New Horizons – Bohemia to New York

Antonia Emma Heinz was born in Buchau, Bohemia, which is near Karlsbad, on May 25, 1902.  She was born to Sigmund von Heinz, who was the youngest of 5 children from Langlammitz and Marie Ulbert.  After she was born she was raised by her maternal grandparents Joseph and Marie Ulbert.

Antonia lived with Joseph and Marie until she was six years old, at which time she began school.  She isn’t quite sure why she lived with her grandparents in her early years except that life was hard then and maybe her mother needed to help more with the farm and couldn’t properly take care of a baby.  She remembers they raised geese on the farm and used the feathers for the bead stuffing.

She also remembers being very homesick while living there and dreaming at night about going home.  One day, during a visit from her parents, Joseph, her younger brother told her “Antonia, you’ll be able to come home soon.” Her Aunt Emma Ulbert, her mother’s sister, asked Antonia, “What do you want to go home for?  There’s nothing there.”

In 1920 at the age of 18, Antonia left Karlsbad and all her family with her cousin Freida Lehrl.  She left with but a few personal belongings one being a covered porcelain dish with paintings depicting two scenes of Karlsbad, one the spring water and the other a view of the city.  They had third class passage booked on the T.S.S. Rotterdam, of the Holland America Line, bound for Brooklyn, New York.

They first traveled to Rotterdam, Netherlands where they boarded their ship on Nov 23, 1920.  Antonia said one time her and Frieda ventured up on the deck when a couple of young men tried to flirt with them. It scared them so that they spent most of the rest of their time in their compartment.   They arrived at New York Harbor with 11 other ships. At the time, a flu epidemic forced everyone to stay on their ships one extra night in the harbor.  Afterwards, Antonia and Freida spent 3 days on Ellis Island awaiting their interviews.  During those three days the girls sponsors Frank and Emily Massaput of 326 Harmann St, Brooklyn, NY,  worried and worried about what had become of the two girls.

After arriving in the United States, Antonia worked for Judge Clarence G. Glastow, a wealthy Judge on Long Island, as a chambermaid for $50.00 per month.  She remembered one evening after all the help had finished their duties, they sat around the table in the kitchen having coffee and cream together.  The next morning the judge came downstairs wanting his coffee and cream, becoming very upset when there wasn’t any left.

Eventually, Aunt Emily convinced her to quit the judge because she could earn more money elsewhere.  She moved up to Garnet Lake in upstate New York.  While working as a chambermaid at Blue Mountain Lake, she met Lee Barney.

Antonia received her citizenship in 1938.  After her husband died in 1962 she continued to live in their house on Feeder Dam Road.  She even continued to drive up until she was 89 years old.