JIRINA (GEORGIA) MATILDA SNÁŠEL
THE STORY OF HER LIFE
Part One



Click on the RED BOX to see a map of Nová Dedina and the surrounding area.


Click here to go to an interactive map of the Czech Republic.

Georgia Snášel was born in Europe, in the country that is now called the Czech Republic, in the Province of Moravia, on December 22, 1908. She was born in a beautiful village called Nová Dedina (see map above), near the City of Prostejov, Moravia.

Georgia's grandfather, František Snášel, was born in Ladin (see map above), Moravia on August 4, 1830, to parents, Jakub Snášel and Mariana Kvapila. František served as mayor of Nová Dedina for 45 years. He was married to Aneška Burianova. They had ten children (eight daughters, and two sons). He died at the age of 82 on June 1, 1913, near the beginning of the first World War.

František and Aneška Snášel's only son to live to adulthood, Karel František Snášel, was born in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic on February 25, 1869. Karel came to America in the Winter of 1913. He followed his sister Emily here, who arrived in 1911. He was married to Vincencie Novotná, from Dolni Otaslavice (see map above), Moravia, Czech Republic. He died on December 4, 1956 in Robertsdale, Alabama. He is buried at the Silverhill Cemetery, Silverhill, Alabama. Karel's wife, Vincencie Novotná, was born on April 4, 1872, in the City of Otaslavice. She died on February 19, 1961 in Robertsdale, Alabama. She is buried at the Silverhill Cemetery, in Silverhill, Alabama. Karel and Vincencie Snášel had nine children:

1. Vincencie (Vinci) Snášel - born on April 24, 1896 in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic. She came to the United States in 1914. She died on April 23, 1964 in Crosby, Texas. She was married to Adolph Fetters of Crosby, Texas. They had seven children, and she also raised three stepsons. Her children's names were Helen Petters, Jimmy Gene Fetters, Bernard Francis Petters, Mary Josephine Petters, Adolph Joseph Petters, Jr., William Paul Petters, and Patricia Ann Petters. Her stepson’s names were Leroy, Charlie, and Woodrow.
   
   
2. Karel (Charlie) Jan Snášel - born on July 6, 1898 in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic, and died on March 19, 1979 in Robertsdale, Alabama. He came to America in the Winter of 1913 with his father. He never married and is buried in the Silverhill Cemetery, Silverhill, Alabama.
   
   
3. František (Frank) Joseph Snášel - born on May 5, 1900, in Nová Dedina, Moravia Czech Republic, and died at home on March 7, 1974 in Robertsdale, Alabama. He came to the United States in 1914. Frank Snášel was married to Emilia Kaiser of Robertsdale, Alabama. They had seven children: Libbie Snášel, Jerry J. Snášel, James Snášel, Marie Snášel, Charles Snášel, Milton Snášel, and Caroline Snášel.
   
   
4. Jaroslav (Jerry) Snášel - born May 15, 1902, and died September 12, 1917 in Nová Dedina, Moravia Czech Republic. He died of injuries received when he fell out of a big tree. He was 15 years old.
   
   
5. Agnes Elizabeth Snášel - born on August 15, 1904. She came to the United States in 1914. She was married to Leo Andrade of Puerto Rico. They had no children and later divorced. She died on September 22, 1997 in Foley, Alabama.
   
   
6. Helen Snášel - born on December 22, 1905 in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic, and died on April 29, 1977 at Wichita Falls, Texas. She came to America in 1914. She was married to Roman Bartosh of Wichita Falls, Texas. They had six children: Charles Joseph Bartosh, Lewis Paul Bartosh, Barbara Joan Bartosh, Anita Emily Bartosh, Agnes Elaine Bartosh, and Larry James Bartosh.
   
   
7. Bernard Jan Snášel - born on May 21, 1906 in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic. He came to the United States in April 1921. He died on December 1, 1945 and is buried in the Silverhill Cemetery, Silverhill, Alabama. He never married. He served with U.S. Co. B., 13th Armored Replacement Battalion, in Fort Knox, Kentucky from 1943 to 1945. When he returned home, he became sick and died in the Veteran's Hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi of "blood discretia" illness one month later.
   
   
8. Jirina (Georgia) Matilda Snášel - born on December 22, 1908 in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic. She came to the United States in April 1921 and lived in Wichita Falls, Texas with the rest of her family. She moved to Summerdale, Alabama with her family on December 25, 1925. She died on July 10, 2002 at Robertsdale, Alabama and is buried in the Silverhill Cemetery, Silverhill, Alabama. She married Bedrick (Ben) Kucera of Silverhill, Alabama on August 20, 1927. They had two sons; George Bedrick (Benny) Kucera, and Frank Joseph (Frankie) Kucera.
   
   
9. Amalie (Emelie) Julia Snášel - born on November 3, 1909 in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic. She came to America in April 1921 and lived in Wichita Falls, Texas. She moved to Summerdale, Alabama on December 25, 1925. She died on September 6, 2005 in Fairhope, Alabama and is buried in Pine Rest Memorial Park, Foley, Alabama. She married Roy Andreas Mikkelsen of Summerdale in 1941. They had three children; William Roy Mikkelsen, Dolores Emelie Mikkelsen, and Robert Leroy Mikkelsen.

Georgia Snášel Kucera tells about her family and their life in Moravia and America:

I was born on the 22nd of December 1908 in a beautiful village called Nová Dedina, near Konice, in Moravia, Czechoslovakia. This country then was called Austria-Hungary. My father Karel Snášel was a locomotive machinist and also a farmer. He had eight sisters and he was the only boy in the family. He inherited the family home but had to provide each of his sisters with a dowry when she got married. One sister died at the age of seventeen.

The Snasel home in Nová Dedina - Click picture to Enlarge.

The Snasel home in Nová Dedina, Moravia, Czech Republic as it looked in 1970. Georgia's grandparents, František and Aneška Snášel, raised their family in this home. Georgia's father, Karel Snášel, inherited the home. Karl and Vincencie also raised their children in this house.

He met and married our mother Vincencie Novotná, from the town of Otaslavice (see map above), in 1893 and into that marriage was born nine children. The first child was a girl whom they named Vincencie (Vinci). Then came Karel (Charles), Frank, Jerry, Agnes, Helen, Bernard, Georgia, and Amalie. From the time I was three years old I remember everything, how we lived, what we did, and all about the family.

Jan and Vincencie Novotny - Click picture to Enlarge.

Georgia's grandparents, Jan and Vincencie Novotny, parents of Vincencie Novotná Snášel (Georgia's mother). Jan Novotny was a postmaster in the town of Otaslavice, Moravia.

We had a beautiful modest home, very comfortable to live in. Mama kept our home and all of us children very clean. Sometimes we had very little meat or staple foods to eat but we were rich in fruits and vegetables. We grew up eating lots and lots of fruit as we had our own apples, pears, and plums. Also, we raised wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Mama would make jelly and marmalade and store it in earthenware. We poured hot lard over it to close all air holes, then covered it with cloth and heavy paper, tied the knot tight at the top and all that would stay fresh to the last spoonful. We also preserved fresh fruits by putting them in the bin of fresh wheat or barley grain. We took the wheat and barley to the gristmill to have it ground up into flour for baking. We also stored walnuts, and into the cellar, we stored rutabagas, potatoes, red beets, radishes, and nice big heads of fresh cabbages. Most of the cabbage was usually made into sauerkraut. We shredded it ourselves and packed it into wooden vinegar barrels to keep and use all winter. That sauerkraut was really good and healthy eating. We helped our Daddy and Mama in the fields so gathering crops was not so hard on them. Between farming and in wintertime our Dad worked in town on locomotives, as he was a first class machinist.

Georgia's parents, Karl and Vincencie Snasel.

We also had a beautiful flower garden in front of the house, from which we furnished flowers for our church. My sister Amalie and I would carry the flowers to the church on Saturday, in the late afternoon, so they would be fresh for Sunday's mass. We lived about two miles from the town and it took us about one hour to walk there. We walked no matter what the weather was. Wintertime was hard on us when the snow fell and snowdrifts were high. When we went to church in the winter months, we carried shovels and the men and bigger boys would clear the path for the rest of us to walk. Our village had a beautiful but very small chapel where we held our prayer meetings on Wednesday afternoon as it was hard for many people, old and young, to walk to the chapel in the evening... no lights, only lanterns. The priest came from the town church to hold the service, so he didn't have to walk so far at night. Those were really beautiful days for us small children. We really enjoyed going to church in the wintertime because it was so much fun walking in the snow.

We also had a school from First to Eighth grade. Our teacher was a wonderful man in private life and in teaching. His name was Ferdinand Novák. Under his teaching we all made good grades. This school also had a big garden where we students planted vegetables and flowers, and learned about agriculture and about work and sharing. In school, we also learned how to crochet, knit, and do embroidery work. The boys would do wood work, and build birdhouses or small things, which they could put into a showcase. At the end of the school year, we would be graded on this work according to neatness and cleanness. It was like 4-H Club work here in the United States schools.

We had a Mayor and Town Council who kept the village humming. People all worked together. I don't remember any disputes ever taking place. People from the village would help each other with plowing, planting and also harvesting.

