Bohemian and Moravian Pioneers in Colonial America

Although a major exodus of Czechs to America did not take place until after the revolutionary year of 1848, there is plenty of evidence on hand attesting to numerous cases of individual migrations from the Czechlands not too long after the New World was discovered.

As surprising as it may sound to most of you, according to some scholars, Czechs could actually claim some credit for the discovery of the New World. I am referring to German author Franz Loeher (1) who made the claim that Martin Behaim, rather than Columbus, or for that matter Amerigo Vespucci was the true discoverer of America. Loeher celebrates Behaim, whom he considers to be a German, not only as the first European to view the coast of America off Brazil in the year 1483 but also as the instructor in western navigation of both of the putative later discoverers and explorers, Columbus and Magellan. Although Loeher's claim was later disputed, and even ridiculed, Behaim was
known to take part in the expedition of Diego Cap (1485-1486) that followed the coast of Africa to Cape Cross. His most important work, which places him among the greatest geographers of the Renaissance, was his terrestrial globe, the earliest extant known, that has been preserved in Nuremberg. What role this globe played in the actual discovery of the New World is not known. As the name indicates, Behaim was not a German at all but rather a Bohemian. The name Behaim is the old German equivalent of the later used term Boebme (i.e. Bohemian) which, prior to the usage of family surnames, was commonly used to designate individuals coming from Bohemia or the Czech Lands. According to
the family tradition the Behaim family moved to Nuremberg from Bohemia after the death of the Czech Duke Vratislav I.(2).

Be that as it may, the news of the discovery of the new World reached the Kingdom of Bohemia as early as the first decade of the 16th century, during the reign of Vladislav the Jagellonian (1471-1516). Proof of this is given by the existence of an early print in the Czech language, Spis o nowych zemiech a o nowem swietie o niemzto jsme prwe zadne znamosti nemeli ani kdy tzo slychali" , the origin of which was placed to about 1509.lt is an adaptation of the renown letter of Amerigo Vespucci addressed to the Medici family,
appended with other texts. The Czech version apparently preceded the other European nations in this regard since only the Latin original exists from that period. The printer and publisher of this rare print is purported to be Mikulas Bakalar, originally Stetina, of Pilsen, Bohemia (3).

The first visitors from the Czechlands in the New World were an anonymous group of miners from Jachymov, Bohemia who, prior to 1528, were sent to Little Naples (present Venezuela) to establish the silver mines in that country, while in the employ of the banking house of the Walser family (4). The project apparently ended with failure since during a short time the Walsers gave up their efforts of mining silver there and the miners returned home. We also have a record from that period regarding a Moravian jeweler in Mexico who was accused in 1536 of heresy and sentenced to do public penance and expulsion from the Spanish territory (5).

The first documented case of the entry of a Bohemian on the North American shores is that of Joachim Gans of Prague who came to Roanoke, NC in 1585 with an expedition of explorers, organized by Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) and commanded by Raleigh's cousin Sir Richard Greenville (1542-1591). It is noteworthy that this expedition originated from Plymouth, England, thirty years before the Pilgrims set sails from the same port on their historic voyage to America. Due to lack of provisions for the colonists and the
inherent dangers from the Spaniards and the Indians the expedition had to be abruptly called to an end on June 19, 1856 when Sir Francis Drake (1516-1590) was asked to take the whole company of colonists back to England (6).

Who was the first Czech permanent settler in America we cannot say with certainty. It is certain, however, that among the first settlers was the famed Augustine Herman (1621-1686) from rague. He was a surveyor and skilled draftsman, successful planter and developer of new lands, a shrewd and enterprising merchant, a bold politician and an effective diplomat, fluent in several languages - clearly one of the most conspicuous and colorful personalities of the seventeenth century colonial America. After coming to New Amsterdam (present New York) he became one of the most influential people in the Dutch Province which led to his appointment tote Council of Nine to advise the New Amsterdam Governor. One of his greatest achievements was his celebrated map of Maryland and Virginia commissioned by Lord Baltimore on which he began working in earnest after removing to the English Province of Maryland. Lord Baltimore was so pleased with the map that he rewarded Herman with a large estate, named by Herman "Bohemia Manor", and the hereditary title Lord (7).

