Hi, Kathy, The Czechs and Slovenians or Slovaks and some Polish are more recent immigrants than the Germans of New Braunfels- kerrville- Fredricksburg- malone- Muenster-Westphalia-, Windthorst- - Thorndale- . These Germans had lost the Aborptive Revolution and came direct from Germany to Fayette County, Texas Sons of Herman Lodge owned plantation and re organized before moving on inland- 1850's appx. Most were Lutheran or various Anabaptist and Separatist groups. In 1960's the West and Cameron Unity of the Brethern (Moravian) Church still had Czech language Worship and preaching one Sunday a month- Rev, Bezdek was the Czech pastor and someone else did the English when he was in other locations- they were sort of between the modern Mennonites and Baptist in Doctorine. They also have active Moravian Evangelical and Catholic Churches. Bro. Emil Becker of Stephenville Baptist was raised in a German Mennonite home. The Czech, Slovaks, and Moravians of West, Cameron, Pasadena, Ennis, and some sections of Da;llas and Fort Worth get along fine at such events as the Westfest and the Ennis Polka Festival. Westfest now invites Spanish Polka and Norwegian dancers of Bosque County in one Cultural tent. Cameron and Hillsboro used to have llorts of Czech Polka music on Radio- and Dad liked it. We could hear it in Eastern Erath County on Radio. The Ku Klux Klan had a leader near West who told the kids in Public Elementary School to throw rocks at the "Foreigners" in Catholic Elementary schools. In 1920-40. West had a movie theatre where many learned more English. When Dad taught at Harmony school, appx. 1920 (near Meridian State Park) , all first graders spoke Norwegian. All at West of the Czecxh group could not speak English- so the Tours and West Catholic Churches still had elementary schools to prepare them for High School. and still do,last I heard. The TP and other RRs brought in Czech and any Short Europeans to mine coal in Newcastle and Thurber and East Oklahoma- those who were mining coal in Thurber in 1900were European born. The Company built 2 Catholic churches in Thurber- one for the Irish and one for the Czechs, Slovaks, Italians. They separated them into single language crews for top production. Stephenville should have Czech & other Naturalization records. Some from Thurber mines, born in Europe,were buried at West. Over the Cage and Crow Bank in Stephenville there was once an Italian Opera Hall. My Moravian ancestors were Hipp families from the " Dutch Fork Hipps" of the Carolinas, before 1760'sYowell nd Mitchell branches of my family had early Germans coming before Rev. War. Many Scotch- Irish- Germans came from Ga. andMiss. and Alabama to Tennessee to the area between West and Corsicana and Waco. The Yowel,. family still has a few hundred acres of blackland cotton there. I have a book saying , in pen and ink , WYLY HOLLINGSWORTH- FROM SPRING HILL, ALABAMA TO SPRING HILL ,tEXAS, 1860's. One of this family was a coach in Whitney. and my grandson on his dad's side was descended from this Hoillingsworth family. Remember, some from Alabama and Georgia and Mississippi north of the Tennessee River thought they were in Tennessee, but when Great Grandad 8 Generations back, Col. & Gov. and U.S. Congressman John Sevier died surveying the land- and those following him finished the present boundaries. Mom used to know mrs. Stemberidge and visited wuth her at shopping or public gatherings. Take care, Charles A. Wyly On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 23:29:29 -0700 Kathy Tate <[email protected]> writes: > Charles, > I've seen you mention West in several of your postings ...I have > Stembridge > ancestors that settled near West (actually somewhat closer to > Aquilla) then > moved to Erath county near Bluff Dale. > > Do you know any of the history of that area? Don't know why my > English > ancestors would have settled in a Czech community ...maybe tired or > sick? > > Just wondering .... > > Kathy Tate > > > > > ==== TXERATH Mailing List ==== > --- Author Retains Copyright --- > -- Copyright 2003 Author -- All Rights Reserved > Post to List: [email protected] http://www.selfroots.com > Unsubscribe request To: [email protected] > ARCHIVES: http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > >