Czech immigrants' story woven into Texas history

Invitation to Cat Spring: From European Tyranny to Freedom to Civil War, by Mary Frances Chupick Bennett, Author House, 2007

If you know any Texans of Czech descent, as I do, you may have been told that their ancestors came to Texas in the 19th century to avoid the conscription of young men into the military. In Invitation to Cat Spring, Mrs. Bennett brings the story of these long-suffering people to life, and fits it into the history of Texas in an exciting and moving way.

The book tells the story of Rozina and Pavel and their children, from the village of Zadverice in Moravia. Life in Moravia is harsh under the rule of the Hapsburgs of Austria. While some people own their own land, increasingly higher taxes have made them virtual serfs. Villagers live in fear any time Imperial army troops are around - the Austrians even curse them for speaking their own language. As a girl, Rozina had witnessed a friend's brother shot and left to die when he tried to run away from being forced into army service.

By the 1850s a few Moravians have been granted permission to leave, and have traveled to a far away place called Texas. When the first letters begin to circulate from those who left, Rozina doesn't believe the things they say. She thinks that talk of such freedom and opportunity must be the raving of a madman, or a liar. But Pavel believes the stories, and is already thinking of applying for an exit visa.

They travel 500 miles across Moravia and Bohemia to the port of Bremen in order to make the 5,000 mile voyage. When they finally reach Galveston, they find Texas a rather wild and unsettled place, nothing like the Europe they left behind.

To write Invitation to Cat Spring, Mrs. Bennett did several years of research, study, workshops, a trip to the Czech Republic, and interviews with scores of Texans whose ancestors came from Moravia and Bohemia. She rolled stories, legends, papers, letters, and traditions of many, many families into the experiences of two.

The book is enlivened by the letters Rozina writes to her mother and sister back in Zadverice. Because of conditions in Texas at the time, she doesn't know if her letters will ever reach their destination, and no letters from Zadverice reach her. But as the months and years roll by she continues to write.

Their story is a harrowing one, and makes us appreciate what our ancestors endured to give us what we have today, no matter what our ancestry. These Moravian immigrants crossed the Atlantic in 1855 crowded in the hold of a sailing ship, in inhuman conditions, facing hunger, storms, sickness and death. Even after they finally arrive in Galveston, they still have to make the 100-mile trip to Cat Spring in central Texas, where they had been promised help by other Moravian immigrants. This trip, that we make in a few minutes in our automobiles today, proved difficult and tragic.

Starting with little besides their faith, family, and settlers willing to help each other, they endured hardships (their first dwelling is made of tree limbs and mud) to make a life for themselves. Ironically, their struggle to establish themselves in Texas is interrupted by some of the same problems they thought they had left behind in Europe. The Civil War is on the horizon and the Confederate government would eventually start conscripting troops. The settlers initially think the dispute won't involve them (they have no slaves - they don't even speak English!) but they are wrong.
Despite the settlers having left Europe to avoid forced conscription, when war finally comes two sons of Rozina and Pavel end up serving in the Confederate army - not as conscripts, but as volunteers.

One of the most interesting things about the book is its description of early Texas places and events. In particular the siege and Battle of Galveston, and a trip undertaken by wagon to the Mexican border to sell cotton, made me want to retrace their routes and try to imagine things as they were in mid-19th century Texas.

Invitation to Cat Spring is a fascinating look at a group that not a lot has been written about, the hard working and devout immigrants to Texas from Moravia and Bohemia. The story of their struggle to survive, and to become Texans, makes us appreciate their history and culture, and what it has added to the fabric of Texas' history.

David Allday

About the Author

Mary Frances Chupick Bennett was not looking for a job when she received a phone call one night from a friend who was a retired college professor. He referred to a conversation some days earlier about their mutual ethnic group. Both had bemoaned the fact that, outside of their descendants, the contributions of the Czech-Moravians have gone mostly unnoticed in history. Chiding her for neglecting the extensive material left to her by her amateur-historian father, he encouraged her to write the story in a way the general public would enjoy. She protested she was not an author. He said, “I’ll help you get started.” And he did. Thus the idea for the novel Invitation to Cat Spring: From European Tyranny to Freedom to Civil War was born.

She feels that her story is the American Experience, told from a slightly different perspective, with little-known facts about the Civil War battles in Texas as a bonus. She hopes that, whatever your ancestry, you will enjoy this pioneer tale, experienced by so many who helped to form our nation.

Mary Frances and her husband live in Kerrville. They have two sons and five grandchildren.