Village of Origin

Village of Origin...over and over I hear this term used as other Texas Czechs talk of their search for the ancestral homes of their family in Europe. I too use this term as I search for and find the names of the villages in Moravia and Upper Silesia from whence came my great, great-grand parents and, as it turns out, even my great, great, great-grandparents. It is a good feeling when one is able to look at a map and circle the names of the originating villages. I also have a second map on which I locate villages of origin; however, this one is not of Europe but rather of Texas.

This is the second opportunity for me to share with the readers of the Èeský Hlas tales of my search for information on my ethnic identity and the stories which I uncover during my quest. I quickly learned that if finding the genealogical information was time consuming and, at times, difficult, learning who the people on the family tree were was far more difficult. So many of the people who carried the knowledge have already died. So many relatives who are a generation older than I tell me that they wish they had really listened to the stories they were told as they were growing up. Again and again I hear words to the effect of "I never thought those stories about the old days would be important to me; but, now that I am older, I want to know what happened back then and it is too late."

When I knew my family tree back to my great-great grandparents, I still wasn’t satisfied. Something was still lacking. Names and dates were not comforting nor did they really tell me who my people were. I had to search deeper. Was it time for me to collect information on my families while they were still in Europe? I decided not. I knew so little of the lives of the family after they came to Texas. This is when I developed an appetite for books on the Texas Czechs and the history of Texas as well as when I started asking very detailed questions to all those who would listen to and help me. It was through educating myself about the Texas Czechs as a group and the individuals who made up my family that I finally felt I was on the right track. At the same time; I acknowledged how little I actually knew and realized that to achieve my goal, there was much knowledge in many different areas which I needed to acquire.

My readings established for me that most all of the early Czech immigrants to Texas settled first in one place and then later moved; or if not they, then their children did. I also found this to be true in the case of all my ancestral families. The settlement points of my immigrant ancestors correspond with those of many other Texas Czechs. The family which I write about first settled in Lavaca County, Texas, in 1886, after traveling aboard the S. S. Rhaetia to Castle Gardens, the immigrant center then for the Port of New York, New York, from Morkovice, Moravia. My great, great grandparents, František (Frank) and Maria (Marie) Matous Rektoøík, bought farm land and grew deep roots in the community of Moravia, Texas. While they would reside there until their last living days, their sons, with the guidance and assistance of their father, moved down to Nueces County, Texas, in the early 1900’s when the rich black land of the coastal prairie was just being opened up for development. And, along with the sons came several of the sons-in-law and daughters of Frank and Marie Rektorik. They too were recently married and ready to establish themselves. This is the climate in which I grew up, surrounded by the families of all these relatives who moved down here, in a second migration, in the early 1900’s.

As I learned the stories of the relatives down here, I realized that I wanted to understand the nature of their lives before they moved here on the flat and windy coastal prairies. This gave rise to me making contacts with family who still lived in the area of Moravia, Texas. And, this in turn led to me visiting to hear their stories and to see for myself the area...this point of origin for the second migration. Until about five years ago, I had not visited Moravia, Texas, since I was about five years of age. When I did go back, I was so very comfortable there. The gently rolling hills of the land around Moravia, Texas, whether covered with wildflowers, pasture grass, or corn never fail to lift my spirit. Twice this year I have been there. It is not just the beauty of the area but the friends I have made and the tales of the past which draw me there time and time again. And, as I asked questions and learned of my family, I also realized how intertwined the neighboring families became in this area during the latter part of the 1880’s. For instance, my grandfather, Alois Rektorik, as did three of his siblings, married into the neighboring Hrnèiø family. I am not directly related to the Hrncirs because Johanna Hrncir, whom my Grandfather married, died while she was still in her early twenties. Still, I carry the bond of the connections forged a century ago, and I consider the Hrncirs as family.

It was Josef Hrnèiø, his wife, Anna Svoboda Hrnèiø, and their four children who were the first of this Hrnèiø family to come to Texas. They came from the village of Lichnov, near Frenstat, in Moravia, traveling aboard the bark Jeverland and entered through the port of Galveston, Texas. After the turbulent and trying years of the Civil War, they first bought land in the area of High Hill, in Fayette County, and then later, around 1872, relocated to the area of Moravia, Texas. I have come to realize that the Hrncir family must have offered friendship to and helped ease the transition of the Rektorik family when they arrived from Europe in 1886. At this point, I accepted that I should be asking questions about two families in order to learn about life back in the 1800’s. And as I found friends and developed contacts, I learned through their stories of how closely intermeshed were the lives of many of the other families in the area of Moravia, Texas. This then kindled an awareness with in me that I truly needed to learn of a whole community of people in order to gain an accurate view of what life was like for my ancestors. And, in this process, I came to realize how colorful and imbued with events and flavors of a Texas now gone were the stories and remembrances I heard from all the Senior Texas Czechs. I am hooked and I hope there are others of you out there who are too.

With this article, I have, I hope, established a background for the first of my stories. In many ways, it is the work of other concerned and involved Texas Czechs who make it possible for me to go ahead with my search for stories because they have already researched, studied, and compiled family history books on several of the families with which I am connected. I rely heavily on the genealogical resources for background information. It is my hope that many other Texas Czech families have either already put together family history books or are in the process of doing so. I wish to acknowledge and thank Gary Rektorik for researching, organizing, and compiling the book titled: Descendants and Their Families of Frank and Marie Rektorik. I also wish to acknowledge and thank Charles C. L. "Chuck" Hrncir and Marilyn C. "Mickie" McGearity Hrncir for researching, compiling, and writing the book titled: The Joseph and Anna Hrncir Family: A Journey from Lichnov, Moravia, in Austria, to Moravia, Texas, United States of America; 1860 - 1991.
 

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