There was another Bohemian living in New Amsterdam at that time, Frederick Philipse (1626-1720) who became equally famous, in his own right. He was a successful merchant who eventually became the wealthiest person in the entire Dutch Province. He descended from an aristocratic Protestant family from Bohemia who had to flee from their native land at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War (8).

Preserved records document that other natives of the Czechlands lived in New Amsterdam, some of who might have been there even prior to the arrival of Augustine Herman and Frederick Philipse. One can find in the archives of the Reformed Dutch Church the record of a marriage between a Moravian by name of J. Fradel and Tyn Hersher which took place on February 1645. Several other Czech sounding names appear in the Dutch records, including that of Hollar, Adam Unkelbe, John Kostlo, and Loketka. There is also evidence of the presence of Czechs in Virginia, as attested by early ship passenger lists. Czech names also appear in some documents in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Signs of early Czech presence can also be found in parish records in Barbados, as evidenced by such names as Richard Benes, Anthony Slany or John Hudlice (9).

During the anti-reformation period, while the Czech Protestants in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia were undergoing their greatest persecution, the Czech Jesuits took the initiative of launching their extraordinary ambitious missionary world-wide effort among Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, and Ethiopians. The Bohemian Province of the Society of Jesus sent 160 of its members oversees, among whom 36 went to Mexico, 3 to Lower California (now a part of Mexico), 3 to New Granada (present Venezuela), 17 to Ecuador, 17 to Peru, 26 to Paraguay, 12 to Chile, 9 to China, 7 to Annam (present Vietnam), 4 to Goa and 2 to the coast of Malabar. Half of them were clergymen and half were lay brethren, trained in some trade or craft (10).

Valentin Stansel (1621-1705) was apparently the first Jesuit who worked in Latin America. After joining the Jesuit Order he became a professor of rhetoric and mathematics in Olomouc, Moravia and later in Prague. After ordination he opted for missionary work in India and left for Portugal where he awaited the arrival of a ship. In the meantime he taught astronomy at the university in Evora. When his trip to India did not materialize, he was sent in 1657 to Brazil and taught at the Jesuit College and Seminary in Bahia (present Salvador). First he held the position of a professor of moral theology and later was promoted to a chancellor. In addition to his teaching career, he also conducted research in astronomy and made a number of important discoveries, especially of comets. Some of his observations were subsequently published in Prague, under the title Observationes Americanae Cometae.

A steady stream of missionaries began leaving for Latin America soon after the Bohemian Societatis Jesu was admitted for the missionary work there in 1644. Among the first missionaries selected were Matias Kukulin from Mohelnice, Moravia, Vaclav Christmann from Prague, Pavel Klein from Cheb, Bohemia, Josef Neumann from Olomouc, Moravia, Augustin Strobach from Jihlava, Moravia, and Jan Tilpe from Silesia. Later on, the group was joined Brother Simon Boruhradsky from Polna, Bohemia. In June 1678, the group left Genoa, Italy and from there they sailed to Portugal. They were beset with difficulties from the start. One vessel, with numerous missionaries on board, was wrecked immediately after setting sail, and the voyagers barely escaped with their lives. Only a few missionaries succeeded in persuading the captain of the ship San Ignacio to take them on board.
After many difficulties they finally arrived in October 1680 in Mexico City, the capital city of New Spain. Christmann remained in Latin America until the end of his life in 1723 and spent most of that time in Paraguay. Klein later left for the Philippine Islands. Both Tilpe and Strobach removed to Pacific coast and sailed to Mariana Islands where they met Kukulin. Neumann with Boruhradsky remained in Mexico.

The second group of Czech Jesuits began their journey to Latin America in 1684, their destination being Peru and Chile. The group included Jiri Burger, Ignat Fritz and Vaclav Richter from Moravia and Jiri Brand and Ondrej Suppetius from Silesia. They were followed by other groups destined for New Granada (present Columbia), Venezuela, Brazil and other countries in Latin America, in order to broaden their missionary work.

