Before I was born
Even before I was born events occurred in the lives of my ancestors to produce the context in which I developed. Some of these events occurred in my family centuries ago, and some occurred during the year preceding my birth
In the Distant Past
While I was growing up in Michigan at the middle of the 20th century, relatives of my grandparent’s generation were very “proud” of the fact that our ancestors were followers of John Huss. As a child this meant little to me because I had no interest in something that happened 600 years ago on another continent. Even as an adolescent I had little appreciation of that fact.
15th Century: John Huss
According to oral history in my family, my ancestors were from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) and followers of John Huss (Jan Hus or John Hus). Born in Bohemia in 1369, Huss became the preacher at Prague’s Bethlehem Chapel which was the most popular church (seated 3000) in the city. His sermons were preached in Czech (not Latin), and he argued that Christ alone is head of the church, that a pope could make mistakes, and that to rebel against an erring pope is to obey Christ. When he refused to recant his reform ideas, he was burned at the stake in 1415, just 16 years before Joan of Arc was also burned at the stake and a century before Luther posted his 95 theses. More than 500 years later people on both sides of my family were proud to say that their ancestors were followers of John Huss
Huss’ teachings had a strong influence on many countries in Europe and especially on Martin Luther himself. John Huss’ followers became called the Hussites, and they founded the Bohemian Brethren church in 1457. Hussites continued to be persecuted, and many moved to Moravia where their church became the foundation for the Moravian Brethren which had a strong emphasis on missions. In 2008 Christianity Today subtitled an article about Huss as a “Pre-Reformation Reformer” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/martyrs/huss.html.
18th Century: Moravians
Moravian missionaries played a role in the conversion of John Wesley more than three centuries after Huss was martyred. These Moravian missionaries were involved in “member care” for John Wesley as he was on his way to America in 1736 to become a missionary in the new world. While they were crossing the Atlantic a violent storm struck their ship. Wesley and other Englishmen screamed in terror, thinking they were going to die, but the Moravians sang calmly on. Wesley met with them again in America and then later after he returned to England as a missionary attrition statistic in 1738. The church my ancestors founded when they came to America in the 19th century was heavily influenced by Wesley. “The Moravians and John Wesley,” an article in Christianity Today in 1982, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1982/issue1/128.html, quotes extensively from Wesley’s Journal where he refers to the Moravian Brethren as Germans and describes his conversion.
19th Century: Immigrants
Continued persecution drove ancestors on both sides of my family over into Germany. On my father’s side of the family, about 1880, Charles and Mary Koteskey and their son, Charlie, emigrated from Germany and homesteaded on what came to be called Bohemian Road near the village of Horton Bay on the shore of Lake Charlevoix in Michigan. My grandfather, John Koteskey, was born there in 1882.
At about the same time, on my mother’s side of the family, Joseph and Charlotte Spura homesteaded on the next parcel of land up Bohemian Road. One of their daughters was Margaret (Maggie) Belknap, born there in 1893. In addition, at that same time the West family, also Bohemians from Germany, homesteaded the next parcel of land up the road.
These families spoke Bohemian, and no one in any family spoke English. However, my ancestors were devout Christians, and they began meeting in each other’s homes, then in the local school. William Watson’s book, History of the Michigan Conference of the Evangelical Conference of the United Brethren Church 1961 (p. 366) states, “The Bohemian speaking people in this area, on the north side of Lake Charlevoix had for many years been known for their piety and devotion to Christ. As a result of the fervent prayers of these people, many were converted in that year (1895), and in 1897 the first Sunday school was organized. The church was built in 1898 and the parsonage in 1899” (p. 366).
All of the children born into these immigrant families were Third Culture Kids where Bohemian was spoken in their homes, and they began public school unable to speak English. Of course, they soon learned the language in school, and they then grew up between the Bohemian and English cultures—with a bit of German culture as well. Although my great-grandparents learned English, they still spoke Bohemian in their homes, especially when they prayed aloud. My grandparents (TCKs) were bilingual and could still converse in Bohemian in their later years, and they also spoke English as a first language.
My great grandparents, Charles and Mary Koteskey, had eight children who survived into adulthood, and half of these TCKs entered the ministry in some way. Charlie and Bill became ordained pastors, Martha became a pastor’s wife, and Ed became a local pastor who filled in when needed for pastors in the area. Watson’s book on the history of the church noted that the church had 48 members by 1960, and it listed eleven people who had gone into full-time Christian service—eight of them have their roots in Bohemian road.
