The Czechs of Gulf Coast Alabama

© Melda H. Boyd and Gary M. Boyd

Photo of Silverhill, 1910 - 1912.
View of Silverhill's Main Street, looking west, 1910 - 1912.
Click to Enlarge.

Introduction

When we think of Czech immigration to the United States, the first places that come to mind are in the Midwest and Texas. Lesser known, but no less important, is the settlement of Gulf Coast Alabama by Czech immigrants in the early part of the 20th century.

James Vlasak, the first Czech, arrived in Silverhill in 1898.1 As far as is known, he was the only Czech in the area for quite some time.

The story of numbers of Czechs migrating to South Alabama begins with the establishment of Silverhill, a small town in Baldwin County that became a magnet for the early Czech settlers.


It All Began With the Swedes

In 1890, Silverhill was founded by the Svea Land Company of Chicago, an entity formed by several Swedish families who were looking for land suitable for farming. After much study and at least one exploratory visit, they purchased 1,500 acres2 east of Mobile to establish a Swedish farming colony.3

Photo of Silverhill train station. - Click to Enlarge.
Silverhill train station.
After the founding of Robertsdale in 1905, the station was in Robertsdale.
Click to Enlarge.

In 1905, Robertsdale, Alabama was founded by the Southern Plantation Land Corporation. Robertsdale included land and facilities such as the railroad station that had previously been part of Silverhill. The Svea Land Company promoted land sales in Silverhill, while the Southern Plantation Land Corporation did the same in Robertsdale by advertising in Northern newspapers read by immigrants. These companies also distributed promotional flyers and pamphlets among Swedish immigrants and others living in the Midwest.

Photo of Front cover of an 8 page marketing brochure.Front cover of an 8 page marketing brochure used in 1900-1902 to attract settlers. - Click to Enlarge. Photo of Back cover of an 8 page marketing brochure.
Back cover of an 8 page marketing brochure used in 1900-1902 to attract settlers.
- Click to Enlarge.

The promotional literature paints a beautiful picture of farm life in Baldwin County. For example, in an 8-page brochure published by the Silverhill (Svea) Land Company between 1900 and 1902, the text beckons settlers with the words:

No winters. Cool summers, moderated by the salt sea breezes. No fevers, no contagious diseases. 200 feet above tide water. Fertile soil. Inexhaustible supply of pure freestone water. Good markets. Good R.R. facilities. All conveniences of a large city.4

Many Swedes came during the early years of Silverhill. They worked hard in unfamiliar territory that posed the challenges of learning how to farm in a warm climate, finding reliable markets that would reward their efforts with a good income, and dealing with the unexpected, including hurricanes. The hurricane of 1906 in particular caused hardships for the settlers. Many of them left. Oscar Johnson, the founder of Silverhill, still owned large tracts of land that he had hoped to sell to settlers. Fewer and fewer Swedish families came, so Johnson decided to expand his efforts to a new group of potential settlers, the Czechs.5


The Czechs Come to Baldwin County

In 1908, Oscar Johnson advertised for a land agent to help bring settlers to the three Baldwin County towns of Silverhill, Robertsdale, and Summerdale. According to Silverhill resident A. J. Cejka, writing in 1927, Karel Hanak, a well-educated man from a prominent Bohemian family in Moravia, was living in Texas at the time and accepted the land agent position. Hanak arrived in Baldwin County in 1909.6 He intended to found a Bohemian town, "Čechie," on a plan similar to that of villages in the old country. What Hanak did not realize is that successful farming in America required each farmer to manage a much larger plot of ground than farmers were used to in Bohemia and Moravia. His model Bohemian village did not come to fruition, and after many difficulties, Hanak gave up on the project and left Silverhill in 1912.7

Meanwhile, others came and stayed. Among the first to join the new Czech colony was Joseph Kulička, who arrived from Texas in 1909. In all, thirteen Bohemian families came to Silverhill that year, settling southwest of the center of the town.8

In the following years, others came, too. In a 22-month period, 108 Bohemian families came to the area, and by 1928 there were about 250 families, a total of more than 1,000 people. In addition to farmers, the new arrivals included merchants and mechanics.9

The years 1920-21 saw the largest influx of Czech settlers to central Baldwin County. Many of these people had come from Bohemia or Moravia to Chicago, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, or other places in the U.S., where they had first tried to make a new life. Most of the Bohemians and Moravians who headed south were or wanted to become farmers. Some were drawn to the area around Silverhill by the promise of fertile, inexpensive farm land and a climate ideal for agriculture. They heard about this land through people they knew that already had made the move, or through newspaper ads and other promotional literature that was distributed among Czech immigrants, especially in the Midwest.


