By Willie Hajek
Our Nation has been richly influenced by it multicultural heritage. One group which left a indelible imprint was the Czechs.
To understand the reasons behind Czech immigration, one must understand the conditions in Czechoslovakia during the 1850's. The land was beset with many hardships-economic, political, and religious. The climate and soil were not conducive to good crop production. Only a few people owned land. Most people were laborers, but there was little demand for labor. Living conditions were cramped. Often, more then 20 individuals lived in on cottage. The people were poor and hungry.
There were also political problems. Czechoslovakia had historically experienced constant upheaval, often used by other countries like a pawn in a chess game. The land was overrun Mongols, Huns, Poles, Germans, Tartars, and Austrians, among others. Usually the invading country imposed its own religious and political views of the Czechs. This continued to be a problem in the 1850's, making Czech unity cultural rather then national. The Czech language was kept alive by peasants who would not let their spoken language die.
Religious suppression added to the problems. Religion became dogmatic and ritualistic and lost much of its Christian meaning. Freedom of worship was almost non-existent.
In the mid 1800's, many Czechs looked for a new land free of these persecutions. America became that land. In particular, Texas drew these people to her shores like a magnet. However, immigrants to Texas were plagued by yellow fever, malaria, and small pox epidemics. Many families often lived together in a church building until homes were built. Even with shelter, the winters took their toll.
The man who most influenced Czech immigration to Texas was Reverend Ernest Bergman. In 1859, he wrote letters to family and friends telling of religious freedom, the rich ,inexpensive land, the political freedom to be found, and how Texas could be the fulfillment of their dreams.
One of the Czech families opting for emigration was that of Martin Hajek, a farmer of Mahausch in Bohemia. Martin was born in 1820 to Bartel and Barbara Nivarro Hajek. He married Theresia Hundel in Bohemia and they had one daughter, Catherine, born in 1841.
The Martin Hajek family was issued a passport in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1854. They arrived in Galveston , in February 1855.
Here the story of this families immigration to Texas takes a new twist. At the first Hajek family reunion, about 25 years ago, one of the descendants, Lillian Slopis, announced she had prepared a family history. Her account came from stories passed down within the family and dealt with the Hajek's earliest years in Texas. This is her story:
" On Dec 18,1844, Martin and Catherine Hajek landed in Galveston making their way by ox-drawn wagon train to San Felipe, capital of the Texas Republic. On the way, Catherine Lauer; another member of the wagon train, lost her husband and Martin Hajek lost his wife. When they reached San Felipe, they were married. They were assigned land grants and were sent to Columbus, Texas where they lived and raised their family of seven children."
Lillian's story was interesting and no one questioned its authenticity for several years. However, later generations learned form county and federal records that there were many errors in the oral tradition. Catherine Lauer, Martin's daughter , was confused as being his wife, and they arrived in Texas 10 years later the Lillian's account. The Martin Hajek family stayed briefly at the Catholic shelter in Galveston before moving on to Frelsburg, 72 miles west of Houston. While enroute to Texas , they made friends with Victoria and Anton Katzen. Their voyage was made in the dead of winter and when Theresia Hajek became ill, Victoria cared for Theresia's daughter Catherine. On the way to Frelsburg, Theresia died A short time after their arrival, Anton Katzen was killed in a hunting mishap. On Nov. 26, 1855, Martin Hajek married Victoria Katzen. They had seven children.
It did not take Martin long to embrace the life and government in America. Only eight months after arriving in this country, he applied for citizenship.
Having been a farmer in the old country, he turned to that occupation in his new country . Life as a farm laborer was a hard, grueling , monotonous life that started each day at sunrise and lasted until sundown. It was also a struggle against the elements. After the crops were planted, the families had to content with the insects. Drought or hailstorm could bring instant ruin. And even after harvesting the crops, the chances of selling them for an adequate price were slim. Despite the hardships and toil, thought, Martin Hajek managed to prosper.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, most Czechs were dismayed at facing the horrors of war again and did not fully understand the issues involved in the conflict. Many had left their homeland to avoid serving in the Austrian army and had no desire to serve in anyone's army. Czech-Texans frequently avoided Confederate military duty by serving as teamsters, hauling cotton to the Mexican port of Matamoros. Perhaps this was why Martin Hajek also began hauling freight by wagon to the Columbus area. Martin did not face the dangers of war, but he had to deal with the constant threat of attack by robbers.
Wishing to expand his farm production in 1867, Martin Hajek paid $700.00 for 150 acres of land halfway between Frelsburg and Columbus. The land was purchased from Frank Schultz who later became the father-in-law of Martin's son Frank.
After receiving an irresistible offer, Martin and Victoria sold their land to John Rocen, who became the father-in-law of the Hajek's daughter Marie. The family then moved to Fayetteville, 12 miles from Frelsburg. There, Martin rented land to farm and continued his freight hauling business. Inman the fall of 1880, he left with a load of lumber but never returned home. Martin was found on the trail, unconscious and dying. There are two theories about this tragedy. One says he fell off the wagon and was run over. Because the wagon and oxen were missing, the second theory says he was robbed and killed.
Now a widow with six children, Victoria made arrangements for her bachelor brother to come to Texas so he could help provide for her family. Soon after his arrival in the spring of 1882, Victoria became ill and died.
Following Victoria's death, the family scattered, moving to various communities including Columbus, Bryan, Fayetteville, and West.
