Rokos family collection of Czech-American photographs

Joseph Klecka (died 1926) was among the first Czech immigrants to Maryland. Married to Marie Hranicka Klecka (died 1913), he worked as an oysterman in the early 1870s, and later owned a saloon at 1513 Ashland Avenue in the Bohemian section of East Baltimore. He was a founder of the "Slavie" Savings and Loan Association, and started a political dynasty from the 7th Ward of Baltimore City, as many of his descendants were lawyers and political figures in Baltimore and State government.

One of the Klecka sons was Joseph Klecka, Jr., a lawyer. Another was James Francesene Klecka (born 1888, died early 1940s), also a lawyer and a judge in Baltimore City. He married Margaret Ambrose in 1910. The most prominent son of Marie and Joseph Klecka was August Klecka (1878-1946), a leader among Bohemian-American Democrats in the city, a Baltimore City Council member from the 2nd District and the council's vice president, and United State Marshall for Maryland in 1933-1946, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Klecka daughters were Bessie Klecka Riha, Barbara Pokorny Segrist Hofmiester, and Marie "Mamie" Klecka Rokos (1893-1982), who married Gustav L. Rokos (died 1926), a bakery owner, in 1909. The daughter of Gustave and Marie Rokos was Bessie Marie Rokos (born circa 1913), and George Washington Klecka Rokos (1910-1990) was their son, who graduated from the University of Baltimore in 1932 and became a real estate broker.

The brother of Gustav Rokos was Jaroslav J. Rokos (died 1913), who was born in Caslav, Bohemia, and settled in Baltimore in the late 1890s, living at 801 North Broadway. He married Katherine Sesula and their children were Ella Ree, Katherine, Ernestine, Amelia, Birdie, and William. Jaroslav was a politically active Democrat, running for City Council in 1909 and 1911, and serving as a delegate in support of Woodrow Wilson at the Maryland State Democratic Convention in 1912. He operated a bakery at 1614 Barnes Street west of Broadway, and pioneered delivery of bakery products to other groceries. His was known as "the largest rye bakery in Baltimore", and he was planning an expanded facility at the time of his death in an automobile accident at age 42. Due to his stature in the Bohemian and local communities, his funeral was one of largest in East Baltimore, with over 2,000 people in attendance.

The Czech or Bohemian community in 1900 was centered in East Baltimore along Broadway from roughly Monument to Preston Streets. Sokol Hall (also known as the Bohemian Gymnastic Hall) at the corner of Gay and Preston Streets was the quarters of the Sokol Organization, which originated in Bohemia to preserve Czech culture there, and provided a link with the old country for immigrants to the United States. There is a Bohemian National Cemetery at 1300 Horner's Lane in East Baltimore, created in 1884 as a burial ground for protestant and non-religious Czechs.