Czech This Out, An Ancestry Surprise

“You are the fairy tale told by your ancestors.”

– Author Toba Beta

I’m 44 years old.

That seems to me far too old to be surprised about my family history.

Way back in elementary, when I had to do my first family tree, I figured I learned about all I needed to know.

I was a third-generation American. Both my parents’ grandparents had been born in Europe.

My Mom’s family had immigrated from Germany. My Dad’s from Austria.

And that’s the story I stuck with until a few weeks ago.

We were having a big family reunion (150 folks) in High Hill two weeks ago and some of my sisters and cousins did most of the heavy lifting in terms of reunion planning, but they asked me to coordinate a family history trivia contest.

In the process of doing research for the questions I found out that my dad’s grandfather was born in Nejdek, Moravia. At the time John Wick left for America by boat (in the year 1860, at the age of three with his parents) Moravia was part of Austria.

The Austrian empire back then was huge and included parts of not only the Czech lands, but Hungary, Ukraine, Romania and even Italy.

But before it was part of that Austrian Empire it was one of the traditional Czech lands, and Moravia is now part of the Czech Republic. I never knew any of that.

Growing up in Fayette County, which is known as “the cradle of Czech immigration in Texas,” I’d been asked numerous times if I was Czech.

I’d always said no – German and Austrian.

And I always kinda regretted it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that I am of German descent, but there is such a rich tradition of Czech culture around here that is embraced so strongly that I wasn’t a part of.

Just a couple of months ago I covered the dedication of Sts. Cyril and Methodius church in Dubina as a pilgrimage shrine and I listened intently to several of the speakers talk so lovingly about their homeland.

It was an enlightening event – but I felt a little like an outsider.

After my reunion trivia research, I talked to some close family members and I told them, “I think we’re Czech.”

I was greeted with skepticism.

So I asked the person I consider an expert on all things Czech, Mark Hermes, manager of the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center (located right here in La Grange) what he thought.

With a great grandfather from Moravia was I Czech?

Without a doubt, he said.

So I’m Czech – and German.

I’ve gotta say I’m pretty proud of that.

Though I’m not sure what I need to do to celebrate my newfound Czech heritage.

I already considered beer, sausage, sauerkraut and kolaches the four main food groups.

Maybe some alert Czech reader can help me out with some more suggestions.

By the way, I looked up online some information and photos of that village of Nejdek, Moravia where my great grandfather was born. Seems like a beautiful sleepy town of 7,800 with an old castle – though a lot of the tourist websites try to direct you to visit a neighboring place called “Centre of the Natural Beer Spa” where folks actually pay to bathe in beer.

I wonder if I’m related to the owner.

This whole Czech heritage thing wasn’t the only family history bombshell of 2022 for me.

My wife got me that 23&Me DNA test for Christmas. I spit in the tube and sent it off. A few weeks later I learned:

• I have more Neaderthal DNA than most folks

• I have a genetic predisposition to lack a sense of direction

• I share distant genetic markers (haplogroup indicators) with the following famous people: Eva Longoria, Jimmy Buffet and Bernie Sanders.

I wonder if Bernie Sanders has ever tried sauerkraut?