Maternal Family

Celebrating 150 Years in Texas
1870 - 2020

The Machu Family's
Contributions to Granger,
Williamson County, Texas

The Machu's

Machu homestead
east of Granger TX; ca. 1890.

The Machu Family Story

The Machu Family originated in rural communities surrounding the city of Vsetin in the region of Moravia in today's nation of Czechia (formerly Czechoslovakia).  Small rural communities like Seninka and Usti.


The oldest member whom the family has information on is Jan Machu, who was born in 1756 at house #32 in the village of Seninka located just outside of Vsetin and he died there in 1816. Jan was a quarter farmer and he married Rozina Cedidlo in 1795.

Eight children were born to this couple and one of them was Pavel's father, Josef Machu, born on 31 July 1798 at #23 Seninka.  Josef’s first marriage to Tereza Reznicek produced a son, Pavel Martin, born 13 August 1817. Josef was married secondly to Anna Zrnik in February 1826. This marriage produced two sons:  Joseph Machu, born 1829 and my great-great-great grandfather Pavel Machu, born 8 February, 1834, both born at house #23 in Seninka. Soon after relocating the family to nearby Usti, Anna Zrnik Machu died on July 10, 1836, leaving Josef with seven year old Joseph and two year old son Pavel.
 
Vsetin's Coat of Arms

Pavel Machu’s hometown of Usti 
was a few miles south of Vsetin.
The overall area, called Vsetínsko, 
is spread out on the foothills of the Vsetín, Hostýn 
and Vizovice Highlands around the Bečva River.
 
This area features the remains of log houses 
and cultural monuments of significant importance 
mainly in Vsetín itself. The folk culture 
has been kept alive by song and dance groups 
for many decades who sing of 
the areas important role in Czech history.
 
Originally a small town, Vsetín has become 
an important center of industrial, economic, 
and Czech cultural life during the last century.

Imagine – at the age of 2, his mother dies.  At 13, Pavel’s father dies. Such circumstances certainly contributed to his early maturity and self-reliant character and when the time arrived, Pavel dutifully served his mandatory service in the Austrian army. Afterward, he returned to Usti where he met and married Rozina Trlica in 1864. The couple lived in house #62 – one that still stands and is occupied today. Pavel applied for permission to emigrate on March 1, 1870. 

Pavel and Rozina (Trlica) Machu

The family set sail from the port of Bremen, Germany on April 7 and arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 2, 1870.  The three children who came to the United States States of America with them were: Anna, who later married Joseph Friedrich Cervenka, Jan T., who married Veronika Pokorny, and Pavel H., who married Rozie Wentrcek. During the voyage, it is said that Pavel became so sick that Rozina was afraid that he was going to die.  He survived, thankfully, and proceeded to accomplish many things during the years he lived in Texas. 

The family first settled in Austin County where they lived for eight years. Because of Pavel's health issues, they moved to Polanka, south of Taylor where they lived for a year, then to the community of Circleville on the banks of the San Gabriel River and finally to land Pavel purchased about five miles southeast of Granger.  The “Machu” homestead was commonly recognized as its own community east of Granger and is reflected as such on early Williamson County maps.

Pavel's brother, Josef, married Rozina Mazac. This couple and their daughter, Veronika arrived in Texas in May, 1871, settling in the Lavaca / Austin County area.  Their daughter, Veronika Machu, married Paul Trlica. They were the parents of John P. Trlica, the well known Granger photographer.

Pavel's new life in Texas as a rural farmer on the land he purchased east of Granger evolved into a life of many accomplishments motivated by his commitment to community service and caring for his neighbors.

Imagine - an immigrant with no education and limited English language skills managed to provide a school in central Texas for the children of his fellow countrymen from Moravia.  Pavel committed himself to getting the Moravia School built, aided by the other farmers living nearby.
In the field where my great-great-great Grandfather
provided the land for a school for his Czech-speaking neighbors
is today the historical marker for the Moravian Schoolhouse

I get emotional studying this photo from 1930 -
half of this class are my relations - not only the
4 Machu's in this class, including my grandpa and
his sisters, but the Viteks, Lindemans,
Voleks, Rozacky folk as well

Pavel donated a portion of his farm for the school, and he traveled to surrounding towns on horseback, soliciting funds for the construction costs. 

It was at this school that the newly organized SPJST Fraternal Lodge #20 held their first meetings.

Today SPJST lodges are familar to most native central Texans who grew up attending wedding receptions and going two-steppin' & line dancin' on the old wooden dance floors of these great ol' lodges.  But few could probably tell you what the acronym stands for. 