Wintertime was very beautiful for us children as there was no other work to be done except to study and then play out in the snow and skate on the ponds. We would roll in the snow and sometimes even build a snowman. We threw snowballs at each other and we never got sick. Mama had a sled made for us out of two old plows. It was a four-passenger sled. We pulled it up the hill and then four of us on it came down the hill... sometimes nice and sometimes we rolled over and slid down on our backs. But it was fun no matter how we came down.

We grew up on goat's milk, oatmeal mush (homegrown), home baked rye bread, and preserves to put on the bread. That was really some good eating. Mama raised chickens for eggs and meat. We had ducks, geese, or turkeys for special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Christmas was really something special for us children. We would get a fresh spruce tree to decorate... tall from floor to ceiling. Every piece of decorations were made by us children. We decorated the tree with home baked cookies and apples. We put a big star on top and candles on the branches. Those were really wonderful days for us small children especially when Santa Claus came to visit us. With nine children in the house, there couldn't be any big gifts to give us children, but Mama always managed to give us clothing that we needed. We were a happy family.

Georgia's father Karel František Snášel and her oldest brother Karel (Charles) Jan Snášel came to America in the Winter of 1913, on the ship named the "Chemnitz." They worked in Texas, saved their money, then sent money back to Czechoslovakia so that the next four oldest children could join them in America. Vincie, Frank, Agnes, and Helen then followed them to America in 1914. When they were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, their ship the "Brandenburg" was followed by a German submarine. They escaped, but had to land in Key West, Florida. From there they finished the trip to Wichita Falls, Texas by train. World War I was going on and their mother and the four youngest children could not follow them right away to America.

When the war ended in 1918, and the mail started going through again, they exchanged letters back and forth and discovered that all was well in both places except that one son, Jerry, had died back in Czechoslovakia during this time. Karel Snášel (the father) came back to Europe in 1920 with the Sokol Gymnast Expedition. He stayed for one year, sold all remaining property in Czechoslovakia, and left in April 1921 to come back to America with his wife Vincencie, his son Bernard, and two daughters, Georgia, and Amalie.

Georgia recalls how all of these events took place:

In 1911, one of our Daddy's sisters, Emilie, decided to go to America. She was an adventurous person, so... she went to America. I don't remember much of her leaving as I was only four years old. But I do remember our Daddy getting letters from her, each one inviting him to follow her to America. Our father finally took her invitation to heart and decided to follow her to America. He left in the winter months and took with him our oldest brother Charles, who was then 15 years old. Daddy's sister helped him financially, as he would not have had that kind of money to spare to buy passage tickets for two to go to America. This took place in the winter of 1913, and I remember it was very sad saying goodbye to our father and brother and leaving Mama with eight of us children behind not knowing if he will ever see us again.

Postcard of the Chemnitz - Click picture to Enlarge.

The German ship Chemnitz could carry 2064 passengers.

Daddy and Charlie left from Bremen, Germany on a ship called the Chemnitz and headed to New York. It took that small ship almost two weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean. In New York, they boarded a train headed for Caddo, Oklahoma where Dad's sister Emilie was at the time. Dad and Charlie arrived in Oklahoma during the winter months and had to wait for the snow to melt from the ground, and the ground to thaw, so they could prepare it for planting cotton and corn.

That first year they grew a good crop of cotton that paid well, so Daddy's share of the profit was enough to buy passage tickets for four older children to follow him to America. The four who then came were Vinci, Agnes, Frank, and Helen. Helen was only eight years old, so that parting was worse then the one with Dad and Charlie. The whole village of people came to say farewell and wish them a happy journey to America to be with their Daddy. They left during the early part of 1914 on the ship SS Brandenburg. While on the Atlantic Ocean, the First World War broke out and this ship, that carried four members of our family, was chased by a German submarine. The ship zigzagged on the Atlantic and managed to escape the submarine, but instead of landing in New York, the ship was chased down to Key West, Florida. These four children then had to send a telegram to Daddy, who was then living in Wichita Falls, Texas, to ask for additional money to finish their journey to his home.

The SS Brandenburg - Click picture to Enlarge.

The SS Brandenburg was built in 1902. It had a capacity for 60 second-class passengers and 1,660 third-class passengers. First and second class passengers were called "ladies and gentlemen." Steerage passengers were jammed together much like cargo down below.

It took them four more weeks to make that trip. That was a very scary and tiring trip for them. They made it safely to Dad and we received one letter from them telling us that they were safe at Daddy's home. But, the war was on and we didn't hear from them anymore, until about a year later when a letter came. However, the only thing that we could read on it was "we are all well, take care of yourselves, and eat lots of onions and garlic." Those two items were good medicine for everything that ailed us. The rest of the letter was all blacked out. We waited for more news but none came, so our Mama and us four smallest children, Jerry, Bernard, Georgia, and Amalie were left on our own, back in Czechoslovakia.

