This is the story of the Czech
immigrants who traveled to Texas aboard the Maria in 1851. This version
of the story is excerpted from the Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume
I, by Leo Baca, privately published, Copyright 1983, revised in 2000. It was
written by Dr. John Kroulik, who is the actual great grandson of Josef Lidumil
Lesikar:
"...By the end of 1848, the Czechs felt that they had little chance of
gaining release from the authority of the Church and the absolutism of
Austria's repressive regime. Therefore, the encouraging letters about Texas
from Bergman shortly afterward were welcome, and there was much enthusiasm
about starting a new life in a new land.
Meetings were held. the plans were formulated for the transfer. Much of the
planning was done under the leadership of Josef Lidumil Lesikar.
Illustration Courtesy Leo Baca
Lesikar was born to Josef and Rozalie (Prokop) Lesikar of Herbortice,
Bohemia, on 16 May 1806. As a young man he spent some time in the Banat.
Later he settled in Nepomuky, Bohemia, where he was a tailor. He was a
Notary Public, and also served as secretary to the Justice of the Peace. The
Habsburgs considered him an agitator. Josef Lidumil Lesikar married Terezie
Silar, daughter of Jan and Rozalie (Rypl) Silar of Nepomuky, on 18 February
1828. Josef Lidumil Lesikar and Terezie Silar Lesikar were the
great-grandparents of this writer.
How the Czechs of the Lanskroun, Bohemia, area prepared for their departure
has been largely described by Frantisek Silar of Nepokumy, Czech Republic,
who researched many of the documents still available in the Czech Republic.
On 19 August 1851, about 188 passports were issued to Czechs desiring to
leave their homeland. Most of the people began making preparations of the
journey. They sold their property, if they had any, and many of their
personal belongings in order to have enough money to make the journey and
hopefully to have enough left to purchase land and the essentials to live in
the new land.
As the day of departure approached, however, forty four of the people who
had obtained passports decided, for various reasons, not to go. Mr. and Mrs.
Josef Lidumil Lesikar and their four sons originally did plan to go with the
group in 1851, but later Mrs. Lesikar decided that she simply could not
abandon her way of life and start over in an alien land. This left the group
without a dominant leader, but apparently the 61 year-old widow from
Nepomuky, Mrs. Pavel (Johanna Balcar) Silar, became the spokesman of the
group. This is partially blind and devout Christian woman was leaving her
homeland with eight of her children and nineteen grandchildren.
On 6 November 1851 about seventy four Czechs left their homes in Albrechtice,
Dolni Hermanice, Horni Cermna, Horni Tresnovec, and Nepomuky, all small
villages near the town of Lanskourn, Bohemia-- near Moravia--to board the
train in Usti nad Orlici, for the first leg of the long journey ahead. The
boarding of the train at 4:30 a.m. on 7 November 1851, was a very emotional
experience not only for those who were leaving their homeland forever, but
also for the relatives and friends who stayed behind.
"The Group left Usti nod Orlici for Hamburg,
Germany, where they were scheduled to board a German ship directly for
Galveston, Texas. Misfortune beset the Czechs in Hamburg, where they were
defrauded by a 'con' person by the name of Hirman, who talked them into
abandoning their plans of taking the German ship directly to Galveston and
taking instead a ship from Hamburg to Liverpool, England, boarding another
ship at Liverpool bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, and finally a third ship
for Galveston, Texas. His selling point was that although their would be
transfers, in the long run the trip would be cheaper. Unfortunately, the
Czechs fell for his sales pitch.
Illustration Courtesy Leo Baca
It is not known at this time how the group traveled from Hamburg to
Liverpool. The name of the ship, the number of passengers, their names and
the dates of sailing and arrival are unknown.
The Czech group left Liverpool for New Orleans on 1 December 1851, on the
sailing vessel Maria. There is an official list compiled in Liverpool of the
people who sailed on the Maria on that trip. This passenger list can be
found in the National Archives in Washington, D. C. It contains the names of
seventy four Czechs with surnames as follows: Coufal, Jezek, Lesikar, Mares,
Motl, Rosler (2), Rypl, Silar, Szornosky, and Votava. Thirty-One of the 74
names were of the surname Silar (Shillar). [Here there is a listing of all
the individual names and ages.]
The Maria was built in Quebec, Canada, in 1849, of oak, hackmatock, and pine
wood. She was of 1014 tons register or 837 tons net. She had one main deck
and a poopdeck, and was 150 feet long, 32 feet wide, and 22 feet in 23
depth. As the Maria left Liverpool, there were about 295 passengers on
board. Besides the Czechs, there were German and Irish people coming to
America. This made living conditions rather congested. The food was scarce
and of inferior quality. Much of it was stale. The rationed water was
dispensed in an unsanitary fashion. As a result of the poor living
conditions, many of the passengers became ill and some died. The number of
deaths, however, is not known.
About 63 days after departing from Liverpool, the Maria reached New Orleans
on 3 February 1852. It is believed that many of the Czechs who had become
ill entered a hospital in New Orleans, at it is very likely that some of
them passed away in that city. Unfortunately, no New Orleans records
concerning this group have been found.
After staying in New Orleans for an unknown length of time, the surviving
Czechs left for Galveston on a ship which may have been the Victoria . This
has not been verified, but the Victoria was referred to by descendants. The
names of the actual passengers and the dates of departure from New Orleans
and arrival in Galveston are not known. Family records of some of the
families indicate that some of the Czechs died on the voyage from New
Orleans to Galveston, as well as in Galveston after their arrival.
From Galveston the surviving Czechs went to Houston via Buffalo Bayou on a
schooner. Additional Czechs died in Houston according to some records.
The journey from Houston to the Cat Spring area in Austin County was made
mostly on foot. There were no railroads along that route at that time. Some
of the heavier possessions and a few of the individuals were transported by
ox-drawn wagons. It is known that one child, surname Rypl, died on this part
of the journey at a point near the Brazos River.
There is no accurate record of how many of the approximately 74 Czechs
reached Cat Spring about 3-4 months after departing from their homes in
Europe. Most estimates are that of fewer than half (about 34) reached their
destination. Of the Lesikar Family (this was not the Josef Lidumil Lesikar
family) only two small children reached Cat Spring. One can only speculate
as to how many of the thirty-one Silars who left Europe reached their
destination.
Most of the surviving Czechs settled in the Cat Spring/New Bremen/ New Ulm/
Industry area of Austin County. Instead of settling in a colony, they
scattered among the Germans, depending on where they were able to buy or
rent land. Since most of the Czechs were fluent in the German language, this
knowledge (of language) was to their advantage under the conditions as found
at that time."