Genealogy, cultural symposium presents new opportunities to trace ancestry at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

CEDAR RAPIDS — With perhaps the exception of the New York City metro area, historian Martin Javor says the heritage of Slovakians in America is in trouble.

Outside of the Big Apple, where new waves of Slovak immigration are still happening, most Americans of Slovakian descent are three to four generations removed. Most do not speak the language their grandparents spoke, and there are few places to learn it in the United States.

“I see that the Slovak community in the U.S. is not in good condition,” said Javor, a University of Presov history professor. “The Americanization of the Slovak community is very hard and very fast.”

But it’s not just Americans who are losing touch with their roots. Those in Slovakia, where he lives and works, are largely unaware of the New World routes many of their relatives took, or what happened after emigration.

That’s why Javor, who said he is the only professor studying this subject in central Europe, established the Museum of Emigration from Slovakia to North America in Pavlovce nad Uhom, Slovakia.

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“I tell my students that one of the only things that’s important is to know where you and your ancestors are from,” Javor said. “It’s important to show the people in the U.S. the interest about cultural heritage of Slovak-Americans here in Slovakia. It’s very important because during the communist regime, it was forbidden to have any research about immigration.”

A new genealogy and cultural symposium at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in April will bring together speakers and presenters from across the world for sessions on the history of Czechs and Slovaks and help attendees learn how they can trace their own lineage.

Searching for roots

With a major conference biennially and a smaller symposium in alternating years, the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI) is seeing more interest in researching heritage from people across the spectrum of ethnicities, including Czechs, Slovaks, and the East Slavic Carpatho-Rusyns.

“They’re wanting to learn more about their ancestors, but also want to understand the cultural context of how their ancestors lived. It’s not a question of dress, but immersion experience in values, history and traditions of our ethnicity,” said Mark Dillon, chair of CGSI’s board of directors. “It’s a challenge to keep up the tradition.”

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Given that one of the last major waves of Slovak immigration to America happened before World War I, there’s a lot of distance to cover. Javor, who has collected artifacts from Slovak-Americans and had grandparents who were born in the United States, said the knowledge about lives of Slovakians in America is very limited.

Compounded by the Slovak integration and blending with other ethnic groups, he said that descendants in America today have virtually no reflection of Slovak culture. Next month, his presentation will include the role of Slovakians in the U.S. Army.

For those wanting to reconnect to their roots, he has started a new way to do it symbolically. Attendees at the symposium will be able to purchase heirloom trees to plant at the museum’s garden in Slovakia — the types of trees that Slovakians brought to North America. With a $300 donation, donors can purchase a tree and receive a certificate to replant their roots in Slovakia.

Retracing lineage with new tools

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Kathy Palmquist, second vice president of CGSI, got more involved in the organization and genealogy research about six years ago when she retired. After hearing tidbits of family history from her parents over the years, she wanted to continue the work they were passionate about.

Developing new tools with CGSI’s cemetery mapping project, volunteers like her have created a one-stop shop for many references and resources.

“The whole purpose … is to learn more about your ancestors and their history by studying the cemeteries where they settled,” she said. “We’re trying to do the legwork for them so that if they’re visiting an area in Iowa and want to do research on family history in the Czech or Slovak cemeteries, they can come here and find resources without having to do all the research.”

Over a few years, volunteers have painstakingly put together maps of Czech and Slovak cemeteries that link to online catalogs detailing those buried there, the churches or organizations in charge of the grounds, and more.

Some cemeteries are small, inactive and difficult to find information about. Others, such as Bohemian National cemeteries, demonstrate a mindset from past waves of immigrants.

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“There was a lot of persecution about what religion you were in the Czech Republic. When they came over, they wanted to not be associated with the church cemetery, so they were buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery,” Palmquist said.

With a resurgence in genealogy research interest thanks to platforms like Ancestry.com or 23 and Me, Palmquist said cemeteries are critical in retracing your roots.

Along the way, she’s managed to make some lifelong connections. In addition to new relatives discovered in cemeteries she didn’t expect to find them in, she’s visited long-lost distant relatives across the world, including far-flung places like Sri Lanka.

“I try to look at these gravestones and imagine who these people were and what kind of lives they had,” she said. “I’ve been excited to learn even more about family history by researching cemeteries.”

With new tools, she hopes to help others get in touch with that passion to know their ancestors, too.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.