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RV 12 Bohemia, where his family, being Protestants, were persecuted.”

The records present clear evidence that in New Amsterdam, under the Dutch rule, lived other natives of Bohemia in addition to Philipse. The latter is referred to as the “Bohemian Merchant Prince.”

One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence is William Paca, concerning whose possible Italian or Portuguese origin historians seem to have no other evidence than the alleged Latin structure of the name. Not being acquainted with the Czech (Bohemian) language, they did not realize that it is much more likely that Paca was of Czech ancestry. If any Czech should be asked of what origin is the bearer of this name, without being told where the name appears, he would answer without hesitation that it is that of a fellow-countryman, so typically Czech is it. Indeed, in certain parts of Moravia the name Paca—and Pacal—is frequent enough.

In the ’fifties of the seventeenth century Czechs came to Virginia, and at this time Czech names also appear in New England records.

The spiritual home of the Moravian Church is the Czechoslovak lands, Moravia being a part of the present republic and Moravians, of course,