opposite the islands called Three Brothers (Newton, LI).

1647

Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), b. Bolsward, the Netherlands, of Bohemian parents, came to New Amsterdam probably in 1647. Supreme Court Justice John Jay, who was his close relative, acknowledged in his biography that the Philipse family was originally of Bohemia, who had been compelled by popish persecution to take refuge in Holland, from whence he had emigrated to New York. Philipse rose to become one of the greatest landholders in the New Netherlands and was one of the wealthiest men of his time in the American colonies. Chroniclers refer to him as a ‘Bohemian Merchant Prince.’ He owned the vast stretch of land spanning from Spuyten Duyvil Creek in the Bronx to the Croton River, the bulk of modern Westchester County.

Jiří Kryštof Kaplíř of Sulevice (?-1649), b. Bohemia, is thought of being one of the first Czechs to enter Brazil. Generally known as Captain under the name of George Caplier, he was killed at the second decisive battle of Guararapes in a conflict between the Dutch and Portuguese in 1649 at Pemambuco.

Šimon Kohout of Lichtenfeld (?-1648), b. Bohemia, was a Prague physician who came to Brazil in 1647 where he soon died of swamp fever.

1651

Augustine Heřman married Jannetje Varleth from Utrecht in New Amsterdam. They had five children, all born in New Amsterdam, namely Ephraim Georgius, Casparus Augustus, Anna Margarita, Judith and Francina.

1652

Ephraim Georgius Herman (1652-1689), the oldest son of Augustine Heřman, was born in New Amsterdam. He accompanied his father’s family to Maryland, but in 1673 he was a resident of New York City. He was a man of note who held several offices under the English government in New York and later in Delaware to where he removed around 1676 and settled in New Castle. In 1673, when the Dutch fleet captured New York, he was a clerk in the Secretary of State’s Office, and was commissioned by the Dutch Council of War to administer the oath of allegiance to the inhabitants on Long Island. Removing to Delaware, he was appointed in 1676 Clerk of the Courts of New Castle and Upland. In 1680 he was appointed Surveyor for the counties of New Castle and St. Jones. About this time he joined the Labadists, a short-lived religious sect, founded by Jean de Labadie. It is said, that his father was so outraged by this that he pronounced curse upon his oldest son ‘that he might not live two years’ He actually died in 1689.

1653

Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), b. Bolsward, the Netherlands, of Bohemian heritage, was appointed one of the appraisers of the house and lot, in New Amsterdam, of another Bohemian, Augustine Heřman, which suggests that they knew each other personally. This is further affirmed by the fact that, 13 years later, in 1666, Philipse bought from Augustine Heřman a Broadway house up town Manhattan.

1654

1654 Juriaen Probasco (1627–1664) of Silesia immigrated to New Amsterdam.

1656

Casparus Augustus Herman (1656-1691), Augustine Heřman’s second son, was born in New Amsterdam. In 1661 he removed with his parents to Maryland. By 1676 he established residence on Delaware River in the vicinity of New Castle, PA. Following the death of his older brother, he inherited Bohemia Manor and moved to Cecil Co., MD. By profession he was a planter and merchant who carried out commercial activities in New York. As a contractor he built the first State House in Annapolis. He was a member of the PA General Assembly from New Castle in 1683-85 and a member of the Legislature of Maryland from Cecil Co. in 1694.

Valentin Stansel (1621-1715), b. Olomouc, Moravia. As Jesuit missionary, he went to Brazil in 1656 and remained there until 1705. After ordination he opted for missionary work in India and left for Portugal where he awaited the arrival of a ship. In the meantime he taught astronomy at the university in Evora. When his trip to India did not materialize, he was sent in 1657 to Brazil and taught at the Jesuit College and Seminary in Bahia (present Salvador). First he held the position of a professor of moral theology and later was promoted to a chancellor. In addition to his teaching career, he also conducted research in astronomy and made a number of important discoveries, especially of comets. Some of his observations were subsequently published in Prague, under the title Observationes Americanae Cometae.

Balthazar De Wolf (ca 1620-1696), a native of Sagan, Silesia, came to Hartford, CT, having arrived from Holland. In 1664 he settled in Wethersfield, CT and in 1668, he removed to Lyme. CT. Some of his descendants moved to Grand Pre, NS, Canada.

