| Notes |
- JOSEF, Jr's birth is recorded in the Vital Registers of the Parish of Nemecke [Snezne], page 398, Inv. No. M 16.768/1820 - 1852, Moravian Provincial Archives [births] in Brno, Czech Republic. At the time of his birth, his parents were living in Odranec, house # 10. He was a Protestant.
During a visit in 1990 to Policka, Czech Republic by Thomas L. Stafford (grandson of Frantisek Topinka and grandnephew of his brother, Josef), Thomas was informed by the Mayor of Policka, Mr. Jan Edlman, that his secretary, Mrs. Marie Klanicova, had found information in the Protestant church records that Josef had been born in 1850 in the nearby village of Odranec. Mrs. Klanicova said the records also indicated that Josef married Karolina Kastankova on January 27, 1884 in nearby Oldris. Karolina, twenty years older than Josef, was the owner of a large farm near Oldris which she inherited upon the death of her first husband. JOSEF, Jr. apparently lived with Karolina on her farm until he emigrated to the USA in April, 1889 (See below).
Continuing his search over the years for further information on our TOPINKA and DRAHOS ancestors, Thomas (Tom) -- while searching the Internet in early 2000 -- found a well documented and lengthy "paper" prepared by Mr. Karel Kysilka, a Czech citizen and genealogist. The "paper" had been presented by Mr. Kysilka to the Texas Czech Society during an earlier visit to the USA. The essay covered a number of Czechs who had emigrated to the USA from Bohemia and Moravia, primarily from the area around Policka (near Ceske Rybna and Oldris, the ancestral villages of our ancestors).
Mr. Kysilka's "paper" provides a keen insight to explain why and how our Czech ancestors decided to leave their homes in Bohemia and Moravia in order to begin a new life in the USA. He also provides an understanding of the trials and tribulations they encountered and endured along the way. While reading the "paper," Tom was delighted to find that it included a paragraph devoted to his great grandfather, JOSEF TOPINKA and his son, JOSEF, Jr., the brother of Tom's grandfather, FRANTISEK TOPINKA. Tom immediately wrote to Mr. Kysilka to thank him for confirming a portion of stories which Bernice (Easker) Smith recalled hearing from her and Tom's grandmother, ANNA (DRAHOS) TOPINKA.
Mr. Kysilka's "paper", which is based on official documents researched by Mr. Kysilka to support his "paper", provides a keen insight to explain why and how our Czech ancestors decided to leave their homes in Bohemia and Moravia in order to begin a new life in the USA. The "paper" also provides an understanding of the trials and tribulations they encountered and endured along the way. Included in the
"paper" are several paragraphs that confirms the information provided to Tom during his 1990 visit to Policka.
Mr. Kysilka wrote that in the middle of the 19th century, an immense wave of emigration from Bohemia and Moravia, mainly to the United States, took place. In 1848 serfdom was abolished in Austria, which included those lands later known as Czechoslovakia, and the first constitution was granted. However, personal freedom granted under the constitution, did not last long. Under the government of the Austrian prime minister Alexander Bach, a rigid, reactionary order was introduced, again severely limiting personal freedom. This restriction, plus a desire for better living conditions, triggered the emigration -- which was controlled by an earlier decree, dated March 24, 1832, issued by the Austrian Emperor, Franz I.
In order to emigrate legally, an individual had to apply for permission to do so at the Supreme Provincial Office of the Bohemian or Moravian Govenor. If the applicant was not a landowner, permission first had to be obtained from his or her landlord. The applicant had to be capable of managing his own affairs; be free of any financial, judicial or other liabilities; be able to pay for all transportation costs and be free of any military or other duties. The application had to be received and consented to by the district military command; gendarme(local police) office; revenue (tax) office and the district court.
In most cases, if everything went smoothly, it normally took two months from date the application was initiated until written approval to emigrate was granted by the particular Govenor's office. In Moravia (where our TOPINKA ancestors lived) an official "Emigration-Consent" document was issued; in Bohemia (wher our DRAHOS ancestors lived) approval was sent from the district office to the applicant in the form of an ordinary letter. Subsequently the applicant received an "Emigration Passport" for himself and his companions, mostly members of his immediate family. The passport was valid only for the duration of the actual journey. During this period, the emigrants were still under the legal protection of Austrian Authorities abroad. As soon as they entered the port of arrival, e.g., the USA, they ceased being an Austrian citizen. All travelers covered by the "Emigration Passport" had to set out on their journey not later than six months (four months beginning in 1856) after the date the "Emigration-Consent" was issued. Otherwise the Consent became invalid, and a new application had to be submitted.