I remember our Mama cried so much... war was on and we had no one to turn to. Our Mama had to get her wits together and depend only on herself for everything. The worst part was when springtime came to plow the fields for planting. Any farmer who had one or two horses would plow up our field... but then we had to pay him by helping in his fields when harvest time came. We were hard working children and we learned early in our lives that only hard work and self-determination could bring good results.

In the first year of the war, Mama had police harassing her trying to get her to get our Dad to come back to Europe as he and Charlie were of draft age. But Dad did not come back and Mama and us four smallest children could not follow him to America at that time because the war was on. War was really cruel to us people. The government took all our supply of wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, rutabagas, and animals like cows, horses, and even dogs. People were left with empty hands, no food, and no place to get any. The government would leave us about 100 pounds of wheat grain per family to make flour for the whole year for us to use for eating purposes. Cows were confiscated for milk and meat for the German soldiers. Our Czech soldiers were all put in the front lines... many and many were killed. Villages were left only with real old men, young boys, women, and the children. Fields were left without planting anything in them. People would steal food and fruits just to have something to eat. I remember in 1915 that things got so bad that some people were taking their own lives.

Our small farm had a beautiful patch of young pine and spruce trees and within the trees was a "rock quarry" where rock was dug up for use in foundations in building homes. Mama made a few extra korunas by selling the rock for building foundations. The rocks that were too small for building use were hauled on one pile until it looked like a small mountain and that is what the Russian soldiers used as a lookout mountain to "spy" on all the surrounding territory. From that "mountain," they could see pretty far. They scanned the whole countryside with spyglasses, as they could see far and wide. This mountain of rocks was shaded by two big cherry trees.

Once, we had a Calvary Division of Russian soldiers come through our village. They stopped on our property to rest. They asked for food for themselves and also for their horses. The boys from the village brought water in buckets to water their horses and hay to feed them. The women would bring bread and homemade cottage cheese for the men, along with milk to drink (if there was any). We all were very scared, not knowing if they were our friends or enemies. They told us that they were on the way to the City of Opava, the center of the war. At that time, the whole country was called Austria-Hungary.

One officer called my sister and me to him, but we were scared and holding on to our Mama's skirt so tight, even she couldn't open our fingers. However, he kept calling us, so Mama said for us to see what he wanted. He took us both around our waists, sat us down on his knees, hugged us, and cried hard, saying that he left his two little girls back home, not knowing if he will ever see them again. So we hugged his neck and he let us go. That was very scary and such a sad experience for us two little girls, who were only four and five years old. The Calvary left and we never heard or saw them any more.

The war really was so close to us that we packed a few clothing items... mostly food and were going to leave our home, and go the opposite way from the war. But, our brother Jerry, then a bed patient from a bad fall through branches of a big tree, had broken his leg, ribs, and his back, and could not walk. Mama had to carry him. While fleeing, he made us stop and said to us, "if we are to be killed in someone's field, we might as well be killed in our own home." So we turned back, went into our comfortable home, unpacked everything, and stayed. Fighting was just about a mile from us as we heard the cannons firing, but the worst never got to our village.

We lived and worked the best we could under the circumstances. We helped our neighbors with whatever food we had. We had to find our own wood to cook with and to keep warm in the winter. There were "Estate Owners," big estates, and young pine trees were always trimmed neatly there, about three to four feet up, and that was where we got our wood. People from the village had to cut their own firewood supply for winter, but we got ours from the trees we worked on, for which we got paid. We had to cut fast and gather lots of wood, as it was usually all small branches. Mama and brother Bernard would cut and sister Amalie and I would carry it all out to the edge of the woods, tie it into bundles, and at the end of the day, we carried it all home the best way we could as everybody was on their own.

In the summer time, we, the schoolchildren, would get jobs at these estates to pick fruit in the orchards. We would pick apples, pears, plums, and walnuts. Then, at the end of the day, we would get paid by how many baskets we picked and also got to take home some fruit. Even though we had plenty of our own, we made it into marmalade, jellies, and jams, and in winter, we would share it with the less fortunate... mostly old people who could not do all this any more.

During the four years of the war, we fed many hungry neighbors. Our Uncle Julius Hloušek and his wife Matilda (she was our Daddy's sister), had a big business... a slaughter house, sausage shop, kitchen, dance hall, bowling alley, and a big garden with tables under the apple trees, where they served food to guests in the summer time. Our Mama cooked all the meals there on dance nights and special doings. Uncle Julius always had a good piece of meat for us children and we also got food that was left over from the parties. We shared this food with old people and children. We helped many and many families by sharing with them.