1659

Augustine Heřman (1621-1686) was sent to St. Mary’s, Maryland, with Resolved Waldron to negotiate the dispute between New Netherlands and Maryland’s proprietor Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore over ownership of the lands on the western shore of the Delaware Bay, that were claimed by both parties.

1660

Augustine Heřman, remembering the fine lands he crossed in the upper Chesapeake Bay, offered to produce a map of the region to Lord Baltimore in return for a grant of land in the area of his choosing. The offer was accepted and the grant made in September 1660 so Herman began his 10 years of work on the map. It stated that as compensation for his services Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore, would grant him Lands for Inhabitation to his Posterity and the Privilege of the Manor.

1661

Wasting no time, Heřman moved his family to Maryland by 1661. The Calverts awarded him 5,000 acres of land in return for his map of Maryland. Heřman named his new property ‘Bohemia Manor,’ after the country of his birth. In 1663, the Maryland Assembly signed a petition naming Heřman and his family naturalized citizens of Maryland. He became a respected plantation owner and held numerous county offices.

Augustine Heřman proposed construction of a canal connecting the Chesapeake and Delaware bays and agreed to clear half of a cart road joining Bohemia Manor with New Castle, DE. The canal was eventually built in 1829. It shortens the route between Baltimore and Philadelphia by 286 miles.

The village of Port Herman, located in Cecil Co., MD, named after Augustine Heřman, stands on the tract which was once leased (1713) in return for the payment of one ear of Indian corn. On the paved road, at 4 miles, is Town Point where Augustine Heřman planned, in 1661, to erect a town to be called Ceciltown in honor of Cecil Calvert. The town was never built there. Ceciltown was established about midpoint between the Sassafras and the Bohemia Rivers and in a more direct north/ south line with the Manor House. Today that town is called Cecilton.

1663

Philip Philipse (1663-1700), the eldest son of Frederick Philipse, was born in New York. In his youth he was very wild and gay, possessing very delicate constitution, which induced his father to send him to the island of Barbados to look after his property. Here in 1697 he married Maria Sparks, daughter of the governor of Barbados, who died immediately after the birth of her only child Frederick Philipse in 1698. Philip Philipse did not long survive his wife, dying in 1700, aged only thirty-seven.

1665

Adolph Philipse (1665-1750), son of Frederick Philpse, was born in New York City. Just like his father, he was a shrewd businessman and successful man of affairs. He became one of the principal land owners of the province. He owned most of the territory of the present Putnam Co. In 1722 he was elected a member of the assembly from Westchester Co., becoming its speaker in 1725, the position he held until 1737. He was again chosen speaker in 1739 and remained as such until 1745. He died a bachelor in January 1750, in his 85th year.

1669

Jacobus Fabritius (1618-1890), a Lutheran pastor from Silesia, was given permission to become pastor in New York. In 1670 he became pastor of the Swedes on the Delaware.

1671

Augustine Heřman increasingly became involved in the Maryland local affairs and was appointed justice of Baltimore County, of which Cecil County was then a part. As early as 1661 he wrote to Lord Baltimore about creating a new county at the head of the bay to be called Cecil in his new friend Cecilius Calvert’s honor. Heřman labeled Cecil County on the map of 1673 before the county was officially founded. As suggested by Augustine Heřman, Cecil County was eventually founded in 1674. As one of the leading citizens of that county he was a justice of the peace and when Cecil County came into being he assumed the same office. In 1674 he was one of the gentlemen Justices and later Gentleman of the Quorum. From 1678 to 1680 he was commissioner for the Peace in Cecil County.

1673

Augustine Heřman published in London, England, his famous map of Virginia and Maryland As it is Planted and Inhabited this Present Year 1670 Surveyed and Exactly Drawne by the Only Labour and Endeavour of Augustin Herrman, Bohemiensis.

The first group of Bohemian Jesuits was sent to Latin America as missionaries. They included: Matiáš Kukulín from Mohelnice in Moravia, Václav Christmann from Prague, Pavel Klein from Cheb in Bohemia, Josef Neumann from Olomouc, Moravia, Augustin Strobach from Jihlava, Moravia and Jan Tilpe from Silesia. Later on, the group was joined by Brother Šimon Boruhradský from Polná, Bohemia.

