History Pop Quiz! What and where is Boehem?

Joseph Bergmann’s Tombstone

Adalbertha Bergmann and her family came from Boehem. Boehem is German for Bohemia which was located in central Europe and is now in the Czech Republic. Boehem was part of the Holy Roman Empire and by 1526 became part of the Habsburg’s Austrian Empire. That is why the Bergmann family, sometimes, is listed as coming from Austria rather than Boehem.

For centuries, there was religious unrest between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. In 1618, the Protestants revolted against the Habsburg rule and lost. In 1620, the Roman Catholics defeated the Protestants. Following the defeat, the Habsburg rule of Bohemia became stricter. Bohemia was no longer a kingdom, Protestantism and Czech nationalism was suppressed, Roman Catholic was the national religion and many families became serfs to the wealthy land holders. German became the national language and was taught in all schools. Czech was spoken mainly in the rural areas. Aha, that’s how the Joseph Bergmann family knew German! I wonder if they also spoke Czech.

In 1848, the Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia (a neighboring country) revolted. Even though the Czechs failed in their revolt, the serf system was abolished and this caused the middle class to rise.

Five years after the 1848 revolt, Joseph Bergmann of Reichenberg, Boehem (now Liberec, CZ), his wife, Theresia, and five children relocate to Texas. Joseph was 53 years old. They arrived in Galveston on 12 June 1853 and headed for the Texas Hill Country.

“Bohemia.” Encyclopdeia Britiannica. Web. 29 August 1011. http://www.britannica.com.

 

How do you spell Adalbertha?

Signature of Adalbertha Adam

 I am guilty. This is a personal issue for me. My name is Kathryn not  Katherine. My last name was Adam not Adams. I have a very basic name but it is always misspelled. As a result, I have always tried to spell other people’s name correctly.

My great-great grandmother was born in 1836 in Boehem (Czech Republic). Her parents named her Adalbertha. I had never before or since heard of anyone with this name so I decided to find out more about it. Adalbertha is the feminine form of Adalbert. Adalbert or Adelbert is an old Germanic name that has been around for over a 1000 years. In fact the first Adalbert of any importance was St. Adalbert of Prague. He is the patron saint of Bohemia, Poland and Prussia. Adalbert, which means noble and bright, was from a wealthy family but decided to become a priest. He was very zealous about converting heathens to Christianity. In 977, he went on a missionary trip to Prussia. It seems he was cutting down some sacred oaks. They asked him to stop. He didn’t, so they stopped him.

When I first started gathering information about the Adam Family I went to the cemetery and started copying down the information from the tombstones. I thought all the information would be correct. On Adalbertha’s stone her name is spelled Adelbertha Adams. (I should have clued in on the Adams.) I happily began spelling her name Adelbertha. I found other spellings, Adalberthe on her marriage certificate, Adebertha on the 1870 Kendall County Census, and Adallberthe on her death certificate and then in her own handwriting on her will in 1895 Adalbertha Adam. Adalbertha, Adelbertha, Kathryn, Katherine are all correct spellings, but how did she spell her name? Adalbertha Adam. I am sooo guilty…

“St. Adalbert.” Catholic Encyclopedia. Web. 29 August 2011. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01127c.htm.