But, there is always the end to wonderful things, and so it was to all this. We were underfoot of the German Regime who came and confiscated Uncle Julius' business, but left him with his home. He then had to go out and look for work, but there was nothing to be found. Life went on during the war... people tried to forget... women had to take over the work that was done by men when they went off to war. Young boys grew up fast as they had to replace their fathers in the fieldwork, and when a boy turned 15 or 16 years old, he would be drafted into the Army. It was terrible. The villages were run by the women since all the men were gone. Many of our men from our home village did not come back from war and many others of them were taken prisoners and taken to Siberia and left there to die. This was in the wintertime. Others who were not captured started to come home. The ones who were able to walk started walking, hoping that their direction was towards home. Some from our village made it... hungry, dirty, full of lice in their hair and beards, with hair so long that we couldn't tell who they were. The ones who didn't make it... well, their buddies brought some of their personal things home to their wives.

This World War I was terrible. The Government took all food from us, all animals, even the copper items that were around the house, like doorknobs, and some copper pots and pans. We had a copper kettle for cooking prune preserves, but we took it out of the stove frame and carried it each night from house to house to save it... and we did. Kerosene for the lamps could be obtained only with coupons, and we could get only a pint to a family for the entire month. We made out on what we could get. It was rough, but we survived it all.

During our brother Jerry's confinement to the house, he was getting worse every day. At that time, the doctors had no way of mending broken bones like his. He was bedridden for over two years. In the summer of 1916, we got a strong storm and tornadoes in our community. Trees were felled, fruit all knocked off, and houses had roofs blown off. That was a real disaster for people left without any men to help fix our homes. Our home was also damaged badly with windows blown out. But my two brothers who were at home alone at that time were safe. This happened on a Sunday afternoon in August 1916. Mama went to attend a town meeting and took Amalie and me (Georgia) with her to the meeting, as we were too small to be left at home. We didn't quite make it to the meeting hall when this terrible storm came up. We took shelter in the nearest home that we came to. This storm lasted about two hours. As soon as we could see to walk back home, we did and we found our brothers okay, but lots of damage around.

Our brother Jerry was getting worse by the day and he died in December 1916. He had a beautiful funeral, but his wish was to live long enough to see our father come back home to get us. But Dad couldn't come back as the war was still on. We managed to make the best of all bad things and forget the war. We went to school... we attended church regularly... and life went on for us this way from 1913, when Daddy left us, until 1918 when the war ended and we got our first letter from our sisters and brothers in America stating that they were all well and hoping we were well also. After the mail started going through to Europe, and from us to America, things got better for us.

Once, our Daddy, sisters, and brothers back in America sent us children in Europe a big box of clothing and shoes that we shared with people who "fitted" into the things. They also sent us a box of school supplies, tablets, pencils, pens, and also one special box to give to the school where the teacher gave out supplies to all the students. They also sent a box of canned food, and slabs of bacon, which was a picnic for us. But one bad thing was, we didn't know what each can held and we couldn't read the labels and open them... oh, what fun.

We exchanged many letters when mail went from one country to another. Writing letters went on from 1918, when the war ended, to 1920 when our Daddy wrote that he would be coming to Europe to take the rest of us back to America with him. We were so excited, as we really didn't know where America was, as that was not taught to us in school. He wrote that there would be a "Sokol" Gymnasts expedition to the City of Praha (Prague) in May of 1920. He came with that group of people... they traveled by ship... so the trip took quite a few days. When Dad arrived back in Europe, he traveled from the port to our town by train. He was taken to a saloon where people always met. We were late to meet him at the train so we (Mama, sister Amalie, brother Bernard, and I, Georgia) had to go to that saloon to meet him. As we stepped into the room there were three men standing there; one was beardless, one had a moustache, and one had a goatee. Mama told us three children to go to our Daddy to greet him so we went to the one with the goatee, but oh what a surprise, he was not our father. Our father was the one with the moustache... he shaved the goatee in America. So he called us to him, and oh, what a meeting that was. We hadn't seen him for seven years. Mama was the last to greet him. That was a meeting filled with love and tears, as we were really glad to have our Daddy with us again.

We left the saloon and stopped at our Uncle Julius' home. There were so many people there to greet our Daddy. Our Aunt had a big meal for all and there was also music from a nickelodium to dance by. It was a big celebration for all the people of the village. That was such a long seven years not to see our Dad.

From Uncle's place, we went to our village, Nová Dedina, and to our own home very happy to have our Daddy back home with us. All the people in town wanted to shake hands with Dad and wanted to know all about America. Those moments are unforgettable.