1679

Anna Margarita Herman (1658-1729), daughter of Augustine Heřman, was keeping house for her brother Ephraim at New Castle when Labadists visited him in 1679. She became the wife of Captain Henry Ward and, upon his death, she married Mathias Vanderheyden, a wealthy merchant and MD legislator. From the latter marriage came 4 daughters, Anna Francina, Jane V., Augustina and Ariana.

1682

Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site is a historic house museum located in Yonkers, New York. It is Westchester County’s oldest standing building, and is currently owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. It was built around 1682 by Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), of Bohemian ancestry, who, by the time of his death, had amassed a 52,000-acre estate that encompassed the entire modern city of Yonkers, as well as several other Hudson River towns. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

1684

Judith Herman (1660-1761), a daughter of Augustine Heřman, married Col. John Thompson, a planter, attorney, provincial judge a legislator from Cecil Co., MD. They left numerous descendants, many of whom live in Maryland.

Francina Herman (1662-1749), the last daughter of Augustine Heřman, married Col. Joseph Wood and inherited from her father several hundred acres of the tract of land called ‘The Three Bohemia Sisters.’

The second group of Czech Jesuits began their journey to Latin America, their destination being Peru and Chile. The group included Jiří Burger, Ignát Fritz and Václav Richter from Moravia and Jiří Brandt and Ondřej Suppetius from Silesia. Johann Gastel also came.

Jesuit Samuel Fritz (1653-1728), b. Trutnov, Bohemia, a Bohemian Jesuit, was sent to Quito. For forty-two years Fritz acted in this capacity among the Indians of the Upper Maranon. In 1687 he began cartographical delineation of the disputed missionary territory on the Upper Maranon between Peru and Quito. In 1689 he undertook a daring expedition down the Amazon to Para, where he was captured and imprisoned for two years on the suspicion of being a Spanish spy. Although imperfectly equipped with the necessary instruments, he completed a comparatively accurate chart of the river’s course. This was the first approximately correct chart of the Maranon territory. He was also the first to follow the Tunguragua instead of the Grant Para and prove it the real source of the Maranon.

1686

The third group of Bohemian Jesuits went to Mexico. It included Father Adam Gilg, the author of the first map of Pimeria and three dictionaries of Indian languages, Maxmilian Amarell and Father Jiří Hostinský, a poet in Tarahumara.

1687

The fourth group of Bohemian Jesuits, consisting primarily of physicians and pharmacists, left for Philippines. It included: Jiří Camel, Jan Haller, Vilém Illig, Jan Keller, Pavel Klein and Jan Verdier.

1692

Bohemian Jesuit Father Václav Eymer (1661-1723), a native of Mělník, traveled to Tarahumara to replace Father Hostinský. He served as missionary over thirty years. He was accompanied by Johann (Jan) Steinhöffer, Jan Gintzel and Daniel Januška.

Juan de Esteyneffer (orig. Johann Steinhőffer) (1664-1716), b. Jihlava, Moravia, a lay Jesuit missionary was selected for missionary work in the New World. Educated as a pharmacist, he was sent to Mexico to nurse the old or ailing missionaries. He is known for his 1711 work Florilegio Medicinal, which compiled a combination of New World traditional medicine, European materia medica, and 18th-century European medical diagnosis. It served to standardize herbal therapy in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States.

John Henry Burchsted (1657-1721), from Silesia, must have already lived in Lynn, Essex Co., MA, because he was married there that year. He was a physician.

The first courthouse of Cecil Co., MD, on the north side of the Sassafras River, a short distance from Ordinary Point, was built by Casparus Herman (1656-1697), b. New Amsterdam, son of Augustine Heřman of Bohemia. He was publically active, being a member of Cecil Co.’s Lower House (1694-96), justice of Cecil Co. (1687-97) and North Sassafras Parish Vestry, Cecil Co. (1693-97).

Philipsburg (Philipseborough) Manor, NY was established by Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), of Bohemian ancestry, through a royal charter, making him first lord of the manor.

1693

Daniel Januška (1660-1724), a Bohemian Jesuit missionary, came to Pimeria, in southern Arizona, from Tarahumara. He was located at mission of San Pedro Tubutama, west of the mission of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. He was first assigned to the Tarahumara, but after the rebellion of 1690, he came to Tubutama in the spring of 1693. He left there after the revolt of 1695 and was at Teópare in the Sierra in 1697 and 1698. By 1702, he had moved to Oposura where he remained until at least 1721 and probably until his death in March 1724.