Back in that era of my great-great-great grandfather when few American insurance companies would provide coverage for poor eastern European immigrants, Pavel and his determined comrades in Granger set the foundation for a Czech fraternal organization that would provide such insurance coverage for its members, eventually merging with the nationwide fraternal order known as the Cesko-Slovanska Podporujici Spolecnost (C.S.P.S.) . Texas Czechs would later disassociate with the national organization and form their own Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas, or Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas.  [SPJST History]

Pavel and Rozina were charter members of this benevolent organization’s local chapter in Granger. After Pavel died in 1907, the Granger SPJST organization would purchase from Rozina the property on West Davilla Street in Granger where their new lodge found its permanent second-story home. 

SPJST Lodge No. 20, organized in 1897
in Granger, Texas.
Photo by Jno P. Trilica; 1946
The Machu name can still be found on one of the front door thresholds of a business on this city block.

Pavel Machu and others were instrumental in establishing the first Czech Protestant church in this area of central Texas – the Czech Moravian Brethren Church whose origins date back to the 15th century Czech Hussites. The first  church services for the Czech Protestants in the area were held at Pavel Machu's recently completed Moravia Schoolhouse.  Services were held sporadically whenever a traveling minister was available to preach.

The Rev. Adolph Chlumsky, a Czech Brethren minister from Brenham, TX encouraged Pavel Machu and his Czech neighbors to organize a church. On July 10, 1892, they officially founded a congregation and elected Chlumsky pastor. He commuted all the way from Brenham to serve the congregation for the next 18 years! 

The congregation built its first church structure in 1901 and this Granger Brethren Church is still today located at 306 W. Broadway. On December 29, 1903, under the leadership of the Rev. Mr. Chlumsky, the Evangelical Unity of the Czech-Moravian Brethren in North America (or, Unity of the Brethren) denomination was officially organized at a state convention of these Texas Czechs held at the Granger Brethren Church.

Granger's early Czech Moravian Brethren Church,
June 5, 1915 -
the occasion is the Czech Brethren denomination's
state convention.
Photo taken by church member John P. Trlica.
Pavel Machu had provided assistance to those of the Catholic faith in building their new church in Granger – a church dedicated to the 9th century Christian missionaries to the Slavic peoples of Europe, the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Granger at 100 N. Brazos. His Catholic neighbors, in turn, offered assistance when the time came for the Czech Brethren Church building project. This was a noteworthy accomplishment in those days for first and second generation eastern European immigrants of Catholic and Protestant Christian faiths since the historic tension between the two groups following centuries of religious wars back in Europe was often transported here. Such tensions were not to be found in Granger as the two churches today continue to stand side-by-side on the west (Czech) side of town and have worked cooperatively for years on community pantry projects and annual community Thanksgiving services.

When Pavel was approached by a lady with her deceased husband in her wagon who needed a place to bury him, Pavel’s act of charity that day, providing a place on his farm for her need, launched what became the Machu Family Cemetery.  Pavel was a well-respected member of his community.  You can document this by reading his obituary - it reports the church could not hold all the people who came to the service in 1907.  

Pavel Machu’s contributions to his new homeland, Texas' Williamson County -

including the Machu Family cemetery, the Moravia School site, as well as his collaboration toward the establishment of the Granger Brethren Church -

have each been recognized today by the State of Texas with historical markers.  

Rozina died on May 28, 1920 with her children and 38 grandchildren present. Both Pavel and Rozina are buried in the Machu Cemetery.

"Machu" - a small dot east of Granger - was actually shown on early Williamson County maps! (See Clara Stearns Scarborough's history of the county "Land Of Good Water") 

The cemetery was relocated in the early 1970's by the U.S. Corps of Engineers as “Machu”-land would soon be under the waters of new Lake Granger and today it is situated on the eastern edge of the city of Granger along with other city and church cemeteries. 

Visit, machu-cemetery.org
_____________________
Sources: Bratrske Listy, Pavel Machu Obituary authored by Rev. Adolf Chlumsky, April 1907; Looking Back at the Cervenka and Machu Family 1773-1988, by Joan Cervenka Cobb, 1988.
Images: Photo of Pavel & Rozina (Trlica) Machu courtesy of Darwin and Nancy Machu.
______________
____________________
______________________________

Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:

Body:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
Sedentary activities, Sugars, Salt.
Trust me,
you’ll be feeling better in no time!

Mind & Spirit:
Avoid the 3 F’s
Manufactured in these mediums are
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!

JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!

JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)