In 1882, just a decade after the arrival of the railroad, the village of West was incorporated. The community consisted of three cultural groups, Angelo-Americans, Germans, and Czechs. Because of traditionally large families, the Czechs became the dominant culture and preserved their culture through language, farming, food and festivities.
Seeking the rich, fertile blackland soil which had made his father prosper, Joseph Victor Hajek settled on farmland north of west. He married Juliana Kolar and they had five children. Juliana had been born in Bohemia and spoke very little English. As was true of most Czech-Americans, language and religion were the strongest Czech Traditions in the Hajek family. Czech continued to be spoken in their home into the early 1900's, and they remained devote Catholics. Joseph Emil , the middle child of Joseph Victor and Juliana, told of traveling by horseback to Nemecek Brothers meat market in West to purchase a daily supply of meat for the priest of the church. It was also the custom whenever a hog or cow was killed on the Hajek farm, to invite the priest to take the cuts he desired. The family hoped Edward, the eldest son, would become a Catholic priest. To their disappointment , he left the priesthood after a short term.
In 1924 Joseph Victor gave up farming and moved into West. The boys resented the move, believing the reason for it was so Juliana could be nearer the church, a cherished cultural tie. Soon, however, the entire family found themselves involved in the community, In addition to church, the family became active members of the S.P.J.S.T. lodge (Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas). The lodge provided a place for members to gather for dances and theatricals. Czech language and culture were kept alive through this organization which also supported the study of the Czech language at various universities in Texas. Soon Joseph Victor and his son Joseph Emil, went into the furniture business with Juliana's brother, Emil Kolar.
Of all the European peoples, the Czechs are said to be the best fitted for democratic government. These second generation Czech-Americans found it easy to support their nation in World War 1 and Joseph Emil Hajek was no exception. He enlisted in the navy and served aboard a submarine chaser.
His military duty ended. Joseph Emil returned home and married Harriet Sykora. They had a daughter , Margie born July 3, 1921. The coming of the depression years brought hardships to the furniture business and Joseph Emil was forced to sell his interest. He then became part owner of the Aderholt Funeral Home in West. Again tragedy struck when Harriet became ill and died. Following her death, he dated and secretly married Jennie Lea Smith, a school teacher at Ross. They chose a secret civil ceremony for two reasons, It was against school regulations in the 1920'' for teachers to marry, and both families disapproved of the relationship for religious reasons. Jennie was Baptist and he was Catholic. When the school term ended, Joe and Jeannie moved to Ennis where they were married in a formal Catholic ceremony. Jennie's family remained hostile and didn't allow her to visit until after her first child was born.
Breaking family and community ties in West, Joseph and Jennie bought a home in Fort Worth. He was the first mechanic in Fort Worth to work on hydraulic brake and remained in the garage business for many years. In an attempt to do as hr believed his family wished, Joe enrolled Margie, his daughter by his first wife, in a Catholic school about 10 blocks from their home. In the spring of 1929, she died of pneumonia. This event finalized Joseph's break with the Catholic church. A public school was closer to their home, and he felt that Margie might not have become ill had she had a shorter walk to school. Other reasons contributed to his decision to leave the church. His older brother Edward had been "groomed" for the priesthood and was considered the " favored son". Finally, there had been the problem over his marriage to Jennie.
Following the Czech tradition of large families, Joseph and Jennie had nine children of their own.: Juliette, Norma Lee, Mary Jo, Edward, Wilbur, Jeanene, Helen , Theodore (Ted), and Sharon. Despite his break with the Catholic church, Joseph tried to keep family ties strong. The family made frequent trips to West to visit their father and grandfather.
Other then these trips, the early years of Ted, were lived apart from the nuclear Czech family. As a teen he enjoyed the typical activities of any " all American" boy. He played high school football and earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Christian University. He married his high school sweetheart, Judy Hurst, on June a7, 1963. They had two children, Joseph Theodore and William Clyde. With the birth of Joseph on April 28, 1964, Ted's Czech heritage became important to him. Joe quickly became a little "bohunk", enjoying chewing on Czech black bread when he was just eight months old. On Dec. 17, 1969 William was born to complete the Ted Hajek family. Like his brother, Willie became aware and proud of his Czech heritage. Hearing relatives stories and talk about homemade Mustang grape wine, pastries, and festivals, he became interested in the genealogy of his family and the customs of the Czech culture.
Tragedy continued to follow the Hajek family, striking again in 1980. Joe was born with cystic fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease. Complications arose in 1979 and he died in September 1980 at the age of 16.
Today, Ted , Judy and Willie reside in Burleson but recently purchased a farm between Grandview and Itasca. The family spends many hours there raising cattle and farming.
In more recent times it has become important to many distinct immigrant groups to preserve their cultural heritage while remaining loyal American citizens. Throughout Texas, Czech festivals are held such as the Westfest which is held each Labor Day weekend in West People travel great distances to attend these festivals. The Hajek family is often there. More importantly, the Hajek's own awareness of their Czech tradition drew them together as a family.
Thus ends the story of one Czech family in Texas. However, it is a story similar to others. The lives and traditions of Czech families continue to shape life throughout America just as the Hajek's love of freedom and independence, their reverence for land, and their strength and courage to keep family ties strong though hardships and adversity continue to add a distinctive Czech flavor to the diversity of life in Texas.
