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My Grandparents and My family
By Antonia (Turek) Hajek
For Resnik Czech. Paper 1955.
Translated from Czech. by Antonia Victoria Hajek Krolcyzk
1956.
My grandfathers name was Frantisek Turek, and grandmother Marie Turek. They had one son, John my father. ( he was born in 1852) They came from Murany in Czech. edge of Burenkiko and Brna it was 12 miles, I don't know the location that they came from. My parents did not say, and all I know is what my grandmother told me when she talked to me about Europe. Grandpa worked till the time they came to America in a coal mine, when my father got out of school, Grandpa sent him to learn the watch making trade. When he was 24 years old, he got married. My mothers name was Frantiska Prokop, she came from Mezirici. They lived with grandma and grandpa. That same year that father got married, he was called to serve in the army, he fought under the Russian government. He was sent to a place called Bosny, there he fought, he thought that he would never get out alive. He had his cap shot off, when he was fighting in Bosny. I was born October 24, 1877, then on the Christmas holidays, my father came home from the war. He was hungry, full of lice. He got his discharge and when he heard that people were getting ready to come to America, he also prepared to come. He, his wife, daughter, and parents left Czech. and sailed for America. They landed in Galveston Texas July 1880.
They came on the address of people named Hrdlicka who were their sponsors and lived on the edge of Brazos, 1 mile from College Station. They arrived to College Station by train and were unloaded before dawn. Grandmother and Mother were sitting on the trunks crying, and saying what are we going to do here on this bold prairie, We should have stayed in Europe, it wasn't so bad there. When it got daylight, my father went into the station to ask the agent how he could find the Hrdlicka. He could not speak English, and the agent didn't understand him. He could speak some German, so he was able to find where the Hrdlicka lived. It was 1 mile from College Station. He found the Hrdlicka , and they came in a wagon for his family and took them to their home. There was no farm work, so the people gave them to cut corn stalks, so they could make some feed, so they could start farming. When it was time to pick Cotton, they picked cotton for some people named Kepcinske. They had an empty house so they asked my father to move in, When anyone needed cotton pickers they came and got them. The next year they rented a farm 2 miles from Bryan. My father bought a pair of horses. He wanted large horses like the Gentry in Europe. The horses he bought were wild from the prairie, so he had to tame them. The horses almost killed him so he traded them for older horses. My father didn't understand horses, as they never owned any in Europe. On this farm we stayed two years. They bought a farm 9 miles from Bryan, 6 miles from College Station. They bought 105 acres at $12.00 per acre, without interest, so they had it paid off soon. Grandpa and Grandma helped, and us children had to work also, there were seven of us. Our father found another farm after the crop was harvested. This farm was owned by an American and he wanted a lot of money for it, he wanted to move. My father didn't have enough money to buy this farm, so he borrowed $500.00 from Mr. Price, he loaned my father the money in good faith without a note or mortgage. My father paid the American and he moved away. My father paid seven dollars a acre for this farm. Here we stayed, we had to work from dawn Till night, we picked all the cotton ourselves. Here we had a rich ground , and father paid back the money he had borrowed. When father finished paying for the farm, I started to school. I walked 5 miles, and just went to school when there wasn't any work on the farm. If mother had work for me to do, I stayed home from school. We were doing well, and had to work hard, but we were never hungry. Then grandpa started to be sick , and started to cough black stuff out of his lungs, later he died, he was 76 years old. Now we only had grandma. We were doing well and were prosperous, but one never knows when sorrow will strike. It was in July when my mother stuck something in her foot and got blood poison. My father went to get the doctor, he had to ride a horse nine miles to town but the doctor was out of town so he left a message, so the doctor would be sent. The doctor never came, so my father got on his horse again and rode into town , the doctor was out of town again, so he waited there all day, until the doctor came back, and then he rode with the doctor in a buggy, but before they left a hard rain came. They came to a place that was under water, the horse didn't want to go thought the water, so father got down and lead the horse through the water that was up to his arm pits. Although the water was wide, he was able to lead the horse through. The doctor examined my mother, and said that there was nothing that he could do, he told my father to get the family together, and to get everything in order. That he would give my mother something to help her sleep and that would ease her pain. She asked for a priest, he came and gave her last sacrament, and then we children said our last farewell to her. The doctor then put her to sleep, and she just slept and didn't know anyone until she died July 18, 1893. I was 15 years old, my brother was 9 months old and was still on the breast when she died so everything was left for me to take care of, the house, the children, Grandma couldn't help much, as she was getting too old, she was 79 years old, she helped as much as she could.