Among these missionaries, Simon Boruhradsky's name will be for ever remembered in Mexican history for his melioration structures that saved several cities from devastating floods and his part in the rebuilding of the vice-regent's palace after it was burned down by Indians. Jiri Hostinsky abilities during the negotiations with Indians of the powerful Tarahunwa tribe. Josef Neumann is from Valasske Klobouky was an outstanding authority on Indian dialects who demonstrated his credited with writing the history of the uprising of this tribe, while Mate] Steffel compiled a dictionary of their language and Adam Gilig of Rymarov, Moravia did the same with reference to the dialects of Pinas and Eudeve tribes.

In the region of today's Venezuela several Czech missionaries excelled, including Vojtech Bukovsky, a scion of an old family of Bohemian Knights of Hustirany, Bohemia, Jindrich Vaclav Richter from Prostejov, Moravia and Samuel Fritz from Trutnov, Bohemia. Fritz succeeded in converting, among others, the powerful tribe of Omaguas and in concentrating into civilized settlements the savages of forty different localities. An adept in technical arts and handicraft, he also was endowed with extraordinary linguistic
abilities, supplemented by the rare gift of knowing intuitively how to treat the Indians. In 1689 he undertook, in primitive Parakou, a daring expedition down the Amazon to Para, where he was captured and imprisoned for two years n the suspicion of being a Spanish spy. Although only imperfectly equipped with the necessary instruments, he completed a relatively accurate chart of the river's course. This was the first such attempt to chart the Maranon territory.

Among the Czech missionaries in Peru excelled Stanislav Arlet from Silesia, the founder of San Pedro, and Frantisek Boryne from Lhota, Bohemia. According to his contemporaries, Boryne worked more effectively than twenty missionaries altogether, converting to Christianity over 100 different tribes. He founded a whole series of new posts, built beautiful churches, introduced new agricultural practices and new trades, taught native women how to spin flax and men how to weave. Brother Jan Roelir from Prague was
responsible for preparing the architectural plans of the famed cathedral in Lima, after its destruction by the earthquake of 1746. Frantisek Eder of Kremnice will be remembered for writing an authoritative account of the hard and distressful life in the Majos Mission where the missionaries resembled "living corpses" rather than human beings.

Jiri Burger from Vyskov in Moravia served in the Chilean province. His Spanish far exceeded that of most native speakers. In 1700 he was put in charge of college in Chillan. Father Supetius from Silesia who held the position of a chancellor of the Jesuit College in Santiago wrote with pride in one of his letters "All of us who came here from the bohemian Province can truthfully confirm that the native Fathers in Chile of Spanish parentage love and hold in high esteem the Czechs above all other nations, even above European Spaniards, which is among these people extremely rare...". Jan Josef Cermak from Moravske Budejovice and Vaclav Horsky from Hradec Kralove deserve mentioning of the Czechs serving here.

It is of note that the Czech missionaries participated in the rebuilding of the Jesuit state of Paraguay, called by Voltaire a "victory of humanity" eventhough he was a deadly enemy of the Jesuits. A number of Czechs were active here, including Vaclav Christmann from Prague, Jan John from Jaroimer and Jindrich Kordule from Bestvina.

This narrative hardly touches on the varied activities of Czech missionaries in Latin America, nor does it do justice to the hardships and stress and the inhumane conditions under which they had to live - in impenetrable jungles, under the most severe climatic conditions, often exposed to incurable diseases, not to mention frequent hunger and constant dangers by wild Indians.�

