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While the bulk of the Czechs and Slovaks now living in the United States, came to this country during the last seventy-five years, yet immigration of Czechs, to speak of the older branch of the nation, is not a phenomenon restricted wholly to the nineteenth century. The first individuals of Czech (Bohemian) origin came to America during the seventeenth century, undoubtedly seeking religious and political liberty, even as did the Pilgrim Fathers.

Augustine Herrman was probably the first American of Czech origin, and he came to New York in 1633, removing, in 1660, to Maryland, where he founded the Bohemian Manor; there he is buried and a monument has been erected to his memory.

John Jay, diplomat and jurist of historic fame, says this of the old New York family of Philipses: “The first ancestor of this family who settled in this country was Frederick Flypsen, a native of