I just thought it was sad that people kept stealing his signs so he had to chain them, and sadder still he couldn’t spell Hillary. I voted last Thursday to avoid the long lines. As I cast my ballot (which was for neither major party candidate), I felt like my contribution was a tiny drop…
Category: Texas Czechs
“The Shiner Song”
Every Texas Czech knows the Shiner song, even us “dry” folks. You can read about it here, here, here, here, or here. So when I saw this sign at the restaurant we went to last night, of course, I had to get a photo. See that star? Yeah, that’s right in the heart of Texas “Česko”, very close to where…
Willabald Wrba
Willibald Wrba. Now there’s a name you don’t stumble across every day. I found Willibald because he married Julie Marie Spacek, who was the oldest sister of Albina Spacek (1890-1918). Albina was the first wife of Louis Klecka (1897-1934), who then married Stella Vasicek (1901-1967), who was the second youngest daughter of Joseph John Vasicek…
The Anna Perašek Village of Origin Problem: Mary Golka/Golík
I really feel for anybody who is struggling to trace their Moravian Czech ancestors to a village of origin. I especially feel for anybody who has dealt with what I call the “Anna Perašek” problem, after a woman who has eluded me for years. To qualify for the “Anna Perašek” problem, your ancestor must do…
I need help with my Haidusek research
I’m reposting what I wrote on the Czech Heritage Society Yahoo Group page, because I am truly stuck and need help finding out what to do next. I’m frustrated because I used to have high hopes that this would turn into a component in my BCG portfolio application, but it looks like it won’t be…
Augustin Haidusek Quoted in Czech Newspaper
I love living in the digital age. Did you know that not only can you access historic American newspapers online for free, but also historic Czech newspapers? The National Library of the Czech Republic has digitized many, many newspapers, most of which are OCR’d (aka searchable). I did a search for “Haidusek” – the family that…
Valentin Haidusek and the founding of Dubina, Texas
I have been doing some research on the Valentin Haidusek family who immigrated from Mniší, Moravia. Specifically, I have been trying to find other Haiduseks that were related to Valentin Haidusek, who was one of the founders of Dubina in 1856. I love the story of Dubina’s founding. I have read several versions of it…
135 Years Ago Today…
Look at what I found on the Texas State Historical Association website today: February 06 1879 On this day in 1879, the first issue of the Texan, the first Czech newspaper in Texas, appeared. Though the periodical, published by E. J. Glueckman, lasted little more than a decade, it reflected the rich influence of the Czech culture…
What my Texas Ancestors must have thought of my Polygamous Ancestors
I apologize to all my blog readers for diverting to the subject of polygamy so often these past few posts. It has been on my mind. Today I finished reading “Saints” by Orson Scott Card and decided I wanted to discover just exactly how many of my ancestors were polygamists. To do this, I went…
They Came In Groups
If you are interested in Texas Czech genealogy, you should “czech” out Robert Janak’s “Janaks Texas-Czech Articles and Photos” website. It is excellent, in particular the articles section. Here was a useful post that he wrote called: “Dubina, Hostyn and Ammannsville. The Geographic Origin of Three Czech Communities in Fayette County, Texas.” Janak used tombstone…