Pioneer Czechs
In Colfax County
Written in 1926.
CHAPTER 9
(Continued from last week.)
PETER LODL, born in Bucek, Kralovice, came from Wisconsin.
The following settled in 1870 in the vicinity of the present town of Clarkson.
JOSEPH DUDEK (Krasny, Nove Mesto), FRANK ZRUST (Teleci, Policka), ANTON KUNHART (Teleci, Policka), JAN NOVOTNY (born 1805 in Policka, came to Iowa in 1857, died 1888, buried in Sion), FRANK NOVOTNY (born 1850 in Policka, came to lowa in 1857, died in 1924, buried in Sion) and JOHN NOVOTNY JR., born in 1847 in Policka, came to Iowa in 1857 and living in San Benito, Texas.
In 1871 the following came: John Pokorny, Frank Brichacek with five sons (Frank, Vaclav, who died in 1920, Matej, Anton and Joseph), Marie Votypka, Matej Dobry and sons (John, Frank G., Vaclav, Charles and Joseph), These all settled in the vicinity of Schuyler.
In the vicinity of Clarkson the following settled: VACLAV KLIMES, born in Nova Ves near Nove Hrady, JOSEPH DUDEK, born in Dankovice, and JOSEPH and FRANK FRANEK, born in Nove Hrady.
JOHN POKORNY, born in Rajkovice, Milevsko, came to Colfax county and settled near Heun. Died 1912 and is buried in Heun.
FRANK BRICHACEK, was born November 1, 1841, in Rejkovice, County Milevsko. In January 1870 he married Anna Pokorny, who was born in the same county in 1845. Brichacek served six years as a soldier, when Austria warred with Italy, then was discharged. He was to have served two years more as a reservist, but a new war threatened and he decided to emigrate. In the fall of 1871 he sold out and arrived here in December, having $300.00. In Schuyler he rented a little house and worked on the railroad. He was taken to Colorado, to clear the tracks of snow, and earned one hundred dollars in three months. Upon his return he erected a sod house on his claim eleven miles north of Schuyler and bought a yoke of oxen, three cows, a stove and other necessaries, so that when he was through, there was no money left for a wagon. During the first year he worked for the neighbors. Cornstalks, straw and dried sunflowers were used for fuel, for there were no trees. Grasshoppers destroyed crops and Brichaceks, like other early pioneers, saw hard times. They had five sons and two daughters, Mary, Mrs. Albert Lodl, and Anna, Mrs. Joseph Sobota, all in good circumstances now. Mr. Brichacek died in 1920. He was one of the founders of the Bohemian Catholic parish Heun and of the lodge No. 6, Catholic Workman.
MRS. MARIE VOTYPKA, born September 25, 1853, in Prodeslady, County Plzen, daughter of Vaclav and Marie Sinkula. She came to this country in 1854 with her parents and sisters and brothers, to Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Her father bought 160 acres of land there, built a saloon and farmed. He was the founder of the church and cemetery at Tisch Mills, near Manitowoc, donating six acres of land for that purpose. In 1871 Mrs. Votypka, then Miss Sinkula and eighteen years old, left for Colfax County, Nebraska, to visit her sister, Mrs. John Folda. She stayed and worked as maid for Mr. N. W. Wells of Schuyler, for $1.50 per week. In 1873 she married John Faltys and the other members of her family followed her. She had seven children by that marriage, two sons being left, Joseph and John. Mr. Faltys had a claim fifteen miles north of Schuyler, 80 acres, where they farmed for six years. They bought 160 acres more from the railroad, at $5.00 per acre. The grasshoppers got most of what they raised, only during the last of those six years did they have full crop. They sold out and moved to Schuyler, where Mr. Faltys bought a saloon from Frank Pesek and they engaged in that business for four years. Mr. Faltys’ health was not good, so he rented the place and worked in Wright & Folkner lumberyard five years. He met with an accident there which resulted eventually in a fatal illness and he died March 3, 1905, aged 44 years. He was born in Osek, County Chrudim, Bohemia, and is buried in Heun. Mrs. Faltys had to earn the living for herself and three children. She established a restaurant, being a fine cook, and prospered, so that she was able to clear the saloon, which her husband had left to the son in an encumbered state. In 1900 she married Joseph Pospisil and after his death lived with her son in West Point. She was employed also as cook in the Catholic rectory at Heun and by Mr. Joseph Smatlan. In 1917 she married again, and lives with her husband, George Votypka, in Schuyler.
MATEJ DOBRY, born in the village of Knezice, near Ronov, County Caslav, in 1823, was the youngest. of the family. He spent ten years in military service, then married Mary Houfek, born in 1828. They moved to Mladotice, the next village, where he bought house No. 37. They came to this county March 1, 1870, with four sons and three daughters. The voyage, in a sailing vessel, lasted thirty-three days. They stayed in Omaha until June 1st, when Dobry with Joseph Houfek and Joseph Kratochvil set out for Colfax county, where each took a claim of 80 acres in Section 26, Midland precinct, nine miles West of Schuyler. Then they returned to Omaha, to earn some money. Dobry had $150.00 on arrival. The next year he bought a team and a breaking plow and with his son John began to break the sod and erect a sod house. Then again to Omaha, to earn more money, in the fall the whole family moved to the farm, except two daughters who stayed in household service in Omaha. Of the seven children, one, a daughter, died in this country. A son Joseph, born in Colfax county, lives in Canada. The oldest daughter, Mrs. Mary Fleiger, lives in Omaha, John in Cedar Rapids, F. J. farms on 120 acres in Colfax county, Mrs. Frances Slouter lives on the original homestead, Vaclav farms and Charles lives in Farwell, Nebraska. They were industrious and thrifty and in time amassed a comfortable fortune. The mother died February 9, 1901, the father October 12, 1903, both buried in Heun.
In 1872 the following came:
JOHN POLAK, FRANK POLAK, MARTIN KRENEK and his son JOSEPH KRENEK. Frank Polak’s father, John Polak, perished in a prairie fire. Joseph Krenek, living at date of writing, writes:
In the spring of 1871 my father Martin Krenek decided to emigrate from his home town, Kardasova Recice, to America. He had a public sale of his property on the Sunday after the feast of St. John the Baptist and cleared 3,500 gulden. April 25, 1871, my father, mother, three children (one was married there, Mrs. Jacob Kroupa, in Sobeslava) and my father’s sister set out. We went by wagon to Sobeslava, there took the train and April 28, arrived in Bremen, where we had to wait until May 1st, for the ship Berlin. We traveled in the steerage and arrived in Baltimore. The trip lasted twenty-one days and during sixteen of these there were bad storms. Frank Polak with his father and family accompanied us and inasmuch as he had a brother in Wisconsin, we decided to go there. However, we met a Mr. Svacina on the ship, who said that two of his sons lived in Nebraska, that the older had been in Wisconsin and found the work
(To be continued.)