Keeping the Culture Alive

Education, music, and socializing were important to the Czechs of Baldwin County. In the 1920s they founded a number of organizations for their education, entertainment, and welfare, including:

  • the "Instructive and Amusing Club;"

  • the "Bedrich Smetana" singing society, organized in 1927 by A. J. Cejka;

  • "Libuse", an auxiliary singing society for women;

  • two popular bands, one conducted by Mr. F. Moravec, Sr., the other by Mr. F. Novak;

  • two fraternal lodges, the CSPS, Bohemian Slavonian Benevolent Society "Joseph Matousek, No. 210" founded in 1921 and the ZČBJ, started in 1926 by the Western Bohemian Brotherhood Society;

  • two farmers associations - The Independent Growers and Shippers Association and the Hub Truckers Association (founded in 1922).10

  • two of the early Czechs' most lasting contributions, the Little Bohemian Hall and the PZK Hall.


The Little Bohemian Hall

The Little Bohemian Hall was constructed in 1920 to serve as a school for the Czech children in the Silverhill area and a meeting place for the adults. The Czechs bought an acre of land southwest of Silverhill from Anton Kulička,11 for a dollar and donated their labor to construct the building. Some families donated timber as well, which was sawn at the Heidelberg Sawmill & Planer.

Photo of Little Bohemian Hall. - Click to Enlarge.
A wedding celebration at the Little Bohemian Hall, around 1921.
Click to Enlarge.

The Little Bohemian Hall was in service continuously from its founding until March 9, 2011. From 1928 to 1972 it was used as a community center for meetings, dances, and social activities for the entire town of Silverhill, and as the site of Czech language classes and church services. In 1972, the Hall hosted martial arts classes as well. In 1978, the building was moved to the campus of the Silverhill School, where it was used as a band room and assembly hall for the children.

Sometime in the 1980s it was time to move the Little Bohemian Hall again, to make way for a new gym on the Silverhill School campus. The Baldwin County Board of Education and the Town of Silverhill funded the move to Silverhill's baseball park.

On March 9, 2011, a tornado badly damaged the building, moving it off its foundations. Some in Silverhill recommended that the Hall be demolished. Others decided to preserve the historic building. Former mayor of Silverhill Frankie Kučera has led dedicated Silverhill residents, most of whom are the descendants of the early Czech settlers, in raising money and donating their time, energy and expertise to bring the Hall back to life.

In repairing the Hall it was moved a few hundred feet and turned to face a different direction. Today, the Little Bohemian Hall is located at its third site, on Silverhill town property near the ballparks and water tank,12 on the land donated by Edward Havel (see "Havels" below). It has been repaired and refurbished and was dedicated during Silverhill's annual Heritage Day celebration on September 20, 2014. Soon after that, the Little Bohemian Hall is scheduled to be reopened and ready to serve Silverhill and the surrounding communities again as a meeting hall, museum, and reminder of Silverhill's Czech heritage.


The PZK Hall

The Poučny'A Zábavni Kroužek (PZK), "Educational and Recreational Circle," was founded in 1924 by Baldwin County's Czech immigrants. The social club built its facility, the PZK Hall, on land that originally was part of the Silverhill settlement, but now is in Robertsdale. Through the years the PZK Hall was the busy site of meetings, parties, and especially weekly dances, to which all members of the Czech community were invited. In the early days of the PZK, the women would bring washtubs full of kolačky and other treats and cluster in groups to talk and watch the children, while the men went into the back room to play cards and drink beer.

Photo of Czech dancers in front of the PZK Hall. - Click to Enlarge.
Members of Baldwin County Polka Band, 1977.Czech dancers in front of the PZK Hall, around 1925. Photo courtesy of Frankie Kucera.
Click to Enlarge.