The sixth group of Bohemian Jesuits left for Latin America. It included František Boryně and Václav Bryer, who served as missionaries for a long time and were admired by Indians. Other members of the group were Jesuits: Stanislav Arlet, Vojtěch Eusebius Bukovský, František Vydra, Marek Žourek (or Jan John).

1694

Jiří Hostinský (1652-1726), b. Klobouky u Brna, Moravia, Bohemian Jesuit missionary, participated at consecration ceremony of the Church of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, located in southern Arizona.

1695

František Boryně ze Lhoty (1663-1722), a Bohemian missionary, was sent to Peru. He was one of the best missionaries who christened hundreds of unknown Indian tribes. He founded the settlement of San Pablo (1704) and together with another Bohemian Jesuit S. Arlet a new settlement of San Pedro. He brought thousands of Indians into the settlements, established a number of new posts, built beautiful churches, introduced new agricultural practices and new trades, taught native women how to spin flax and men how to weave, raise cattle, and even music.

1697

The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a 17th century stone church located on Albany Post Road in Sleepy Hollow, NY. It and its five-acre churchyard feature prominently in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was built by Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), Lord of Philipse Manor, who was of Bohemian ancestry.

1698

Frederick Philipse, the Jounger (1698-1751), of Bohemian heritage, was born on the island of Barbados; he was grandson of Frederick Philipse. He became the second lord of the manor of Philipsburgh NY. He was a devoted member of the Church of England and founded St. John’s Church at Yonkers. He occupied the bench of the court leet and the baron of Philipseborough. He served in the assembly (1729-51) and was also judge of the court of common pleas (1735-51). He was married to Joanna, daughter of Lieut. Governor Anthony Brockholst, by whom he had ten children. His daughter Susana became wife of Col. Beverly Robinson and her sister Mary Philipse married Major Roger Morris. When he died in 1751, the following notice appeared in the New York Gazette:July 29th, Last Friday evening, departed this life in the 56th year of his age, the honorable Frederick Philipse, Esq., one of his Majesty’s Justices of the Supreme Court of this Province, and a Representative in our General Assembly for the County of Westchester…

1699

Adam Gilg (1651-ca1710), a Bohemian Jesuit missionary from Rýmařov, Moravia, accompanied Eusobio Kino on an expedition into the present Arizona. They cut across the deserts, then continuing on the Colorado, where they tarried two days before starting on their return journey up to Gila. On the journey Adam Gilg made careful note of the local speech and compiled a vocabulary of the language spoken by the Cocomaricopas tribe that settled along the river Gila. In 1704, Adam Gilg consecrated the new built churches of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios and Nuestra Senora del Pilar in Central Pimeria, now located in southern part of Arizona, about 50 miles south of Tucson.

1704

Old Bohemia Church, near Warwick, MD, was established on Bohemia Manor, which belonged to famous Augustine Heřman, the first lord of Bohemia Manor. It was the only early Catholic establishment on the Delmarva.

1709

In late December, Matthias Kreisler (later Crisler) (1678-d.), from Silesia, landed with his three sons (Theobolt, David and Michael) in Philadelphia. The family first settled in Germantown, 12 miles from the port of Philadelphia. Later Matthias and his two youngest sons moved to their land patent at Madison, VA, leaving Thebolt behind in Philadelphia.

1712

John Stephen Steiger (1688-1736) of Bohemia settled in Germantown, PA, around 1712-14, where he lived until 1727. He identified himself with the Mennonites. His descendants later changed their name to Styer.

1713

Ariana Vanderheyden (1690-1741), of Bohemian ancestry, a beautiful daughter of Anna Margarita Herman and Matthias Vanderheyden, married James Frisby. After he died, she married, in 1723 Thomas Bordley and when the latter died, she took, in 1728, as her third husband Edmund Jennings. She left numerous descendants some of whom live today.

1715

Jacob Boehm (1668-1759), whose descendants claim that he was of Bohemian origin, settled near Lancaster, PA. They later changed their surname to Beam.

