Katerina
Petrik and Josef StrejcekKaterina
Petrik and Josef StrejcekJosef Strejcek, my great-great-grandfather, was born about 1848 in Branice, Bohemia. He married Katerina Petrik about 1875. Katerina was born about 1855 in Kvetov, Bohemia, about three miles away.
This Strejcek family arrived in Baltimore on 17 April 1885 aboard the North German Lloyd steamer S.S. Nürnberg from Bremen, Germany. The ship's passenger list (image: 636 KB) includes the following persons:
Missing from the passenger list is their son, Joseph F. Strejcek, who would have been about 5 years old. This was probably a simple error of omission, perhaps confusion over father and son having the same name.
According to the 1900 U.S. Census, the Strejcek family resided at 423 N. Duncan Alley. Joseph and "Kate" are listed as immigrating in 1886, but the actual passenger list shows they immigrated in 1885. Kate is also listed as being born in 1854, married 25 years, and had 12 children, eight of them still living at that time. Joseph F. (1880) and Lizzie (July 1882) are living at home and also said to have immigrated in 1886. Other surviving children living with them included: Charles (1890), Barbara (1892), Frank (1894), and James (1897). Counting Maria and Rosalie, who by then were both married and in their own households, we can account for all eight of her children who survived to adulthood. I have found baptismal records for two more of their children, who must have died very young -- a Francis, born 01 July 1885, and another Francis, born 23 May 1887. The godparents listed for both of these children were Frank and Barbara Petrik; Frank was probably Kate's brother, and here I have yet another branch to research!
Joseph F. Strejcek married Mary A. Skrivanek on 07 Feb 1904 at St. Wenceslaus Church. Mary was born 22 Jul 1882 in Celakovice, Bohemia, about 10 miles northeast of Prague. Her parents were Anton Krivanek and Maria Hladik.
Joseph and Mary's eldest son, Albert, was born on 14 June 1904 and baptised on 16 June, four months after their wedding. Their residence was 204 Rose Street, according to Albert's baptismal record. The 1900 U.S. Census shows Anton and Mary Krivanek living at that address with their four children: Anna, Mamie (Mary), Lizzie, and Christinia (should be Antoinette?). It would seem that Joseph married Mary when it became necessary and then he moved in with her family. By 1906, when their daughter Elizabeth was born, Joseph and Mary had moved to their own home at 805 N. Bradford Street.
Josef Strejcek died on 22 Oct 1910
at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore. He was buried on the Strejcek
family plot at Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Baltimore. "Catherine"
Strejcek died on 10 July 1922 at 931 N. Collington Street in
Baltimore.
The 1920 Census shows the Strejceks still living 805 North Bradford Street in Baltimore. The family included:
- Joseph Strejcek, head, 41
- Mary, wife, 38
- Albert, son, 16
- Elizabeth, daughter, 13
- August, son, 10
- John, son, 8 (my grandfather)
- Joseph, son, 1 10/12
Mary A. Strejcek died in Baltimore
on 05 May 1936 at her residence, 804 N. Montford Street, just one
block east of the Strejcek's previous home. Joseph F. Strejcek
later remarried to Dora Lacher. He died on 13 Jan 1966 in a
nursing home in Catonsville, just outside of Baltimore. Joseph
and Mary are buried together in Holy Redeemer Cemetery.
Charles Francis Strejcek married Mary T. Kulski around 1916. They lived at 605 S. Belnord Ave. in Baltimore. They are buried together in St. Stanislaus Cemetery, along with their daughter Margaret and her husband, Anthony Kulikowski. I hope to contact their descendants soon and say hello.
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Strejcek married Anthony Matejka in 1904.
Barbara Strejcek married Joseph Ceska in 1914.
Maria
Strejcek was born on 08 Dec 1871 in Branice, Bohemia. Katherine
would have been only about 15 years old at the time of her birth,
so Maria may have been Josef's daughter from a previous marriage
in Branice. She married Charles Holecek at St. Wenceslaus on 14
Aug 1892.
Charles and Mary had at least five children:
Anna
was only 20 months old when she died, and Charles (Karel) died at
age ten. They are buried on the cemetery plot with Josef and
Katerina Strejcek.
Charles Holecek died on 26 Jan 1926. Mary J. Holecek died on 14 April 1941. They are buried in Holy Redeemer Cemetery.
There is another well-documented Strejcek family listed in the records dating back to 1900. Frantisek "Frank" Strejcek lived with his wife, Anna Horazdovska (a.k.a. Kristofsky) at 416 N. Duncan. Recall that Josef and Kate lived at 423 N. Duncan. This is just about directly across the street! Furthermore, baptismal records for Frank's children indicate that his hometown in Bohemia was Branice, the same as Josef. Frank was born in January 1857, making him about nine years younger than Josef, so it is possible that they were either brothers or first cousins. I've corresponded with one of Frank's descendants, who wrote that her mother recalled her father as having "second cousins" named August and Joseph -- my grand-uncles. This would be true if Frantisek and Josef were brothers, which seems likely. Unfortunately, I can find no corroboration of this among the records I've located thus far. The two men's death certificates name different fathers (Frank - Frank, Josef - Josef) and their mothers are unknown. I hope to be able to prove the filial relationship someday!
There are records - and descendants - of a third Strejcek family living in Baltimore in the early 20th Century. Josephine Svec (nee Stipek) married a Wenceslaus "James" Strejcek on 06 Nov 1921 in St. Wenceslaus Church. Wenceslaus may have had a sister named Christina who married a Joseph Foigl in 1912. Wenceslaus' parents are named Joseph Strejcek and Barbara Saska. "James" and "Sophia" Strejcek were listed in Polk's 1930 Baltimore city directory as living at 408 N. Bradford. This is four blocks south of my grandfather John's childhood home at 805 N. Bradford. No conclusion can be drawn from this, but it is interesting. James and Sophia had five children, including sons Stanley and Ernest, who passed on the Strejcek name. I've been in contact with of few descendants of this line, but so far we have not been able to connect our two family trees via a common ancestor.
Here is a partial list of other Strejceks who immigrated to the U.S. through Baltimore. I have no idea if they are related to my lineage in any way.
Czech out the Czech Genealogy Research Page. Much information about my Bohemian ancestors was obtained from the St. Wenceslaus church records, on microfilm at the Maryland State Archives.
Some messages are posted at the Strejcek Family Genealogy Forum.
Bohemia is the western province of the Czech Republic. More information is available from the CIA World Factbook and the U.S. State Department.
If you're done here, you may go back to the Boia Genealogy page.
Last updated 17 August 2004 by John J. Boia.