From the time our Dad came home, he was planning our trip back to America. Our land was farmed by our cousin Otilla (Dad's sister's daughter), but at the same time Dad was looking for a buyer of our home. Otilla, who lived across the street from us, was very interested in the place, so Dad sold it to her. She was an only child and he knew the place would be in good hands. In fact, she was the one who helped our Mama take care of us all throughout the war... during the seven years that our Dad was away.

Otilla Vybirala - Click picture to Enlarge.

Georgia's 22 year old first cousin, Otilla, bought the Snasel home in Nová Dedina, Moravia.

Dad came back to Europe, to the country now called Czechoslovakia, in May 1920, and stayed till 1921, when our place was sold. We then got ready to leave for our new home and new country in America. But before we left our home, Dad made arrangements for us to spend a few days in Prague so we could see the city from all four corners and have a few enjoyable days in our lives.

The day we actually left our home to start the trip to America, we had the whole village of people come out to say goodbye to us. Even our teacher from our school and our priest from the church came out to say goodbye. The priest prayed with all the villagers for our safety and good luck. We needed both as the trip across the Atlantic would take seven days.

We left our home, and the village of Nová Dedina, and headed to the City of Prague. We checked into the Hotel where we stayed for the next ten days. We ate and slept in the Hotel, eating in the dining room, we were served all kinds of goodies, and that was "special" for us, but mostly for our Mama because she didn't have to cook and wash dishes. That was like a vacation for her, as she was already 50 years old and all her life she never got to go anywhere... just work... raise us children... and do more work.

We left the City of Prague by train to Rotterdam-Amsterdam in Holland, where we were during Easter time, on our way to America. When we arrived there, we were each given two Easter eggs with our regular meals at the Hotel. We spent a few days there in those two cities then left by a small transportation ship to the big ship Aquitania that would carry us across the Atlantic Ocean. It took the Aquitania seven days to cross the Atlantic. During that time, we ran into some bad weather and the fog was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Daddy and us kids were okay, but Mama was sick because she was still recovering from a gallbladder operation that required one month of recuperation in the hospital before we actually left home. All that rocking and swaying of the ship made her more sick and she spent the whole seven days at sea in the ship's hospital. That was bad because Daddy then had to look after us three kids.

When we arrived in New York, on our way to Ellis Island, we passed by the Statue of Liberty. Our Dad told us that this was "Socha Svobody," but we didn't know what it meant until we went to school later in Wichita Falls, Texas and our teacher would explain the meaning of the Statue. But first, we had to read and understand English. This wonderful teacher told us later that the Statue of Liberty stood for "Freedom," for all the people, and it was given to America by the French Government and the French people as a token of friendship. In this first year here in America, we would learn all about America, and the Laws of the States. This would give us a good start in learning what was needed to become a Citizen of the United States.

To become a Citizen of the United States, we would have to learn all about the law of the land, about the Supreme Court Judges... even to name some of them, and then learn about the local laws and leaders. We were looking forward to all of this as we passed this great Statue of Liberty and we knew in our hearts that this was truly a new beginning.

The British ship Aquitania.

The British ship Aquitania, built in 1914, served as an auxiliary cruiser and then a troopship during WWI. It could hold 3,230 passengers. The ship set sail from Southampton, England on April 2, 1921 and arrived in New York on April 9 with the Snasel family aboard.

We got off the ship at the New York Harbor and were transported to Ellis Island. That was where all people coming in from European countries had to go. That was the place where you either passed all the rigorous inspections and could enter America or you went back where you came from (if you had the money to go back on).

Post Card of Ellis Island - Click picture to Enlarge.

This inspection made us feel miserable. All our belongings were taken. Also, all our clothes (even those we had on) were put through disinfecting hot ovens. We waited, with no clothes on, but were given big bars of soap and had to stay in bath stalls until the soap was used up. In fact, we had a clean bill of health from our doctors in Europe, but that didn't count when we got to Ellis Island. Many people didn't pass the examination and had to stay longer and some didn't make it at all. We got through with flying colors. We were healthy country people, but all had to go through Ellis Island. We thought that place was terrible because we were horded into places like we were cattle headed to an auction sale or to the stockyards.

Copy of original ship manifest,
Click each to Enlarge.

First Page.

Second Page.

After four days of daily rigorous inspections, we were given packed lunches and taken to the train station to board the train that would carry us on our journey to our new home in the United States. We headed to Caddo, Oklahoma where our Dad's sister lived. I think it took us four days to get from New York to Caddo, Oklahoma. The train made many stops but we made it okay. On the train, they sold sandwiches, so we ate. That was our first experience with sandwiches and bananas. We had never seen bananas and didn't know how to eat them, so we wound up throwing the whole bunch out of the train window. Dad thought we ate all of the bananas, so he bought us another bunch.

