Timken
Immigration to the United States from
Czechoslovakia began in the 1850s. The immigrants came to gain
independence, land, and opportunity. After first settling in towns
and cities because they were used to community life as opposed
to unsettled rural areas, Czechoslovakians from both Bohemia and
Moravia began to come to the open spaces of Kansas in 1875. Looking
for land to homestead or buy from the railroads, they moved farther
and farther west. In 1878, Joseph and Anna Schroter left Christa,
Bohemia and came to the Timken area with their five children to
settle on land that had been located for them by their oldest
son, Joseph Schroter, Jr., who, with two of his brothers, Charles
and Frank, had come to America two years earlier and had been
working in Chicago. Jacob Method Pivoka and his wife, Antonia
Dvorak Pivonka, came to Rush County in 1880 from Chrohenice, a
small village in Moravia, Czechoslovakia. They settled first southeast
of Rush Center, then moved to the Timken area.
Other Czech-speaking families followed,
including the Veseckys, the Hamrdlas, the Holopireks, Bizeks,
Bohols, Schuhlons, Kriklans, Chlumskys, Dvoraks, Smrckas, Pozaleks,
Kottals, Lapkas, Petriks, Fialas, Jechas, Kraisingers, Brazdas,
Pechanecs, Vondraceks, Obornys, Spickas, Vseteckas, Tomaceks,
Besperats, Serpans, Stejskals, Kirklans, and Oliveriuses. Many
Czech also spoke German as their homeland had been part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Sources
Information
from Judith Reynolds
Algrim, Gene,
et al. Rush County Kansas...125 Years in Story & Pictures.
LaCrosse: The Rush County News and Creative Printing, 2001.
