TERRY'S LIBRARY: Kovar-Volcik Family

I’ve done a lot of historical research on my paternal family, the Loessin family, and my maternal family, the Machu family, and I've provided each of these a page on my Blog that tells their stories with accompanying photos.

This page will now focus on

my maternal grandmother’s background -

the Kovar-Volcik families.

My maternal grandmother,
Vlasta (Kovar) Machu

Vlasta Kovar's
Confirmation Photo, 1932.

Vlasta married my grandpa,
Albin E. Machu
Nov. 19, 1935

Vlasta (Kovar) Machu,
my maternal grandmother

Vlasta was the 2^nd eldest in the family of
Tom Kovar [b. 2-27-1892; d. 9-24-1974] who
wed Frances Volcik [b.12-27-1896; d.7-27-1992]
in 1911.

Vlasta's mother, Frances Volcik, was born in Texas to Pavel “Paul” and Anna Volcik who had come to Texas from Moravia (Czechoslovakia) in 1894.

Pavel & Anna Volcik

Pavel and Anna had familial connections in Texas that were involved in that dispersed community of Texas Czech Protestants who were organizing their immigrant group -- an ethnic group that was largely settling in Texas’ cotton-centered rural areas and was organizing themselves via fraternal organizations (i.e. the SPJST); the newly formed Jednota Bratrska (Unity of the Brethren Church); youth clubs (Sokol) and popular music dancehalls.

Pavel and Anna eventually settled in Williamson County and are buried in the Granger Brethren Church cemetery, as are their daughter and son-in-law, Tom and Frances Kovar.

Volcik sisters:
Julia,
Frances (my maternal great-grandmother),
and Millie

Pavel & Anna Volcik's daughters:
my great-grandmother Frances (l.)
and her sister Millie (r.)

Volcik brothers:
Adolph, Edwin, Raymond

Tom Kovar was born in Vsetin, Czechoslovakia -- which was only about 2 miles north of Usti where my maternal side's patriarch, Pavel Machu, came from.

Tom’s parents were Jiri (“George”) Kovar [b. 3-25-1863 in Vsetin; d. 3-17-1913] who married Frantiska Trlica [b. 1-28-1873] in Bratiejove, CZ.

It's interesting to me that my maternal side's patriarch Pavel Machu married a Rozina Trlica and my maternal grandmother's grandfather also married a Trlica, although I can find nothing to suggest the two Trlica girls were related as they came from two different Moravian villages.

Jiri and Frantiska (Trlica) Kovar are both buried in Taylor TX. They had 10 children: One died at 2 in Moravia (CZ). Their eldest child, George, would remain behind in Moravia (CZ) when the family decided to immigrate to America. Six children came with their parents Jiri and Frantiska to the port of Galveston Texas in 1907, and that included their nearly 15 y.o son, Tom Kovar. A girl born to them immediately after they arrived here in Texas died in childbirth. Frantiska would later have the 10th child, a daughter as well.

Tom Kovar with his sisters

Tom met Frances Volcik soon after his arrival in Williamson County, introduced as so many of the new eligible bachelors were to his future wife at an after-church barbecue.

Double Wedding for
Frnt Row: Tom Kovar and Frank Volcik
Second Row: Julie Hribek, Frances (Volcik) Kovar,
unknown, Annie (Volcik) Zajicek

Tom Kovar with
brother-in-law
Frank Volcik

After they wed in 1911, Tom and Frances (Volcik) Kovar would have five children: sons Rudy (b. 5-21-1916) and Frank Kovar (b. 4-1-1920); daughters Evelyn [married Siegmund] (3-6-1926) and Angeline (b. 11-1-1934) [married Schwertner] and my grandmother Vlasta (b. 9-10-1917) [married Albin E. Machu] who, as mentioned earlier, was the second eldest of the five Kovar children.

Kovar Kids:
Rudy, Vlasta, Frank

The Kovar Kids:
Vlasta, Frank, Rudy, Evelyn

Evelyn Kovar
Confirmation Photo, 1947

Rudy Kovar,
WWII veteran

Tom and Frances (Volcik) Kovar,
my maternal great-grandparents
as I remember them.

I have fond memories of the one day each week my Mom would pick me up after school and I would not have to ride the school bus home. Instead, I'd ride with her to do errands. This included making her AVON deliveries. It also included the trip to the Granger post office to get the mail for my great-grandparents, Tom and Frances Kovar. We'd then go visit them and great-grandma would always have a pitcher of her ultra-sweet iced tea on the kitchen table. Oh, how I loved that tea with lemon. If it was a special day, there'd be homemade kolaches or other delicious pastries and pies.

Great-grandpa Tom would often be hiding out in his smokehouse nursing a bottle (oh my) and I'd be sent to get him to come in to visit (mainly so Mom could verify he was okay). And then great-grandma would start her hounding (in Czech usually), telling Mom how Tom had been misbehaving and the two would still be going at it as we drove away. They were a delightful pair and I miss them very much.