When we arrived at Caddo, Oklahoma, it was after a bad hailstorm... hail was piled up everywhere, and there was a lot of ice also. Our cousins John and Frank Dokoupil waited for us at the train depot. They took us to their farmhouse a short ways from town. When we got to their house, two boy cousins got things together to make some ice cream and used the hailstones for ice. We never ate ice cream before, so we really enjoyed that first time. On our cousins farm they raised some cows for milk and also for meat. They also had pigs and chickens to sell for profit, raised corn, and grew and made lots of hay for sale.

Our Aunt Emilie had already started cooking and had some delicious pastry (kolaces), and a big roast in the oven, so all we did when we arrived there was eat... eat... and more eating. We enjoyed staying with them for that one week and then we got back on the train to finish our journey to what would be our home for years to come... Wichita Falls, Texas.

When we arrived in Wichita Falls, our brother Charles, who had been in America for seven years already, met us at the train station. He then took us to a place called Waggoner's Ranch, about ten miles out of town. We really didn't like what we saw that would be our new home in America. It was a ranch house with few out buildings like barns, corncribs, or shelter for the hay. There was no shelter for the cattle either. The cattle were a little scary because they were wild, had long horns, and didn't like people. The house had four rooms... two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a front room. In back was a screened porch. The house had a close woven fence around it to keep the cattle and the coyotes away from our door. It was very scary to see it and to live there.

Our closest neighbor was about two and a half miles away. We didn't have any kind of transportation except for a buggy pulled by horse. We couldn't use it because the horses were needed to work in the fields. So, we were stuck on the ranch without seeing anybody (outside of family) for weeks at a time. Oh how we cried and cried, and we wanted to go back home to our beautiful, comfortable home that we left behind. Go home?... we had no home to go to and to call our own. Mama, and sister Amalie, brother Bernard, and I, Georgia... we had no home and no country to call our own. That feeling and that life was indescribable.

Vincencie Snasel - Click picture to Enlarge.

Georgia's oldest sister, Vincencie Snasel, in 1921 at the age of 25. She was in the second group of Snasels to come to America in 1914. She married Adolph Fetters of Crosby, Texas. They had seven children.

After a few weeks of getting used to such a "wild" life, we had some Czech visitors, the George Kovarik family. That made us feel better as we could then talk in our Czech language.

That first year on the ranch, we three children (the youngest) couldn't go to school, being too far out, and no transportation. Our two brothers, Charles and Frank, used motorcycles to get to work. They both worked on oil pipelines that were being laid across the State of Texas. Life on that ranch was rough... we worked many acres of land in cotton and corn. The land was encircled by the Wichita River. The land was rich and we made good crops, but we had to work very hard at it.

At the end of this first year in America, we were given our first citizenship papers. But we had to study many more things about the United States before we would be sworn in as a Citizen of the United States. A person had to live in the country a full five years before he could become a full citizen.

That first year in America, living on the ranch, I, Georgia, learned to harness and work with horses... and I was only 13 years old. I learned to love these horses, since I had to work with them. Some were kind of frisky... but I always worked with the ones that were older, and more tamer. We used to go to the nearby town of Burkburnett to see the rodeos. These were wild rodeos, but no one ever got hurt riding these horses... or the bulls.

I loved to work in the fields, side by side, with our Dad whom I haven't been with for seven years. We stayed on this ranch for only one year and Dad then found another farm for rent with lots of land, and it was close to a school... about one mile from our farm. So, we three children, who were 12, 13, and 14 and a half years old, really enjoyed going to school and trying to learn the American language. We didn't speak any English, but the teacher was an extra special teacher, so, in about one month time we could converse with the other students.

Our teacher's name was Miss Ethel E. Morgan. We progressed so good that she put us three children into a school contest in arithmetic, spelling, and declamation (public speaking), and we did real good for our school in all three subjects.

The school was called "Lakeview School." It was a one-room school with classes from the first grade to the eighth grade. We all worked together and minded our teacher. We three Czech kids were in many programs, as we were not bashful or afraid. Miss Morgan used to stop by our home to wait for the streetcar that would take her back to town. This streetcar used to bring students from the High School in town to the two stops out in the country. One of these stops was by our home.

Mama used to fix an afternoon lunch for Miss Morgan. She would make her some home baked bread, home made sausage, sauerkraut, coffee, and some fancy pastry. She really enjoyed that. My sister Amalie and I (Georgia) used to visit her in her home in the city (Wichita Falls, Texas). Miss Morgan was one of five sisters, all teachers.

