Bohumil Herel was born in 1886 in Opatovice, a small village not far from Kutna Hora. We know he paid 150
gold marks (the currency of the times) to get from Prague to Bremerhaven to New York. We know he
arrived in 1903, and married Barbora Langr in 1906 and they moved into a second floor apartment at 441 E
75th Street, in the thick of the Czech community there in Manhattan. They had five kids. One, Stepanka, or
Stephanie, died as a young girl. The other four grew up and got married. In 1929, before the Depression hit,
he went and bought a house on 79th Street in Middle Village, Queens. Then he came home and told the
family. Seems he neglected to tell the family he was house hunting, so it must have come as somewhat of a
surprise. Especially when he said he bought the furniture to go with the new house. And so they moved out
to Queens. I remember that house, because I was old enough to do so. In fact, Bohumil did not die until I
was eight years old, which is a pretty long life -- 1880s to the 1960s. One thing I remember is the dining
room table, which was richly carved along its edges with pastoral scenes of people, flowers and animals. I
remember it well, and was quite miffed when Uncle Frank, Bohumil's son, sold it with the house. He should
have offered it to the family.
Bohumil was a wood finisher, and there's a work book of his that still exists, though until I look at it more
closely I can't say what all he did and where. Though there are stories of him doing the railings at Aqueduct
Race Track, or was it Belmont? Hard to know at this point. He also made two bookcases that my family had,
plain and simple, but solid as a rock. I had them when I got my own house. And now they are with David
Burke, Bohumil's great-grandson in Massachusetts.
gold marks (the currency of the times) to get from Prague to Bremerhaven to New York. We know he
arrived in 1903, and married Barbora Langr in 1906 and they moved into a second floor apartment at 441 E
75th Street, in the thick of the Czech community there in Manhattan. They had five kids. One, Stepanka, or
Stephanie, died as a young girl. The other four grew up and got married. In 1929, before the Depression hit,
he went and bought a house on 79th Street in Middle Village, Queens. Then he came home and told the
family. Seems he neglected to tell the family he was house hunting, so it must have come as somewhat of a
surprise. Especially when he said he bought the furniture to go with the new house. And so they moved out
to Queens. I remember that house, because I was old enough to do so. In fact, Bohumil did not die until I
was eight years old, which is a pretty long life -- 1880s to the 1960s. One thing I remember is the dining
room table, which was richly carved along its edges with pastoral scenes of people, flowers and animals. I
remember it well, and was quite miffed when Uncle Frank, Bohumil's son, sold it with the house. He should
have offered it to the family.
Bohumil was a wood finisher, and there's a work book of his that still exists, though until I look at it more
closely I can't say what all he did and where. Though there are stories of him doing the railings at Aqueduct
Race Track, or was it Belmont? Hard to know at this point. He also made two bookcases that my family had,
plain and simple, but solid as a rock. I had them when I got my own house. And now they are with David
Burke, Bohumil's great-grandson in Massachusetts.
| Bohumil -- Barbora |
| Stepanka died as child |
| Albert -- Marie Krejcik |
| Charles -- Ann Marie / then Pam |
| Maire -- Joe Peri |
| Barbara |
| Antonia -- Joe Javurek |
| Robert |
| Charles |
| Camille -- Karl Hlavac |
| Edward -- Carolyn / then Marilyn |
| Ronald -- Betty Shuman |
| Frank -- Yetta Schwartz |
| Ann -- Joe Igler they had no kids |
| Richard -- Emily Simon |
| Stephanie -- George Mehlrose |
| Barbara -- Myles Burke |
| Herel -- Susan Small / then Ivy |
| Lindsay |
| Nicholas |
| Joseph |
| Shawn |
| William - Kelley |
| Anne Marie - Roger Riggall |
| Joseph - Margaret |
| Robert |
| Suzanne -- Paul Strasser |
| Troy |
| Kevin |
| Linda |
| Michael (never married) |
| Linda -- Danny Kokel |
| Kenny - Eve |
| Amanda |
| Jason |
| Three kids, trying to find their names now. |
Now deceased