Eli Krehling, whose father was one of the first members of the Baldwin County Polka Band (see the article on the band in this issue of the CGSI quarterly) notes that the PZK Hall had the slickest, best dance floor in the county. Frankie Kučera recalls how the children would push each other around on folding chairs on the highly polished wood floor during the band's intermission.

The descendants of the local Czechs used the PZK Hall regularly for dances and meetings until 1992, when, their active membership dwindling, they donated the building to the City of Robertsdale. Today, the PZK Hall is available for rent by all members of the community and continues to be a popular venue for dances, parties, and wedding receptions. Some say it still has the best dance floor in Baldwin County.


Family Stories

The facts about the Czech migration provide a framework for understanding the history of the Czech settlement of Baldwin County. Perhaps even more fascinating are the personal stories of the people who came south, the routes they took to reach Alabama, the lives they made for themselves after they arrived, and the significant impact they had on the entire county. The descendants of the early Czech settlers have been generous in sharing their families' memories, photos, and life experience.


Kučeras and Snášels, and a Dolak, too

The marriage of Ben ("Bedrich") Kučera and Georgia Snášel at the Baldwin County courthouse in Bay Minette, Alabama, on August 20, 1927, marks the founding of a branch of the Kučera family that has played a leading role in the life of the Czech Community in Baldwin County for more than eighty years.

Both the Kučeras and the Snášels can trace their lineage back to the 1600s, in Čechy and Moravia, respectively.

František and Marie Kučera, both born in Vejprnice, Plzeň region, Bohemia and their son Frank Thomas Kučera, who was born on October 3, 1885, also in Vejprnice, came to the U.S., settling in Ohio in the early 1900s. The male members of the family struggled to make a living in the coal mines in and around Dillonvale, Ohio.

Frank Thomas Kučera married Marketa Terezie Dolak (born May 13, 1885, in Louny, Bohemia), probably in Ohio. The first of their four children, Bedrich (Ben) Fred Kučera was born in a small log cabin by the coal docks, on 15 January 1904 in Dillonvale. He was able to go to school only through the 8th grade; at the age of 14 he joined his father working in the coal mines. After the family moved to Silverhill in 1920, Ben farmed alongside his father, returning to Ohio to mine coal and later work in a glass factory temporarily, after the crops were in. Finally in 1924, he returned to Alabama for good and worked on an orange plantation. In 1925, he started working the chick incubators at a poultry farm, then moved on, becoming a meat cutter at a sausage company in Robertsdale, a job he held until sometime in 1927.13

Georgia Snášel's parents Karel František Snášel (born on February 25, 1869 in Nová Dědina, Moravia) and his wife Vincencie Novotná, (born on April 4, 1872 in the town of Otaslavice, Moravia), lived in Nová Dědina (both near Prostějov), where nine children were born to them. The family, including eight of the children, came to the U.S. in stages, between 1913 and 1921, after many adventures and difficulties. Sadly, one of the children, Jaroslav, died in Nová Dědina at the age of 15, from injuries he sustained when he fell out of a tree. Reunited in America at last, the Snášels settled in Wichita Falls, Texas, where they worked hard on farms and ranches. In 1923, Karel read an ad in a Czech-language newspaper offering good farm land in South Alabama, so he and a neighbor went down to investigate. In 1925, Karel and Vincencie and their family loaded their possessions into boxcars and took the train from Texas to Baldwin County. Having worked hard and saved hard, Karel bought 40 acres near an area called "Sonora" and moved the family to a rental house there. After a while, they set up two 40'x40' tents on their land and lived in them for a year, while they were building their first house. The lumber for this house was sawn at the Heidelberg Sawmill & Planer, a few miles from the Snášels, on the Fish River.14


The Snasel Family in 1954 - Click picture to Enlarge.
Standing, left to right: Charlie Snasel, Agnes Snasel Andrade, Vinci Snasel Fetters, Emilie Snasel Mikkelsen, Frank Snasel.

Seated, left to right: Georgia Snasel Kucera, parents Vincencie and Karel Snasel, Helen Snasel Bartosh.

Ben and Georgia Kučera farmed from the time of their marriage in 1927 until 1929, when Ben was asked to take the position of Deputy Sheriff of South Baldwin County, which he held until becoming the Chief Deputy Sheriff of Baldwin County in 1942. Also in 1942, Ben, having passed the requisite exams, was commissioned a member of the Alabama Beverage Control Board. In 1945 he was asked by the mayor of Robertsdale to become Robertsdale's Chief of Police, a post he held until 1960.

