Pioneer Czechs
In Colfax County
Written in 1926.
CHAPTER 24
(Continued from last week.)
named it Sion (Zion). Rev. Kun dedicated it and also the cemetery of that name, the site for which (two acres) was donated by Joseph Smatlan. The first funeral was that of John Novotny, 83 years old, who had lived to see his ardent wish, the building of the church, fulfilled. Rev. V. Losa was the first incumbent. About that time another church was built in the town of Clarkson and named New Zion, also dedicated by Rev. Kun. Rev. Losa was incumbent of both. In 1900 he was succeeded by Rev. Anton Svoboda, who had come from Cobb, Wisconsin, and who took care of both churches and conducted services in Maple Creek precinct, although there was no church there. In 1913 he left and the congregations divided into independent bodies.
ZION—For a time after the division there was no incumbent, then in 1916 Rev. Bedrich Paroulek became such. In 1919 he was transferred to Wahoo and Rev. Joseph Havlik helped to build the Bethlehem Chapel in Maple Creek precinct and at intervals conducts services in Howell.
NEW ZION—After the division, Rev. B. A. Filipi, the present incumbent, took charge. In 1922 a new and imposing brick church, an ornament to the town, was built.
SHELL CREEK VALLEY HISTORY
Schuyler Sun: The Sun has for the past several weeks been publishing Czech history of Colfax county, briefly arranged. Taken from the Clarkson Press. One constant reader of The Sun and these stories, Mrs. P. F. Svoboda, writes interestingly of her childhood days, the daughter of a Czech, pioneer resident of Shell Creek valley, and who has since spent the most of her life in and about Schuyler. Mrs. Svoboda contributes the following as part of her early recollections:
One of the first Czech pioneers in N. W. Shell Creek valley was John Rousar. He was born, March 24, 1833, in Milovy, Bohemia. In 1859 he married Josephine Shultz. The old world held few attractions for him and in the spring of 1875 found him on his way to America, with his wife and six children.
A sea voyage of that time was not a matter of days but of weeks, The journey was made in one of the latest type four masted wind pammers. The rough seas encountered during the most of the trip caused a great deal of discomfort to the entire party. Sea sickness took its toll in a large measure over the entire list of passengers and new home-seekers. The boat docked, May 15, 1875 and, May 21, 1875, John Rousar and family arrived in the town of Schuyler. The entire family was housed at the John Janecek rooming house, still on the present site.
The same day my father hired a rig and with a land agent, drove out to the Shell Creek valley and selected an 80 acre tract of land nine miles northwest of Schuyler. The site chosen was partly improved, there being a log house with a straw roof, a few straw covered, pole braced out-buildings. A span of oxen, a wagon and a milk cow figured in the deal for the 80 acres. The tract was purchased with the above personal property for the sum of $8.00 an acre. The next day the entire family moved to the new homestead. To one and all it did not present a very appealing picture. There were high weeds, sunflowers and brush virtually up to the door of the log house. The site being near Shell Creek had long been the domain of the raccoon, skunk and snakes. These creatures were in abundance and it was a far cry, to what the family had been accustomed to; the white stone buildings, gravel walks, trimmed shrubbery and clean yards of homes in the old world.
It is not difficult to imagine that after being transplanted from a quiet peaceful village in Bohemia, to a stark uncivilized virgin tract of land, that my mother cried herself to sleep many a night
Housing facilities were of the crudest sort the first few weeks. The house had a loft where we children slept. The manner of ingress to the loft was by an outside stairway, a ladder like affair. There was no floor in the cabin except that which nature provided, it having been tamped down hard
Mother and father slept on the first floor but after one particular night this practice was discontinued. Mother woke up this particular night and felt something cold and clammy next to her body. She told father who made a light and on pulling back the covers, they discovered a large bullsnake sliding out of the bed. Her terrified shriek woke me and several other of the children. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Running to the door of our stairway, we saw the big snake slither past the stairs into the weeds. There was full moon that night, it was almost like noon and with the dark shadows, for contrast the sinous snake looked like a boa constrictor of another world. That ended sleeping for the entire family that night.
From that time on till the new house was built my mother refused to sleep indoors. She preferred to sleep on a bed made in a wagon. Father decided then to build a new home. It took about two weeks to haul the necessary material from Schuyler as oxen teams were the only motive power. In about a month, the new homes, made of new lumber throughout, real glass windows replaced the log house. The home was a three room affair and was quite a show place in our minds. Again mother could sleep fearlessly indoors.
Some time later, father, the hired man and we children declared war on the snakes in the rest of the straw out-buildings. A large number were killed, some being as long as eight to ten feet and having the girth of a small cedar post. We did manage to rid the place of the snakes, in the years that followed, that is, we moved them or frightened them to seek quarters elsewhere besides the farm stead.
Another source of thrills that added no little discomfort to the peace of mind, at least, were the visits of Indians. In earlier years it was the habit of the roving bands to visit all the homesteaders who were in the paths of migration of the red men. The Indians were friendly enough, but their sudden appearance at the door or at every window was enough to quicken the average pioneer’s breath. Their first visit was a memorable one. It was near noon one day. Father, the hired hand and several of the older children were still in the field. Mother was preparing the noon meal. We younger children were playing near the house. Suddenly from nowhere several Indian braves appeared at the house, one in the doorway and the rest peering in through the windows. Mother glanced up, when the doorway darkened and almost fainted from fright. She had great presence of mind to snatch her youngest child from the cradle, grab a butcher knife and stand at bay in the corner of the kitchen. By this time the other Indians appeared near the door and she thought that her time had come. We children, too, appeared on the scene, coming from the otherside of the house, unaware of the Indians near the door. On rounding the corner of the house and seeing these dark skinned natives were rendered speechless with fright. Somehow
(To be continued.)
