Free Again



Many Eastern European families sought a new life of freedom in America during the mid nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were merely chattel to tyrannical kings and their crony landlords of the time. This oppressive form of government and the inspiration of their freedom fighting patron saint, St. John Nepomucene, drove one family to seek freedom in a faraway land known as Texas.

Their quest for freedom and an innate appetite for adventure led to a strange but fortunate encounter with slavery and the slave trade in America, and on the African continent. Their ethereal encounter with one special slave blossomed into a beautiful story of collaboration for survival, success and liberation for themselves and thousands of other people.

This book depicts the decisive reaction to the slow erosion of freedom that comes from an overbearing government. Increasing taxation, deprivation of rights, imposition of ideas and the dilution, and destruction of religion finally caused even peace-loving people to rise up to protect what they held dear.

In addition to the political and societal undercurrents of this book, there is also a description of the everyday activities of life on the Texas prairie. Scenes of young romance, cotton picking, well digging, hog butchering, wedding celebrations, prayer, music, childbirth, and self-defense are colorfully depicted.

The book is fiction, but brings together events and stories of many families who immigrated into Texas to settle the rural areas of Wharton, Fayette, Lavaca and Gonzales Counties in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

A section of the book contains tall tales and legends which were a major source of entertainment prior to the advent of radio, TV or the cinema. The book storyline is seasoned with vintage photos and the author's own artistic illustrations. A bonus feature tops the book off with an appendix titled: "Cuisine on the Prairie," which contains recipes used on "hog butchering day."

With this book the author wishes to pass on to future generations the satisfaction and joy which can be found in hard work and standing up for what is right for themselves and others.



The Author

Donald D. (Donnie) Naiser was born in 1942, in El Campo, Texas about ten miles South of Taiton, and has lived in Texas all his life. He has a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. In 1958, Naiser purchased a used, one row, cotton-picking machine using money earned from 4-H Club projects. At the time, the machine was his pride and joy, and replaced the pick sack with which he was well acquainted. The money earned from harvesting his neighbors' cotton helped him pay for college expenses.