The Voyage of the Maria

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."