The first significant wave of Czech colonists to come to America was that of the Moravian Brethren who began arriving on the American shores in the first half of the 1 gth century.Moravian Brethren were the followers of the teachings of the Czech religious reformer and martyr JanHus (1370-1415) and John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) (11). Hey were true heirs of the ancient Unitasfratrum bohemicorum, who found a temporary refuge in Herrnhut ("Ochranov", in Czech language) in Lusatia under the patronage of Count
Nikolaus Zinzendorf (1700-1760). Because of the worsening political and religious situation in Saxony, the Moravian Brethren, as they began calling themselves, had to seek a more permanent home and also a new territory where they could freely profess their faith and expand their mission activities. The North American continent with its abundance of fertile land and large Indian population was ideally suited for their aims. After initial visits to St. Thomas in 1732 and Greenland in 1733, ten selected Brethren sailed in
November 1734 to the English province of Georgia, arriving in Savannah in February 1735. In the summer of the same year a second group, under the leadership of Bishop David Nitscbmann, followed. This group comprised twenty-five persons, the majority of whom were from Moravia or Bohemia. Among the passengers on the ship was John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of the Methodist Church, who became acquainted with the Brethren, attended their services, worshiped with them, and lived in their homes during his initial stay in Georgia. Through the efforts of Bishop Ntschmami, the Brethren were soon organized into a congregation. Brother Anton Seiffert, a native of Bohemia, was ordained as their preacher and named their elder. In 1736 they built their first church in North America. Despite their efforts, the Moravians did not find Gorgia adequate for their religious pursuits and in 1740 the majority decided to leave for Pennsylvania which offered better conditions.

The third group of Moravian settlers, called by early Moravian historians "The First Sea Congregation", arrived in Philadelphia in June 1742. The largest contingent of Moravian Brethren ever to come to America arrived May 17, 1749 in New York, with the John Nitschmann Colony, with whom came Christian David of Zenklava, Moravia, the founder of Brethren's Herrnhut, and Matthew and Rosina Stach, Moravian missionaries in Greenland.

The ranking place among the early Moravians was held by Bishop Daniel Nitschmann (1691- 1749), a native of Suchdol, Moravia, who devoted his entire life to the Moravian Church. . He fled in 1724 to Hermhut and was immediately engaged in evangelic work in Germany and Russia. In 1732 he went, together with Leupold Dober, to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, as the first Moravian missionaries "among the heathens". In 1735 he was consecrated the first bishop of the renewed Unity by Bishop Jablonsky of Berlin, the grandson of the famed John Amos Comenius, thus assuring the continuation of the evangelic work of the ancient Unitasfratrum of Bohemian Brethren. The following year he
led the Moravian colony to Georgia. In 1740 he came to Pennsylvania and in 1743 purchased a track of land on the Lehigh River where he founded a small colony, from the abandoned settlement in Georgia, which he named Bethlehem. In 1744 he returned to Saxony but later extended his labors to New York and North Carolina. During his lifetime he visited the principal countries of Northern Europe and the West Indies, making close to fifty sea voyages. In 1755, he returned to Pennsylvania and resided in Weissport and Lititz, later at Bethlehem.

Thanks to the foresight and historical sense of George Neisser (1715-1784) from Zilina, Moravia, we have a detailed account of the early events in Bethlehem as well as of the history of the Moravian Church during the formative years. Rev. George Neisser was the first archivist and diarist of Bethlehem, its first schoolmaster and postmaster. Nathaniel Seidel (1718-1782), a descendant of Bohemian emigrants in Silesia, served for twenty years as the President of the American Provincial Board of the Elders.
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David Zeisberger Jr, whose parents forsook their considerable estate in Moravia and fled for conscience sake to Herrnhut, after coming to America in 1738 embarked on an intensive study of Indian languages which provided a foundation for his illustrious career among American Indians, lasting more than sixty years. Zeisberger's able assistant, John Heckewelder, of Moravian ancestry, also attained prominence as a missionary among the Indians. Besides his missionary labors, he was a postmaster, ajustice of peace, as well as
justice of the court of common pleas. In the last years of his life he engaged in literary pursuits which led to his election in the prestigious American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Thanks to Zeisberger's and Heckewelder's writings we have preserved accurate documentation of the life and the customs of American Indians.