1720

Frederick Philipse (1720-1785), the eldest son of the 2nd lord of the manor of Philipsburg, was born in September 1720. Generally known as Colonel, he became the 3rd and the last lord of the manor. His tastes were literary and he mingled little in public life. His convictions led him to espouse the cause of the Crown in the War for Independence. On Washington’s order, he was taken into custody and taken to Connecticut and detained there under parole. In 1777 he took refuge in New York and afterwards went to England, where he died at Chester April 30, 1785, at nearly sixty-five years of age. His property was confiscated. After the war the estate was sold and it was gradually broken up into many small holdings.

1721

Balthazar Menthe (1682-1727), a native of Opava, Moravia, must have immigrated to Louisiana in 1721 -22, since there is mention of him in the 1724 LA Census, his occupation being listed as a laborer on the German Coast, LA. He must have changed his name to Minty later on since his daughter was listed under that name.

1723

Henry George Hauptmann (ca 1692-d.), b. Prague, immigrated to St. Charles, Louisiana, where he was married that year. His son Antoine Henry changed his name to Hoffman (1728-1792) and left numerous descendants.

1724

Marc Til of Burkviz, Moravia was listed in the Louisiana Census of that year. He was a shoemaker by trade.

1730

Jaques Touchet (orig. Tutzek or Tuček) (ca. 1721-ca. 1763), b. Prague, Bohemia, came to Louisiana around that year.

1732

Bohemian Jesuit Father Ignacius Xavier Keller (1702-1759), b. Olomouc, Moravia, was assigned to Santa Maria Suamca Mission, located in southern Arizona. He was tall and fair with a scar on his lip. He was very strong willed but got along well with everyone. He came to America with the ‘Mission of 1730.’ He left Mexico City in mid-June, 1731, for the Pimeria Alta. He first went to Suamca, the only mission he served regularly, where he professed his final vows in 1732. When Father Stiger went to San Ignacio and Segesser left Guevavi, the entire Pimeria fell to Keller. He kept Christianity alive at vacant Guevavi until Rapicani came on July 1, 1737. In mid-July 1737, Ignacio Xavier Keller visited Tucson, AZ, as he wrote, and baptized people there. In 1744, he again bore the burden of three missions - Bac, Suamca, and Guevavi. He was implicated in the uprising of 1751 but defended himself in Mexico City and was sent back to Suamca. The Indians wanted him back there. During 1753, Keller filled in for Father Pauer, looking after three missions and two presidios. Sometime after mid-August, 1759, he died while confessing a dying Pima.

Philip Ott, a native of Bohemia, landed in Philadelphia and after a few years of residence in Pennsylvania, moved to South Carolina. His descendants spelled their name Otts.

The first Moravian Brethren went to the Caribbean island of St. Thomas in order to see what might there be won among the Negro slaves for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and for the Lord. They were: David Nitschmann (1696-1772), later first Bishop of the Renewed Brethren’s Church, and Leonhard Dober (1707-1766), a Brother of Bohemian origin, who later also became a Bishop of the Brethren’s Church.

1734

David Nitschmann Sr., or ‘Father’ (1676-1758), b. Suchdol, Moravia, and his wife were sent as missionaries to St. Thomas and St. Croix where he stayed three and half years. His wife died in June 1735, on St. Croix, where so many died, of the original colony of eighteen. After spending three years back in Herrnhut, he and his daughter came to Nazareth, PA. In March 1741, he started the building of Bethlehem in bitter cold weather, felling trees and squaring logs in snow above his knees. He was the true Bethlehem’s master-builder.

George Boehnisch (1695-1772), b. Kunín, Moravia, arrived in Philadelphia, PA on September 22, 1734, accompanying a second group of Schwenkfelders on their resettlement voyage to America.

On September 12, Johannes Wildfang (1695-1769) and his wife Elizabeth (Gruber) Wildfang (1700-1763) arrived from Bohemia on the ship St. Andrew along with 263 other passengers. They arrived at Philadelphia from Rotterdam, Holland. With them were two children under 16 years of age, George Michael and Johannes Sebastian. Johannes and Elizabeth took the oath of Allegiance at the court house in Philadelphia on the same day of arrival.

1735

First group of Moravian Brethren sailed to America, arriving at Savannah, GA on April 6 of that year. The group included: John Toeltschig, Peter Rosa, Gotthard Demuth, Gottfried Haberecht, Anton Seifert, Michael Haberland, George Haberland, George Waschke and Frederick Riedel.

