Faith of Our Fathers

EXCERPT FROM: The Coming to America, the Kramer Family Story
by Jack Kramer

FAITH IS A PRICELESS GIFT from the Almighty. However, the Tradition of Faith from family and community is the precious gift from our immigrant ancestors. Devotion to spiritual life was central to the values of our German-Bohemian forefathers. The Church was celebrated in their daily lives, especially Christmas. Prayers were said on knees or kneelers attached to dining room chairs. People were taught to have respect and humility in the Presence of God; in prayer, in the church building as the House of God, in the Divine Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, on any holy ground and in any priest, brother or sister. God was also recognized in Nature, in the fields and surrounding forests. Hymns celebrated the Spirit of God in all His creation. Church feasts were a chance to halt industrious work and to celebrate life with food, drink, music and dance. The entire village of Kunas attended Baptisms, First Communions, and wedding celebrations lasting 3 to 5 days. Our family and their neighbors had only one Church and wherever the German-Bohemians immigrated, churches and Catholic schools soon followed by Community invitation.

For the first stage of their immigration, the Kramers were served by German Franciscans while in Platte County. After the move to Holt County, the Kramer families along with the Catholic community at large were the first to build churches and schools.

Bohemia today, in the year 2000, as the Western part of the Czech Republic remains 53 percent Christian and the Roman Catholics are the largest group within that number. There is about an 83 percentile of Catholics among Christian believers; that is about 40 percent Catholics within the entire population of over ten million Czechs. These figures of Christianity must be considered in the light of nearly 50 years of official suppression of the Church by the Communist part of the former Czechoslovakian Government.

Village Chapel The village chapel in Kunejov (Kunas), Bohemia. Our ancestors were probably baptized and married in this chapel in Kunas/Kunejov and the records then sent to the parish church in Hosterschlag (Clunek).

Parish Church The Parish Church of Saints Philip and James in the village of Clunek, formerly Hosterschlag, Bohemia. This was the normal parish church of registry for the Kramer family and it served the village chapel back in Kunas, two miles away. The Kramer twin brothers, Philip and Jakob may have been named after this pair of Apostle saints.

Location of the Parish Church of Saints Philip and Paul,
Clunek, formerly Hosterschlag, Bohemia
Location of the village chapel, Kunejov (Kunas)

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NOTE: from Ginger Kollman, 10/27/2006
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nechurch/catholic/Franciscans/index.htm

On page 350 is a paragraph about Mathias Schneider, John Kohlmann, Anthony Kramer, Phillip Kramer, John Kramer, etc...

On page 142 is a picture of Johann Kollmann and his first wife Maria Straka Kollmann; however, the caption under the picture is incorrect. Frank Fuger and his wife were from the same village of Kunas so that probably explains the priest's mixup.