According to Austrian statistical sources, the number of official emigrants from Bohemia in 1850 was about 160 people. In the following two years the number increased to 340 in 1851 and 430 in 1852. These figures do not include illegal emigrants. Neither do they include those individuals who crossed the border with a normal "traveling passport", valid usually for a period of two or three years. These "traveling passports" were issued only to traders, journey-men, state officers, intellectuals and other reliable people, whose status guaranteed they would return to Bohemia or Moravia. If they didn't return to the country during the following three months after the expiration of the passport validity, their absence was regarded as an illegal emigration. The frontiers at that time were not watched so closely as today, and anyone who managed to get across without proper authorization, usually was admitted on an ocean going vessel with any type of personal document, e. g., a journeyman bill (later called a certificate of apprenticeship) or an identity card, valid in Austria only. This enabled anyone who had the opportunity to leave the country, provided they had enough money to pay their passage, including those who lacked other necessary funds, fugitives from justice, military deserters and simple common people who did not know that a passport or an"Emigration-Consent" was required to leave their homeland.
After crossing the border into Germany, the German authorities seldom denied entry to an Austrian citizen without the passport. They generally allowed him to continue. Even as late as 1895 the Bremen Steamship agency F. MISSLER- J. BRUGK distributed a pamphlet with a convenient name: "How to Get to the Port of Bremen without any Passport."
Mr. Kysilka wrote that it happened once, that an applicant totally fooled the Austrian authorities. In May 1888, JOSEF TOPINKA, JR. from Oldris, a tiny village near Policka, applied to the District Authority for an Emigration-Consent for himself and his wife CATHARINA (KAROLINA), who was 20 years older than he. That applicant was none other than the son of our ancestor, JOSEF TOPINKA,Sr.
JOSEF's application was approved but he returned to the Authority again,saying that he had thought it over and decided he did not want to emigrate, but wanted only to travel to America to find out what life was like there. He informed the authorities that if he finds the life of ordinary US citizens to be to his liking, he then would return to Moravia (still part of Austria) and take his spouse with him back to America. His wife had no objections and JOSEF, Jr. then received the Passport with a 3-year-validity.
JOSEF, Jr., however, had other plans and did not leave during the four month time period allowed in 1888 for his departure. Based on evidence discovered by Mr. Kysilka while researching the archives in Policka, JOSEF, Jr. had devised a plan to fool the authorities so that he could take his father, JOSEF, Sr. to America with him.
Official records found by Mr. Kysilka reveals that in the following spring (early April, 1889), JOSEF, Jr., accompanied by his father,JOSEF, Sr., returned to the District office. JOSEF, Jr. informed the authorities that he was unable to travel to America in 1888 because he needed more money to pay for his round trip to America. Therefore, he decided to stay home and raise the money by helping other farmers harvest their crops. He told the authorities that when he left his home to engage in harvesting, he decided to leave all of his documents with his father, JOSEF, Sr. who, at that time, was living with him and CATHARINA (KAROLINA) on their farm. It is believed that JOSEF, Sr. moved in with them (circa 1887-1888) after selling his land and house, # 73, in Oldris to JOSEF JILEK, the father of FRANTISKA (JILEK), first wife of FRANTISEK TOPINKA, JOSEF, Sr.'s younger son. Apparently that was done solely to enable FRANTISEK to be free from FRANTISKA and emigrate to the USA.
JOSEF, Jr. further informed the authorities that his father, JOSEF, Sr., had carried the documents in his pocket for safekeeping while caring for cattle on the farm and, somehow, had lost them all either in barnyard muck or in animal fodder -- never to be found again. The District office, apparently convinced by JOSEF, Jr's story, promptly issued him a new passport.
JOSEF's plan to fool the Austrian authorities may not have been uncovered had it not been for a certain Henry Grubhoffer who lived in Policka. According to a report found by Mr. Kysilka in Policka, " in April, 1889 Grubhoffer came to the District Office with a complaint. He alleged that JOSEF TOPINKA, Jr. owed him 188 guldens and asked the authorities to stop JOSEF, Jr. from traveling to America. The District Office dispatched a policeman to search for JOSEF, Jr., who lived with his wife, CATHARINA (KAROLINA) on a farm in Oldris, located a few miles from Policka. A short while later the policeman returned to the District Office to report that all he found at JOSEF, Jr.'s home was his mournful wife, CATHARINA (KAROLINA), and that both JOSEF, Jr. and his father had left Moravia for America."
It then became clear to the authorities that none of JOSEF, Jr's. original documents had been lost; that it was his plan from the very beginning to obtain a passport for his father, JOSEF, Sr. so that they could travel to America together, leaving behind his wife, CATHARINA (KAROLINA) since she was financially able to support herself.
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1851 - Yes, date unknown
