Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk

I was thumbing through Frank Schulman’s This Day In Unitarian Universalist History when I came across this listing.

On this day in 1850 Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her family belonged to First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn. Masaryk spent some time in Germany studying piano. Friends there told her about Thomas Masaryk, whom she married on March 15, 1878. The couple moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia, where Thomas fought for his country’s independence and Charlotte devoted her time to social problems. Thomas became the first president of Czechoslovakia, elected in 1920 and again in 1927.

I’m mildly surprised to learn of this American Unitarian connection in the history of a modern European country. Certainly a footnote, but interesting. The article goes on to say that Charlotte died about half way through Thomas’ first term as president, and was buried from her home church in Brooklyn. President Masaryk eulogized his late wife from that pulpit…