page_title: Czech Texans
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Czech Texans / History
caption_attribution_description: English: I took photo on May 19, 2009.Billy Hathorn (talk) 03:02, 31 May 2009 (UTC)
context_page_description: Czech Texans are residents of the state of Texas who are of Czech ancestry. Large scale Czech immigration to Texas began after the Revolutions of 1848 changed the political climate in Central Europe, and after a brief interruption during the U.S. Civil War, continued until the First World War. Concentrated in Central Texas, specifically Fayette County and the surrounding area, Czech Texans have preserved their identity through the Painted Churches of Texas, traditional Czech events, and bakeries specializing in Czech pastries.
  As of the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 187,729 Czech-Americans living in Texas, the largest number of any state.
context_section_description: Historically, Czech Moravian settlements were founded in Central Texas. "Czechs first settled in Texas in the 1840s, traveling from Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia ... Czech settlers usually identified themselves as Austrian, German, Bohemian, Slovak or Moravian."
  Czech immigration to Texas began as early as the 1820s, but most immigrants made the journey as individuals. Large-scale and family immigration began with the immigration of Rev. Josef Arnost Bergman, described as the "father" of Czech immigration to Texas by some sources, and his family in 1850. Once settled in Texas, Bergman wrote letters to families in Europe, encouraging them to come to Texas. 
  Czech immigration was driven by the availability of land in Texas and by events in Europe. In the 1840s, the Austrian Empire, which included Czech lands, was still run by a feudal system, despite the wave of democratic ideals sweeping across western Europe. This led to the Revolutions of 1848, which did little to improve the economic status of peasants who still found it difficult to gain wealth. The revolutions, together with factors such as religious persecution and mandatory military service, fueled a wave of emigration from Austria beginning in 1852. Immigrants to America were unfamiliar with the concept of American democracy due to their lack of experience with democratic ideals. The concepts of states' rights and slavery were equally foreign to the immigrants.
  Josef Lidumil Lesikar (1806-1887) was instrumental in organizing two groups of about 160 Czechs to immigrate to Texas in 1851 and 1853. Although about half of the first group died, Lesikar, his wife, and their four sons reached Galveston with the second group on board the Suwa in late December 1853. The family bought farmland in New Bremen, Austin County. The men felled trees and built a log house that still stands, with a Texas historical marker before it. Lesikar wrote articles for periodicals published in various parts of the United States as well as in his native land, and his writings encouraged many Czechs to come to America. As one of the founders of Národní noviny, a Czech newspaper published in St. Louis, he helped to lay the foundation for Czech journalism in America. In his writing he opposed secession. He died on October 21, 1887, near New Ulm and is buried in the New Ulm Cemetery. 
  In January 1861, as tensions between northern and southern states over slavery reached a breaking point, a convention was called in Austin, TX to draft a secession document, which was then approved by a vote of the citizens in February. The recency of the Czech immigration meant that most Czechs living in Texas were not naturalized citizens, and were therefore unable to vote in the decision for secession. Texas became a member of the Confederacy in March 1861, and in April 1861, the first battle of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter, SC. In July 1861, a Union blockade of the Southern coast reached Texas and stopped all immigration, Czech or otherwise. By the time of the blockade, the Czech population in Texas had grown from 74 in 1852 to over 700.
  In 1861, as the war was beginning, more than 600 men in Fayette County and 160 men in Austin County volunteered for either active duty or military reserve service. Of those enrolled, only nine in Fayette County and zero in Austin County were definitively Czech. This changed in 1862, when conscription laws for military service were established and enforced. Under the Confederate Constitution, military service was a legal method of obtaining Confederate citizenship for those who were not formerly American citizens, but aliens, unlike citizens, were not required to serve in the regular military. The exemptions for aliens were determined by the Confederate War Department to apply only to aliens who were not permanent settlers and had not renounced their native allegiance. This did not apply to the majority of Czechs because they were permanent settlers. As a result, Czechs were conscripted to serve in the Confederate Army. To avoid conscription, some chose to leav
caption: Czech Museum in Caldwell
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SD400", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:05:19 16:35:43", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5023", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:19 16:35:43", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:19 16:35:43", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "255/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "85/16", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "7109/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2592", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1944", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2226", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "11520", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}