George Piesch (1750-1753), b. Kunín, Moravia, was one of the first three missionaries in Surinam, South America. In 1742 he was one of the first church workers in Yorkshire, England. On June 7, 1742 he led, as Elder, the ‘Sea Congregation’ of the Moravian Brethren pioneers to Bethlehem.

Johann Peter Varn (1718-1774), b. Varnsdorf, Bohemia, settled in Orangeburg, Berkeley Co., on July 13, 1735.

1736

Father Antonio Tempis (1703-1746), a Bohemian Jesuit, a native of Olomouc, went to Mexico. During the same year was sent to Lower California and was appointed to re-establish the Mission Santiego, previously destroyed in the rebellion of the Pericues.

The second group of Moravian Brethren, from Moravia, Bohemia and Silesia, arrived in Savannah, GA, on February 16, 1736. They included: Johann Boehner, Matthias Boehnisch, Gottlieb Demuth, Regina (Leupold) Demuth, Jakob Frank, Andreas Dober, Rosina Schneider, Juliana Jaeschke, David Jag, John Michael Meyer, Augustin Neisser, George Neisser, David Nitschmmann, Catherine Riedel, David Tanneberger, John Tanneberger, Anna Waschke, David Zeisberger, and Rosina (Schneider) Zeisberger.

On March 10, Bishop David Nitschmann organized Moravian colony as a regular Moravian congregation and ordained Anton Seifert (1712-1785), a Bohemian, to ministry, placing him in charge of the congregation.

Catharine Riedel (1703-1798), b. Životice, Moravia, became the first Moravian Sister to enter mission service among the Indians with her second husband, Peter Rosa, among the Creek Indians near Savannah, GA. She was ordained a deaconess by Zinzendorf in Bethlehem and served as head of the widow’s Choir, as midwife and various other capacities both in Bethlehem and Nazareth. In 1742 she married Huber, Count Zinzendorf being the officiating minister. Huber died on an official visit to St. Thomas in 1747. She was one of the eight survivors of the charter members of Bethlehem at the Jubilee in 1792 at Bethlehem and the only one attending the service. She retained her physical and mental vigor until her ninety-fifth year and died in 1798 as a result of a stroke.

Frederick Martin (1736-1750), b. Upper Silesia, was called to succeed Leonard Dober at St. Thomas where he also was ordained. He laid the permanent foundation for the work Dober had begun in the Danish West Indies, now the Virgin Islands of the US. He was called ‘the Apostle to the Negroes’ by Zinzendorf. In 1742 he was in Bethlehem and, in July of that year, accompanied Zinzendorf on his first Indian journey to the Iroquois. While in Bethlehem, he was married, Zinzendorf officiating, to Maria Leinbach. She served with him in the West Indies until his death in St. Thomas in 1750.

Michael Meyer (1717-1785) from Moravia arrived and settled in SC. He was married there in 1750 and left an extensive family. He died in Abbeville, SC.

1738

George Weber (1715-1762), b. Kunín Moravia, was sent as missionary to St. Thomas. In 1742, with his wife, went to Pennsylvania, for conference with Zinzendorf regarding the West Indian work. They attended the three last Pennsylvania Synods and were present at the organization of Bethlehem. In March 1744 they sailed with Bishop Nitschmann. In June 1745, the Webers returned to St. Thomas, where his wife died in November after childbirth. In 1752 he was sent to Surinam, where he died in June 1762, as warden at Saron. He was one of the outstanding missionaries of the early Moravian Church.

George Schulius (b. bf 1705-1739), b. Suchdol, Moravia, arrived in Savannah, GA. In February 1739 he was sent to Purysburg, Beaufort Co., SC, as missionary, where he succumbed to the climate and died of fever in August of the same year.

On January 28, David Zeisberger (1721-1808), b. Suchdol, Moravia, came, on his own, to America, destined to become the famous Indian missionary. He studied Indian languages, living in Bethlehem from 1744. In 1745, he went to the Mohawk Valley to learn the Indian language more perfectly and then began his illustrious missionary career among the Indians, which lasted for more than sixty years.

1740

David, Nitschmann, Sr., or ‘Father, ‘Unser lieber Alter’ (1676-1758), b. Suchdol, Moravia, arrived in America. He was naturalized at the Supreme Court in Philadelphia and was thus qualified to hold the Brethren’s estates in this country; all purchases of lands and all contracts were subsequently made by him for the Brethren.