For our enjoyment at home, Mama and Dad allowed us to have our own "private dance" in our home. We would invite some of our close friends, hire a four-piece string band, and just have an enjoyable time dancing. Mama would fix a good supper for all of us and by eleven o’clock, everyone would go home.

We lived on this place, by the streetcar line, for two years. We grew beautiful crops of cotton and corn. All of us at the Lakeview School took care of a vegetable garden in the summer time. When the vegetables were ready to harvest, our parents all helped us to make and can some vegetable soup. That soup was what we ate for our lunches in the wintertime. Both boys and girls belonged to the 4-H Club so we cooked this soup, and made biscuits and muffins for all. We had a kerosene stove, with oven, at the school so each student brought his or her own soup bowl and spoon to have their soup served in. When we finished eating, each child washed his or her bowl and spoon and hung it on the wall by their name. This was all fun for us, but it was also educational. We all enjoyed doing our share.

The farm where we lived, which belonged to Baron Von Jena, a German escapee, had an irrigation system, so we had to irrigate many acres of cotton. We had about 150 acres of cotton to irrigate, so when the water was turned on for us to use we had to work with that water day and night. It was hard and tiring work, but at the end, it really paid off, as we had a beautiful crop of cotton. We had to hire cotton pickers to get the cotton picked when the weather was dry, as the cotton opened fast. We made a very good profit that year, but it was hard on us to farm so many acres of land by horses.

Our Mama and Dad had subscribed to a Czech language newspaper and in it was an advertisement... "Land for Sale," so my father decided to go see about it. It was in the Southern end of Baldwin County, Alabama. The advertisement said that an average family could make a good living on a small acreage of land. So, around August of 1923, Dad and a neighbor went to Baldwin County, Alabama to the town of Robertsdale. They met with Mr. Veselý, then a real estate agent, who took them to see the land, which was mostly in pine trees. Our Dad found 40 acres that he liked close to Marlow, Alabama in a community called "Sonora." He gave the real estate agent a down payment right away on that land but we had to wait through growing two more crops of cotton in Texas before we could move to Alabama.

On Christmas eve in 1925, we arrived in Alabama at the Summerdale Train Station with everything we owned loaded in the boxcars with us. We all got busy and moved things from the boxcars to a rented farm. We set up housekeeping there, and in a short time, the men got the cattle, horses, chickens, and two airedale registered dogs to the farm. We women got busy setting up the furniture, and started to prepare supper. Mom and Dad went over to the Jurkewicz Store in Summerdale and bought a wood stove, brought it home, set it up, and supper was done before we could put plates on the table.

We brought with us a vinegar barrel of dill pickles, a barrel full of salted down pork and beef, and a barrel full of home made sauerkraut. We had plenty of food to go on for the season.

The boys went into the woods and brought home a nice tree to decorate for Christmas. We brought with us enough decorations, so the tree was decorated in just a short while. Mama fixed a good supper... we sang Christmas songs... stayed up late... but, when we went to bed we thanked God that we were finally settled in a house again.

We lived in that rented house on Dixie Road and farmed a small acreage of land in potatoes, cucumbers, and turnip greens. We made good on the potatoes and cukes, but the greens didn't sell good, as they shipped them in iced boxcars by train to Chicago and other cities up north and they didn't stay fresh on those long trips. We did okay the first year... the worst was waiting for us yet... to start clearing on our own land, and that had to be done between planting and harvesting the crops.

When we started to clear the land, we cut down big pine trees and hauled them on a wagon, pulled by two horses and also by flat bodied truck, to Heidelberg's Saw Mill to have them cut into house building materials. This material would then be used to start building our own house. I pulled a cross-cut saw with my Daddy every day till we cut enough trees for all the lumber that we would need for the house (I was Dad's "right hand"). The whole family had to work hard and long hours to accomplish what we had planned, and we did it all ourselves.

After five years of residency here in America, we were finally called to the Federal Court House in Mobile, hopefully to be sworn in and get our Citizenship papers. We stood before the Court Clerk, and answered many, many, questions. Finally, much to our relief, the questions were over, and it came time for the swearing in. After this, we received our "Certificate of Citizenship." That was a wonderful feeling knowing that we finally had a country to call our home.

Copy of original naturalization applications,
Click each to Enlarge.

Karl Snasel.

Georgia Snasel Kucera Page 1.

Georgia Snasel Kucera Page 2.

Georgia Snasel Kucera Page 3.

In June 1927, our home was finished and we moved into it. But, prior to building on our home, we set up two 40 x 40 tents and lived in them for one year up to the time we finished our home. It was really fun to be moving into our own home, and to top it off, it was all paid for. For the first time in many years, we were out of debt and it was a wonderful feeling.