Young Martha Dandridge Custis

Young Martha Dandridge Custis

Friday, June 19, 2015

Slovaks in New Kent


"New Kent County:  A 1905 advertisement in Jednota* promoted a 'Slovak Colony in Virginia,, a farming community where many Slovak families were reported to have come.'  The colony was located 'only two miles from the town of West Point and 15 from the city of Richmond,' an awkward description, since West Point and Richmond were approximately 35 miles apart.  The advertisement stated 'Last month over twenty families bought farms here.'  No clearly Slovak place names are evident on the area USGS quadrangles.  The 1930 census listed King William County, 76 Czechoslovaks, and in New Kent County, 56.
John and Mary Janosov, who purchased a New Kent County farmstead called Aspen Grove in 1908, were likely among the Slovak families. [1] They came to New Kent from Braddock, Pennsylvania.  John Kaliniak, from Rices Landing, Pennsylvania, bought 100 acres near Quinton in 1907.[2]  The 1917 State Gazetteer listed J. Janosov, Quinton district, among the county’s farmers.  Other likely Slavic names listed in the 1917 gazetteer were Paul Kramus and Paul Kregnas, also in the Quinton district.  Likely Slavic names listed in the county deed records include Knakel (1916), Kalinchak (1917), Kozelnisky (1919), Kotcko (1923, 1942), and Kolousek (1933)."



- The Czech and Slovak Communities in Virginia by John E. Wells,


* "Unity," a Slovak language magazine.

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