Today the church is not much larger, but it has a plaque with the names of nineteen people who grew up there and entered Christian service. Eight of them are Koteskeys, and one is my Uncle George, son of Maggie Spura Belknap who grew up next door to the Koteskeys on Bohemian Road. Byron Belknap was pastor of the church 1911-1914, and his son, Benjamin, married one of the young ladies on Bohemian Road, so one of my great grandfathers was a pastor.
Since grandparents on both of sides of the family from Bohemian Road grew up in that same Evangelical church, it was little wonder that I also became a Christian in that church about the middle of the 20th century and that I was open to full-time Christian service.
The year before I was born
That was the distant past context, but two events the year before I was born had a more personal effect on my childhood and adolescence. Close relatives on both sides of my family left for missionary service with World Gospel Mission in 1941.
April, 1941: Zamzam
On the night of March 20, 1941, The Zamzam, an Egyptian passenger ship, steamed out of Hoboken, New Jersey, to return to its home port of Alexandria, Egypt. Four stops were scheduled: (1) Trinidad (island), (2) Recife, Brazil (eastern tip), (3) Cape Town, South Africa (southern tip), and (4) Mombasa, Kenya. That southern route was chosen so that the neutral ship could avoid the war taking place in Europe. The United States was not involved in the war at that time.
As the Zamzam headed toward the open sea, many of the 201 passengers aboard gathered on the deck and spontaneously began singing hymns. The passenger list included 144 missionaries serving with 20 protestant denominations as well as 17 Catholic priests. Also aboard were 33 children, some only infants and toddlers, and five of the women were pregnant. Three of those passengers were my Uncle George Belknap (Mother’s brother), Aunt Peggy, and my cousin Martha.
The voyage to Trinidad and Recife went as planned, except that the captain had decided to travel in full blackout which destroyed the ship’s appearance of neutrality. The Zamzam left Recife, Brazil, on April 9, 1941, and at dawn on April 17, the German raider Atlantis attacked the Zamzam, firing 55 shells at it near Cape Town, South Africa.
The nine shells that hit the ship sunk it. As the Atlantis approached the sinking ship, the German officers realized they had sunk a passenger ship, and they rescued the survivors—everyone on the ship. Although some of the passengers were injured, none were killed. The German officers warmly greeted them, apologized, and then had to decide what to do with the 142 Americans—they were not at war with America.
On April 18 the passengers were all transferred to a small German freighter, and that ship went north and east through the British blockade to German-occupied France. On May 21 WGM received a telegram from Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, saying that the passengers were safe in France. Passports and visas were re-issued in France, and then Uncle George and Aunt Peg went through Spain to Portugal. Within a few weeks, ships brought them back to the USA.
Uncle Bill Koteskey (my grandfather’s brother and also from Bohemian Road) was their district superintendent, and he offered them a church to pastor in southeast Michigan. A few months later WGM sent word that that they would like to send them to Africa going west through China and India. Unfortunately, before they could leave, something else happened to make that route impossible. Most of this information is from the Call to Prayer, the publication of WGM in 1941.
Many people do not know about the Zamzam. Those interested in more information can view a good video by the Lutheran Church on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHFrX3nwF0U. Those who would rather read about it can find good information at: http://dren.us/zamzamship/.
December, 1941: Hawaii
Later in 1941, Hollis and Ruby (Koteskey) Abbott departed from San Francisco to serve with World Gospel Mission in India. Ruby was my father’s cousin, daughter of Charlie, another of my grandfather’s brothers. As planned, they entered Honolulu harbor on December 7, 1941, and they heard the explosions in nearby Pearl Harbor.
Mark, their oldest son, said that Hollis and Ruby were not very frightened when they heard what was happening in Pearl Harbor because they had the outlook of many Americans at that time. Hollis told Mark, “With all this air power, the Japanese would never dare attack.” The missionaries thought it was just “war games.” Of course, it was much more than that as the Japanese attacked.
The Abbotts soon found a ship to take them from Hawaii to Wellington New Zealand. After five days the ship put out to sea again and went south around the south island of New Zealand, around the south and west sides and up to Tjilatjap in Java where they were told their ship was going no further. Within a week they found a ship leaving nearby Batavia (Jakarta) bound for Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where they caught a train to the north end of the island. From there they crossed to Madras (Chennai) and caught a train to Bangalore where they arrived safely twelve weeks and two days from the time they left San Francisco. Most of this information is from the Call to Prayer, the publication of WGM in 1941.
Combining a heritage from the distant past and stories from the recent past from both sides of the family, it was no surprise that I became interested in missions.