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 I am currently researching. I was super surprised to find an article quoting Judge Augustin Haidusek, the grandson of the family I am researching!
I loved his quote. Here it is in Czech, and a rough translation:
Na to mluvil p. A. Haidusek vynikajicí právnik z La Grange, k obecenstvu anglicky. Mezi jiným pravil “čechové nejsou jen pilní, nýbr i svorni, zákonů poslušní a svobodu milující. První čechové přišli do texasu roku 1850 a nyní se jich zde nalezé přes 50,000. Oni byli od zdejšich obyvatelů vlidné přijati a dostalo se jim od nich i podpory, když ji potřebovali. Považuji tuto krajinu za jednu z těch nejlepšich pod sluncem pro naši národnost. Vláda ručí za svobodnou řeč a na rovnoprávnost všem. V náboženstvi není rozdíln a svobodneho vyučováni se dostává všem. Zdejší vláda pozůstavá z naroda a tedy jest žádoucno, aby národ náš byl uvědoměn vzhledem k povinnostem občanským. Lid naš měl by pracovati vší sílou o mravní vychování a duševní vývin.”
Mr. A. Haidusek, an excellent lawyer from La Grange, spoke to the audience in English. Among other things, he said, “the Czechs are not only diligent, but immediately united, law-abiding and freedom-loving. The first Czechs came to Texas in 1850 and now there are over 50,000 findings. They were welcomed by local residents and they received them and supported them when they needed it. I consider this country as one of the best under the sun for our nationality. The government guarantees the freedom of speech and the equality of all. The religion is not taught differently and everybody has freedom. The local government consists of the people and therefore is desirable that our people be aware of their civic duties. Our people should labor with all their might for moral upbringing and mental development.”