SPJST Moravia Cemetery

IMMIGRANTS FROM NORTHEASTERN MORAVIA (CURRENT CZECH REPUBLIC) SETTLED IN THE AREA PRESENTLY KNOWN AS MORAVIA, TEXAS. MORAVIA WAS FOUNDED BY JAKUB HOLLUB AND HIS SON-IN-LAW IGNAC (J. E.) JALUFKA WHEN THEY ESTABLISHED A STORE IN 1881. THEY NAMED THE COMMUNITY AFTER THEIR HOMELAND OF MORAVIA. A TOWN QUICKLY GREW WITH A BLACKSMITH SHOP, A GIN, A SCHOOL, STORE AND MORE. SPJST LODGE NO. 23 NOVA MORAVA WAS ESTABLISHED AS A CHARTER MEMBER OF SPJST (SLOVANSKA PODPORUJICI JEDNOTA STATU TEXAS), A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CZECH FRATERNAL ORGANIZATION, IN 1897. THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE LODGE CONSISTED OF IMMIGRANT FARMERS, STOREKEEPERS AND TEACHERS WHO MET AT THE MORAVIA HIGH SCHOOL. THE GROUP BUILT A LODGE HALL IN JANUARY 1914 AND, IN 1922, DECIDED TO ESTABLISH A CEMETERY. ON MAY 8, 1922, SPJST LODGE NO. 23 PURCHASED ONE AND A HALF ACRES OF LAND FROM FRANK BLAHUTA.

THE FIRST BURIAL IN THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY IS THAT OF WILLIE TROJCAK, WHO WAS ONE-AND-A-HALF WHEN HE PASSED AWAY ON SEPTEMBER 10, 1923. SEVERAL VETERANS FROM WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II AND THE PERSIAN GULF WAR ARE BURIED HERE. THE CEMETERY IS BORDERED BY PASTURES AND A FENCE, AND INCLUDES GRANITE AND MARBLE HEADSTONES ORIENTED IN A FEET-TO-EAST POSITION WITH NATURAL VEGETATION. ORIGINALLY, THE CEMETERY WAS ESTABLISHED AS A BURIAL PLACE FOR MEMBERS OF LODGE NO. 23 AND THEIR FAMILIES BUT NOW ANYONE MAY PURCHASE A LOT. BURIALS INCLUDE CATHOLIC AND NON-CATHOLIC MEMBERS. SPJST MEMBERS PROVIDED FUNERAL AND BURIAL SERVICES TO ITS MEMBERS IN THE CZECH LANGUAGE. THE BURIALS HERE PROVIDE A HISTORY OF SPJST LODGE NO. 23 CZECH-MORAVIANS AND THEIR FAMILIES.