Another noteworthy personality among the Moravian Brethren was the organ builder David Tanneberger (1728-1804) of Moravian parentage, born on Count Zinzendorf estate in Berthelsdorf. He was a skillful joiner, was a notably good tenor, and played the violin. ?He 4 leamed the organ-building craft and soon became well-known for his unique technical skills. Organs of his manufacture were in high repute and were shipped all over eastern Pennsylvania from his Lititz shop, even to such distant places as Albany, NY.

The members of the Demuth family who came originally from Karlov, Moravia, were tobacconists by trade and successful merchants whose shop in Lancaster, PA, still in existence, is the oldest of its kind in the entire United States. Some of their descendants were talented artists, particularly Charles Demuth, water-color illustrator and still-life painter, who was considered the predecessor of Andy Warhol.

Cultural contributions of Moravian Brethren from the Czechlands were distinctly notable in the realm of music. The trumpets and horns used by the Moravians in Georgia are the first evidence of Moravian instrumental music in America. Johann Boehner (1710-1785) from Zelena Hora, Moravia is the first recorded Moravian instrumentalist. The program of music in Bethlehem was greatly stimulated by the arrival in 1761 of two talented musicians, Jeremiah Dencke, a Silesian, and hnmanucl Nitschmann, a Moravian. Johann Frederick
Peter of Silesia is considered the first Moravian composer in America, having composed over 80 hynms. The America-born Christian till of Bohemian ancestry, who succeeded Peter as organist of the Bethlehem church, was also a composer of note.

The Bohemian and Moravian presence in the Colonial America would not be complete without saying a few words about the descendants of the first known settlers from the Czechlands, i.e. Augustine Herman and Frederick Philipse. In one of my earlier essays (12), I wrote that the finest legacy Augustine Herman left behind was his living legacy, represented by his progeny. Although his male line and with this also his name became extinct in 1739, Hermann's three daughters and the female issue of his grandson left numerous descendants "filing the annals of the worthy and the rich" Based on numerous genealogical and historical sources, this speaker has been able to identify a number of distinguished personalities - US senators, congressmen, State governors, Supreme Court Justices, members of Presidents' Cabinets, and other men and women of substance - who are linear descendants of Augustine Herman. The same holds true about the descendants about Herman's contemporary, Frederick Philipse. I like to conclude with an old saying" Cesi se nikdy ve svete neztrati".

1. See his Geschichte und Zustande der Deutschen in Amerika, Cincinnati, OH: Eggers and Wulkop, 1847.

2. Ottuv Slovnik Naucny, Praha: I. Otto, 1890. vol. 3, pp. 618-619.

3. For more information about Bakalar and his work, see Jiri Hrubes' article in Ibero-Americana Pragensis, vol. 9 (1975), Pp. 167-179.

4. Cited by Josef Polisensky, in Cesky Lid, vol. 88, No.1(1981), p.5.

5.� See Josef Po1isensky et al., Dejiny Latinske Arneriky. Praha: Svoboda, 1979.�

6. For more information, see David B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584-1606. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.

7. For a recent appraisal of Augustine Herman's life and his achievements,� see my study, "Augustine Herman Bohemiensis", Kosmas, vol. 3 (Summer 1984), pp. 139-148.

8. See Thomas Capek, Ancestry of Frederick Phulipse - First Lord and Founder of Phulipse Manor at Yonkers, NY New York: Paebar Co., 1939.

9. Some information about the early Czech settlers in American can be found in Thomas Capek's book, The Cechs (Bohemians) in America. Boston:� Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920, Pp. 1,418.

10. Information on the Czech Jesuits in Latin America is based on my heretofore unpublished, study. Some information can also be found in Vlastimil Kybal's article: "Czechs and Slovaks in Latin America".� In: The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture. Edited by Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr. The Hague: Mouton, 1964, pp. 5 16-522.

11. For more information on Moravian Brethren and their work in America, see my two earlier articles, "The Renewal and the Formation of the Moravian Church in America" Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, vol. 9 (1990), pp. 12-26; "Moravian Brethren from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia: Their Arrival and Settlement in America", Bohemia, vol. 32, No. 1 (1991), pp. 152-65.

12. Augustine Herman Bohemiensis, op. cit. (Endnote 7).
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