Pioneer Czechs
In Colfax County
Written in 1926.
CHAPTER 8
(Continued from last week.)
JOSEPH KOVARIK from the village of Sirakovice, JOSEPH FIALA from Habr, JOSEPH MISEK from Okresanec and THOMAS JANDA. from Spitice, all County Caslav, came to Omaha in 1869 and took claims in the same section on Maple Creek, except Fiala, who took a claim in the section to the east. In 1870, in the spring, they moved thereon; erected sod houses and helped each other. They all lived on their homesteads until death overtook them in old age, except Fiala; who died comparatively young. He burned to death while trying to rescue his stock from a burning barn, the fire being caused by the overturning of an oil lamp.
FRANK STIBAL was born in Dol near Tabor in Bohemia, January 20, 1847. He came to Wisconsin to his cousin John Stibal, to Milwaukee, in1868 and in that same year went to Omaha, where he worked at what he could get. He married in Omaha. In 1869 he took a claim near Richland, as did his cousin John Stibal and Joseph Papez and moved thereon in 1870. In 1915 he retired with his wife (born Rank) to Schuyler, leaving his 200-acre farm to his son Edward. His daughter, Mrs. E. S. Krenze, lives in Sheridan, Wyoming. Anna, Mrs. Jacob Abraham, lives on a farm near Richland. Emma died single. Frank Stibal died January 4, 1916 and his son Edward two years later. Both are buried in Schuyler.
JOHN LAPACEK JR, was born in the village of Bezdecin, County Pacov, Bohemia, and came with his parents to Chicago in 1868. In April of the following year he moved to Omaha, where he clerked in a store and in 1870 moved to Schuyler. Later he became county treasurer and died in 1902 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
FRANK OTRADOVSKY, born in Caslav, Bohemia, in 1846, came to America in 1866 and settled in Chicago. In 1870. he moved to Schuyler, where he worked at various occupations. He was active in lodge life and died in 1910, buried in Schuyler.
ANTON LANGER, born in the village of Podceplice near Stetin, Bohemia, in 1844, came to America in 1866. He settled in New York, where he worked at various occupations, mainly at his trade, that of locksmith and machinist. In 1868 he went to Omaha, where he learned photography. Then he married Anna Svarc and in 1870 moved to Schuyler. He establishgd a photographic gallery, being the first photographer in town. Later he had a second-hand store. Two sons were born, Rudolf, who died and Anton, a barber, who conducts business in the original building built by his father. Langer died in 1924, his wife in 1920, both buried in Schuyler.
JOSEPH KRATOCHVIL, born January 28, 1826, in Kněžice, died in Schuyler, January 8, 1906. He came with his family from Bohemia to Omaha, where he bought a wagon, a yoke of oxen and some groceries, then put his wife and seven children and the rest in the wagon and set out for Colfax County, where he took a homestead thirteen miles miles north of Schuyler. They travelled by day and at night slept under the open sky. The trip lasted four days, now by automobile it can be made in two hours. Of the seven children the following have died: Anna (Mrs. Chris. Wille, Omaha); Barbora (Mrs. Joseph Faltys, Schuyler) and Frank. The following are living: Caroline (Mrs. Joseph Kratochvil, St. Joseph, Mo.), Marie (Mrs. John Janecek, Omaha) and Frances, (Mrs. F. J. Fitle, Omaha) and son Vaclav.
In 1870 a caravan of Bohemian pioneers arrived in the present Lincoln precinct and established the settlement called Tabor. It consisted of two wagons. In one was the family of Thomas Dostal, born in Velka Velesna, Nemecky Brod, In the other the families of JOSEPH F. SINDELAR (born in Stehlovice, Milevsko, THOMAS SINDELAR (Stehlovice), F. J. JONAS (Chynava) and VACLAV SINDELAR (Stehlovice), single. Mr. John Maly, a farmer living three miles from West Point, Cuming county, accompanied them, surveyed their land and helped them get the necessary documents. Mr. Jos. B. Sindelar, now living in Howells, who had stayed with his sister (now Mrs. Schultz) in Chicago, for his father did not have the means to pay their fare, sent him (the father, Joseph F. Sindelar) money to buy the first cow in that vicinity, that being in June 1870.
FRANK J. JONAS was born in the village of Chynava, County Unhost, Bohemia, in 1849, the fourth son of Vaclav and Katherine (Stepanek) Jonas. They had six sons and two daughters; Joseph, Anton, John, Frank J., Vaclav, Jiri, Mrs. Prokes and Marie. When the father died in 1856, the estate was to go to the oldest son, Joseph, but he had a good trade (carpenter) so he named his son Anton his successor. When Anton, three years after his father’s death, married and took over the estate, the younger children and mother became pensioners. That is, Anton was obliged, according to the custom of the country to give them lodging and a living. But the estate was not large enough to support them all, so they had to find a living elsewhere. Thus Frank J. in 1866 came to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked at various jobs, although he was by trade a shoemaker. In Baltimore he became acquainted with the Sindelar family and married the daughter Anna and they all set out for Omaha, Nebraska. Then to Colfax, where they took claims and suffered the usual pioneer hardships. Beginning with bare hands—on the bare plains—what wonder that their bread was often bitter and moistened with tears. Jonas had a good business mind and established a store and saloon in the settlement, which began to grow. A postoffice, called Arlington, was established and he was postmaster. When the Northwestern railroad was built through, it was abolished. In 1881 Jonas rented his farm and moved to Schuyler, where he had a general merchandise store. A year later he returned to the farm, which he sold later and moved to Holt county, near Atkinson, where his children took claims. He had there a brewery with Frank Krajicek, but neither understood the business and made a failure of it. He understood politics und was a good speaker, so later, largely with the help of his son-in-law Cap, a lawyer in Lincoln, be obtained the position of superintendent of the reform school for boys in Kearney, Nebraska, in the eighteen-nineties, under president Cleveland. He taught the young fellows his trade and used to relate many a story of their ways and tricks, when trying to get out of honest work. When Cleveland’s successor was elected, Jonas lost his position and settled in Lincoln, on account of his children, all of whom he gave a good education. He was the father of twelve children, but one died in infancy. They are John, Frank, Vaclav, Stephen, Marie (Mrs. Cap), Emily (Mrs. Baker), Pauline, Rose, Libuse, Clarence and Florence. He was for several years organizer for the Woodmen of the World and a patriotic Bohemian. Although he lacked schooling, he had graduated from the school of life and had much native ability. He died by accident, for while he was at work on the fair grounds in Lincoln, on August 6, 1915 he was killed by a train. His wife died in Los Angeles, Calif., in June 1920. Both are buried in Lincoln, Nebraska. His younger brother George is living in Holt county, Nebraska. Another brother (father-in-law of Joseph Sudik) followed him to Colfax county in 1881.
(To be continued.)