Ben served an important role as a link between the civic administration and the Czech community. Over his lifetime he served the entire community in many ways, including as mayor of Silverhill from 1964-1978. He was active as a Scout Master in the Boy Scouts, in the Civil Air Patrol, Masons, and the Shriners. President of the PZK, and president of the National Police Association, was just two of the many additional roles he played over time.15

Frankie, the younger of Ben and Georgia's two sons, has followed in his father's footsteps, serving as Silverhill's mayor from 1976-1984 and leading efforts to preserve and share Silverhill's Czech heritage.

Frankie and his wife Martha were instrumental in the production of the article you are reading; they introduced the authors to some 30 descendants of the Czechs who settled in Baldwin County in the early 1900s and provided many stories and photos.


Vorels

Joseph Vorel was born on January 21, 1888 in what is now the Czech Republic. He often told his family about how he and other men walked and worked their way through Russia and across the frozen Bering Sea to Alaska. Eventually Joseph made his way to New York, settling in Niagara Falls, where he married. Joseph worked in a carborundum factory, while his wife Amelia Schier worked in a shredded wheat factory. Amelia would bring home shredded wheat scraps to fatten the family geese.

Working with carborundum damaged Joseph's lungs, so he took the family south, intending to work in the orange groves in Florida. They didn't make it quite that far, though, and settled in Silverhill instead, where Joseph farmed and tended oranges. Eventually they moved to Robertsdale, where they worked a big garden by hand. They also had chickens and sheep and grew many varieties of beautiful camellias. Joseph and Amelia began a family tradition, sharing the fruits of their garden with friends.

The Vorels had two children, Frank and Evelyn. Frank became a photographer and notary public, and in retirement he and his wife, Bernice Mabel Ekman, a descendant of Swedish settlers, continued to farm Ekman family land in Silverhill. They also shared the produce they grew, making deliveries to friends and those in need. This tradition continues; Frank and Bernice's daughter Roberta Vorel farms this family land today and also shares the bounty of the land with others.


Kuličkas and a Drozd; Heidelbergs, a Hlobril and a Chupek

Photo of Joseph Kulička. - Click to Enlarge.
Joseph Kulička.
Click to Enlarge.

Joseph Kulička (born 188816) and his brother Anton (born 189017) came to America in 1891, when their parents Joseph and Victoria moved from Moravia to America, processing through the port of Galveston, Texas in 189118. They lived in Hallettsville, Texas, where Joseph Jr. married Agnes Drozd in 1906. In 1909, Joseph and Agnes moved to Silverhill, along with Joseph's mother Victoria and Joseph's siblings Anton, Celestina, and Klotilda (Lajesek).19 They were one of the first families to come to Baldwin County in response to Karel Hanak's efforts to establish a Czech colony.

Joseph and Agnes had 8 children, and all of them lived to adulthood, except for their son Frank, who died at age 9, having contracted rabies from a dog bite.20

Joseph Kulička owned and operated the Silverhill Creamery and Ice Company, from the 1930s on. He also designed both the PZK Hall and the Little Bohemian Hall. Joseph's brother Anton donated the land for the Little Bohemian Hall.21

John Heidelberg was born in 1886. His wife, Natalia Marie Hlobril, was born in 1894 in Kroměříž, Bělidla, in what is now the Czech Republic. Few details are known about their courtship, marriage, and immigration to the U.S. It is known, however, that John was 39 when he died of tuberculosis in Silverhill.22

Photo of John Heidelburg. - Click to Enlarge.
John Heidelburg (born 1886; died 1926), his children, and the gun he reputedly had his eye on when he was courting his wife Natalia Marie Hlobril. Photo courtesy of Sarah Dittmann.
Click to Enlarge.

