Czechs were one of the most influential and numerous groups to settle in Hill County, coming from Fayette County and from Moravia in Austria-Hungary. Many sought greater freedom because of barriers to attaining national status in their old country, political restraints, the introduction of German into the schools, and compulsory military service. Land agents promoted cheap state university lands in the region, and the first immigrants arrived in the 1870s. Finding the soil highly fertile, they encouraged many others to join them, and immigration increased further with the building of the Texas Central and Katy railroads. Abbott became the capital of Czech settlement in the area and was named for Jo Abbott (1840-1908), judge, legislator, and lawyer; nearby towns included Zee Vee, named for the local ZV cattle brand, Penelope, and Aquilla. Their neighbors admired the Czechs for neat, well managed farms, thrift, and industry. For many years they maintained a strong group spirit, speaking their own language and observing old world customs, and in recent decades they have mixed more with other groups while continuing to farm and also filling many public and professional offices.