When a year had passed my father started to look for a house wife, but he couldn't find any. So I was keeping house as best as I could. Two years later, I wanted to get married, but my father wouldn't let me go, he said he didn't have anyone to take care of his house, I was engaged , but I had to wait one more year. Then my father put an add in the Czech. paper American, so he got a lady from Chicago, she didn't have any children, so when she arrived, they got married. Then I was able to get married. My husband was Paul Hajek. Father had another house empty, so I fixed it up and Paul and I moved in. My father helped us some, he let us use the land for farming. We stayed there for two years, and we had two children. My father wanted that land to farm, so we moved to the other side of town, close to the Brazos River. That was the year 1900. That year the hurricane came and ruined everything. Paul was sick, so we moved to another place. There we were doing fairly well, at that time, My dear grandma died, she was 82 years old. My brothers were married, just two children were at home. My father raised a pretty horse, she was young and not worked very much, they had to go to town to get some supplies, and to tend to some business, so he told his wife he wanted to hitch up the young mare and run her some. They came to a railroad track, and a train was coming. The horse got frightened, and started to buck, so father got out of the buggy and held her by the bridle, but she got loose, and started running and turned the buggy over with my fathers wife inside. She had both legs broken. There was no hospital in Bryan, so the doctor bandaged her legs and father brought her home, she stayed four years in bed before she died, and never walked again. Father rented the big house to his son and they moved into the small house. She couldn't leave her bed so father had to take care of her. I would come and bake bread and help as much as I could. After she died, father moved in with his son in the big house and stayed there till he died September 24, 1931. Two of my brothers were also dead, and three lived in Bryan as did my sister.
Paul, my husband was born in Fayetteville Texas. But what part of Czech. his parents came from I do not know, and Paul didn't know. He was thirteen years old when his parents died. He had five brothers and one sister, and one half sister. When his sister got married he stayed with her and her husband. Then he worked for a family for $12.00 a year, when he was sixteen years old he worked for the railroad and stayed part time with his brother in West Texas.
Paul and I raised five sons and four daughters. Most of the time we lived near Brazos in Bryan, College Station on a farm. Paul started to get sick so we stopped farming in 1931. All the children were gone from home except our youngest daughter. That year my fathers farm was sold and I got my share so Paul and I bought a small house in Baytown Texas, in Harris County. Some of our children were here, so they helped us some. Paul couldn't work so he started to draw Old Age Pension $12,00 a month. and I got a job sewing so we were able to make out. When I became Sixty- five I also got my Old Age pension. So then we were able to make out better. Paul got worse and had a stroke , he died on December 24, 1952 Christmas Eve at 11:30 PM. He was almost 83 years old . So I was alone, my son stayed with me one year and then moved on his own. So now I am living here by myself.
Paul and I lived here twenty-three years, I am lonely, the children come to see me often. This fall I will be seventy-eight years old.
I am sorry this is written so badly, I didn't go to Czeck. school. I learned to read Czeck from the news-paper. So I will end now.
Antonia Turek Hajek
Baytown, Texas 1955
My Grand parents
by
Pauline Hayek Taylor
Antonia and Paul Hajek moved to Baytown Texas in 1932. They purchased a small place with a house on Air Hart Drive in Baytown, Texas for $500.00 dollars and a Jersey milk cow. The house was three large rooms with a small room on the back which was a kitchen and off to the side of the house was a small room used for a bedroom. The first two rooms of the house was a " Shot-Gun" design a wall separated the third room from the first two. They had a large yard which was a endless flower bed. To the south side of the house they had Plum trees and Fig trees. Beside the house, on the north side, was a large building which about two to three feet was built under ground. We called this building the "milk house". Of course the front porch held a swing and two rocking chairs. A visit there was fabulous for us as children, there were endless things to investigate and lots to get into. Grandpa had a yellow bandy rooster that was real mean (Cowboy) and he would try hard to spur us kids. Grandma would get the broom after him and the fight would be on , Grandpa would be yelling in Czeck and Grandma to. We didn't understand what they said, but we sure made our guesses. They were wonderful people and all who knew them love them both.
J. Pauline Hayek Taylor
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