Anna Caritas Nitschmann (1715-1750), b. Kunín, Moravia, daughter of ‘Father’ David Nitschmann, accompanied her father and her cousin Bishop David Nitschmann to Pennsylvania, where she remained as missionary among Pennsylvania settlers and the Indians until 1743. When she was fifteen years old, in 1730, the lot designated Anna as the Eldress of all the women of Herrnhut. In May of that year she formed the Choir of Unmarried Women. Anna Nitschmann exerted a remarkable influence on high and low alike in the early days of the Renewed Unity. Because of her Church responsibilities, she was unable to accept the marriage offers of John Nitschmann and Leonard Dober. Nevertheless, in June 1757, she was persuaded to marry Count Zinzendorf, after his first wife died in 1756.

Martin Dobrizhoffer (1718-1791), a Jesuit from Bohemia, was sent to Paraguay as missionary.

Uriah Hyam, resident of the City of New York, according to his last will, gave and bequeathed unto his brother Enoch, living in Bohemia, the sum of twenty pounds …and left to his youngest son, Andrew Israel, of the Island of Jamaica, a Black slave boy.

1741

On Christmas Eve, David Nitschmann (l696-l772), b. Suchdol, Moravia, leading a small group of Moravians, founded the mission community of Bethlehem along the banks of the Monocacy Creek by the Lehigh River in the colony of Pennsylvania. They named the settlement after the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of Jesus. Originally it was a typical Moravian Settlement Congregation, where the Church owned all the property. Until the 1850s, only members of the Moravian Church were permitted to lease land plots in Bethlehem. The historic Brethren’s House, Sisters’ House, Widows’ House and Gemeinhaus (Congregation House) with the Old Chapel are remnants of this period of communal living. The Moravians ministered to regional Lenape Native Americans through their mission in the area, as well as further east in the New York colony. In the historic Bethlehem God’s Acre cemetery, converted Lenape lay buried alongside the Moravians. In 1762, Bethlehem built the first water-works in America to pump water for public use. The prosperous village was incorporated into a free borough in the County of Northampton in 1845. After the Unity Synod of 1848, Bethlehem became the headquarters of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church in North America.

Elias Wollin of Bohemia advertised in Zenger’s New York Weekly Journal that he has served in His Imperial Majesty’s Army as Chirurgeon four Years, infallibly and instantly Cures the Tooth Ach to Admiration, also Bleeds without any Manner of Pain, Cups in the Like Manner. Wounds, Swellings, and Sores are also Cured wonderfully by him in a Short Time, he has made sundry Cures of the Tooth Achs in Presence of Many ..

1742

Moravian Brethren established that year the Bethlehem Female Seminary in Germantown, Pennsylvania, as the first school for young women in the US. The seminary was created by Benigna, Countess von Zinzendorf, the daughter of Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss zu Ebersdorf, who was a descendent of the Hussite King of Bohemia, Jiří of Poděbrady and Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, who was the benefactor of the fledgling Moravian communities in Nazareth and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Female Seminary was incorporated by the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1863 and became the woman’s college, the Moravian Seminary and College for Women in 1913.

The Old Moravian Cemetery in Bethlehem, PA, known as ‘God’s Little Acre’ was established. A number of Moravian Brethren from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and their descendants are buried there. The original plot of the cemetery, as laid out in 1742 and 1746, comprised the northwestern portion of the grounds only, the grave of Juliana Nitschmann, of Šenov, Moravia, in the middle of the path, making the center of the cemetery.

George Neisser (1715-1784), b. Žilina, Moravia, who initially immigrated to Savannah, GA in 1736, became the first school-master of Bethlehem, when the school was opened in May, 1742. He was also the first diarist and the postmaster, who had charge of the mail sent to and received from the Brother who rendered a like service in Philadelphia. In 1748 Neisser was ordained a deacon of the Moravian Church and in 1755 he became a presbyter. With his wife he served the church in many places: Heidelberg, Pa., in West Jersey, New York City, Maryland, in Nazareth, Lancaster, Lebanon, York and Warwick (all in Pennsylvania), and Philadelphia. In some of these places he served more than once: York, New York and Philadelphia. Throughout his life he kept the memory of his roots in the Czech lands alive. Neisser started to compile his historical notes in the early 1750s. He began with notes on the hymnody of the Ancient Bohemian Brethren in 1753. The bulk of his notes, however,