Laddie (Sonnie) Kostelecky, a descendant of John and Natalia Heidelberg, tells the family story of what happened next. Natalia, suddenly a widow with four small children, farming more than a hundred acres in southern Alabama, was an enterprising woman. She placed ads in two Czech newspapers that circulated throughout the Czech immigrant community, Pravda and Hospodař, seeking a husband to help her raise the children and farm the land. Joseph Chupek, living in Brooklyn, New York at the time, responded. Presumably he was from the old country, though the family has not found those records. He came down to Silverhill, and he and Natalia were married two days later.23 The children Natalia bore John Heidelberg became known as "Chupeks" upon Natalia's marriage to Joseph Chupek, although Joseph did not formally adopt the Heidelberg children. Joseph and Natalia later had a daughter, Millie, together.24

One of Joseph and Agnes' children, Mary (Marie) Kulička, married Joseph Heidelberg, Jr., the son of the senior Joseph Heidelberg. Joseph Heidelberg Sr. owned and operated the Heidelberg Sawmill & Planer, an important part of the community and its growth, providing the means to turn trees into construction materials for homes, barns, and many other buildings in the Czech community and beyond.25 Joseph Heidelberg, Sr. was John Heidelberg's brother.26


Havels

František Havel came to America from Bohemia in 1875. He settled in Browerville, Minnesota, where he and his wife had ten children. He was a farmer, as were all of his sons. When he developed severe arthritis around 1920, he decided to move to Silverhill, for the health benefits of a warmer climate. Eight of the ten children moved, too, settling on farms south of Silverhill. František Havel died in 1931 and is buried in Silverhill Cemetery.27

One of František's sons, Edward Havel, lived in Silverhill on property given to him by his father. He was the only one of František's sons who lived in town. Edward and his wife had five children. Mrs. Edward Havel raised chickens and sold the eggs to the feed store in Silverhill. If the family or their neighbors needed supplies that they couldn't grow or produce themselves, they went to Mobile by boat to get them, departing from Daphne or Marlow to cross Mobile Bay.28

Edward Havel was known as "Grandpa," to the young boys who worked on the Havel farm in Silverhill. At various times he also drove the school bus, served as a member of Silverhill's town council, and served on the board of directors for the State Bank of Silverhill. In 1933, when the Great Depression struck the bank, it took all of Grandpa Havel's savings with it.29

In 1947 Edward Havel donated the land for the Silverhill ball field with the proviso that it be used for children's recreation in perpetuity.30


Boseks and Krobs and another Dolak

According to notes provided by current Silverhill resident Millie Krob Evans, her grandfather Joseph Krob was born in the village of Zehrovice, near Kladno, in Bohemia, in 1878. He traveled to the U.S. in May 1903 on the SS Chemnitz and arrived in New York. Joseph made his way to Ohio, where he married Katerina (Katherine) Dolak in 1905, in Belmont County. They had two sons, Joe and Andy.31

In 1931, in Baldwin County, Alabama, Joe Krob, Jr. married Blanche Krejcirik, the daughter of Czech immigrants.

Photo of Joe Krob. - Click to Enlarge.
Members of Baldwin County Polka Band, 1977.Brothers Joe (left) and Andy Krob standing beside their mother, Katherine Krob, with Joe's 5 year old daughter Millie Krob at Silverhill Park, 1938, the year Katherine's husband, Joseph Krob, died. Photo courtesy of Millie Krob Evans.
Click to Enlarge.

How Blanche came to be in Baldwin County, Alabama is an interesting story. Blanche's mother, Mary Bosek, and her family, had a hard time. Mary Bosek was born in 1883 in Luby in Klatovy, in what is now Plzeňský Kraj, Czech Republic. Mary's first husband, a barber by trade, was a handsome officer in the army and also a first-class womanizer. After much family drama, Mary's father paid for second-class passage to America for both Mary and her husband. They settled in St. Louis, where Mary worked briefly as an ironer in a laundry, then in a city hospital. Her husband continued to run around, and she divorced him in 1907.32

Then Mary met Joe Krejcirik, who was born in Prušánky, Moravia, in December 1893 and immigrated to the U.S. in May 1907 through the Port of Baltimore.33 Joe was an appealing marriage prospect to Mary, because he had the reputation of being a hard worker who did not drink. They married in 1908 and had five children together. One of them, Blanche, was born in 1909. The Krejcirik family's search for prosperity and their place in America took them from St. Louis to Nebraska to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to northern California, where they lived for 8 years on a 160-acre homestead. Their nearest neighbor was two miles away, if you don't count the howling coyotes, the deer, and the bears. They moved back to Oregon, then again to California. Finally, in 1920, after Joe lost his leg below the knee in an accident while cutting hay, he and his family moved to Fairhope, Alabama, a town near Silverhill.34 The move was prompted by a job opportunity that they learned about in an ad that a farmer placed in a Czech-language newspaper, seeking a family to help him with his farm.35


