Life History
by Patrick Koehler, great grandson
Bohemia &
Moravia
the Brethren Church since the mid 1400's (Hussite period), and needs to be included in the history of
Adolph Chlumsky. (Adolf=Adolph Jan=John Josef=Joseph Ludvik=Louis)
In 1414, there was a Bohemian barron and knight, John of Chlum
(Chlumsky means "of Chlum"), and his knighted name was John Kepka.
His personal seal for use with sealing wax had the initials JK, and had
been handed down through the years to Rev. Adolph Chlumsky, and is
presently in the museum of the Mutual Aid Society in Temple, Texas,
in the display of personal effects of Rev. Adolph Chlumsky.
The wife of the Bohemian barron had a confessor named John Hus, and when John Hus had
gone into exile about 1412, Lord Chlum was one of the barrons who
welcomed him gladly to their castles to preach. When John Hus was ordered to Constance, King
Sigismund sent Lord John of Chlum and Lord Wenceslas of Duba to accompany John Hus.
The towns and areas of Chlum and Duba are believed to be located about 35 miles north of
Prague, and the trip took from October 11th, 1414 to November 3rd, 1414.
The Unity of the Czech Brethren Church was formed in 1457, and the
Chlumsky's were surely involved. Another seal that had been handed
down to Rev. Adolph Chlumsky was one of a church seal, possibly
from the early days of the church. A drawing of the seal is at the right,
and the actual seal is in the display at the Mutual Aid Society in
Temple, Texas. Note the man with a bow, and the deer, at the bottom,
and church on hill.
to be Catholic or leave the country, and two out of three left. It is unknown about the Chlumsky
family during this period, but since they were previously Catholic, they probably pretented to be
Catholic, so that they could remain in their homeland. Protestantism in Bohemia and Movaria
was given limited freedom by the Edict of Toleration of 1781, which permitted the Reformed
and Lutheran churches, but not the Unity of the Brethren.
The grandfather of Adolph Chlumsky, Josef Chlumsky was the first generation following the
Edict of Toleration, and was a teacher in Semtes, Bohemia, and assisted in the church. He and his
wife Anna Nemec Chlumsky had six children, and two were pastors. The son Josef was a
pastor in Lozice 1838-1844, in Cernilov 1844-1850 and Strouzne 1850-1856. The other son,
father of Rev. Adolph Chlumsky, was Rev. Jan Chlumsky. The other four children were:
Marie (Novak), Anton, Katerina, and Barbora (Dobes)
Rev. Jan Chlumsky, father of Adolph, was born May 31st,
1818 and was pastor at Dvakacovice, Bohemia 1840-1846, and
pastor at Nemecke, Moravia 1846-1880, and died Nov. 13th,
1880. After WWII, the name of Nemecke was changed to
Snezna.
Rev. Jan Chlumsky and Elizabeth Hrubes Chlumsky had six
children:
2. Jan
3. Josephine
4. Hermina
Adolph Chlumsky - abt 1848-50
Dvakacovice, Bohemia, located about six miles south of
Pardubice and 60 miles east of Prague.
to know a prince and fellow student, the future King Peter of Serbia. Adolph also studied two
years in Levoca or Levica, Slovakia, then one year in Vienna at the University of Austria. He then
finished his studies at the seminary in Basil, Switzerland where he remained for five semesters until
the outbreak of the Austrian-Prussian war. He was ordained in 1866, and that year, started a
church in Velka Lhota (Vel-ka Ho-ta), Moravia, a small village near Dacice located about 60 miles
west of Brno, Moravia.
Adolph wrote a letter to the King of Serbia during the Serbian-Turkish war. He was member
number 41 of the Serbian Red Cross, and collected money and clothes for the Serbs.