Vaskos

Marie Kratka [meaning "short" in Czech] Vasko was 29 years old when she came to America in 1907. The family jokes that at 5 feet tall Marie really was "short."36

Marie's husband was Josef Vasko.37 He drove a dray wagon and worked in the coal mines in Bohemia and Germany before coming to America in 1906, along with several other men from his hometown. Josef sent for his wife and their sons Joe and John, and after they arrived in the U.S. in 1907, the family lived in the Porter area near Birmingham. Josef worked in the coal mines that fueled Birmingham's iron foundries and steel mills. Several more children were born. Then in a tragic mishap, the Vaskos' seventeen-year-old son Joe was killed by a lightning strike while he stood on a porch eating an ice cream cone.38

In 1913 the Vasko family moved to Phillips, Wisconsin, where they bought a farm. Two years after they arrived in Phillips, they sold the farm and returned to Birmingham and the coal mines.39

Photo of Josef Vasko. - Click to Enlarge.
Josef Vasko, on his farm near Silverhill, Alabama, 1932. Note the corn cob pipe, which he smoked constantly. Photo courtesy of Sarah Dittmann.
Click to Enlarge.

In 1920 or 1921, the Vaskos returned to the old country and stayed for about a year. Marie told her husband she wanted to stay put and keep their daughter Marie with her. Josef wouldn't hear of it; he said he would take all the children back to the U.S. where they could have a much better life. Apparently he also told Marie that she could stay behind, if she wanted to. In October, 1922 the entire family, Marie included, went back to America, and shortly after arriving in Alabama, they purchased the farm near Silverhill that would be their permanent home.40

Photo of Josef and Marie Vasko, 1938. - Click to Enlarge.
Josef and Marie (far right, toward back) Vasko, with Josef's prized horses, on the farm near Silverhill, Alabama, 1938. Photo courtesy of Sarah Dittmann.
Click to Enlarge.


The Czechs' Legacy

In the early part of the 20th century, Baldwin County was a true "melting pot." In 1939, according to an issue of The Baldwin Times published that year, Baldwin County had the highest percentage of foreign-born citizens of all 67 Alabama counties.41 Baldwin's citizens had come from Germany, Sweden, Poland, Greece, England, Scotland, Spain, France, Africa, and many other places. In a community of immigrants, the people from Bohemia and Moravia left a particularly impressive legacy of hard work and accomplishment. As the president and secretary of the Baldwin County Historical Society wrote, in 1928: "The local Bohemian colony has perhaps the most remarkable record of any in the county. Comparing the period of twenty years from its birth in 1908 to the present time, and considering the excellent progress made in agriculture and in social life, every impartial observer must give credit to those Bohemian toilers whose tools not only yielded a blessing to their families but contributed considerably to the wealth of this county, and indeed to that of the State of Alabama."42

Amen to that.


This article was originally published in the Dec 2014, Vol. 26 No. 4 issue of Naše rodina, the quarterly publication of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. To learn more about CSGI and the many online resources and conferences they offer, visit www.cgsi.org

© Melda H. Boyd and Gary M. Boyd

About the Authors:

Melda Boyd moved with her parents and siblings to the old family place in Baldwin County, Alabama in the early 1970s. She graduated from the University of South Alabama with a double major in International Studies and Russian.

Gary Boyd is the chief researcher in the Boyd family. He partners with his wife Melda in learning and writing about the Czechs of Gulf Coast Alabama. Gary and Melda have a longstanding interest in the history and cultures of other countries and a deep respect for the Czech people and their heritage.




Endnotes

1 "Silverhill 75th Anniversary," A special edition published by the Baldwin Times of Bay Minette, Alabama as Volume 82 Number 46, Thursday November 11, 1971. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/silverhill75.html on June 24, 2014.

2 "Silverhill," from Encyclopedia of Alabama website. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-3398 downloaded 1 September 2014

3 Vignettes of Baldwin County, published by Gulf Telephone Company, 1983, downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/name2.html on August 10, 2014

4 Silverhill Promotional Pamphlet, 1900-1902, front cover, downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/silverhillbook3.html on August 10, 2014

5 Interview with Debbie Owen, Silverhill historian and webmaster, Silverhill History website, August 10, 2014.

6 A. J. Cejka, "Chapter of the history of the Bohemian Colony," from the papers of Mary Kulička, provided by Rosie Heidelberg Pope, 17 August 2014.

7 A Brief History of Baldwin County, p. 80.

8 A Brief History of Baldwin County, 1927, p 78.

9 A Brief History of Baldwin County, p. 80.

10 Ibid., p. 81.

11 "Silverhill 75th Anniversary," A special edition published by the Baldwin Times of Bay Minette, Alabama as Volume 82 Number 46, Thursday November 11, 1971. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/silverhill75.html on June 24, 2014.

12 "A Brief History of the Little Bohemian Hall" unpublished manuscript provided by Frankie Kucera, Silverhill, Alabama, May 2014.

13 "Jirina (Georgia) Matilda Snasel: The Story of Her Life, Part Two," by Georgia Snasel Kucera. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/kucera2.html on August 31, 2014.

14 "Jirina (Georgia) Matilda Snasel: The Story of Her Life, Part One," by Georgia Snasel Kucera. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/kucera1.html on August 16, 2014.

15 "Jirina (Georgia) Matilda Snasel: The Story of Her Life, Part Two," by Georgia Snasel Kucera. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/kucera2.html on August 31, 2014.

16 "Chapter Two: The Kulicka's and Foukal's" by William Howard ("Bill" Young). Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/cmchap2.html on September 2, 2014

17 "Chapter Two: The Kulicka's and Foukal's" by William Howard ("Bill" Young). Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/cmchap2.html on September 2, 2014

18 "Joseph Kulička" by Doris Ann Klein Davis, Fairhope, Alabama, 2001. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/kulicka.html on September 2, 2014.

19 "Joseph Kulička" by Doris Ann Klein Davis, Fairhope, Alabama, 2001. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/kulicka.html on August 10, 2014.

20 Ibid.

21 "Silverhill 75th Anniversary," A special edition published by the Baldwin Times of Bay Minette, Alabama as Volume 82 Number 46, Thursday November 11, 1971. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcsilve/silverhill75.html on June 24, 2014.

22 Interview with Laddie and Barbara Kostelecky, Sarah Dittmann, and Sarah's father David Dittmann, at the Dittmann home on the Fish River, Baldwin County, Alabama, May 2014.

23 Ibid.

24 Interview (telephone) with Sylvia Heidelberg Bailey of Robertsdale, Alabama, 26 September, 2014.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 A "Memory Lane" Presentation by Barbara Richmond Langley, delivered Sep 17, 2011, at the Silverhill Heritage Festival. Downloaded from Silverhill History website: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~alcsilve/havelfamily.html on August 23, 2014.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid.

31 Results of Genealogy research, provided by Millie Krob Evans, May 2014.

32 "Memories from Mary Bosek Krejcirik, approx. 1937," a one-page typed document provided by Millie Krob Evans of Silverhill, Alabama, May 2014.

33 Certificate of Arrival for Naturalization Purposes, Department of Commerce and Labor/Immigration Service, No. 488, courtesy of Millie Krob Evans.

34 "Memories from Mary Bosek Krejcirik, approx. 1937," a one-page typed document provided by Millie Krob Evans of Silverhill, Alabama, May 2014.

35 Interview with Millie Krob Evans by phone, 12 September, 2014.

36 Interview with Sarah Dittmann, her father David Dittmann, Laddie (Sonnie)Kostelecky and Barbara Kostelecky, at the Dittmann home on the Fish River, Baldwin County, Alabama, May 2014.

37 Ibid.

38 Family document, "Decendants [sic] of Joseph and Marie Anna Kratka-Vasko" "sent" by Evelyn Hanni and provided to Melda Boyd by Sarah Dittmann, a Vasko descendant, May 2014.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 Images of America: Baldwin County, by John C. Lewis and Harriet Brill Outlaw.

42 A Brief History of Baldwin County, written and compiled by L. J. Newcomb Comings and Martha M. Albers (President and Secretary of the Baldwin County Historical Society), Baldwin County Historical Society, Fairhope, Alabama, 1928. p. 80.